Junior Year Box Set

For the official grand opening, I was at Our House to greet people as they came in. The place was packed. I expect one of the reasons was you had to drive twenty minutes to find anywhere else that regularly had live music. The closest places were near State’s campus. Dad’s country club only had music for special events like weddings and our prom.

The crowd tonight was older than the usual clientele at the clubs at State. Most people were in their late twenties or early thirties and had come for dinner and dancing. Jan told me that the downstairs restaurant was packed with people who didn’t want to wait to get in upstairs.

Eve and her band were a big hit. She was local, and her group was better than you would typically see in a venue like this. I appreciated her playing for our opening.

She and I only got to talk for a short while. We both realized our friendship had suffered over the past year, and we were essentially no more than acquaintances now.

◊◊◊

I didn’t get home until almost two in the morning. As I ascended my stairs, I found a light on and soft music playing. When I stepped into my living room, there were Tami and Tim, sitting on my couch. Just what I didn’t need.

“What are you two doing here?” I asked.

“Using your apartment as a love shack,” Tami said.

I suddenly had a headache.

“Did you at least change the sheets?” I asked.

Tim didn’t look comfortable. I expect he picked up on the fact I wasn’t a happy camper.

“Dude, sorry. Tami made it sound like you were okay with this. It’s just that we don’t get any alone time in Chicago since it’s against house rules. Then when we get home, there isn’t anywhere for us to get together,” he rambled.

“Please. Even I could figure out where to go if I couldn’t use my apartment,” I said, giving them a hard look. “You also didn’t answer my question. Did you change the sheets?”

“I’ll take care of it,” Tim said and left Tami to deal with me.

“I don’t think this was a great idea,” she admitted.

It was too late at night to have to deal with this. I stepped over to the refrigerator to get some iced tea. Inside there was a slice of pizza that looked suspiciously like the kind in my freezer, and there was only enough iced tea for about a third of a glass. Their glasses and plates were in the sink.

“Did you use all my condoms too?” I asked.

Tami’s sheepish expression told me they had.

“I think you’d better leave,” I said, not wanting to say what was on my mind at that very instant.

“But …” Tami began.

“Now!” I said with some heat in my voice.

She hurried into the bedroom.

“Don’t say anything to him … just leave it … we have to go now,” Tami said.

Tim looked dazed as she hustled him out of my space. I stepped into the bedroom and found my bed half-made. I had to use my bathroom and found towels on the floor, and it was clear they had used my things to brush their hair and the like.

That was it; enough was enough. I stomped downstairs and into the kitchen. Duke came tearing down the stairs, then followed me back up to my parents’ bedroom. I woke them up.

“What’s wrong?” Dad asked.

“I need you both to come with me,” I said.

“What happened?” Mom asked.

“It’ll be easier to show you,” I said.

I took them up to my apartment and let them see the mess Tami and Tim had left me. Dad looked confused, but I could tell Mom knew about them using my apartment.

“I don’t care what it takes, I want my apartment secure. If we have to go back to a key system instead of the code, then I’ll go out tomorrow and buy it,” I said.

I had an evil idea: I should make Tim install it for me.

“What happened?” Dad asked.

“Tami and Tim used my place as a love shack while I was at the restaurant tonight. They acted as if it was their private hotel: ate my food, left their dirty dishes, used my condoms, and trashed my bathroom. They left it all for me to clean up after them.”

“Did you know about this?” Dad asked Mom.

“I did,” she admitted. “Don’t worry, I’ll deal with it.”

I could tell Mom wasn’t happy, either. I was just glad I didn’t walk into a party.

“No, I’ll deal with it,” Dad said.

Oh, crud! That was how I found Tami, her mom, Tim, and his parents in my apartment at three in the morning. Mom gave me a sideways smile and a hip-check as I watched in horror while my dad read them all the riot act. I think she enjoyed it when he took charge like that. Ever since her cancer, he’d done this more often than not. This used to be her job in our house.

I almost laughed aloud when I heard a big sigh from Duke’s crate. He was ready to go to sleep and was letting us know that he wasn’t happy with all the noise. I didn’t blame him. If I knew all this drama would occur, I would’ve waited until the morning to tell my parents.

On the way out, Tami could tell I was over being mad.

“Tattletale.”

“Please. How many times have you told on me?” I asked.

“Once or twice,” she tried.

“I think my daughter has a selective memory,” Mrs. Glade told my mom.

“I don’t think you have any room to point fingers,” Mom told Tami.