My Life Of Evasion

13. If Curiosity Killed The Cat, Then My Ninth Life Should Be Over

Chapter 13

If Curiosity Killed The Cat, Then My Ninth Life Should Be Over

When I woke up the next morning, Max wasn't next to me in the bed beside me like had been the night before.  I sat up and ran a hand through my messy hair, looking over to the door that led into the bathroom.  It was open and the light was off, so I knew that he wasn't in there.  My eyes went to the clock that was on the table beside the bed and I realized that it was only five-thirty in the morning.  Why I was getting up this early, I had no clue, especially since we were up late the night before talking about our trip to India. 

Swinging my legs over the side of the bed, I stood up and stretched my arms up above my head before walking to the bathroom.  I brushed my teeth and hair before grabbing a sweatshirt since I was now freezing after being out from under the covers. 

Dad had gotten one of the bigger hotel suites, the one with four bedrooms so that we could all be in the same room.  Dad and Brielle's door was still closed and so was Ben and Drew's.  But unlike theirs, Sophie's bedroom door was wide open and she was nowhere to be found inside.

As I walked toward the living room area, I could hear the television on low in the background and then soft laughter as I got closer. 

"So at that last embarrassing mention of your dad, how is he?" I heard Max ask.  "I haven't seen him since graduation."

"He's good," she said, laughing still.  "He asked about you when I talked to him the day before yesterday.  And he always has to bring up that one summer when we went on holiday in Dublin."

I heard Max groan as Sophie started laughing even more.  My curiosity perked and, I'll admit, I was being a little nosy.  I had a right to be nosy, though, didn't I?  I mean, this was my boyfriend talking about old times with his ex-girlfriend.  I didn't know a lot of their old stories, so here was one that I was going hear about. 

"We are not talking about that," Max said. 

Okay, so maybe I wasn't going to hear about it. 

"Oh, come on.  Your drunken rendition of that old Britney Spears song was brilliant.  Even the bartender enjoyed your little strip tease on top of the bar and he was completely straight," she said, laughing again.

"And then the next morning you just had to show your parents the video you took.  We weren't even dating then and your dad already thought I was some prick who you shouldn't have been hanging around," Max said.  That time, he started laughing. 

"He still loves when he gets to see you.  You grew on him over the years," Sophie said.  "But it apparently didn't take very long for you to grow on Callie's dad..."

"So what are you doing?" a voice whispered from behind me.  "Listening in on a conversation?"

I jumped about a mile in the air before I turned around to find Brielle standing there behind me, a tired smile on her face.  Addy was cradled in one arm, still in her pajama onesie, and a bottle in her other hand. 

"I just woke up and I..."

"Wanted to hear what they were talking about?  Maybe hear what they were saying if they were talking about you?" she whispered, raising an eyebrow as she smiled. 

"No, I..."  I couldn't come up with a good enough answer without her knowing that it was total crap.  So I did the rational thing...I changed the subject.  "Do you want me to take Addy?  You look tired and like you could get some more sleep."

She smiled at me knowingly, but nodded anyway as she held Addy out for me to take.  "I just need another hour or two.  And I'll love you forever for doing this," she said.