Between You and Me

Chapter 8

She tried to avoid Tristan as much as she could the rest of the week. Let him do whatever he wanted on his side of the house, fixing all the things they listed for him to do, but mostly he stayed in the basement, while she stayed in her room mainly.

She would sleep in late, then lay in bed even longer to make sure he was done in the kitchen and dining room before she snuck down to make a quick breakfast. Then she would take it upstairs and eat while she sat on her bed and did nothing. The box of her grandmother's journals still sat there untouched all week.

She did not want to pry into her grandmother's life, but she liked having them in her room with her.

"Hey, JoJo!"

Her sister was yelling for her somewhere in the house.

She got out of her bed, put her house slippers on, and opened her bedroom door to look out of it.

"Yeah!"

Zee was downstairs and climbed a few steps so that she was in view.

"Come downstairs girl, we're having a house meeting."

"We?"

"Yes!" Then Zee walked back down.

The "we" had to mean Tristan. She glanced at herself in the mirror. Her hair was a mess! What was she going to do about that? Nothing. She smoothed the hair back in her ponytail so at least it did not look like she stuck her finger in a socket. She grabbed her gloss and put a bit on her otherwise dry lips. No need to overdo it. He had seen her looking worse.

Finally she made it downstairs and Zee and Tristan were sitting at the dining room table. She looked to Tristan, looking hot as ever, braids loose and hanging. He had a plate with a half-eaten sandwich on it in front of him. Looked like turkey and cheese with a side of Billy Goat potato chips on his plate. She knew because they were hers and her favorite. It was a St. Louis brand of chips and they could only be bought at a few stores, not everywhere.

She sat at the table and looked at her sister, pretty sure it was her that needed a meeting. She only spent a few hours with her every other night when she was home. It was not school or her part-time job keeping her away, it was her slew of friends.

"What's going on?"

"I just thought we should all sit down and have a meeting together. It's been a week since Trist has been here, and we haven't been here that much longer either. I know I ain't been around much, so I just thought I'd check in."

She had no idea what her sister was looking for her to say. Her sister wanted her to get along with Tristan, but not like him in any other way other than a roommate. And then she left and would leave her alone with him all day. She looked to Tristan, who looked down at his sandwich as if he was bored.

"Nobody has anything to say?"

"It's all good to me." Tristan then picked up his sandwich and took a bite, then continued to talk with food in his mouth. "First time out of my mom's house, loving it."

"JoJo?" her sister asked her.

"What? It's whatever, I guess." Then she paused and looked back at Tristan. "Except someone keeps eating my food!"

Tristan finally looked up at her. "I ain't eating your bird food. I don't eat vegan food."

She chuckled at him and reached into his plate and grabbed a chip. "Potato chips are vegan! These are anyway! You also ate my fruit. And I know I didn't eat all my oatmeal in a week."

"I don't even like oatmeal."

"That's my bad, I ate the oatmeal," Zee stated with a laugh. "It's just easy to make sometimes early in the morning."