Page 93 of The Debutantes
Putting on my best good-daughter performance, I tell Mom good night and head upstairs, where I sit on the second-floor landing and listen. It takes forever, but finally, I hear her pad down the hall and into her bedroom. I wait a minute. Another.
And then I walk as fast as I can to the front door, grab the keys, and rush out to the car.
My knuckles are white on the wheel, and I try to breathe, focus on the road as I pull away. Except I don’t know where I’m even going. I lift my phone and voice-command it to start a FaceTime with the Maids. It rings and rings, but no one picks up.
“Goddammit,” I mutter, trying again.
No answer. What the hell could they even be doing right now? Sleeping, maybe, like normal people.
That’s when I get another idea. Probably a bad one. But I’m already starting to drive in that direction, and he’s the only other person who sleeps as little as I do.
“Goddammit.” I flick the turn signal. “Call Arch Nemesis.”
Aiden picks up in two rings. Of course he does.
“Hello?”
“Can I come over?”
I must sound as wild and panicked as I feel, because he doesn’t even hesitate.
“Of course. Is everything okay?”
“Can’t explain now. And the handshake still stands. Cone of silence, Ortiz.”
I hang up before he can answer, willing myself to focus so I don’t add a traffic violation on top of this shit sundae of a night.
He opens the door before I even ring the bell.
“Hey,” he says. “What’s—”
I plow into his house. “Can we go to your room?”
“Yeah, sure. My parents are both sleeping, so we should try to keep it down.”
Of course he’s worried about not pissing off his parents. His parents are good, law-abiding people who don’t join cults or cover up murders to save their son from assault charges.
“Okay, seriously,” Aiden says once we get upstairs. “What’s—”
A creature leaps from the shadows and directly into my path, so quickly I almost shriek before I realize it’s just a black-and-white cat.
“What the hell?” I whisper.
The cat eyes me, unimpressed, and slithers over to Aiden, nuzzling his calf.
“Mr. Mistoffelees,” he says. “Don’t be offended if he takes a second to warm up.”
The absurdly named animal approaches me warily enough that I think it’s about to bite me. Then it butts its soft little cat head up against my leg, purring.
“Would ya look at that.” Aiden grins wide.
It makes my insides go all warm and buttery for a second. I scowl back at him. “Mr. Mistoffelees?”
Aiden runs a hand over the back of his neck, embarrassed. “From, uh,Catsthe musical. I had a phase.”
“Oh my god.” I’m momentarily delighted enough to forget why I came here. “I can’t believe you’ve given me this ammunition. Did you dance around your room in leg warmers? Atail?”
“The soundtrack is full of bangers. I don’t know what else to say.”
