Читать книгу Not A Good Look - Nikki Carter - Страница 9

I cannot believe that it’s the middle of the night and I’m thirsty. I’m parched, really—my throat feels like it’s growing an afro weave.

I glance to the left of me in the dark. I can make out my cousin Dreya’s shape in the twin bed on the other side of my room. No one can tell it’s my room, since I always have to share with Dreya and her little brother, Manny.

They get on my last nerve. Honestly.

Dreya is the reason for my cotton mouth. She finds it necessary to get out of the bed every night and turn the heat up to eighty-five degrees, like she and her mama are paying any bills up in here. Nobody with human blood running through their veins needs to sleep with the heat turned up that high.

And, of course, the vent is right up over my bed. Because of this, I’ve been swallowing heat for the past few hours.

I throw my feet over the bed and try to escape quietly before…

“Sunday! I want some water.”

Manny wakes up. Dang!

“Boy, you can’t have no water. You’re just gonna pee in the bed.”

He starts whining. “But I’m thirsty.”

“Boy! Go to sleep.”

He squints at me and frowns. “What’s wrong with yo’ throat? You sound like a man!”

“I’m thirsty and my throat is dry!”

“Mine too, so hook a brotha up and get me something to drink.”

“Manny, I’m gonna hurt you!”

“I’m gonna tell my mama you cussed at me.”

“I did not cuss at you.”

“So.”

I narrow my eyes at this little evil genius. He stays trying to blackmail somebody. The other day, he got half a candy bar out of Dreya by threatening to tell that she was kissing a dude other than her boyfriend. The fact that she never actually kissed anyone meant absolutely nothing to Manny. A candy bar is a candy bar to that little hobgoblin.

“Come on then,” I say, still fussing. “You better not try to get in my bed either.”

“I don’t even want to sleep in yo’ dusty bed! I’m sleeping with my sister!”

Beautiful! The thought of this makes me smile. Dreya’s gonna be heated when she wakes up to sheets soaked with Manny’s pee! That almost makes up for my interrupted sleep. Ha!

Manny and I creep quietly into the kitchen, which is hard to do because we have to pass through the living room to get there. We tiptoe around feet, legs, and blankets that are spread where they shouldn’t be. It’s something like a hood slumber party obstacle course.

In most people’s homes (I would think—since I really don’t go to other people’s houses at night) the living room is a pretty quiet place. Living goes on during the day, so that’s when it should be busy. At night, normal people go to their bedrooms and go to sleep, and their living room is quiet.

It’s a whole other story in the Tolliver household. Our tiny living room is occupied twenty-four seven. My auntie, Charlie, is sleeping on one couch and my mother’s boyfriend, Carlos, is asleep on the love seat, wrapped in Manny’s Transformers comforter.

“Gimme my blanket!” Manny hisses and tries to snatch his comforter from Carlos.

I pull Manny into the kitchen, not wanting him to wake anyone. “Stop it, Manny! You don’t have a bed anyway, so it doesn’t matter.”

“I did at my other house.”

“I wish you’d go back to your other house,” I mumble under my breath.

Aunt Charlie, Dreya, and Manny moved here a year ago when they got evicted from their duplex. My aunt doesn’t keep a job for longer than three weeks, and they never have enough money for rent, so they live with us off and on. It really sucks lemons.

As much as it irritates my mother that Aunt Charlie won’t get and stay on her feet, she won’t ever let her and her kids be homeless or on the street. That is not how Tollivers roll. We always stick together, no matter what. Even if we get on one another’s last nerve.

“Sunday, I’m thirsty. Hurry up,” Manny says.

I know he’s not trying to have an attitude. Let him keep it up and he’ll be swallowing spit.

Just for that, I take my time getting Manny’s sippy cup out of the dish rack on the counter and filling it with water from the faucet. I try to hand it to him, but he shakes his head.

“I thought you wanted some water.”

He shakes his head again. “Put some ice in it.”

“We ain’t got no ice.”

“Yes, we do. My mama filled up the trays. I saw her.”

I open the freezer, crack two ice cubes out of the plastic tray, and drop them into Manny’s cup.

While he’s drinking, I search in the refrigerator for my orange, pineapple, and banana juice. The fruity goodness that will slide down my throat in a burst of yummy flavor will be the cure for my dry, parched mouth.

I know I sound like a commercial. It was completely intentional. Plus my juice is the bidness, ya dig?

For some reason, I can’t seem to find it in our refrigerator. This can only mean one thing. My beloved juice has been stolen and consumed by someone else in this house.

“Manny, who drank my juice?”

He shrugs. “How you expect me to know? I’m only four.”

“Because you always asking your mama for my stuff!”

“What color was your juice?”

“What color was it? It was yellow!” I feel the anger rising from the pit of my stomach to my dry and crackly throat.

“Oh, that must be the juice I had tonight with my fried bologna sandwich.”

AARRRGGGHHHH!!! If my throat didn’t feel as dry as the Sahara Desert, I would scream that out loud, but right about now, I can only offer a raspy hiss.

I leave Manny standing there in the kitchen, with his ice water, as I storm back through the living room and down the hall. I can’t stand all these people up in me and my mama’s spot. I don’t have anything to myself, not my own room, my own clothes. Not even a carton of juice. I wish they would all disappear!

Then I hear whimpering coming from the kitchen.

I roll my eyes and go back to get Manny. “How you gon’ have all that mouth and be scared of the dark?”

“I’m not scared of the dark. I’m scared of roaches.”

“We don’t have roaches, Manny.”

“We did at the other house.”

I sigh and scoop him up into my arms. “Just come on.”

I tuck Manny into the bed with Dreya and get back in my bed. I close my eyes and try to go back to sleep.

Which is impossible.

Because. I’m. Still. Thirsty!