Free Undecided by Julianna Keyes

His eyes are wide with shock and
then they crinkle at the corners as he starts to laugh. I worm my way out of
his grasp and flop onto the floor and start to laugh too.
    “Shit,”
he gasps. “Nora, I’m so sorry.”
    “This is
what happens when people have fun!” I say, sticking a stern finger in the air.
“Never again.”
    He swats
my hand. “It’s your fault,” he says. “I know I’m not supposed to say this to a
woman, but I think you’re too heavy. Your heaviness is what broke the bed.”
    I’m a
hundred pounds soaking wet, and, as Marcela liked to say, I carry my weight in
my boobs. I know I’m not fat, and Crosbie knows it, and that’s why I’m not
really angry when I snatch up a fallen pillow and smack him with it.
    “Sorry.”
He laughs and rolls away, face red. “Should I have said ‘big boned?’”
    “You’re
going to hell, Crosbie. Fix my bed frame.” I feel hot and happy, despite the
mess. Despite the fact that the wood is snapped and splintered and I don’t
think it can be fixed.
    He slides
down the angled mattress and joins me on the floor to inspect the damage. “I
have to go.”
    “Crosbie
Lucas.”
    “Bye,
Nora. Take care.” He stands but doesn’t actually go anywhere, staring at the
ruined frame.
    I stand,
too. “Product defect?” I try.
    “Definitely.”
    “I guess
it’ll have to be taken apart now.”
    He
glances at his watch. “Wow. Is that the time?”
    I smile a
little. “Thank you, Crosbie.”
    “For
breaking your bed? No problem. Wherever, whenever.”
    I laugh.
“For the first part. This…not so much.”
    “I’ll
help you pack it back up and drive it to the store. You don’t have to wait for
the delivery. We can do it today.”
    “I’m sure
you have better things to do.”
    “I do,
but I’m trying to be a gentleman.”
    “You
nailed it.”
    “Who
nailed who now?”
    We whirl
around to see Kellan standing in the doorway, arms crossed, one dark brow
raised suspiciously. And I suppose an off-kilter bed, scattered pillows and
beddings, and Crosbie’s discarded shirt might suggest someone had gotten
nailed, but…they hadn’t. Unfortunately.
    “I bought
a defective bed frame,” I say, pointing to the mangled corner.
    “Oh.” He
frowns and comes inside for a better view. “What were you doing to break your
bed?”
    It’s so
hard to keep a straight face. “I was jumping on it.”
    “You were
jumping on your bed?”
    Crosbie
coughs into the crook of his elbow, trying to mask his laughter.
    “Yes.”
    “I’m
surprised, Nora. That doesn’t seem like you.”
    “I
thought it sounded fun.”
    “Well,
they might not give you a refund if they know you were just jumping around on
it like that. It’s irresponsible.”
    Crosbie
coughs again and hustles out of the room. After a second we hear the tap in the
kitchen sink turn on and I picture him drowning out the noise of his laughter.
    “I’ll
just tell them it came that way.”
    Kellan
stares at me like he can’t decide if I’m serious or not, then his face relaxes
and he smiles. “They’ll believe you. Who wouldn’t?”
    He
returns to the living room and I hear him ask Crosbie what he’s still doing
here.
    “I was
cleaning up,” Crosbie replies.
    “Why is
your shirt in her room?”
    “It’s
not.”
    “It’s the
one you were wearing last night.”
    “Dude,
then I don’t know how it got in there. You know what I did last night. Nora was
not it.”
    Their voices grow muffled as they enter
Kellan’s room, so I hang Crosbie’s shirt on the out-facing doorknob and gently
close the door on their conversation.

chapter six
     
    I don’t see
Crosbie much in the week after the bed incident. We don’t end up going to Ikea
together, though a couple of days later they do take away the “defective” frame
and swap it out for a new one. The delivery comes when Kellan is home, and he
surprises me by putting it together before I return from class, saying he’s
concerned about my building skills