Free The Living Room by Robert Whitlow

past your bedtime,” Amy responded. “Take a quick shower, brush your teeth, and put on your pajamas. I’ll be upstairs in ten minutes and expect you to be ready for lights-out.”
    Ian ran to the kitchen door, stopped, and looked back at Jeff.
    “Thanks for taking me, Dad. It was a blast.”
    “You’re welcome,” Jeff replied. “Now, get upstairs.”
    “He’ll never forget what happened tonight,” Jeff said as soon as Ian left. “Catching that ball was a thrill. The kicker for Loudon County really had a strong leg. He also kicked a forty-two-yard field goal. That doesn’t happen much at the high school level.”
    “And you’re sure Crystal was fine when you left the pizza place?”
    “Other than looking and acting like a fool. Did you see how much makeup she had on? I know you were upset with Megan, but there was no comparison between her and the other girls.” Jeff paused. “Why are you so interested in Crystal?”
    Amy bit her lip and didn’t answer.
    After Ian was tucked into bed, Amy and Jeff waited in the kitchen for Megan to come home. The clock ticked past 11:30 p.m. Jeff yawned for the third time in less than a minute.
    “You can go upstairs if you’re tired,” Amy said. “I’m wide awake.”
    “Yeah, I’m beat,” he replied. “Are you sure you don’t want me to stay up with you?”
    “No, I’ll read a magazine.”
    Amy turned the pages of a home decorating magazine Natalie had lent her but couldn’t focus on the words or the pictures.
    Midnight passed without Megan returning, and Amy began to worry. She blamed herself for not asking Bethany’s mother for a cell phone number. At 12:05 a.m., the door opened and Megan came dragging in. Her makeup was smudged and her hair slightly disheveled.
    “Are you okay?” Amy asked.
    “Exhausted,” Megan mumbled. “I’m going to sleep.”
    “What about Crystal? Is she at home?”
    Megan looked at Amy and rolled her eyes.
    “Don’t get me started on that. I have no idea where she is and I don’t care. She ruined our evening.”
    “What happened? Where did she go?” Amy asked.
    “Not now, Mom. You can interrogate me in the morning, but don’t wake me up. I’m going to sleep till noon.”

    Megan stayed true to her promise to sleep away the morning. Jeff had a side job scheduled with Butch and left the house by 8:00 a.m. As soon as Ian woke up, he roared out of the house and into the neighborhood to play. When he returned at lunchtime, Megan still hadn’t made an appearance.
    “Mom!” he called out. “I’m starving!”
    Amy was folding clothes on the bed in the master bedroom and came downstairs. Ian had pieces of dried brown grass stuck in his dark hair.
    “What can I eat?” he asked.
    “Start by washing your hands and drinking a big glass of water. You look like you’ve been rolling in a pile of hay.”
    Ian washed his hands at the kitchen sink.
    “They let Bobby and me—” He stopped. “Is that right?”
    “Yes.”
    “Bobby and me got to play in the game at the field behind the swimming pool.”
    Amy didn’t try to correct the grammatical error caused by the sudden shift in his sentence.
    “They have the goal line and out of bounds marked off with real lime. Because we helped put down the lime, they let us play. I got picked fifth. Bobby was last, but we ended up on the same team. I caught a pass, and after that, the boy playing quarterback threw three more to me. I couldn’t run fast enough to score.”
    “Were you playing two-hand touch?”
    “Uh, no. But you couldn’t hit anyone in the head and had to arm tackle.”
    Amy wasn’t sure about the modified rules for neighborhood football games played without pads and helmets, but Ian didn’t show any signs of blood.
    She opened the refrigerator door. “I went to the deli yesterday and bought turkey, ham, and roast beef. Which do you want?”
    “All of them,” Ian answered.
    “Okay, get a plate and some bread.”
    Ian placed four pieces of bread on a plate.