Needy Little Things(70)
I blink away the tears that have filled my eyes, making the blood on my face go watery. What the hell was that supposed to mean? I swallow down the urge to call after him, demand he explain himself. I’m fortunate I got him to back off at all. I won’t be pushing my luck any further tonight.
* * *
I ended up spending the whole evening alone in my room replaying my encounter with Tim and that kid, feeling embarrassed and foolish for attracting a gnat. I never got around to calling Malcolm back, so I’m not surprised when his name pops up on my phone first thing in the morning.
I accept the call.
“You don’t read my texts. You don’t call when you say you will. And now you’re skipping school without even telling me?” A bell rings in the background.
“I’m sorry. I took another remote day. Mama has an appointment out of town and Josiah needed another day to recover.”
“No, I didn’t!” Jojo shouts from his bedroom.
I get up and close my door.
“I told you it wasn’t Deja.”
“You did.” I lean against my closet and stare at the dusty ceiling fan. “But she’s still not home.”
“She will be soon.”
“How do you know?”
“I was right before. I’m right now.”
“But is there something specific that makes you believe it?” Just because I won’t be outright asking him what he’s hiding doesn’t mean I can’t try to guide him into it.
“No. Not really. But let me guess, something specific has made you into a believer.”
“I was looking through her posts on Instagram again. I really think she was dating someone. All of her captions—”
“Are song lyrics. Yes. Next?”
“Huh?”
“Oh my God, Sariyah. I know music isn’t your thing, but I’m going to need you to keep up with everything that comes out of Lizzo’s mouth, okay? Tess isn’t the first teenage girl to quote her favorite artists on IG.”
“Tess?”
“What?”
“You said Tess when you meant Deja.”
“No, I didn’t.”
“Yes—” I take a deep breath and choose to drop it. Because of course Tess is on his mind and I don’t need to rub it in. “There’s something Deja didn’t tell us. Or something she didn’t tell me, at least. All of it is too weird, Colmy. The locks, her mom, her stepdad, the card—”
“Why are you so obsessed with that card? It’s months old and the police already know about it. You aren’t the Black Nancy Drew, okay?”
“So you want to leave it up to the police? Since you trust them so much?” Tessa’s name doesn’t leave my mouth, but it’s heavy in the silence after I speak. “Sorry. I didn’t mean anything by that. I just feel like you’re being really damn choosy about what is and isn’t a good thing to look into. You went all expert-investigator when you thought something was suspicious about Deja’s stepdad, but now you won’t even hear me out.”
“Look,” he says, a little less abrasive now, “if it’ll get you to drop this, I’ll go with you to Deja’s tomorrow afternoon. We can search her room for signs of that J. dude or some box of super-secret items she wanted to keep locked inside while she slept.”
“Really?” I ask, ignoring the sarcasm he injected into his words.
“I guess. It’s that or let you get up to God knows what by yourself. Or worse, drag your little boyfriend into it.”
My face heats. “I know you aren’t talking about Jude. He’s not my boyfriend.”
“Should I assume you’ve already gotten him involved since you ignored the other half of my sentence?”
“I mean, not really.”
“I swear you meddle like your life is one big episode of Scooby-Doo.”
“You’re saying I can be Shaggy, but not Nancy?”
“Haha, no. Shaggy and Scooby are legit. They are the only ones on that show that have any sense. But you? You’re Daphne.”
“Then I guess you’re that blond dude.”
“Shoot, that’s all right, with his fine orange-ascot-wearing ass.”
He gets a laugh out of me with that. “Seriously, Mal. I thought the whole point was to meddle.”
“No. It never was. That’s where you’re mixed up. The point was to disseminate. Disperse. Get people talking. Make people see her. That’s what worked for Casey. Not digging up dirt about her family or romantic life.” He takes a loud swig of a drink. “But listen, I’ll talk to you later. I need to get to art. Oh, and by the way, your not-boyfriend is about to skip the rest of his classes for the day and go surprise you with lunch, so I don’t know, fix your hair or something.”
* * *
I don’t bother changing out of my tank top and pajama pants, but I do tie a stretchy headband over my frizzy twists and force myself into the bathroom to brush my teeth.
Jude knocks on the door to our apartment and Jojo runs down the hall shouting, “I got it!”
“Take it easy, Josiah! You just had your blood replaced with someone else’s.”
“Yeah, and that made me feel better, not worse!” he hollers. “Juju!”