Carlson Melody - Stealing Bradford

“Hey, babe,” said Taylor with a grin that almost looked as if she was happy to see her. “What’s up with this weather anyway?”

“You’re not in Southern California anymore.”

Taylor frowned now. “Does that mean that summer is over?”

“Probably not.”

“You’re in time for movie night.”

“Again?”

“Yeah, your grandmother wants everyone to watch Funny Face .”

“Funny Face ?”

“It’s an Audrey Hepburn movie about the fashion industry.”

DJ rolled her eyes. “What a novel idea.”

Bradford gave a little beep on his horn. “Guess I better go.”

“What’re you guys doing?”

“Movie.”

“Have fun.”

Taylor peered at DJ now. “Do you think that you and Conner will ever want to do anything with us”

DJ shrugged, remembering how Conner had been ragging on Taylor not that long ago. “Maybe…”

Taylor smiled. “Cool.”

Then DJ went inside feeling slightly compromised. Maybe Casey was right, maybe she had gone over to the dark side. But DJ didn’t think so. If anything, she was trying to do what the Bible said. She was trying to love her enemy and not judge. And it wasn’t like it was easy either.

She smelled popcorn as she went inside. Following her nose, she discovered that the smell was coming from a new contraption that was set up in the living room—an old-fashioned popcorn machine that was busily popping away.

“What’s this?” she asked Kriti, the only one in the room.

“Inez just set it up,” said Kriti. “Mrs. Carter got it today.”

“No kidding?” DJ nodded in approval.

“Of course, there will be no butter involved,” pointed out Kriti. “But there’s some kind of seasoning salt that’s supposed to taste like butter.”

DJ laughed. “That sounds about right.” She looked around the deserted living room. “But where is everyone?”

Kriti shrugged. “I don’t know. I just came down myself and Eliza wanted to finish up something on the computer, but I think she’s coming later. The movie was supposed to start at seven.”

“Maybe I’ll go see if Casey and Rhiannon are coming.” So DJ went upstairs, knocked on their door, and asked if they planned to join them.

“I don’t think so,” said Rhiannon.

“If you’re worried about Taylor,” said DJ. “She’s not coming to the movie.”

Rhiannon looked more interested now. “Well, your grandmother did say that it had to do with fashion design. I thought that sounded interesting.”

“Go!” said Casey from where she was sitting on the window seat with her laptop.

“How about you?” asked DJ.

“Too much homework.”

DJ tried not to look shocked. This was a new twist—Casey actually caring about homework now? Only a week ago she’d been talking about running away. “Good for you,” she said.

Casey looked up from the screen with an odd expression. “Huh?”

“Good for you for staying on top of things.”

“Oh, yeah. Sure.” Then she went back to her screen.

Okay, DJ suspected she was just playing another one of her crazy shoot-em-up games. And maybe she was keeping the sound down so that it didn’t bother Rhiannon. Whatever. “Come on,” she said to Rhiannon. “There’s popcorn.”

“Popcorn?” said Rhiannon in an almost-happy tone.

“Yeah. But don’t get too excited. No butter’s involved.”

“Oh.”

Then DJ chuckled as they were going down the stairs. She lowered her voice. “But I could probably sneak some.”

“All right! Contraband butter.”

The movie was interesting in a retro kind of way. And DJ was glad to see that Rhiannon seemed to be enjoying it. Eliza came down about midway through it, but Casey remained upstairs. It was surprising how much calmer things seemed when Taylor wasn’t around to stir things up. DJ suspected she wasn’t the only one who’d noticed. DJ was starting to get a little bored during some long drawn-out musical scenes toward the end, and since Kriti, Rhiannon, and Eliza seemed absorbed, she decided to sneak out.

“Movie over?” asked Taylor as she came in the front door.

DJ nodded back toward the living room. “No, but it’s close. It’s just that I’ve had enough.”

“Not into Fred Astaire?” she asked as they went up the stairs.

“Doesn’t he seem a little old for Audrey Hepburn?”

“I know. That always bugged me too.”

“You’ve seen it before?”

“My mom was big into old movies. I think I’ve seen them all.”

“So how was your movie?”

“The one we thought was playing wasn’t releasing until next week. So we just got coffee.”

DJ was thinking it was a pretty long coffee date. And she noticed that Taylor looked a little rumpled, but she didn’t mention it. They went to their room, and Taylor kicked off her shoes and flopped onto her bed. “I am so tired.”

DJ took this as a hint and was actually relieved to slip into the bathroom where she got ready for bed. Maybe Taylor would be asleep by the time she went back. She didn’t really want to talk to her. She didn’t want to hear about the date and whether or not Taylor and Bradford really had coffee or went to some cheap hotel—not that DJ thought they had. Mostly she just didn’t want to think about it or know about it. Like Taylor had said the other day, “Don’t ask, don’t tell.” Maybe that should be their agreement as roommates.

But when DJ came out of the bathroom, Taylor, now dressed in her pajamas, looked wide awake as she sat cross-legged on her bed. “I keep smelling that popcorn,” she said. “Do you think there’s any left?”

DJ shrugged. “Maybe.”

“I could go down and get some, but I might run into Rhiannon, and I don’t think she wants to see me. I’ve been trying to stay out of her hair.”

“So you want me to go get you some popcorn?” asked DJ.

Taylor nodded hopefully.

DJ wanted to say, Forget it. Get your own stupid popcorn ! But at the same time, she didn’t want to start a fight. Besides, what about that being nice to your enemy thing? It would be easier and quicker just to run down and get some. “Okay,” she said as she went out the door. She hurried down the stairs and was surprised to see that the movie was still going. Fortunately, there was just enough popcorn remaining to fill most of a bag. Still, she wasn’t going to pilfer any butter. If Taylor wanted popcorn, she could have it dry. Besides, as Taylor was always telling her, butter was fattening.

“Thanks,” said Taylor when DJ returned to their room. “That was one thing I was looking forward to tonight…at the theater, I mean. Popcorn.”

DJ sat down on her bed and picked up the book she’d been reading for English lit, pretending to be fascinated.

“Bradford is a pretty nice guy,” said Taylor as she munched. “But I’m worried that he’s only interested in me for one thing.”

DJ just nodded, wishing that Taylor would shut up.

“I’m sure some people wouldn’t believe me, but I don’t want a guy who’s only into having sex. I want a guy who appreciates me for my mind as well.”

DJ controlled herself from laughing.

“I know that you’re sitting there thinking I’m full of it,” said Taylor. “Aren’t you?”

DJ looked up from her book. “Yeah, sort of.”

“And why is that?” Taylor narrowed her eyes at DJ.

“Maybe you should have someone sneak around and film you, Taylor, so you could see how you come across sometimes.”

“Meaning?”

“Meaning, you come across as…as a man-eater!”

“A man-eater?” Taylor laughed. “What is that supposed to mean?”

“That’s what Conner called you.”