Chapter 5

Robyn knocked on the door. A dog barked and she yelled, "Dumb dog, it's just me! Oh, wait," she looked at me, grinning sheepishly, "sorry. You're about to get attacked by the Chilean Rottweiler."

"A Rottweiler?" I said. Big dogs—not a fond memory with me after one my dad's dumb hunting dogs bit me when I was a little girl; I still had the slight scar on my hand. I stepped down a stair on the porch. The door opened and I shut my eyes as the jingle-jangle got louder. I felt something on my leg near my knee, and prepared for the big dog to put his paws on me.

But instead...there was this little feeling on my knee, and when I opened my eyes, a little poochie was sniffing my leg. He wagged his tail and licked my knee.

Robyn and Rudy laughing made me realize how ridiculous I must've looked. I reached down and picked up the pooch. He immediately licked my face and squirmed in my arms so he was on his back, his paws in the air and his eyes making it clear he was waiting for a tummy rub.

"Yeah, ferocious beast, right?" Robyn said. "He's just noisy and barks at everything."

"Dachsunds are very territorial and protective—just like Robyn," Rudy informed us.

"Hey, we're twins, bro; you've got that protective trait, too," Robyn said, giving him a punch on the shoulder.

"What's the other half?" I said, scratching the poochie's stomach. He licked the air in front of my face.

"Yorkshire Terrier. Come on, let's get inside," Robyn said. We went inside the house and Robyn called out, "I'm home!"

After the welcome party of her mom and dad was done, we left Rudy to the kitchen and went down the hall and to the left to Robyn's room. "Whoa," I said, stopping in the doorway. "That's your bed?"

"Uh huh. It's ancient, though. You look at the thing and it creaks," Robyn said. It was a bed, but it was around four and a half feet off the ground, supported by four wooden posts. She climbed up the ladder and shook the entire bed as she crawled to the end of the bed. "Come on," she said, waving for me to go up. I hesitantly got up, making the bed crack and creak at every time I touched it with my foot.

"Look, this is the Lincoln Middle School Marching Band from 2007 and -8. I'm right here and here," she said, pointing to her face in the posters. We looked at the posters for a little bit, finding some of the people in our classes. After many hard and intense games of BS, blackjack, and Egyptian Rats...mostly Egyptian Rats, Rudy poked his head in the door. We climbed down to the floor and played BS the rest of the time.

"Hey, Rudy?" Robyn said.

"Two fives. Huh?"

"Nigel seemed a little—BS, Rusty— down when we saw him today. You're a guy—what's a reason you'd be depressed?"

Rudy looked at Robyn for a moment, his mouth a little open. "Uh...maybe he broke up with someone? I don't know—he's gay! I like him as a good buddy, but I can't really relate."

"Could it be people were being assholes to him? Because we saw some guys that were pushing him around," I said.

"Might be that. I don't know," Rudy said, shrugging. "Sis, you're bleeding."

Robyn moved her hands so her cards weren't showing. "Maybe I can ask him if he can come over tomorrow. Oh yeah, Rusty," she said, turning to me. "Tomorrow we're going on a shopping spree for jeans, because I can't keep loaning mine—I'm running out."

I blinked, and then grinned at Robyn. "You're awesome, you know that?" I said.

"Of course I am," Robyn scoffed, looking offended. "Didn't you know all lefties are born awesome?"

"Rusty! Rusty!" Something hit me, and then I was suddenly cold. I opened one eye. Robyn held my blankets, looking at me. "Come on, get up. Time to go running."

"Huh?" I muttered. I rolled over and buried my head in my pillow. The next thing I knew, I was being shoved into the bathroom and Robyn was making me sit on the edge of the bathtub. She grabbed a plastic pitcher and turned it upside down over my head.

"Cold!" I gasped. "Cold, cold!"

"Come on, let's get dressed. You have running shorts, right?" She gave me a towel and I dried my hair as we went back to her room, my heart still thumping from the sudden change in temperatures. We passed Rudy's room, where a low growling sound was coming from behind the door.

"What's that sound?" I said.

"Rudy. He snores," Robyn said. She helped me get the right things, and then we headed for the door, Robyn looping her keys to her wrist. I glanced at the clock that was above the kitchen door and stopped. It was 6:45!

"Damn, Robyn, what time did you wake up?" I said, following her out the door.

"At 6:30," she said, closing the door behind me. God, and I'd thought that waking up at 7 in order to get breakfast every day at school would be a pain in the ass.

"You wanna take a shower first, or can I?" Robyn asked.

"I really want to take a shower," I panted. "My butt and legs are frozen, and my arms are sweating. This can't be healthy."

"Actually, this is perfect weather for long-distance runners," Robyn informed me. She looked like she wasn't breaking a sweat, while I was nearly dying. "Because," Robyn went on, "you don't get tired because there's no sun to make you feel hot, which overheats yours muscles immediately. But for sprinters and short-distance runners, it's better if they have hot weather, because they need to be ready to run right away."

"Thank you, Robyn, for my daily science lesson," I panted. She grinned and opened the door. I went in, gulped down an entire glass of cool water with her, and then stumbled to the room.

"My mom and dad are both at work," Robyn said as she took the list of chores off the table. "And Rudy's just waking up," Robyn said, peeking in his room, "the pathetic thing," she added.

"So...he really likes me?" I said quietly.

Robyn gave me a look that said, Are we going to have to go over this again?

"Here's your towel, and the shampoo and conditioner are on the small shelf in the shower," Robyn said, leading me to the bathroom.

After thawing, getting feeling back into my frozen legs, and washing, I opened the shower door and reached for the towel. And then, God gave me a reason to pray that night.

The door banged open and Rudy stepped in. I yelled and grabbed the towel, wrapping it around myself.

"S-S-S-sorry," Rudy stuttered, backing up.

"What's wrong?" Robyn said, running over. "Rudy, get out!" she grabbed him by the back of his hair and pulled him out, slamming the door. I heard her giving him a big-sister lecture. I stood in the shower, my hair dripping over my shoulders as I took in that Rudy just saw me...nearly naked.

But I saw Rudy without a shirt, and damn, he was working out. Despite the circumstances, I grinned as I thought of how Kendall would react if she found out.