The City of Rossford

When Sheridan had rolled out of bed, he’d said, “Are you my surrogate older brother or what? I need a ride to campus.”

“Why do you need a ride to…? Nevermind. I bet I don’t want to know.”

“No,” Sheridan agreed. “You probably don’t.”

A vaguely non descript car had dropped him off and Sheridan, keys swinging from his fingers, hopped out of the car and then shouted playfully, “Now hurry, hurry, or you’ll be late for class.”

“Don’t joke,” shouted the voice from the car, and then it made a U turn and headed out of Loretto. Sheridan jammed his hands in his pockets after blowing on them, and then headed toward the parking lot of Saint Anne’s Hall.

The closer he got to the parking lot between Saint Anne and Wilson Hall, the more he thought it would be a good idea to see her. His car was beneath her window on the third floor and he no sooner spotted it than he decided to round the back, go up and see her.

“Oh, my gosh! Sheridan, I was going to find a way to get your car to you.”

“A friend of mine dropped me off on his way to classes.”

“Classes?”

“He’s a law student.”

Shelley grinned and said, “Is he cute?”

“I guess. But he’s gay.”

“Um,” Shelley sighed. “Well, he’s for my uncles.”

“You have a gay uncle?”

“I have two uncles,” Shelley said ushering him in. “And an uncle who’s a priest, which I guess makes him a hermaphrodite.”

“I don’t know about that,” Sheridan said, grinning and shutting the door behind him.

“I went to Saint Agatha’s after I dropped you off at the hospital. The church was open all night. I ended up sleeping in the rectory. I just got back, really.”

“Well,” Sheridan said. “I guess you got class?”

“I do have class,” Shelley acknowledged. “But I’m seriously contemplating not going. In fact, I’m not going.”

Then she said, “You wanna grab breakfast?”

Sheridan yawned hugely, but said, “Yeah.”

“Great. I didn’t want to go to class anyway. I hate it. It’s some music theory shit. I’ll go grab my shoes.”

Shelley departed, heading for the little bathroom, and when she came back, she said, “Sheridan, are you really hungry?”

“I could eat,” he said. “But I’m not starving or anything.” Each fragment seemed to end in a question mark. “Why?”

“I was just thinking… you’re probably going to see your friend, later. And that’s sad. I don’t mean to say it isn’t. But it kind of killed what he started last night.”

Sheridan put a hand over his mouth and took his hand through his hair, chuckling.

“You serious?”

Shelley dropped her shoes and begun unbuttoning her blouse.

“I’ve been known to make a joke or two,” she admitted. “But never about sex.”

“You know what?” Shelley said. “I didn’t feel it. For one moment, I didn’t feel it.”

“Feel what?” Sheridan said, raising an eyebrow.

She chuckled.

“No, I felt you… Don’t worry about that. I mean the trouble. There just weren’t any troubles. Everything was right with the world, and…”

Sheridan turned on his side and looked at her.

“Mind you, it hit the spot. It really took me where I needed to go.”

“Me too,” Sheridan said.

“Especially after last night.”

There was a knock on the door and they both froze.

The knock was rapid again.

Shelley put a finger to her lips.

For a while there was silence, and then another knock. And then a sigh. A few moments passed where they knew someone was on the other side of the door, and then a note shot underneath it and feet moved away.

“I’ll get it,” Sheridan said, and climbed out of bed, and crossing the room to pick the sheet up.

“I know who it’s from,” Shelley said, tiredly, her hand out.

Sheridan handed it to her.

“Fuck,” she muttered.

YOU MISSED CLASS AGAIN. DON’T THINK I’M GOING TO PASS YOU JUST CAUSE WE’RE FAMILY. WE NEED TO TALK, YOUNG LADY.

YOUR UNCLE

“So,” Claire asked, coming back into the living room where Meredith was lying half asleep on the sofa with Mathan sitting up beside her, “do you want to stay here, or go to the bridal shop?”

“I should go to the hospital,” Meredith said, turning to Mathan.

Mathan said, “We can both go later.”

“It doesn’t seem right not to go now.”

“She has parents,” Claire reminded Meredith. “She has parents who will probably want her to themselves.”

“And she has Sheridan and Chay,” Mathan reminded her.

“Oh, heck, I’ll go with you then,” Meredith said.

“Good, your sister’ll be here in a few minutes anyway.”

“A morning at the dress shop,” Mathan murmured.

“You know what?” Meredith said. “I actually am kind of excited.”

There was a knock at the door, and then the door opened and a voice shouted from the entryway downstairs. “That knock was symbolic. You know I just busted in.”

“Come on up, Mrs. Affren,” Claire called.

“I think I will, Mrs. Lawden,” came the reply from below, and then as she entered the house, pushed her dark hair behind her back and resituating herself she said, “And Mr. Lawden!”

Julian grinned, and Dena cuffed Mathan on the head by way of greeting.

She came near Meredith and kissed her on the head, sitting down.

“And how the hell are you, after all that drama last night?”

“I’m fine, Dena,” Meredith said.

“She’s fine,” Dena echoed. “Me and Milo were a mess. Mom called me as soon as she heard about Robin.” Dena looked at Meredith. “Bill wanted to go to the hospital and bring you back. I convinced him not to.”

“I have never been able to convince Bill Affren of anything,” Meredith marveled.

“You convinced him to let you move here after your parents divorced.”

“That was the only thing,” Meredith told her. “You’ve got him wrapped around your finger.”

“Well, you’re his baby,” Dena explained. “I was a grown woman sleeping with his nephew when he married my mother.”

Julian coughed, but Dena said. “We’re all grown ups, right?”

“Do I need to get dressed up to go with you guys to the dress fitting?”

“No,” Dena said, “Not even the soon to be Mrs. Boyd is going to be dressed.”

“You are,” Meredith pointed out.

“That’s because I’m the shit. Oh, wait,” Dena reached into her purse and pulled out her phone.

“Yeah… Yeah… Uh, were you late? Yeah, we’re going to her dress fitting. Oh, God yes, please talk to him when he gets in. He can be a lose cannon. I love him, but… I don’t want him to fuck this up for her.”

She hung up.

“It was Mr. Brendan Miller—who has taken time out of his busy law classes to call me and say that Sheridan called him this morning and had him drive him to Loretto where he left his car last night. And why did Sheridan, a seventeen year old boy, have his car at Loretto College?”

“He’s screwing this slut—” Meredith said.

“Mare,” Mathan reprimanded.

“Well, he is. And this bitch is a college student, I know it.”

“She’s hot though,” Mathan said.

Meredith Affren looked at him sharply.

“Not hot like you,” Mathan insisted.

Meredith took a long time to turn her baleful eyes from Mathan, and Dena said, “All this drama and it’s not even eleven o’clock. Let’s get on over to the shop. Adele and Danasia are waiting.”

Sheridan had the feeling he’d been gone too long, and he was wasting time that ought to have been spent in something else, though what the something else was he couldn’t remember. Then, as he came onto Clawson Street and parked in front of his house, he did. He wanted to get Chay and go back to the hospital with him and, really, he would have liked to have done that by now. Instead he’d taken time off to rekindle things with Shelley and it was damn near eleven o’clock now. Not that he regretted it. Sheridan liked to savor his sex. It usually stayed with him a long time after it was over, good and comfortable. It made him feel elated, and last night it had been blasted away by the terrible news of Robin. The only thing was that he was still thinking of Robin and Chay and Robin in that hospital bed.

“I thought they’d never stop. How can they just keep doing that, Sheridan? Just keep doing it to a girl like they’ll never stop? Do you do it like that, Sher? Do girls like it when you do it to them?”

Remembering her say this made him a little sick. And it shouldn’t have. He’d never done anything like rape. And yes, girls did like it when he did it to them. And he never felt like he was doing anything TO anyone. But still, he felt faintly nauseous remembering her words.

Sheridan realized he’d exited time for a while, that he was simply sitting in the car. He got out and went up the walk, climbing the steps of the porch to the house.

“So there he is,” Sheridan heard, and turned around.

“Will!”

Sheridan crossed the kitchen to his messy haired brother who was pushing up his glasses.

“I didn’t see your van.”

“It’s this thing called a garage,” Will Klasko said. “I heard you’ve been in some trouble, little brother.”

Sheridan stood there, grinning, and then suddenly he hugged his brother.

“I haven’t been in trouble,” Sheridan told him, “for once. But Robin…”

“I heard.”

“You really do look like a scientist now, Will,” Sheridan said.

“Which means I look a mess,” his older brother said. “And you look more Abercrombie every time I see you.”

“Yes,” Sheridan said. “Intense worry, sleep deprivation and lack of bathing is the new look I hear they’re going for.”

“Well, go shower. I’m not going anywhere. Incidentally, you got a call from Meredith asking if you wanted to go to the hospital.”

“Sure,” Sheridan said, hanging his coat on the hook. “When?”

Will Klasko, a lock of dark hair hanging in his face, made a sour grimace and said, like a curse, “After the dressfitting.”

“Now, this,” said the woman at the dress shop, “is what they call classic. You won’t just look like a princess, you’ll look like a queen.”

“It beats what I had with Julian,” Claire said, fingering the hem of the gown.

“It definitely beats what I had,” Adele said.

“Not me,” Dena admitted.

Meredith looked at her and Dena shrugged. “I was just being honest.”

“It’s you, girl,” Danasia said. “Definitely you.”

“Well?” said Adele.

The bride to be in her white gown, cocked her head, looking at her reflection in the mirror, and then she turned around, grinning and said:

“It’s perfect!”

“I agree, Layla,” Adele said, touching her daughter’s hand. “I agree completely.”