Blood Ties Read Online Free

strong that I’d considered dropping out of school and leaving. I was out sick half the time. It was a miracle I’d graduated and hadn’t been kicked off the basketball and track team. The coaches schmoozed the principal, all hush-hush. I paid them back with two state championships.
    “How about you?”
    She feigned a sorrowful sigh. “Sad, sad story. I almost burned down the all-girls private college my parents forced on me.” She shrugged. “I snuck in some boys and a little of this …” She imitated taking a drag from a homemade cigarette then waved her fingers in the air. “… and a little of that and the party got a little out of control.”
    My new BF, a pyromaniac. A bit of that ran in my family too. One of my nephews accidently set my sister’s house on fire, four times. The most notable attempt was setting off firecrackers in the bathroom. He wanted to make sure he was close to water, just in case it got out of hand. I have an interesting family.
    She shrugged. “I was infamous after that and decided to get out of town, escape the bourgeois elite. St. Germaine sounded as good as any. They have a great little graphic design department here.” She let out a dreamy sigh. “My goal is to live the life of a Bohemian in questionable art communities.”
    I couldn’t see it. She looked like an ad for suburbian-chic with an urban, back-alley twist. I guess everyone could have their little fantasies. Me, I was trying to dump mine and fit in with everyone else. Nobody I knew lived in another world while they slept, but again, who would admit it.
    I pulled out a box and handed it to her. She wrapped her arms around it and balanced it on her stomach. The box was big enough that it hid her face. I grabbed the garbage bags and hoisted them over my shoulders and kicked the door shut. We took off towards the apartment building.
    She walked in short bursts, doing her best to keep up with my long strides. Her muffled voice came from behind me. “Boyfriends … I bet you’ve got a slew of them.”
    I winced. Back home I hadn’t been into dating but had a lot of practice in maneuvering around them to the chagrin of my friends and family. It was a force of genetics that once you hit the age of fourteen, the Iowa frenzied mating dance began, not ending until there was a pack of little ones clamoring at your feet. The earlier you married, the earlier the parents could retire, the next generation bred to take over the farm. I don’t have anything against the concept of marriage, or mating for that matter. It’s just that I’ll never get married – ever. The mere thought of it makes me want to scream and run to the hills. My family calls it “Liz’s little phobia.” I always refused to justify or explain it. Hell, I didn’t even know why I’d rather slit my wrists than hear the Wedding March.
    I shrugged. “Just taking a break. Yourself?”
    “I’m free and clear. Cleaned out my closet when I left Chicago.” She struggled to get the box through the door without dropping it. A student propped it open and she stumbled through. I dropped my bags and grabbed it from her before it fell out of her hands.
    “I’ll show you off when we’re done,” she wheezed.
    I gave her a quelling look.
    She grabbed the ties on the garbage bags with her fists and began to drag them up the stairs behind her. “Okay, maybe not. I’ve got your back.”
    Good to know.
     
     
    ***
     
     
    “You’ve got your lowers, uppers, and mids ... jocks, jockettes, geeks, geekettes,” she whispered as we moved down the hall. Most of the apartments had their doors open and she waved at the occupants. “hotties … normals, abi-normals, desperates, lactose-intolerants …” She saw the question on my face. “… sodaholics.” She paused to inhale. “Microbials, tree-huggers, hunter-gatherers, and band-geeks. We even have our own resident spook squad.” She waved enthusiastically to a group huddled on one side of the hall talking