Burn Girl by Mandy Mikulencak Page B

don’t have your phone number and I don’t know where you live, so this was my best chance to talk to you alone,” he added. “Hey, are you okay? You’re breathing funny.”
    I reddened to think he could read my emotions by listening to me breathe. I held my breath but felt even closer to passing out. I cringed at the audible whoosh of air from my lungs.
    â€œIf you don’t say something, I’m going to call nine-one-one,” he joked.
    I exhaled deeply a couple of times and managed to calm myself enough to speak coherently. “Nothing’s wrong. I’m just having the strangest day of my life, and I have no idea how to act or what to say.”
    I slumped with exhaustion.
    â€œThen let’s not talk for now,” he said. “Let’s sit in the park and finish our smoothies.”
    He found my hand on the first try and led me around the trolley shelter and onto the cool, green grass. We headed to the back edge of Buckley Park, which had the most sun. The angle of the grassy slope made it perfect for lying back and surveying what everyone else in the park was doing.
    I placed my hand so close to his that I swore I could feel a charge between us. What would it take for him to reach over as confidently as he had in the trolley shelter? I kicked off my sneakers and pulled off my socks. The cool grass felt great between my toes.
    â€œDo you like the smoothie?” Cody asked. “I didn’t know what flavor you’d like so I went for boring strawberry banana. I had them add ice cream so it wouldn’t be too healthy.”
    My gut clenched. My first instinct was to lie, but Cody deserved better.
    â€œYeah, about that …” I began.
    â€œOh. You didn’t like it.”
    I noticed that his usually smiling lips had turned down.
    â€œNo, it’s not that at all. It’s hard to explain. Not a lot of people know …”
    Cody sat up on his elbows. “Know what?”
    I let out one long, low breath. “I can’t taste or smell anything.”
    â€œWhat do you mean by that?”
    â€œI have a medical condition of sorts. It’s like my taste buds don’t work. I can feel texture and sense temperature, but flavors? Nada.”
    â€œJeez, that’s horrible. I can’t imagine how hard that must be.” Cody cocked his head slightly more toward me as if he wanted to listen more intently.
    â€œIt can’t be as hard as being blind,” I said.
    Cody went silent and I wondered if I’d offended him in some way. I just didn’t want him to feel sorry for me. I didn’t do pity well.
    â€œI don’t know. I get by okay, but not being able to taste a cheeseburger and fries? Or pizza? Hell on earth.” His playful smile told me I hadn’t put my foot in my mouth after all.
    â€œLet’s just say we both got bum deals and leave it at that,” I said. “At least my condition is the best diet aid ever.”
    Cody laughed heartily. “Yeah, James said you were slim.”
    â€œHe did, did he?” I liked that James noticed and thought to comment on it to his brother.
    Immediately, Cody turned purple. Not pink. Not red. Purple. At least I saw the full range of embarrassment the guy could feel.
    â€œI … I … Well, it came up when we were talking about something else. I mean, it wasn’t like we were just talking about how you looked.”
    â€œUh-huh.” His discomfort amused me. At least I wasn’t the only one mortified by our increasingly personal discussion.
    â€œMy face is red, isn’t it?” He ran his fingers through the hair that fell across his face.
    â€œWay beyond that.”
    We both laughed and returned to our lounging positions.
    â€œI like coming to this park,” he said. “So much going on all the time. Sometimes I just hang out here while James finishes a shift.”
    I listened to the sounds that Cody must be hearing: the guys