behind my back protesting their need to feel it for myself.
“Ok, if you’re sure.” He finally grinned, but it wasn’t a full-on smile.
“We’d better hurry up. You are getting close to your Jenna quota.”
He laughed and we walked out of the classroom, then the building. We got into his car and took off towards my house.
“Are you hungry or anything?” He looked over at me. There’s this feeling you get when someone asks you if you want food or something to drink but they are really asking because they are hungry or thirsty.
“Not really. I mean I could use a Coke. Are you?” I sang the ‘you’ part to let him know I was onto him.
“Yeah . ..” he laughed. . . “I’m starving. But I can wait.”
“No, it’s fine. Anyway, I usually get home a lot later. So it’s not a big deal.”
“Ok, where?” he asked as he drove that stubborn stick shift.
“ I don’t care. Anywhere.” And I would. I would go anywhere with him.
We drove around for a while and then we stopped at this taco stand that had the most divine carne asada tacos ever. I had never had them and got this flabbergasted “What? You’ve never had…” he sighed and shook his head . We ate and talked and talked some more. About 20 minutes before I usually arrived home, we left.
We pulled up at the blue house with the unkempt yard and I was so relieved that they weren’t home that my whole body allowed itself to relax. It was as if I was in a full body cast and someone had just cut it off.
He asked me if we could go out again this Saturday, during the day.
I said , “of course.”
We decid ed that he would pick me up at three so that he could go home after work and get some rest and my shi ft at the music store ended at two .
I tried not to stay in the car too long because I didn’t want to get caught by my parents or tattle tailed on by my nosey neighbors either. But truth be told, if he had suggested driving away and never looking back…if it wasn’t for May…I would’ve gone in a heartbeat.
I threaded my small childlike fingers through his warm calloused ones and sighed all the things I was feeling.
He shook my hand to wake me from my pity party and said, “I don’t want you to go but I don’t want you to stay here and get in trouble either. You know?”
All I could do was nod.
I reached up out of pure instinct and ran my hands down the back of his skull trimmed hair. He looked at me in a way I had never been looked at before and couldn’t explain.
Then the loudest horn I had ever heard blared from behind us. We both turned around and there was a huge truck trying to get around Carlos’ car to get onto the freeway. We said a quick , “See you tomorrow.” The horn blared again as I scrambled to get out of the car so he could drive out of the way of the trucker with the Jeeper’s Creepers horn attached to his truck.
I walked up the drive feeling a loss of something. I felt the loss of his presence and was reminded of my life as I turned the knob to that horrible white doo r with the sad duct taped window .
Chapter 13
That afternoon and night went as close to normal as I get. I went to work, and when I got home my mom and step-dad were home so I finished some homework and played with May. She had gotten a toy as a treat for good work in her new preschool. Who knows where they got the
“Ok, if you’re sure.” He finally grinned, but it wasn’t a full-on smile.
“We’d better hurry up. You are getting close to your Jenna quota.”
He laughed and we walked out of the classroom, then the building. We got into his car and took off towards my house.
“Are you hungry or anything?” He looked over at me. There’s this feeling you get when someone asks you if you want food or something to drink but they are really asking because they are hungry or thirsty.
“Not really. I mean I could use a Coke. Are you?” I sang the ‘you’ part to let him know I was onto him.
“Yeah . ..” he laughed. . . “I’m starving. But I can wait.”
“No, it’s fine. Anyway, I usually get home a lot later. So it’s not a big deal.”
“Ok, where?” he asked as he drove that stubborn stick shift.
“ I don’t care. Anywhere.” And I would. I would go anywhere with him.
We drove around for a while and then we stopped at this taco stand that had the most divine carne asada tacos ever. I had never had them and got this flabbergasted “What? You’ve never had…” he sighed and shook his head . We ate and talked and talked some more. About 20 minutes before I usually arrived home, we left.
We pulled up at the blue house with the unkempt yard and I was so relieved that they weren’t home that my whole body allowed itself to relax. It was as if I was in a full body cast and someone had just cut it off.
He asked me if we could go out again this Saturday, during the day.
I said , “of course.”
We decid ed that he would pick me up at three so that he could go home after work and get some rest and my shi ft at the music store ended at two .
I tried not to stay in the car too long because I didn’t want to get caught by my parents or tattle tailed on by my nosey neighbors either. But truth be told, if he had suggested driving away and never looking back…if it wasn’t for May…I would’ve gone in a heartbeat.
I threaded my small childlike fingers through his warm calloused ones and sighed all the things I was feeling.
He shook my hand to wake me from my pity party and said, “I don’t want you to go but I don’t want you to stay here and get in trouble either. You know?”
All I could do was nod.
I reached up out of pure instinct and ran my hands down the back of his skull trimmed hair. He looked at me in a way I had never been looked at before and couldn’t explain.
Then the loudest horn I had ever heard blared from behind us. We both turned around and there was a huge truck trying to get around Carlos’ car to get onto the freeway. We said a quick , “See you tomorrow.” The horn blared again as I scrambled to get out of the car so he could drive out of the way of the trucker with the Jeeper’s Creepers horn attached to his truck.
I walked up the drive feeling a loss of something. I felt the loss of his presence and was reminded of my life as I turned the knob to that horrible white doo r with the sad duct taped window .
Chapter 13
That afternoon and night went as close to normal as I get. I went to work, and when I got home my mom and step-dad were home so I finished some homework and played with May. She had gotten a toy as a treat for good work in her new preschool. Who knows where they got the
Similar Books
