I distinctly remember having a crush on Tia back then.”
“Tia!”
“Yeah. I think all middle school guys—the straight ones, anyway—fantasize about getting in good with the wild girl. But I realized someday a couple of her boyfriends were going to duel each other in the parking lot. I didn’t want to be one of them.”
That sounded about right—at least, for the Tia I’d known forever. Tia had turned over a new leaf in the past couple of weeks, since she started dating Will. I asked, “You don’t think Will’s going to suffer that fate, though, do you?”
“No, opposites attract,” he said. “Opposites may repel at first, but in the long run, they’re the best thing for each other.” He shrugged. “Anyway, I don’t think the school should officially pair folks up. People don’t naturally operate as permanent couples. You get married and swear that you’re one body, operating as one unit. Half the time you unswear it a few years later and swear it again with somebody else. Everybody in my family is divorced. My parents, my grandparents, everybody . Christmas day might as well be Halloween, because it’s like we’re going from house to house, trick-or-treating.People stay individuals as they move through life, in and out of relationships. Being a couple is temporary, like cars in a train. They’re detachable so you can switch them around. I’m not saying that’s how it should be. I’m just saying that’s how it is .”
If Brody had said this to me when we first entered the pavilion, I would have been crushed that he wasn’t coming on to me after all. These were not the words of a guy who was interested in a girl and wanted her to be interested in him, too. But we’d been talking for so long, and our conversation had delved so deep, that I no longer thought he was measuring every word against whether it would advance his cause with me. Now he was just telling me the truth.
I said, “My family is like that too.”
His mouth twisted. He nodded.
And then, I couldn’t let it go, could I? I couldn’t just embrace the moment and my newfound, genuine friendship with Brody. I had to bring it back around to my superficial problem, the one that had kept me awake at night for the past two weeks, ever since the Superlatives elections. I asked, “Have you discussed this with Grace?”
He nodded. “I have. I’ve said all kinds of things to Grace. But did she hear me? I don’t know. She has this laugh. Heh! Heh! Heh!”
I knew the laugh. I hated the laugh.
Brody said, “At first you think it’s a cute, nervous laugh. Except that’s her response to everything . She can’t possibly feel the same way about everything . Or can she?”
My natural inclination was to smooth over arguments. Kaye had scolded me about this numerous times, and I had smoothed over her scolding. My automatic reaction was hard to turn off, obviously, even when I was smoothing over my crush’s problems with his girlfriend. Stupidly I suggested, “Maybe it’s you, not what you’re saying. You make Grace nervous.”
“Why would I make her nervous?” Brody grumbled.
Say it. Say it. Say it. Tell the truth. I felt like I was jumping off a cliff as I said it: “Because you’re so attractive. Maybe when you get as close to her as you are to me right now, she forgets what she was talking about.” It was a big, brazen mouthful, and after I’d gotten it out, I felt my cheeks turn bright red in the heat. I stared up at the vaulted ceiling as if it was very interesting.
Something touched my neck. I nearly put up a hand to brush away a bug. But the touch was Brody’s fingertips smoothing along my skin, backand forth across my collarbone.
I hardly knew how to process that he was touching me. I spent more time listening to my brain than paying attentionto my body. I was all mind, and my body was just a vehicle to get me from home to class and back again, like my bike or Granddad’s car or the public bus. Sure, I put my
“Tia!”
“Yeah. I think all middle school guys—the straight ones, anyway—fantasize about getting in good with the wild girl. But I realized someday a couple of her boyfriends were going to duel each other in the parking lot. I didn’t want to be one of them.”
That sounded about right—at least, for the Tia I’d known forever. Tia had turned over a new leaf in the past couple of weeks, since she started dating Will. I asked, “You don’t think Will’s going to suffer that fate, though, do you?”
“No, opposites attract,” he said. “Opposites may repel at first, but in the long run, they’re the best thing for each other.” He shrugged. “Anyway, I don’t think the school should officially pair folks up. People don’t naturally operate as permanent couples. You get married and swear that you’re one body, operating as one unit. Half the time you unswear it a few years later and swear it again with somebody else. Everybody in my family is divorced. My parents, my grandparents, everybody . Christmas day might as well be Halloween, because it’s like we’re going from house to house, trick-or-treating.People stay individuals as they move through life, in and out of relationships. Being a couple is temporary, like cars in a train. They’re detachable so you can switch them around. I’m not saying that’s how it should be. I’m just saying that’s how it is .”
If Brody had said this to me when we first entered the pavilion, I would have been crushed that he wasn’t coming on to me after all. These were not the words of a guy who was interested in a girl and wanted her to be interested in him, too. But we’d been talking for so long, and our conversation had delved so deep, that I no longer thought he was measuring every word against whether it would advance his cause with me. Now he was just telling me the truth.
I said, “My family is like that too.”
His mouth twisted. He nodded.
And then, I couldn’t let it go, could I? I couldn’t just embrace the moment and my newfound, genuine friendship with Brody. I had to bring it back around to my superficial problem, the one that had kept me awake at night for the past two weeks, ever since the Superlatives elections. I asked, “Have you discussed this with Grace?”
He nodded. “I have. I’ve said all kinds of things to Grace. But did she hear me? I don’t know. She has this laugh. Heh! Heh! Heh!”
I knew the laugh. I hated the laugh.
Brody said, “At first you think it’s a cute, nervous laugh. Except that’s her response to everything . She can’t possibly feel the same way about everything . Or can she?”
My natural inclination was to smooth over arguments. Kaye had scolded me about this numerous times, and I had smoothed over her scolding. My automatic reaction was hard to turn off, obviously, even when I was smoothing over my crush’s problems with his girlfriend. Stupidly I suggested, “Maybe it’s you, not what you’re saying. You make Grace nervous.”
“Why would I make her nervous?” Brody grumbled.
Say it. Say it. Say it. Tell the truth. I felt like I was jumping off a cliff as I said it: “Because you’re so attractive. Maybe when you get as close to her as you are to me right now, she forgets what she was talking about.” It was a big, brazen mouthful, and after I’d gotten it out, I felt my cheeks turn bright red in the heat. I stared up at the vaulted ceiling as if it was very interesting.
Something touched my neck. I nearly put up a hand to brush away a bug. But the touch was Brody’s fingertips smoothing along my skin, backand forth across my collarbone.
I hardly knew how to process that he was touching me. I spent more time listening to my brain than paying attentionto my body. I was all mind, and my body was just a vehicle to get me from home to class and back again, like my bike or Granddad’s car or the public bus. Sure, I put my
Similar Books
