Outcome

wet ends tickling the tops of my ears, and my neck.

I stopped as I entered, seeing Haley looking at the technique poster, her back to me as she tried to imitate what she saw there. Sabum Nim had hung the poster up a few years back when an irate parent had come in after their precious little boy had gotten hurt, by being stupid. They wanted to know and be able to see everything that we did without having to take the time to actually stay for an entire class. I remember my teacher had been so angry, thinking the poster cheapened his dojang. He nearly kicked the kid out altogether.

Haley brought her hand up, staring at her palm as she looked back at the poster.

'That is the sonbadak.' She swung around, startled. I grinned, as I walked toward her. 'Sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.'

'Oh, that’s okay.' She looked at me, eyes trailing over my tank and jeans. 'You really shouldn’t hide that.' She said, looking back into my face. Confused, I looked down at myself, then at her, still no clearer.

'Hide what?'

'That body of yours. I know you say you’re not interested in dating right now, which is cool, but wouldn’t it be nice to at least be looked at? I mean, I had no idea, though I guess it makes sense with your Tae Kwon Do and yoga, and stuff.'

I looked away, thoroughly embarrassed, suddenly very shy, and feeling quite uncomfortable. I wished I had a sweatshirt of jacket on about now.

'Um, thanks.' I smiled weakly, crossing my arms over my chest.

'What, do you think I’m going to stare at your breasts?' I looked at her, surprised, my arms immediately going to my sides. Haley had her hands on her hips, a quirky smile on her lips.

'No.' She chuckled.

'Come on, explain this stuff to me.' I walked over to her, still surprised. Only one other human being had ever noticed that I even had breasts, and I sure as hell didn’t want to think about him. 'What is this?' Haley pointed to the forearm of the man on the poster.

'That is called the palmok. You use it right here.' I slapped my forearm to show her. 'This is the yop joomuk,' I slapped the side of my fist. 'Ap joomuk,' I pointed to my knuckles, 'And finally, dung joomuk.' I pointed to the back of my hand. Haley listened intently as I went through the body, explaining what each was called, and what it was used for.

'Wow,' She shook her head. 'How long did it take you to learn all that?'

'Not as long as you’d think, but then I was six years old, and most children learn much faster than adults.'

'Show me how you flipped that guy this morning.' She said, a twinkle in her eye. 'That was really cool, and I’d love to see you do that to Jimmy.' I chuckled, nodded, slowly moving myself in front of Haley, grabbed her arm, and down she went with a whoosh of air from her lungs. She stared at me from the floor, dazed. She blinked rapidly before her eyes focused up on me. 'Oh.' Chuckling, I reached down and grabbed her hand, helping her to her feet. She ran her hands through her hair, pushing it back into some sort of order, then turned to look at me. 'Warning next time?'

'Sure thing. That’s how it’s done. Are you okay?' She nodded. 'I’m sorry. I just couldn’t resist.' I smiled, trying to not laugh, but it was slowly seeping through.

'That’s okay, it’s okay. You’ll just teach me, and remember, Andi,' She leaned in close to me, staring me in the eye, 'paybacks are a bitch.' She ran her hands through her hair again, and smiled at me. 'So, hungry?'

'Well, yeah.'

'Great. Come on.' She grabbed her purse from the floor, pulling the bag’s strap across her chest. 'Why don’t we drop off a car, it doesn’t make sense to have both of them out, and then we can grab some lunch. Sound good?' I nodded, excited to spend some time with her.

We began to walk toward the door.

'Would you teach me some Tae Kwon Do stuff?' I looked up at her, surprised by the question.

'Sure. What do you want to learn?'

'All of it. I think it’s such a beautiful sport, well, I guess it’s a sport. Anyway, it’s just a good thing to know, too, I think.' I nodded in agreement.

'How much time do you have today? We could begin.'

'Well, let’s see.' She exhaled a deep breath as she thought. 'I’m free until tonight. I promised I’d go with Kelly to her little sister’s Thanksgiving play at the elementary school. That’s at seven, so before that,' she shrugged.

'Cool. Okay.'

'I’ll see you at my house? Want to drive today?' I smiled.

'Yeah.' I didn’t get to drive that often, so I was pretty excited about it; it gave me a sense of responsibility and control to some degree. I had saved nearly every paycheck from the lab in the time I’d been there, and my mom promised that she’d match what I’d saved to buy me a car this winter. I couldn’t wait. It was to be my Christmas present.

Haley jumped into the passenger seat, and we got going from her house. She looked around the car, one corner of her mouth turned up in a sardonic smile.

'Gee, I barely remember the last time I was in this car.'

'I bet you do. It was interesting, huh?' She glanced at me, and I smiled at her.

'Yeah, something like that. Andi, can I ask you a question?'

'Shoot.'

'Well, okay, but you can’t get mad at me or defensive.'

'Oh, boy. I just love these kind of question. Okay, I promise.'

'So, you’re not interested in dating, you’ve made that clear. But why? I mean, is it just high school guys, guys right now, guys in general, what’s the deal?' I sighed as I thought about it, trying to come up with some sort of an answer that made sense, and that she’d accept.

'Well, high school guys are kind of a turn off for me, for one.'

'Why?' I smiled.

'Curiosity killed the cat, you know.'

'And satisfaction brought it back, don’t avoid the question.'

I chuckled. 'Well, I think they’re quite immature, interested in only one thing, and I’ve already made that mistake.' I felt her eyes boring into me.

'Andi?'

'Haley?'

'Have you been with a guy? Like, had sex?' I sighed again, nodded.

'No shit! I never would have guessed. Who was it? When did it happen? Were you guys dating?'

'Whoa. Slow down there, chick. You might hurt yourself. His name was Rick, and it happened last summer when we worked at the lab together.'

'Rick what? Would I know him?'

'I doubt it, unless you’ve been hanging around New Mexico and didn’t tell me. He worked there during college here, and graduated last spring.'

'A summer romance. Wow. Was he cute?' I glanced at her as I turned into the parking lot of Carlo’s Pizza Heaven.

'Man, you’re just full of questions, aren’t you?' She grinned like an idiot, nodding vigorously. God, how could I ever resist that? 'Yes, he was a good-looking guy. Dark hair, bright grayish eyes. But, he was an ass, and was only after one thing.'

'So, you were with this one guy, and he was an asshole, so automatically you assume every guy is like that?' We got out of the car, walked toward the building.

'Well, isn’t every guy this age like that?' I asked her, pushing the door open, and holding it for her.

'Thanks. Yeah, pretty much.' She chuckled.

'Alright, then.' We walked through the restaurant until we found a booth, and sat down. 'The thing is, I wasn’t looking for a relationship, or anything even remotely serious, and I knew that I was a notch for him, but I guess I’m just kind of mad at myself now, for not thinking it through.' Haley looked at me as she grabbed a menu.