“Yeah, Taylor’s there. She’s always there. I bet she has a cot hidden in the back room somewhere. She cares way too much about that place.” I took a long sip of my water.
Rob leaned back in his chair causing his Freshly Made shirt to stretch against his chest. “You’re probably right. But I guess it’s good to care about something though, right?”
Better to care about some “thing” than some people. “I guess so.”
“Oh great, the assistant just realized I left my post.” He stood up. “Hey, do you want to grab a bite or something after work?”
His nose crinkled a little, and it looked kind of cute.
“I can’t. I have a lot of… school work to do.” Okay, so not that much, but I had some.
He wiped up a bit of water that had spilled on my table. “Oh, no problem. I’ll see you around then.”
I watched him walk back with his shoulders hunched just a bit. Yes, he’s nice. Yes, he’s cute. Yes, he’s funny. But there are too many buts. He doesn’t know about my mom. Who wants to hear the sob story of an orphan? I would probably start crying if a guy said, “So tell me about your family.”
Well, let’s see. I never met my dad and found out he died when I was ten. My mom died of cancer just over a year ago and my brother — who was my best friend — took off just months after my mom’s death. So there you go. Tell me about your family. Having someone pity me is not what I want. Not again.
****
It was two months after my mom had passed away. I was sitting in algebra class when I got a text on my phone from Zoe. Eric Hunter wants 2 tlk 2 u aftr school!!!
I nearly fell out of my chair when I read the message. Eric Hunter was the guy, I mean, the guy. Most popular in our class, champion basketball player, honor roll student, adored by all. We had never spoken before. Correction, we did exchange words once. Eric’s mom and my mom knew each other, old college alumni. Eric’s mom came over to my house to drop something off, and Eric was sitting in his mom’s car waiting. Still panting, I had just come back from a run. This was not the best day to run into Eric Hunter. My entire body was covered in sweat, and I was pretty sure I had mascara raccoon eyes. During the tail-end of my run, I was bopping along to the song playing on my MP3 player so much so that as I turned the corner into my driveway, I ran right into the back of Mrs. Hunter’s car.
“Hey, are you all right?” Eric’s voice was warm, like clothes fresh out of the dryer.
After wiping some dirt off my legs, I looked into Eric Hunter’s big brown eyes and mumbled, “Don’t look at me,” before running into my house. Classic.
That was why Zoe’s text about him wanting to talk to me had thrown me for a loop. After my final class, I rushed to the girls’ restroom to fix my hair and apply a fresh coat of my favorite mauve lip gloss. Then I waited near the front doors of the school.
“Hey,” Eric said as he sauntered over to me. “You wanna go for a ride somewhere?” He flipped his long bangs to the side.
“Su-sure,” I stammered. With all my might, I tried not to stare at his profile as he drove — but I couldn’t help it. I didn’t even know where we were going, and I didn’t care. This was Eric Hunter! We finally arrived at the local pizza place. When I started to open my door, he said, “Wait,” and he got out from his side and walked around to open my car door for me. He took my hand in his, which felt large and a bit rough, but warm, oh so warm. Over pizza he talked about basketball and why he hated calculus. While sharing mozzarella sticks, we debated over who had the better taste in music and movies and books. I smiled a lot. My cheeks actually were a little sore from smiling. It had been months since I’d smiled like that.
He drove me home. We sat in his car in front of my house and listened to some music. His hand held mine, and his thumb was softly caressing the back of my hand. Just as I turned toward him to say I should be getting inside, I was met by his lips on mine. They were as soft as they looked, and I felt like I was melting into him. My entire body tingled and I felt… alive.
“Thanks for a fun date,” he said after our lips parted.
I could still feel my mouth tingling. “Thank you.” The words fell slowly off my lips.
“I’m glad I could make you smile.” He leaned back into his seat. “My mom’s been pretty worried about you.”
I was now coming out of the fog from the kiss. There was something about his last statement that seemed off to me. “What do you mean?”
He shifted uncomfortably. “You know. She’s been talking a lot about you. She’s just been worried about how you were doing since… since your mom died.” He looked out the window now.
I felt all my muscles tighten. “So did you take me out because your mom told you to?” I wanted to eject myself from the car.
He looked at me and stroked my cheek. “You had a good time today, right? You laughed and smiled, right? That’s all I wanted to do. Give you a good day.”
I felt rage bubble up inside me. Frantically, I grabbed my purse and flung the car
