“But why Asa?” Willa asked, bewildered.
“Well, for one, he’s a friend,” Carmen paused, “…sort of. And because he’s full of energy and passion—don’t you see it in the way he speaks? If he loves this town and any particular landmarks, he’ll make you fall in love with it, too and that’s exactly the kind of first impression we want for you.” Carmen grinned, her long black hair almost shimmering under the dying rays of sunlight once they stepped out of the school building and stood in the parking lot.
“Yeah, I guess that does sound fun,” Willa responded, grinning ever so slightly at the idea.
“Right then.” Carmen clapped her hands, her chin grazing the top of her intertwined fingers. She offered a small, serene smile at Willa. “We’ll do it this weekend? Or Friday after school?”
“Friday sounds about good,” Willa said, anticipation already simmering in the pit of her stomach though she tried not showing it to Carmen.
Carmen would think it odd that she felt sort of thrilled at having Asa show her around whilst she’d been keen in making it abundantly clear that she couldn’t stand the sight of him. Willa didn’t want to come off as a hypocrite. But she knew whatever this was, whatever she felt that was starting to brew in her guts for Asa San Román, it had to stop. She had to extinguish that spark before it grew into flames. Boys like Asa weren’t the kind to think with their hearts. Willa knew she was worth more than being just another notch on a manwhore’s belt.
23.
A Crack in The Glass
Asa had just stepped out of the main doors of the school and was walking towards his beaten up red truck when he noticed a familiar chestnut head disappearing inside a sedan before the vehicle began driving away, leaving another familiar head—midnight black, this time—standing by herself on the sidewalk for a few seconds before she too began walking away.
“Carmen,” he called out, his voice carrying over to her easily in the silence of their surroundings. She turned her head around though her feet kept moving forward, only coming to a gradual stop once those piercing eyes took in Asa’s figure.
She blinked once, then smiled. “Asa.” His name tumbled out of her mouth like she was taking her very first breath. “Hi.”
“Hi,” he said back, momentarily forgetting why he’d called her name. What was it that made him forget? What was it about making contact with those eyes of hers that sent static through his head, wiping out anything that had been there? What was it about looking into those mini universes of grey that turned his conscious mind into a blank slate?
But her eyes were thunderclouds and Asa should’ve known anybody could get their minds sent into overdrive when lightning struck.
“Asa?” She was smiling as if letting him know she was used to his tendency of zoning off into space whenever he was trying to have a conversation with her.
He cleared his throat. “Yeah, sorry. Just, um, spaced out for a moment there.” He let out an awkward chuckle, bringing up one of his hands to massage the nape of his neck in a weak attempt to be doing something rather than looking like an utter fool.
“Okay.” She nodded.
“Okay?” he pulled his brows together, perplexed.
“Okay, I understand you spaced out,” she explained, smiling at him again.
“Right,” he said. “Right, of course.” His hand stilled in its movements against the back of his neck, and he brought it down slowly, curling his palm into a fist, wondering why the heck she was the easiest person to approach and yet the hardest to have an easy conversation with.
For God’s sake, Willa was new and he felt more at ease with her than this girl in front of him who went to the same school as him for years, and heaven knew how many classes he’d shared with her without his knowledge.
“It’s nice to talk to you, Asa, however short our conversations might be,” she spoke so smoothly, her voice as calm and steady as ever. “But I do really need to start walking home. So…”
And within the blink of an eye, he remembered.
“AH, YES!” he exclaimed, forgetting the volume of his voice and startling Carmen as her eyes widened at his outburst. “Sorry, but I just remembered what I was going to say when you mentioned walking back. Uh, I can drive you back, actually. That’s what I wanted to say. Or ask, rather. You know. If you wanted a ride. Like last time.”
Asa balled up his other palm into a fist too, wanting more than ever to just slam his head against the concrete. Did he not know how to speak without sounding like a malfunctioning record player? Why did he keep punctuating every few words with an awkward pause?
“Don’t you have detention though?”
Oh, lovely. She knew about that, too, Asa thought. “Finished serving my sentence last week. I’m a free man now.”
Carmen cracked a smile at that last bit he said, and despite wanting to return the smile, he didn’t know if he could because when he said Carmen cracked a smile—he meant that she cracked a smile. As in, her mouth was still pressed together in the right upper corner the way it would be in a closed-mouth smile, but her lips were slightly parted towards the leftmost corner of her mouth, giving a lopsided edge to her half-grin, the way a crack in a wall might look like: jagged, and crooked; starting from one end and widening as it stretched on.
Or maybe it wasn’t like a crack in the
