“You did the right thing when you could’ve done the wrong.”
“But I almost—”
“But you didn’t.”
His muscles tighten as he nods. “Guess I shouldn’t focus on what I almost did.”
“Doesn’t make sense to.”
He dips his chin. “Yeah, I guess not. See you around.”
I watch him walk up the tree-lined street for a good twenty seconds as I commit this to memory. I have a class I’m supposed to be at, but real life is the best training I could ask for. Professor Miller will forgive me my tardiness. I’m her best student. Plus, I made her cum pretty damn hard.
“Hey kid.” I glance over to the old guy as he presses his ashes into the bottom step. “I wanna be you when I grow up.” He cackles his brains out, having the time of his life.
Heading to class, I chuckle and shake my head, “And I want to be you when I grow up, sir.”
CHAPTER 4
T ONK JR.
“T onk, just the roommate I’ve been looking for!” Daniel says while shoveling cereal in his mouth as I walk into a cloud that could get four people high. “Why is your rent check on the counter? I woke up and thought I was imagining things.”
Setting my book bag on our small dining room table, I lift an eyebrow. “It’s May 1st. Put the pipe down for a while.”
His laugh offers a fresh view of rainbow-colored, half-chewed Fruit Loops. “When was April? I mean, when did it end?”
“Once a year since the beginning of—”
“—Don’t mess with me, Tonk!”
Laughing I tell him, “I’ve got some studying to do.”
“It’s too sunny to do it on the fire escape, man.”
“It’s never too sunny.” I snag my composition notebook from the coffee table, glance to his paused video game and head off.
“I need some sex pointers, Tonk!”
“You just have to want to learn. The rest is easy.” Pulling the old window up so I can squeeze under its chipped frame, I add with a grunt, “Men are too selfish, that’s the problem.”
“I’m not selfish!”
Holding it with a firm grip so it doesn’t slam onto my back, I ask, “What is your goal when you’re having sex?”
Daniel looks at me like that’s the dumbest question he’s ever heard. “To cum!”
“See what I mean? Selfish.” I duck outside and stand up to stretch under a warm, bright sky with a view of green trees as far as my eye can see. We’re lucky to be facing Morningside Park. We could have had an apartment with skyscrapers all around us blocking out if it’s day or night.
Coming from Louisiana, I’d have missed the wide open sky.
I take a seat on a rickety wooden chair I found left on the sidewalk one day which I then carried up for this use, and for the millionth time over the course of the last weeks, Stacy appears in my mind. I haven’t been able to find her. We crossed paths on just two occasions and then she disappeared. There’s a gnawing sensation in my gut that won’t go away. It’s not just because I’m worried about her, and I am.
Opening my notepad I scroll old notes of what I’ve been learning from real life, and begin to write today’s passage. I want to analyze what just happened, how I’d successfully stopped a fight outside my class, by talking it out over the misunderstanding of two friends who were screaming about which one liked some guy first.
I’m writing so fast in cursive that my pen flies out of my hand and clatters through our rusty fire escape’s railing. I try to catch it but gravity is a worthy opponent. It flies to the sidewalk like it was dying to be free.
The middle part in a female’s shiny hair is in my direct line of vision as I lean over and watch the stroller stop. Nimble fingers reach for my pen and lift it as her head rises with it. We lock eyes and my heart jumps.
“Is this yours?”
“It’s yours if you want it, Stacy.”
She smiles, surprised to see me, too. “Do you always throw gifts at your recipients?”
Leaning elbows on the fire escape I volley back, “Had to get your attention some way. You were about to pass by without saying hello.”
“I didn’t see you.”
“Weren’t looking hard enough.”
One hand lands on her hip as she juts it, and she’s absolutely adorable. “I wasn't looking at all!”
“I’m offended.” My eyebrows lift. “I wore this shirt just for you.”
“You wore a simple blue buttonup shirt for me?”
“Yep.”
Stifling a smile, she rolls her eyes. “That is impossible. Both times I’ve seen you before today, you’ve worn that style of shirt. And also, you had no way of knowing I would be here, so don’t even try to pull that with me.”
I laugh, “If I had known you would be walking underneath my stoop, I would definitely have worn this shirt. So I guess it was just a lucky selection.”
“That’s not a stoop.” She points to the paint-chipped, dusty-red stairs leading up to my building. “That’s a stoop.”
Her child makes noises like nap time is over. I’ve still never seen this baby. A guilty shadow darkens Stacy’s walnut-brown eyes and she hurries over to see if the child needs anything. She was having a good time and that is not what she is supposed to do. At least not with me.
But it doesn’t feel as simple as guilt over flirting with a stranger when you’re taken. This was friendly banter easily written off by anyone with nothing to hide and no one to be afraid of. Or maybe I’ve got it wrong. Perhaps it’s because she’s attracted to me and knows that’s
