Page 100 of A Brush with Love
“What are you doing here?” Harper asked again. She wanted Thu to leave.
She wasn’t mad or annoyed at her friend’s invasion. She didn’t have the energy for such complicated feelings. She just wanted Thu gone so she could go back to work, back to reading word after word until her body was numb and her mental image of Dan’s pain-stricken face was blurred.
Thu turned, anger flashing in her eyes.
“What am I doing here? Oh, I don’t know, Harper. Maybe it has something to do with you having a massive meltdown? Or maybe it has something to do with you avoiding me at school? Or ignoring my texts and calls for over a week? Or maybe it’s the fact that Iknewif I broke into your apartment, I’d find you greasy-haired and tearstained, hunched over a textbook, looking like Gollum?”
The words floated through Harper. She could understand their meaning, but she couldn’t feel them. She couldn’t feel much. Justpain. And if she tried hard enough, she could pretend she didn’t feel that either.
Thu moved suddenly, wrapping Harper in a strong hug, squeezing her tightly. Harper wasn’t sure what to do; her arms didn’t seem to be working. A sudden sense of exhaustion flooded her, and she felt her body soften under Thu’s embrace.
“I’m here to figure out what the fuck is going on. And then to help you fix it.”
“Thu, I—”
“Shut up. We aren’t talking right now.”
Thu dropped her arms and returned to the food. She picked up a container, grabbed two beers, and settled onto the couch. When Harper didn’t immediately follow, Thu fixed her with a no-nonsense glare. Harper reluctantly grabbed a carton of Thai food and sat next to Thu.
The food was from her favorite spot, the same place Dan always picked up takeout for her. The familiar smell of it made her stomach knot.
“Eat.”
“Thu, I appreciate all of this, but I’ve got to get back to—” Harper pointed toward her bedroom, but Thu cut her off before she could finish.
“Eat the goddamn food, or I’ll hurt you.”
Harper didn’t have the energy to fight.
She wrapped a small rice noodle around her fork and brought it to her lips. Glancing back at Thu, who still gave her the evil eye, Harper ate the noodle. It was delicious. She tried to remember the last time she ate, and when she came up blank, she began shoving bigger bites into her mouth.
“Now, drink.” Thu twisted off the caps of the bottles and thrust one at Harper. Harper opened her mouth to protest, but one look at Thu’s cocked head and challenging eyes forced herto accept it. She took a tiny sip and set it down, digging back into her food.
Seemingly satisfied with Harper’s steady consumption, Thu turned on the TV. And flipped to football.
Intentionally.
Thu intentionally put on sports.
Something was terribly wrong.
Harper waited for Thu to crack a joke or turn it into a ‘gotcha’ moment, but after several minutes without Thu’s eyes leaving the screen and even a loud “Oh!” at a tackle, Harper’s curiosity won out.
“So… what’s this?”
Thu took a swig of her beer. “It’s called football. Very popular with kids these days.”
“Huh…” Harper said, tapping her nail against her beer bottle. “Why are we watching it?”
“No reason we shouldn’t engage in America’s pastime like everyone else.”
“Baseball is America’s pastime, and we don’t like sports.”
“Semantics,” Thu said with a wave of her hand.
Harper gave it a few more minutes, periodically looking between her friend and the TV, trying to get the joke.
“But whyfootball?”
