Page 18 of Tell Me Softly
It wasn’t until then that I realized my hand was still squeezing hers. I loosened my fingers and stepped away, trying to get hold of my thoughts. Kam was having an effect on me. When shewas close, all I could think about was having her closer, and that unnerved me––hadn’t I always hoped I’d never see her again?
Just then, someone else walked over.
“Are you all right, Kami?” a brown-haired kid asked. I didn’t remember him from school, but I did think I’d seen him somewhere.
“She’s fine, bro,” I answered, stepping between the two of them before I realized what I was doing. Was it an overreaction? Hell yes.What’s going on with you, Thiago?I asked myself.
“I wasn’t talking to you,” the guy said. Kam came forward to reply.
“I’m fine, Julian, thanks,” she said with a friendly smile. “Thiago was just telling me he’d give me a ride home.”
Now I was even more confused and irritated.Julian. Julian…that name rings a bell, I thought.
“If he can’t, I’d be happy to take you home,” Julian said. I didn’t like the way he was looking at her. I knew what was going through this head because it was the same thing that went through mine each time I laid eyes on her.
“I mean, if I’m not imposing…”
“I’m taking her,” I cut him off, grabbing Kam’s arm and pulling her away from him. Julian looked at her and then at me, and I saw something in his eyes I didn’t like.
“Haven’t we met before?” I asked him.
“I doubt it,” he said.
“Julian starts school on Monday,” Kam interjected, sounding calmer than she had in the minutes before.
“Good for him,” I said. “Let’s go.”
I pulled her toward the door, and she didn’t put up any resistance. I don’t know why, but my instincts told me I needed to get her away from that creep. Once we were outside, I let her go, and she repeated again that she wanted her phone back.
“Take me home, give me my phone, wah wah…why do you feel like you get to say who does what?”
“First of all, I can’t get home because you have my phone. Second, the phone’s mine. Third, I’m not ten anymore, and I’m not going to let you annoy me and pick on me the way you used to. I’m grown up now,” she said.
“Oh, you are, huh? Well, I sure wish you’d told me. Because you’re still acting like a little girl, and little girls aren’t allowed to have cell phones.”
“Dumbass,” she said, reaching for her phone, which I’d removed from my pocket and was holding up in the air. The closer she got, the harder it was for me to remember that I hated her. Her scent overwhelmed me, and the warmth was melting me inside.
“Give it to me, goddammit!”
Just then, someone behind me grabbed the phone out of my hand. We both turned to see who it was.
Taylor told me sternly, “Leave her alone, Thiago,” and passed the phone back to Kam, who smiled at him. Now I was annoyed again. This reminded me of when we were kids and they would take sides against me.
“Well, well, princess,” I said, “looks like your knight in shining armor’s shown up to rescue you.” Calmly, I took a cigarette out of the back pocket of my pants and lit it.
“Since when do you smoke?” Kam asked.
“There’s lots you don’t know about me,” I said, using the exact words she’d used with me a few days before.
“Give me one,” Taylor said and reached for my pack.
“You too?” Kam asked, looking disappointed. With me, she hadn’t been surprised, but then, Taylor had always been the good boy.
“I’ve got an idea,” Taylor said. “How about we all try to get along?”
All my suppressed anger, which I thought I’d managed to get away from that evening, returned with those simple words. How dare he just pretend what had happened with us was some kind of childish spat that time and distance should have made go away?
“I thought you hated her, little brother. What, y’all are supposed to be besties now?” I waited for my words to sink in. His eyes turned to the ground. Sullenly, he asked Kam, “Do you want a ride home or what?”
