Page 28 of Tell Me Softly
After looking back and forth, trying to figure out what was going on between us, Kami said, “OK, I’m going to head out,” adjusting her designer backpack.
My brother surprised me by reaching into his pocket and pulling out a stack of bills. He peeled off forty dollars and told me to pick something up for us on the way home. I thanked him, wondering how he could be so hot and cold––so kind at some moments and so cruel at others. As I pocketed the money, I jogged off, trying to catch up with Kami, and when I reached her, I asked, genuinely worried, “Are you sure you’re OK?”
“Taylor, I swear, I’m fine,” she said and smiled. I watched her lips move a little more attentively than I should have, then looked her in the eyes and said, “OK, see you tomorrow.”
She stood on her tiptoes and kissed me on the cheek. It wasn’t the first time she’d done it, but if caught me off guard. And it left a tingly feeling that didn’t disappear the entire night…
Chapter Eleven
Kami
In the parking lot after the blood drive, as I dug through my purse for my keys, I was surprised when someone jumped out from behind my convertible, and I thought my heart was going to stop.
“Jesus!” I shouted when I saw Danny. “You scared the shit out of me!” I rested my hands on my knees and tried to catch my breath.
“Where are you going?” he asked, ignoring my complaints. I noticed his eyes were red and swollen, and as he came closer, he swayed from side to side. I could smell the alcohol seeping from his pores.
“Are you drunk?” I asked. I couldn’t believe it. But then I remembered he hadn’t been at practice.
“I’m fucked,” he said. He walked close to me and, without warning, shoved me into the car, pressing his body against mine. “You have no idea what you’ve done to me, do you?” In his face was hatred. I tried to push him away, but he grabbed my hand.
“Let me go,” I said, controlling my voice, but I felt scared as I looked into his dilated pupils. I’d seen him that way before,although not often, and it had always scared me. He always said drugs weren’t his thing, that he cared too much about basketball to do them. But I’d seen him smoking weed at the party, and God knew what he was on now.
“It’s all over,” he said. “The team, everything.” He grabbed my wrist and squeezed it until it started to throb.
“You’re hurting me, Danny,” I said, trying to get away from him. But he was too strong, too heavy.
“I can’t do it. I can’t keep coming here. All I can do is think about you. So I guess that’s it, right? No more team, no more school, no more playing ball at college. All because of you, Kami. You’ve fucked my head up real good. I can’t even think about anything but you and your goddamn promises of us being together forever and all the times you lied to me and saidI love you…”
“I do love you, Danny, but I’m not in love with you.” He was a wreck. And even though he was hurting me, I felt sorry for him… Should I have? Maybe not, but we had shared so much. Too many things to pretend it had been nothing, and too many for me not to worry about what the hell was going on with him.
He pushed his hips into mine grotesquely and pushed my wrist behind my head.
“I’ll make you be in love with me again,” he said. “You can’t just throw our relationship overboard… You’renotleaving me, Kami. I’mnotgoing to allow it…”
He tried to kiss me, tried to force me to kiss him, but I looked away.
It was like I was with another person.
The Danny I had loved was gone… There was nothing left of him.
“Hey!” someone yelled from the other end of the lot, by the back doors to the school.
It was Taylor, who apparently hadn’t left yet, and he came running toward me with Julian, Kate’s brother.
“What the hell are you doing?” Taylor shouted, grabbing Danny’s shirt and pulling him away. But he could see clearly what was going on. I held my wrist to my chest and started crying, and Taylor’s eyes darkened with rage just before he turned and punched Danny in the face. Danny didn’t even need a second to react. Soon the two of them were rolling on the ground and fighting.
“Stop, Taylor!” I shouted. “Stop fighting!”
I looked over at Julian, hoping he’d do something, but instead he joined in. It was two against one, and with Danny in the state he was in, you can imagine how it turned out.
“Stop!” I screamed.
Then I heard another person—a deeper voice, louder—and footsteps thundered toward us. Thiago stopped in front of them, with Coach Klebb not far behind him. Within minutes, all the athletes had left practice and were standing around them as Thiago pulled Taylor away and Klebb pinned Julian’s arms behind him. Down on the ground, Danny was bleeding from the mouth and holding his ribs in pain.
“Calm down,” Thiago told his brother between gritted teeth as Danny stood and stumbled away.
“Walker, get back here right now!” Klebb shouted, but Danny got into his Land Rover and sped off without a response.
