Page 31 of Tell Me Softly
“Running away from your problems?” Julian asked, tossing an orange in the air and catching it in the same hand. My eyes followed it distractedly.
“If bymy problemsyou mean other people, then yes.” He raised his eyebrows to ask permission to join me, and when I waved, he lay down next to me. He kept throwing his orange in the air, higher and higher, and caught it every time. I imagined it coming down and hitting him in the face, and I chuckled. I looked over to the football field, where a group of guys was tossing the ball. Twenty minutes left in the lunch period: twenty minutes before returning to the tedium of class.
“You know, you’ve got a gorgeous smile,” Julian said.
“I’m not much of a smiler, though,” I said, hoping I wouldn’t blush again. Julian’s hair was dark, his skin bronze, his eyes narrow. He and Kate both took after their father, who had been born in Hawaii. I’d always been a little jealous of Kate’s particular good looks. Her half-brother shared them. They made one hell of a pair.
“Yeah, but when you do smile, there’s something behind it. I like that… It’s not just the surface. The truth is, your smile tells me whatever you’re thinking isn’t very nice at all.”
I couldn’t help but laugh.
“I was imagining that orange coming down and hitting you in the face.” He sat up at once and shoved me softly on the thigh.
“You’re a psycho!” he shouted.
I sat up too, and we looked at each other, entertained. “We should be friends, right?” he asked, peeling his orange and finally freeing me from his intense stare.
“What is this, kindergarten?” I asked. “You think you just tell me we should be friends and that’s it?”
“I like to cut to the chase.” A huge grin spread across Julian’s face as he handed me a wedge of his orange. “You want to go to the movies or something sometime?”
I didn’t want to be mean and tell him no, but I wasn’t even sure things were settled with Danny yet, and starting something with Julian already would be…
He continued, “I don’t really feel like I’m fitting in here, you know? People tell me I’m, like, really reserved or whatever. I mean…”
I narrowed my eyes, trying to understand what he was saying.
“I guess I’m talking mostly about the guys. It’s a small town, and…I’m not sure me being gay won’t weird people here out.”
“You’re gay?” I asked.
He passed me another piece of his orange and nodded.
“Yeah. Barely anyone knows.”
I couldn’t believe I’d been so self-centered to think he was coming on to me. Was I that suspicious that I couldn’t just let someone invite me to the movies?
“Why are you telling me this?” I tossed the piece of orange into my mouth. “You barely know me…”
“Honestly?” he asked.
I nodded.
“Because you thought I was trying to hook up with you and you were about to turn me down.”
I couldn’t believe it. He had read me like a book.
“I get it!” He rushed to defend himself. “Listen, if I were straight, I’d be into you, but trust me, you don’t need to worry about that. I’m just looking for someone I can hang out with, and I like you.”
“I’m sorry I…”
“It’s already forgotten. Anyway, you look like you’ve got your hands full with the Di Bianco brothers—I get that you wouldn’t want to add someone else to the list.”
I blinked, confused.
“Why do you bring them up?”
“They’re obviously insane about you.”
