How It Rolls (15 page)

             
“Tell me about the earring,” I tried to recover.

             
“Oh,” she reached up to twist it. “Um, this earring was my mom’s.  It was in the top drawer of her desk at the nursery.  It’s all I have of her.  There was nothing of my dad’s there. “

             
“You twist it when you’re stressed or anxious.”

             
“I do, don’t I?”

             
“Yeah.” We sat in silence after that.  I paid the ticket and we decided to take a walk on the long dock right outside the restaurant.  At each post there were gas lanterns lighting the walkway.  She stopped near the end and leaned over the Cypress railing.  I leaned over the same railing next to her and looked out over the river.  A breeze blew in from the water and she moved in closer to my side.  I wrapped my arm around her shoulder and pulled her in even closer.  She was still cold so I took off my jacket and put it on her but she still shivered.               

             
“Come here, you’re freezing.” I turned to face her and she did the same and I held her against my chest and rubbed her back. We stood there for hours watching the waves and the paddleboat pass us by.

             
“We should go; I don’t want you to get sick.” 

             
“We can go after,” She said and I could feel her breath through my shirt.

             
“After what?”

             
“After this,” She closed in on me before I knew what she was doing.  I never expected her to make the first move.  Her lips were warm and soft despite the chill.  She pulled back a bit, probably because of my unresponsive mouth.  It was still in shock, like the rest of me.  The apples of her cheeks were in full blush mode now and my body finally caught up with the situation.  I slid my hands around her neck so they lay where her hair meets her neck and pulled her gently to me.   She gasped slightly as my mouth captured hers and this time it was everything I knew it would be.  Our mouths moved together and responsively, one taking cue from the other.  I couldn’t get her close enough even though she was plied against me from head to toe—it was still too much distance.  I knew she could feel my piercings against her tongue, I made sure she could feel them. And God help me, her hands were everywhere.  They started on my back and got lower until she was pulling the small of my back against her hips.  Not the best idea when her tongue was in my mouth. 

             
We slowed down together and I would bet good money that she wasn’t cold anymore.  I didn’t think I would feel cold ever again.  She rested her forehead against my chest and I was relieved to find that her breaths against my chest were as ragged as my own.  I kissed the top of her head, needing one more breath of her. 

             
“Now I think we should stay.” I chuckled and she mimicked me.

             
“We better go.  I know you have your early class with Frenchy in the morning.”

             
“I think I just had some kind of French class.”

             
“Oh, that was such a lame one,” She slapped my chest and then started walking towards the riverfront again, towing me with her.

             
I took her back to my place and I wanted to beg her to stay with me.  I had no pride when it came to Reed.  But I knew my smothering nature may push her away.  I would let it be her call.

             
“What’s your middle name?” I kept thinking of things I didn’t know about her. 

             
“Elaine, like my aunt.”

             
“So, you don’t hear from her?”

             
“No, not since I was little.  She was always so nice to me and she used to take me everywhere with her.  I thought, when my parents died, that I would go to her.  But she had different plans, I guess.”

             
I opened her door and she got out.  I closed it slowly, trying to slow the inevitable. 

             
“It’s kinda hard to sleep alone now, huh?” Her voice was barely a whisper.

             
“There’s no reason for you to sleep alone Reed.” 

             
She smiled as she made her eyes meet mine.  “Are we moving too fast?  People don’t just fall this fast do they?  And when they do, does it last?”

             
“I don’t see an end in sight for me Poppy.”

             
“Ok.” She didn’t confess love or passion but that was fine with me. I’d seen movies where people were crushed when the person they loved didn’t exactly return their affections.  But I was far from crushed. 

             
“My stuff is still in your apartment.”

             
The next two weeks, I spent my usual working and study time working on her house.  The next Monday I had signed all the paperwork on the house including an extra five thousand dollars in taxes that apparently the last owners were behind on.  But it was fine.  I had all new wood floors installed and Owen, Maddox, Dad and me spent every free minute painting the exterior.  Landscapers came in over the weekend and even my cousin Nixon came over to help a few times.  I met with a lawyer, albeit a crooked one, who was more than happy to take my money in order to draw up papers that said an anonymous person gave her the house and a $10,000 furniture allowance.  He was going to mail them to my house on my word, since her employment records still had my address attached to it.  Maddox was the first person to tell me what a snake I was for lying to her.  And I agreed with him.  I could practically feel the scales. 

             
Between our schedules and the house I had only seen her in passing the last couple of weeks and at night when I had her all to myself.  I came in on Thursday night, knowing she was at practice and took a shower and got dressed.  I had intended on getting her dinner and having it ready when she came back but as I was getting dressed I found a note in my top dresser drawer. 

No Friday night dinner this week.  There’s somewhere I
wanna take you.  See you later.  Missing you, R

              I smiled and finished getting dressed.  Waiting until she got done with practice just wouldn’t do tonight after all.  I drove down to Harvey’s and parked and snuck in the side door.  I watched her for about thirty minutes planning my attack.  I waited until she and Nellie were in the middle of the rink and Nellie was using my girl to demonstrate skills.  Nellie must’ve smelled me or something as halfway into her spiel about falling on your knees she looked directly at me and smiled.  She backed away a few steps from Reed.  Thank God Nellie knew me like the back of my own hand.  Reed was an easy target now.  I walked onto the rink, Reed’s back was still turned to me and the other girls tried to act like they didn’t see me.  I reached her and got right in her ear and said, “I couldn’t wait, I missed you too much.”  And then I turned her, easy with her skates on, and held onto her waist, dipped her over and kissed her like I’d never see her again.  She held onto the front of my shirt, mostly for balance. After a few seconds I could feel her lips form a smile and then she kissed me back and I was no longer leading this kiss.  And I was one damn happy follower.  The cat calls and screams started soon after and I pulled her upright and bowed to my audience. 

             
One girl with neon green skates said, “Damn Reed, when I grow up I want a Derby Widow just like yours.”  Nellie had referred to Owen as her Derby Widow more than once so I knew it was the boyfriend or husband of a derby player.  It cracked the whole team up and I took my leave without looking back.  It just had to be done. 

Chapter 22

Reed

Hellie
Nellie had a little belly.  It was swelly and it moved like jelly.  I don’t know if it’s smelly.  She ruled like Machiavelli and she liked to eat vermicelli.  She painted like Botticelli and had a turtle Shelly. 

Shut, up, I’m a poet, damn it
.

             
I don’t have any knees.  Which one of you took my knees?  I didn’t ask for a knee-ectomy.

             
I watched him walk out of Harvey’s, the smug punk that he was.  How dare he waltz in here like Cassa-freakin’-Nova and kiss me like a drowning man and then bow.  He actually turned to the team and bowed.  I’d never live that shit down.  And now I was on the floor, on my ass, because someone took my knees when he kissed me.  And the team—I loved them to pieces but I wanted to clock the lot of them.  They were all doubled over laughing at me.  Nellie was holding onto the railing laughing her little ass off and she wasn’t even wearing skates.  She stopped wearing her skates to practice, worried that she would fall.   

             
“Dude, Breed, can you even skate now? “ 

             
“Shut up!” That was the only thing I could say and it just egged them on.

             
It was Amber.  My derby name was Cut ‘N’ Breed, a play on Cut and Bleed.  So most of the girls just called me Breed. 

             
“Hey Reed, is there another brother in that family ‘cause damn, I need me one.”  And that was Katie Scerry.  Falcon was so dead when I got ahold of him.

             
I walked out of practice early because the jeering was just too much to take.  Everything I did warranted a comment about me or Falcon and various lewd activities—all in good fun, of course.  Those girls loved to pick on each other and I was the flavor of the week, probably the month after that stunt.

             
I jumped in my car and headed home.  It wasn’t home, but it was close enough for me.  I had spent every night there for weeks and I couldn’t imagine having to sleep in my car again. 

             
I walked into the apartment and he had dinner on the table and he flipped channels on the TV while I grabbed some clothes and jumped in the shower.  The derby girl in me wanted to be mad.  She wanted to throw a fit and give him a good talking to about interrupting practice and derby being a serious sport.  But damn it if I didn’t want to run in there and show him how much I loved it.  

             
I got out and dressed in a pair of black yoga pants and a white long sleeve shirt.  I threw my hair up in a hairband, not caring how it looked.  I practiced my angry face in the mirror and swung the door open.  He looked at me and bit his lips, trying not to smile. 

             
“On a scale of one to ten, how pissed off are you?”  He had to cover his smile with his hand now.

             
“Eighty nine.” I answered and stomped towards the table.

             
He sat across from me and couldn’t eat because he was still covering his mouth.  

             
“There isn’t a girl on that team, with the exception of Nellie, that doesn’t want to get in your pants now.  I’m serious.   And the goading—I couldn’t even finish out practice because every single time I moved someone made a crass comment.  Amber fell on her ass and hurt herself, not because she was skating or practicing a skill—no—it was because she was gyrating her hips at me and singing disco porn songs.”

             
That did it.  He threw his head back and laughed one of the deepest, greatest laughs I had ever heard from him.  And I couldn’t help myself any longer.  I laughed with him, long and hard, until tears rolled down my face. 

             
We finally calmed down and started eating.  He took a bite but still smiled ear to ear shaking his head.

             
“What?” I said.  I just wasn’t that funny.

             
“Nothing.”  He said and went to war with his smirk.

             
“Spit it out Black.” I said.

             
“It’s funny that bothers you.  It almost sounds like you’re jealous.  It’s a new look for you—kinda sexy.”

             
“Jealous? Pshhh…”

             
“You’re all blushy faced and you said every girl on that team wants in my pants.  You’re so jealous.”

             
I put my fork down and relented.  “Ugh—fine, I’m jealous, happy?” 

             
“No, and it’s silly.” He shrugged.

             
He did
not
just call me silly.

             
“Why is it silly?”

             
“Because I get jealous every time we go somewhere.  I see guys looking at you.  But here’s the thing.  None of those girls have any kind of chance in Hell of getting in my pants but you.  So, yeah, it’s silly.”

             
“OK,” I said.  But it wasn’t ok.  This was the first time we had broached this subject and suddenly the air choked me.  A flood of blood vessels raced to my face seeing which one could make me the reddest, fastest. 

             
After we finished eating, I flipped through endless stupid TV shows while he sat next to me and pretended to study. He couldn’t possibly get any studying done while he stared at me.  I got up and brushed my teeth and went to bed.  He turned off the TV a few minutes later and I heard him putting things in his school bag.  Then he brushed his teeth and came towards the bed.  I lay on my stomach, facing away from him and he got in bed next to me.