Perchance (7 page)

             
“I will take moron if it means we get out of here faster.”

             
He reached out his fist to bump mine
and I returned it.
             

             
“Ugh, good choice, let’s go.”

             
We found the Old Navy and the Architecture stores on the map and headed that way.

             
Troy had a way of making shopping fun.  He would make fun of people’s outfits and they way they walked and everything in between.  I was doubled over in laughter more than once. 

             
We bought jeans and shirts and then found a store where I bought two pairs of Chucks and he bought some kind of weird looking running shoes. 

             
We were laughing as we exited the shoe store and we had two bags in each of our hands. 

             
“Let’s get the heck out of here,” He said.

             
“Yes, home…now.”

             
We got on the escalator going back down to the bottom floor where we parked. Troy was dancing up and down on the stairs and I was laughing my butt off at him.  He was doing an impression of someone, I didn’t know who, but I needed to find out.  It was hilarious.  I was still laughing when we got to the car and he kept up his act the whole ride home. 

             
“Why didn’t you say ‘Hi’?”

             
I looked at her like she was nut
s and went back to eating my General Tso’s chicken.  I had seen him going down the escalator at the same time Aunt Brenda and I were going up.  He looked so darned good when he was laughing.  It was like his whole entire face just lit up.
  I wanted to know the exact words and events that made him laugh like that so I could record it and play it over and over again just to make him laugh like that.
  And honestly, he seemed to be having a good time, so I didn’t say anything.  I just stared like the voyeur that I was.
 

             
We had been shoppi
ng for hours upon hours. We
shopped so long that not only had we eaten lunch at the mall after church, but we were now eating dinner here too.  And my feet were begging for mercy because I was still wearing my wedge sandals from church this morning.

             
We
browsed and bought in every single store
in this place.  Aunt Brenda
shopped for herself and I shopped for me.  I bought the basics, but found three dresses that were on sale.  She spent way too much on me and when I even dared to look at something
;
she picked it up and
bought it.  I was so grateful that she took me in and now this? 

             
She was still waiting for a response when I looked up at her.

             
I rambled, “He was busy.  He was laughing his head off at that guy with him.  He was having a good time.  I didn’t want to bug him.”

             
She laughed and nodded her head at me.

             
“Trust me, I saw that boy looking at you at church today and he would not have minded you saying ‘hello’.”

             
I covered my eyes with my free hand out of embarrassment. 
This was not supposed to be happening.  I was supposed to come here and get a job and finish school so I could go to college
, at least some kind of trade school so I could have a career
.  That’s the only way that I was going to be able to make it.
 

             
“Once school starts, I am not going to have time for a social life Aunt Brenda.  I hate school as it is and I’m going to have to get good grades this year so I can get into some kind of school.” And then I looked her dead in the eyes. 

             
“I’m not going to end up like my Mom, relying on a man to provide for her just long enough to make a mini -van full of kids and then leave her.  That won’t be me.”

             
She reached across the table and h
eld my hand as she spoke, “Remi
, you will do those things, I have no doubt.  But you can be who you want to be and have a boyfriend, it’s not
unheard of. And your mother chose to get married before finishing school.  And yes, your Dad was a bad seed, but that doesn’t mean they all are.”

             
I threw my fork down in my Styrofoam to go plate and relented just a little.

             
“Ok, we’ll see, but I am not, I mean not, talking to him first.”

             
She laughed and put the lid down on her own plate.

             
“Deal.”

             
We left the mall with all of the bags.  They filled the trunk up.  It was ridiculous. 

             
We went home and I hung all my new clothes up and placed my shoes in the closet.  I called my Mom, but she was tired, so we only had a short conversation and then she needed to go to bed.
She did say that she had found a babysitter for the twins, a local college student.  That was a relief.  I was worried about the twins by themselves after school.

             
I went to bed early.  For a few moments before I fell asleep, I thought about the possibility of Cooper.  Maybe I could do both.  But I still wasn’t going to talk to him first.

             
I woke up to the sounds of Eric’s truck pulling into the driveway. 
I was beginning to think that I was never going to get any sleep around here.  I slapped around the bedside table for my glasses and put them on and walked out the door to the stoop.  Eric had shut the door to his truck and was coming up the stairs already. 

             
“Mornin’ Cooper, we’re going to go visit someone today about noon.  I’m gonna get some sleep and then I’ll meet you out by the truck about eleven forty five, ok?”

             
“Yeah, that’s fine.” I was still rubbing my face and trying to wake up. 

             
“Did you get everything you needed yesterday?”

             
“Yeah, I did and T
roy is funny as hell.  He had me
laughing the whole time.”

             
He chuckled and nodded his head like he knew what I was talking about. 

             
“
That kid is funny.  Doesn’t have many friends in school though.” He shrugged and started back down the stairs and yelled over his shoulder, “Remember eleven forty five and don’t be late.”

             
“Wait, who are we visiting?” I shouted after him, but he was already in the house.

             
“I better call Mom.” I told myself.

             
I went back ins
ide and called Mom before I took
a shower and
pulled
tags off of my new stuff. 

             
I finished and looked around with nothing to do.  I decided to go take a walk and see what else was in this town. 
I walked down the street that Eric’s house was on and turned the corner
.  I looked at the smaller houses around this smaller town.  It was nothing like Charlotte had been.  It was quiet and peaceful and before I came I saw on the internet that there was some kind of haunted plantation here somewhere. 
I needed to remember to find that.  It sounded cool.

             
I heard laughter
before I saw the body that it belonged to.  I had never heard a laugh like that.  It started as a girly giggle and progressed into an all out gut busting laugh. 
It was the bes
t laugh in the world and my heart
knew who was responsible for the sound before my brain did.  It was Remi and now I just had to find out where she was and I needed to know what or who made her laugh like that. 

             
I felt like a stalker as I bobbed my head up and around looking for her.  I couldn’t hear her laughing anymore, but now I could hear a woman talking. 
I walked a little more and came upon a little house with
flower gardens out front
and the woman who was talking, her aunt something, was pulling weeds while she talked.  Remi was on her knees, sitting back on her feet facing the aunt listening and giggling to herself.  Every once in a while she would say “No” or “Shut up” but other than that she just listened like she did in church.  Her hair was twisted and piled up on her head and she had a t shirt and shorts on and if I thought she was beautiful in a dress, it was nothing compared to this.  Her gloved hands were
dirty and some of her curls were
glued to the sides of her face and her forehead with sweat.

             
As I stood entranced with her beauty she found something funny and let out another one of those priceless laughs.  I needed to know how to make her laugh like that…like yesterday.

             
“Hey Cooper, how are you?”I heard a voice, but my eyes refused to move for a few moments.

             
“Hi…um…I’m sorry I forgot your name.” I said sheepishly as I walked towards them.

             
“It’s ok, my name is Brenda and this is…” I finished before she could.

             
“Remi, yeah, I remember.” I said.  My stomach was shaking like a chihuhua on meth but I needed to talk to her, if only for a few seconds.

             
“He remembers your name Remi.” She snorted as if they had an inside joke.

             
She gl
ared back at h
er aunt like she wanted to light her on fire
and then gave me a smile but didn’t say a word. That little problem needed to be fixed
and
pronto.

             
I cleared my throat because somehow it was clogged up all of the sudden.

             
“Hi Remi.  I think I forgot my manners yesterday, must’ve left them at the airport.  It’s nice to meet you, I’m Cooper.”
I sounded like a cheese head
when those words left my mouth but it was too late now.
I could see now that her eyes were brown, but not regular brown, almost like a caramel brown.

             
She took off her dirty gloves and stood up and her aunt stood as well but proceeded to go into the house saying something about glasses of sweet tea.
She nodded her aunt’s way and walked towards me.  I’ve never been scared stiff, but I sure was nervous stiff.

             
“Hi Cooper. I wasn’t the friendliest yesterday either.  It’s nice to meet you too.  Where’d you come from?”

             
I gave her a quizzical look and she continued.

             
“You said airport, where are you from?”
             

             
“Oh, yeah, Charlotte, North Carolina.  What about you? Did you grow up here?”

             
“No, I just got here on Saturday.  I came on a bus from Texas.”

             
Her aunt came out with two glasses of tea and set them down on a small table that looked like one my…Eric built. 

             
“Y’all have a seat and chat.  I have a phone call to make.”

             
She turned and smiled at her aunt and winked.  I don’t think she meant me to see it, but at this point she was under my microscope.
Everything she did was just fascinating to me.
And as she climbed the stairs I got to witness something new that fascinated me.  Her legs. 

             
“Ok, thanks” She started up the
last
couple stairs and sat down in one of the chairs and took a long gulp of the sweet tea and then made a face.