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Authors: Dana Reinhardt
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them.
“Parts unknown? It was his trailer, Frances. I needed a hat. My nose was getting burned. See?” I lean forward, led by my nose.
“Don’t come knockin’ if this trailer’s a-rockin’,” Captain chants while he shakes our table.
“Classy, Captain. Really classy.”
“C’mon, Harper. Spill. What’s up with you and Quiet Tennessee Boy?” Marisol asks.
“He’s quiet?”
She shrugs. “He seems pretty quiet to me.”
“That’s just ’cause you’re a big loudmouth,” says Captain. Marisol bunches up her napkin and throws it at him.
“He’s not quiet,” I say. “He’s just, I don’t know, thoughtful.”
Captain bursts out laughing. “And you expect us to believe that you don’t have the hots for him?”
Okay, so maybe I was looking at Teddy today, at his eyes that are such a light brown they’re almost gold, and maybe I was thinking how much nicer gold eyes are than green-flecked eyes. Maybe I was thinking that he’s not too skinny, that his baggy shorts look cute, that his shoulders are nice and broad. Maybe I was listening to his slow, deep drawl and forgetting what to do with the tool in my hands. Maybe I think Teddy is fine .
But so what?
Guys don’t go for me. Period. I don’t distract them. They don’t sneak glances in my direction. They don’t think of me when I’m not standing right in front of them.
I’m scenery.
I’m background.
What happened with Gabriel only happened because it was easy. It started by accident. A hand falling off the edge of the couch and brushing up against me.
I’m convenient. I’m there. The night in my bedroom when I cried, and turned to face him in the light, and reached for the buttons of his jeans was followed by several more nights when we were near each other with nothing else to do. No place else worth being. Maybe Dad was out. Or Gabriel’s parents were away. We had sex and then it was over. Sometimes it seemed I could have been anyone.
And Gabriel has been it. That’s all. Even the guy who made Gabriel start fooling around with me again never really existed. Okay, so his name is Will Portnoy, but the part about him having an interest in me was made up.
Will asked me if I wanted to come over to his house to watch Braveheart , for a project we were doing for world history. Anyway, when I told Gabriel about it I chose to leave out the history project, in a sad attempt to make him jealous that miraculously seemed to work.
The next weekend Gabriel and Tess and this guy Tess liked named Brady and I hung out at Brady’s house, and when she was outside with Brady talking by the pool and Gabriel and I were inside watching yet another DVD he pulled another hand-slippage stunt that went farther, faster, and with that Gabriel claimed me again.
For this I have to thank Will Portnoy.
Long digression, I know.
Anyway, guys don’t tend to go for me.
Not that I care. I’m here to build a house. That happens to be for Teddy. I’m not here to date him, I’m here to house him.
I try out this last line on the group.
“Whatever you have to tell yourself to get you through the night,” says Captain.
“So what about you two?” Fight back. Put up a mirror. “What’s going on there?”
If I thought this was going to embarrass Captain, forget it. He looks at me like, Thanks for the assist!
“It’s simple,” he says. “I’m crazy about Frances and she’s crazy about me, she just hasn’t quite admitted it to herself yet. For a few more days we’ll play this cat-and-mouse game and then finally I’ll lean in for a kiss and she’ll meet me halfway and we’ll spend the rest of the summer blissfully in love.”
Frances hides her face in her hands, laughing.
This is just a more romantic version of what Captain has told me privately over the past few days, but I can’t believe he just said this out loud in front of Frances, not to mention Marisol.
So this is how a real relationship begins , I think.
HOME
I have no memories of
“Parts unknown? It was his trailer, Frances. I needed a hat. My nose was getting burned. See?” I lean forward, led by my nose.
“Don’t come knockin’ if this trailer’s a-rockin’,” Captain chants while he shakes our table.
“Classy, Captain. Really classy.”
“C’mon, Harper. Spill. What’s up with you and Quiet Tennessee Boy?” Marisol asks.
“He’s quiet?”
She shrugs. “He seems pretty quiet to me.”
“That’s just ’cause you’re a big loudmouth,” says Captain. Marisol bunches up her napkin and throws it at him.
“He’s not quiet,” I say. “He’s just, I don’t know, thoughtful.”
Captain bursts out laughing. “And you expect us to believe that you don’t have the hots for him?”
Okay, so maybe I was looking at Teddy today, at his eyes that are such a light brown they’re almost gold, and maybe I was thinking how much nicer gold eyes are than green-flecked eyes. Maybe I was thinking that he’s not too skinny, that his baggy shorts look cute, that his shoulders are nice and broad. Maybe I was listening to his slow, deep drawl and forgetting what to do with the tool in my hands. Maybe I think Teddy is fine .
But so what?
Guys don’t go for me. Period. I don’t distract them. They don’t sneak glances in my direction. They don’t think of me when I’m not standing right in front of them.
I’m scenery.
I’m background.
What happened with Gabriel only happened because it was easy. It started by accident. A hand falling off the edge of the couch and brushing up against me.
I’m convenient. I’m there. The night in my bedroom when I cried, and turned to face him in the light, and reached for the buttons of his jeans was followed by several more nights when we were near each other with nothing else to do. No place else worth being. Maybe Dad was out. Or Gabriel’s parents were away. We had sex and then it was over. Sometimes it seemed I could have been anyone.
And Gabriel has been it. That’s all. Even the guy who made Gabriel start fooling around with me again never really existed. Okay, so his name is Will Portnoy, but the part about him having an interest in me was made up.
Will asked me if I wanted to come over to his house to watch Braveheart , for a project we were doing for world history. Anyway, when I told Gabriel about it I chose to leave out the history project, in a sad attempt to make him jealous that miraculously seemed to work.
The next weekend Gabriel and Tess and this guy Tess liked named Brady and I hung out at Brady’s house, and when she was outside with Brady talking by the pool and Gabriel and I were inside watching yet another DVD he pulled another hand-slippage stunt that went farther, faster, and with that Gabriel claimed me again.
For this I have to thank Will Portnoy.
Long digression, I know.
Anyway, guys don’t tend to go for me.
Not that I care. I’m here to build a house. That happens to be for Teddy. I’m not here to date him, I’m here to house him.
I try out this last line on the group.
“Whatever you have to tell yourself to get you through the night,” says Captain.
“So what about you two?” Fight back. Put up a mirror. “What’s going on there?”
If I thought this was going to embarrass Captain, forget it. He looks at me like, Thanks for the assist!
“It’s simple,” he says. “I’m crazy about Frances and she’s crazy about me, she just hasn’t quite admitted it to herself yet. For a few more days we’ll play this cat-and-mouse game and then finally I’ll lean in for a kiss and she’ll meet me halfway and we’ll spend the rest of the summer blissfully in love.”
Frances hides her face in her hands, laughing.
This is just a more romantic version of what Captain has told me privately over the past few days, but I can’t believe he just said this out loud in front of Frances, not to mention Marisol.
So this is how a real relationship begins , I think.
HOME
I have no memories of
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