Part 12 (2/2)
I tasted her, tasted her mouth, tasted her s.e.x. I didn't think I'd done especially well at oral s.e.xa”I really was a virgina”despite her claims that I'd been ”wonderful.”
A car pulled into the driveway, headlights illuminating the closed white garage door. Josh.
He put the car away, shut up the garage, and walked up on the back porch.
”How's it going, Romeo?”
That's what he'd started calling me after he found out I was taking Cindy out.
He sat in the chair next to mine.
”You shouldn't call me that anymore.”
”No? How come?”
”She dumped me.”
”Dumped you? s.h.i.+t, you've only had about four or five dates with her.” He grinned. ”n.o.body could get sick of you that fast.”
I had to smile, though it was painful. ”She went back with Myles.”
”You're kidding. He beat her up all the time.”
”I know.”
”You sure about that?”
”I saw them together. And Garrett told me.”
”Garrett the cop?”
”Yeah,” I said.
”No offense, but when I was a little kid and he was always hanging around herea”I thought he was the biggest dweeb of all.”
”Yeah, I guess I did, too.”
”And he grows up to be a cop.” He grinned again. ”I saw him strutting around downtown in his uniform yesterday. Always got his hand on the b.u.t.t of his pistol. Like a western gunfighter.”
”Yeah, I noticed that.”
He stuck out his very long legs.
”Give her a call tomorrow,” he said.
”Who?”
”Who? Cindy.”
”Call her?”
”d.a.m.ned right call her. Tell her it's Sat.u.r.day and you want to meet her downtown on your lunch hour. No offense, Romeo, but you've got to be forceful with women.”
Once again, it was little brother giving big brother advice.
”It's pretty embarra.s.sing sometimes,” I said.
”Look, brother, one thing you've got to understand about women. They like it when you embarra.s.s yourself over them. That way they know you care about them. Maybe that's all it'll take.”
”Just calling her?”
”Yeah, and showing that you really care about her.”
I felt a loopy exhilaration. Everything would be fine. I'd call her and after a little initial reluctance she'd be glad to hear from me and she'd agree to have lunch and when she saw me at the restaurant she wouldn't be able to help herself any more. She'd rush into my arms and things would be right between us again. The way they had been last week.
”I also got somebody to take care of Myles for you.”
”You did?”
”Yeah, there's a soph.o.m.ore fullback named Nick Reynolds. He can bench press 350. He's also a boxer. When he was a freshman, Myles gave him a lot of s.h.i.+t and Reynolds never forgot it. I was telling him about you and Myles over some brewskis the other night and he said he's been looking for a reason to punch out Myles for a long time. He says Myles gives you any more s.h.i.+t about Cindy, you just tell me and I'll tell Reynolds and Reynolds'll punch his face in.”
”Sort of like a hit man?”
He laughed. ”Yeah, kind of, I guess.”
He looked at me and then did something that surprised me, leaned over and gave me a little hug. ”You look like you're pretty sad, brother.”
I was afraid I was going to cry. I was a wuss enough already. ”Yeah, I guess I am.”
”f.u.c.k her. That's the att.i.tude you've got to take with women. I got my heart broke in tenth grade and I'll tell you, man, never again. Now I do everything I can for them but if they want to d.i.c.k me around and break my heart, I just say f.u.c.k 'em and walk away. That's all you can do. It really is.”
I'd felt good for a moment there, felt that I was going to make things right with Cindy, but now I felt bad again.
I couldn't say f.u.c.k you to Cindy and walk away. I couldn't and I knew it.
”You think you'll ever get around to asking me about the game tonight, Romeo?”
”Hey, I forgot.”
”I noticed.”
”You win?”
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