Читать книгу A Secret Edge - Robin Reardon - Страница 7

Robert finds me between second and third periods the next day. He says, “Y’know, it occurs to me that those guys might tell somebody about that knife.”

“Yeah. I thought of that too. I left it at home today.”

“’Cause, I mean, I didn’t really see it. You know?”

Is he saying he’d lie for me? “Are you telling me that’s your story, if you’re asked?”

“Yeah. What’s yours?”

“I guess I didn’t really see it either.” I punch his shoulder. “We still on for the mall?”

He reddens a little. “I’m game. I just don’t know what I’m supposed to do.”

“We’ll figure that out when we get there. That’s part of the fun. Reacting to the situation. It’s kind of like playing ball, when the scheme falls apart and you have to improvise.”

His grin says he likes that analogy.

He’s lost it, though—the grin—by the time I see him after school. We hop a city bus to get to the mall and then kill a little time looking through a sporting goods store, waiting for a good selection of girls to show up. I’m trying to decide whether it’s a better idea to scout for girls we know, or if total strangers would be safer test subjects. I decide we aren’t going to ask anyone out right away, so I opt for strangers.

We head to the food court and get a couple of drinks.

“No food?” Robert asks.

“We’re not here for food. You can get some later as a reward, if you want. But right now we want to stay mobile. It’s easy to move around with a can of Coke in your hand. But a tray full of meatball sub, and sauce dripping all down your chin…I’m sure you get the picture.”

He sighs, but he’s still with me.

Over in the corner there’s a round table with three girls. They look about our age, and they’re huddled to one side of it, giggling. There’s nothing terribly appealing about giggling girls, but I nudge Robert.

“See that table?” I ask. He nods. “They’ve left one side of it open, so there’s room for us to sit. We can—”

“There’s only one more chair.”

“You going to let something like that stop you?”

He shrugs.

I go on from where I was interrupted. “Now, I don’t think any of them will really turn out to be a good date for either of us, but we can practice. We’ll just talk to them, okay? We don’t know them, so even if things don’t go well, we don’t have to face them in the cafeteria at school. Get it?”

He takes a gulp of his drink and moves forward.

I grab his arm. “No, wait. We’ll both approach slowly—stay with me. And then you’ll hold back and look shy. Listen to what I say and watch their reactions. Then if we decide we don’t want to sit, we don’t.”

“Right.”

As casually as possible, we make our way toward the girls. They see us at about ten paces and stop giggling, watching our approach. At six feet or so, Robert stops as instructed. I turn, wink at him, and move forward.

“Pardon me, ladies,” I say, smiling at each one in turn. I lower myself, one knee on the floor, as sweet as possible a look on my face. “That fellow I’m with was wondering if we might join you. I’d ask you myself, only I’m really nervous about talking to girls I don’t know.”

These girls are a little older than they looked from across the room. The one to my left looks right into my eyes, and she says, “My name is Doreen. And now that you know me, are you still nervous?”

I hold her eyes as I stand and reach for a chair from the next table. This is a game, and it’s fun. I set the chair facing away from the girls and sit with my legs on either side of the plastic back supports.

“Not at all.” I turn to Robert and indicate the other chair. “And neither is my friend. I’m Jason, and this is Robert.”

I can’t quite tell if we’re being toyed with, or if there’s really some interest there, but I get Robert talking by telling the girls things about him that aren’t true, so he has to contradict me, and pretty soon we’re laughing and flirting. I’m having a great time, and so is Robert.

We don’t even try to make arrangements to meet the girls again. After a while they say they have to leave. I stand as they do, and Robert follows my lead. As they’re saying good-bye, Doreen lets her hand brush really close to me, slips something into my rear jeans pocket, and then presses her hand against my backside.

In my ear I barely hear her words: “In case you’re serious. You’re cute.”

I try to look like nothing happened as Robert and I watch them leave. No way am I going to reach for what’s in my pocket while they’re still in sight. Come to think of it, no way do I even want Robert to know there’s anything in there; he needs to think he’s done as well as I have.

Robert is more confident now. He’s scouring the room with his eyes, a male animal on the make.

“That was fun,” he says without looking at me. “Who’s next?”

We walk around a little, and Robert actually rejects a couple of possibilities. Finally we see two girls we know. Robert pulls me to the side of the room.

“Jason, look. I think I’m ready. I really want to ask someone out. Do you think we could ask Debbie and Meg? Oh—but you were going to ask Rebecca.”

I glance at the girls. Debbie is a bottle-blond cutie (eyebrows are the clue about the bottle) with curls, mascara, rouge. Meg wears her dark brown hair in a sleek bob, looking out from under feathered bangs with eyes that seem to take everything in, a feeling of quiet reserve about her. I imagine I know the answer to this question, but I ask it anyway: “Which one would you rather ask out?”

He thinks for a moment. I’m getting a little concerned that they’ll see us. Finally he says, “Meg. She’s taller and not as pretty. I think I might have a better chance with her.”

Too bad; I’d kind of hoped he’d go for Debbie; Meg’s smarter, and I think I’d have more fun talking with her. “Well, I haven’t said anything to Rebecca yet, and it’s not like we’re going steady or anything. Why don’t we go and talk to Debbie and Meg and see how it goes? You might end up with Debbie, you know; let’s not make the decision for them. What do you think?”

“Debbie might go out with me?”

“We’ll see how it goes. If you feel it’s hopeless, pull on your ear, the one closer to Meg, when I’m looking at you, and I’ll take the lead from there.”

They don’t spot us until we’re close to their table. Meg’s face says she’s surprised to see us together.

“Hey,” I greet them. “Fancy meeting you here. Listen, is it okay if we sit down?”

Debbie looks a little amused. “Sure.”

I opt for casual conversation rather than the ready-for-anything approach I’d used on the three other girls. “So, are you shopping or just here to hang out with friends?”

Meg answers, her tone making it seem she doesn’t think we’ll like the answer. “I’m killing time until a poet I like gets to the bookstore for a reading.”

I glance at Robert, he looks at me, and then he turns to Debbie. He says, “What about you?”

Debbie lets her eyes rest on Robert’s broad shoulders for a minute. “I’m shopping. But I saw Meg, so we came here to get something to drink.”

“Going to the poetry reading?” he asks.

She gives her head a shake, and the curls bounce a little. “I don’t think poetry is my thing, really. What about you?”

I can tell they’re off to a start at least, and I like poetry. So I talk to Meg about the reading, keeping an ear trained on Robert’s progress. At one point I think I hear Debbie say something about some other boy, and then Robert’s low voice says, “Well, in the meantime, how would you like to see a movie with me?”

Meg is in midsentence. She stops, but I don’t want Robert to feel awkward, so I say something to get her to continue. I barely hear Debbie say, “That might be okay.”

Meg stops talking again, looks at Robert, looks at me. “Did you guys come over here to ask us out?”

I shrug and flash a lopsided grin at her. “Sure. How would you like to see a movie with me?”

It takes us a while to figure out what movie we might all like to see, and finally we settle on The Return of the King, the last of the “Lord of the Rings” cycle. There’s a marathon of all three of them showing, but we can see just the third one. I haven’t seen the first two, but I’ve read the books, so I think I’ll be okay.

Debbie nearly squeals when I admit this lack in my cultural education. “How could anyone not have seen them?”

I treat the question as rhetorical, and we move on to logistics. We decide on an early Saturday show, with dinner at a hamburger place nearby afterward.

Robert is flying when we finally get up from our chairs. I’m tempted to stay for the poetry reading, but it seems a little like I’d be trying too hard. And anyway I have to talk to Robert about the date; I have no idea if he knows how to handle himself in this kind of social situation, and it seems unfair to throw him into the water without teaching him a few swimming techniques. We go hang out on some benches near a fountain at the center of the mall.

He’s not as unschooled as I’d feared, so I really don’t say much—just ask a few questions to make sure he has an idea what he’s in for. The really good news, something I hadn’t counted on, is that he can borrow his dad’s car. Aunt Audrey lets me use hers from time to time, but it’s a VW bug. Not much good for double dating. And Uncle Steve’s is off-limits, not because it’s anything special, but because—or so I suspect—there’s enough room in it for a pair of determined teenagers to have sex more comfortably than in the bug.

We do some people watching—Robert eyeing the girls, and me surreptitiously following a few boys with my gaze—until we need to leave. On the way through the mall, we pass by a small boutique, and I’m looking through the glass at a leather jacket when I see two kids in the store. My breath stops. One of them is Raj.

He’s standing with his side to me, hands in his pockets, watching a girl do a little spin to show off the skirt of a dress she’s trying on. He’s smiling at her, a little possessively it seems. She looks Indian too. Could she be his girlfriend?

My heart is in my throat. I have to know.

Robert has stopped several feet away, waiting for me to follow him. I try to speak, but I have to clear my throat first.

“I’ll just be a minute” finally emerges a little hoarsely.

I stroll in, doing my best to look unconcerned, and pretend to examine a few things hanging on a rack, working my way slowly to where Raj and the girl are talking.

She’s saying, “But do you think it’s too much money?”

“You like this boy, yes?” She nods. He adds, “I like him too, and Mum and Dad. This is a special event.” His smile makes his whole face glow.

I’m staring right at him when he sees me. The smile fades, but the eyes—well, the eyes pull me forward.

I try to fake serendipity. “Raj? It’s Raj, isn’t it?”

“Yes. I—yes.” He seems flustered. In a way, this is a good thing. I move over to him, knowing that he’ll either introduce me to the girl or take me aside and tell me to get away from him. Whoever speaks first…

He does. “This is my sister, Anjani. Anjani, this is Jason Peele from school. He’s on the track team. A runner.”

Anjani’s deep eyes sparkle as she holds her hand out for mine. “How do you do?”

How do you do? Can’t remember when anyone has said that to me.

“Delighted to meet you,” I say, and—I can hardly believe I’m doing this—I bow over her hand. I decide to throw caution to the wind. If I can make friends with his pretty sister, who knows what else might happen? “I hope you don’t mind if I tell you how charming you look. This outfit—you’re trying it on? It suits you.”

“Thank you so much! Yes, I do think I’ll take it.”

She turns to her brother—her brother!—and laughs, a musical sound. She’s older than Raj, I decide; at first I had thought the opposite. She dances away, presumably back to the dressing room, and leaves Raj and me alone.

This is awkward. He’s not saying anything, just looking at me with those eyes. Pretend you’re with a girl, I tell myself. It almost works; at least I can talk, even if I can also hear my heart pounding.

I say, “She’s lovely. And what a wonderful brother you are, to take her shopping.”

He clears his throat. I feel a strange gratification. “She trusts my judgment. I won’t tell her something looks good if I don’t think it does.”

I nod slowly, trying to look wise. “Honesty is rare. I like it.”

Another moment goes by, awkward again, but neither of us makes a move to end things, to break off the meeting. I’m thinking there’s something about him that seems unusual. Not just that he’s from India; it’s like he has some special knowledge, or something like that.

Finally he breaks the silence. “How did you do in the dash?”

I tilt my head at him. “How did you know I was trying out for it?”

If someone with a complexion as dark as his can blush, he blushes. “I saw your name on the list.”

It’s everything I can do not to laugh. I feel giddy, foolish, happy to the point of ridiculousness. He looked for me. On the list. He remembered my name. He knew it well enough to tell his sister. And it makes him blush to admit it to me.

Gradually I grow calm enough to speak. “I did fine. I’m on the team.”

“And the relay,” he adds.

I’m breathing oddly, but there’s nothing I can do about it. “Can I ask a personal question?”

He shrugs one shoulder and inclines his head.

“Would you say your whole name slowly? I want to know how to pronounce it correctly. All of it.”

In my peripheral vision I can see Robert heading my way. Must have grown tired of waiting. I ignore him. So does Raj.

Raj smiles. Finally. He says his first name slowly, and I repeat it. “That’s good,” he says, and I’m thrilled. We move on to the last name, which I have to try twice, and then I put them both together by myself. Just in time, for Robert can be ignored no longer.

I turn to him. “Robert Hubble, meet Nagaraju Burugapalli.” I grin at Robert’s face, which probably looks a lot like mine the first time I heard that tongue twister. “I don’t think he’ll mind if you call him Raj.”

They shake hands a little awkwardly. Raj is looking hard at Robert, and suddenly it occurs to me that there’s no way I can say why Robert and I are here. I don’t want Raj to think Robert is “with” me, but I also don’t want him to know we were picking up girls. I need to take the lead now, and then get out of here.

To Robert: “Raj is our lead high jumper on the track team.” I turn to Raj. “Robert was helping me decide about a pair of running shoes, but I didn’t buy anything today.”

Before the puzzled look on Robert’s face is any more obvious, I say, “Well, I need to get home or my aunt will send out the Saint Bernards looking for me.”

“You have dogs?” Raj asks.

I smile at him, as sweetly as possible. “No. Just an expression.”

I’ve been careful not to say “We need to leave” or “We need to get home.” I hope that registers. I look at him for just a few more seconds. “See you.”

He raises his chin a little, his eyes still on mine, and I turn toward the door. Deliberately, I stop to let Robert go out first, and I turn back toward Raj. He’s still looking at me. I pause just long enough to let him know I’ve taken this in and then disappear.

I’m flying as high as Robert now. It was Raj’s sister with him, not a girlfriend! He looked for me on the track roster! He let me know he watched me win the relay!

If only there were something I could do with this feeling. Something other than dream.