I Shouldn’t Love Him (Book 2) – Chapter 47
LAKE
It seemed unfair to spend three hours a day in a classroom during the summer, only to wait thirty minutes more in the parking lot. There were things I could do, like walk home or tell my parents that my big sister was always late to pick me up, but either of those possibilities inevitably led to a or two arguments. Dad was going to yell at Tiffany. She would take it out on me for her punishment.
In any case, it would be useless now, there are only two days of summer school left. I didn’t have my license yet, so what right did I have to complain? Instead, I did what I did every other afternoon and picked up one of the books I needed to read before the summer was over.
walk.
as making her late for something when I had done nothing but wait in one place for forty-five minutes. “Come on.
u.
r-old sister lived at home, ate mom and dad’s food, and had an allowance that my dad co
she explained the rush.
mer left. But Tiffany knew better.
rested, and Dad’s going to have your car confiscated,” I told him.
“Maybe for a day, but I’ll get it back.”
Brad and ask him out?” “
und desperate,” she said knowingly, as if
.
later?”
ave some r
e been reading or doing homework all summer,” she said. “Your class i
ummers were to “weed out the lazy people,” like my friends, who were probably at the beach.
o days.
ing this weekend. Something cheesy, like the Fun Zone in Balboa. Buying ice cream bars, like we did when we were
Tiffany, I could never predict what she was going to say next. Most of the time, she didn’t want me anywhere near her. her. Others, she would burst into my room, jump on my bed and talk about her day. She only had two speeds: bored big sister or best friend. I preferred the second… unless I was in study
I said.
away Train” and sang along all the way home. She s parked along the sidewalk of our cul-de-sac, near the neighboring lot where they were doing work.
f the men in the hard hats
ondie.”
fany looked out the window.
hat?” “
cond.
once in a while, but Tiffany was a California beauty through and through.
wouldn’t have wanted her to talk to them.
from side to side and forward again. She pursed his lips.
lipstick?”
k, with flavors like cherry-vanilla, bubblegum, and my favorite, watermelon. I was entering my first year of high school, and I was still “too young” for makeup. Even if my friends wore them. Even though Tiffany had gotten that privilege the summer before her freshm
t, smeared a ton on her lips, slammed them together, and dumped it in my lap.
.
she crossed the sidewalk onto the dirt court.
went to interrupt his conversation with the construction wo
here.”
a suggestion.
own at his top.
sly. A short skirt and platform shoes don’t seem like the kind of thing one would wear on a construction site, but what do I know? Less than most sixteen year olds, Tiffany would say. Nineteen year olds, on the ot
l curl.
epends.
forward. back. It was stupid, but the other men at the construction site laughed.
ong, but I didn’t want to leave her in a dangerous situation. These men were big and dirty. They made me nervous.
ere waiting for Brad to call.”
y opened her mouth, probably to tell me to leave, but she closed
m, turning around.
,” he called after us.
door. My parents’ house wasn’t a mansion or anything but my classmates were speechless when they came over. With its palm trees, perfectly manicured lawn, and three-car garage, our two-story home fit right in in upscale Newport Beach
there?” I asked Tiffany.
away but when did Tiffany listen to him? Or anyone else who knew better? If I talked about it, it would just start a war at the table.
– No.
ouse. Problem solved.”
r an hour, I took my book bag and went home. It was hot outside, but summer was supposed to be hot, so it felt good. Living mile
te.
off. The most likely explanation was that I lost it while fidgeting yesterday. Dad warned me it was expensive when he gave it to me.
ooked for traces of gold.
“Hey,” one of the m
de, if that was possible.
re.”
front of me had dirt under its fingernails and my delicate gold chain was coiled in its deep valley.
ooks valuable,” he said.
of his chin. His nose was strong and hard with a visible bump.
the seams. His arms were like the weapons Dad displayed in his study – hard, defined,
beating harder.
.”
t into it and I put it in my pocket.
anyway. “Sorry,”
said.
” I asked.
dana and used it on his face instead.
gold like the chain in my pocket.
it worse.
arettes out of his back pocket and slapped it
away.
hen I remembered I didn’t have my keys. house.
t even thought to pick them up this morning. Why would I? Tiffany was supposed to be with m
e. I read the
is hand surrounding a lighter and lighting a cigarette between his lips. He wasn’t looking at me.
celet and that was rude. I closed my book and got up. This time he watched as I walked back towards him on the street.
he sidewalk.
“For?”
under one arm, took out the
jewelry?” he asked.
ok the comment. Unable to stop myself, I finally looked up at him.
sister.
I would have put him at a porn store.
store. Well, I knew what porn was. The boys at my school bragged about watching it. My dad got Playboy in the mail. But what kind of stuff did a store sell?
d you get locked out?” he asked
onto the field.
key.”
’t sure what to do with him. Because he was older and taller, he seemed unapproachable, but I still wan
you reading?”
to put the bracelet o
.
?”
sion.”
d you choose that?”
Because it was next on
wed.
t?”
ttle closer to him, holding my unlocked bracelet
r reading.”
he cigarette he had ju
you want to sit
enough that I wouldn’t make a fool of myself trying to get up.
asked. “What if you want something different?”
I guess I could try something else.
“Do
cross-country travel, drought, dust.
on the list.”
er this one.”
— You can a
t?
—Huh.”
en through the wash hundreds of times, it was faded to the point that I could barely make out a streak of rainbow.
ed to read it
at’s
at?”
lding out the fabric with one hand.
ve you never heard of them?”
. Tiffany knew all the latest bands, watched all the music videos, and I tried to keep up, but there were so many. Nirvana was the one Tiffany loved t
”
the latest album, an underground band, or the “song of the summer.”
le piano,” I said.
w c
nyway, my sister says piano is for geeks.”
rd my parents’ house.
Was tha
.
I nodded.
—Tiffa
know?”
.”
?”
at does she tell y
ple she likes and other thi
er’s business.”
said Tiffany’s things were disgusting, like I was going to dig them out of the trash.
e looked at my feet. “You dropped it again.”
it back again.
outh.
p,” he said.
ew hesitant steps and reached out, the chain dangling precariously. He moved the unlit cigarette from his mouth to behind his ear, then leaned forward and flipped my forearm. He could crush my wrist with one hand, I was sure of it. It took him several tries to get both ends through his enormous fingers. He squinted, muttering under his breath. His calloused palms brushed the thin skin of my wrist until goosebumps rose up my arm and my insides tightened. The tips slipped from between his fingers again and again.
ed against my ribs, and
id.
to stop him. An unusual tingle made The hairs on the back of my neck stand up. It’s not like I’ve never had a crush. Like my friends, I blushed when a senior greeted me
an half my white forearm.
as sure of it.
to connect the two pieces.
k my wrist to make sure the brac
, I think.”
ften walk home from school?”
at?”
ard my backpack
er walked?”
ng down at me.
t me.
But are you old enough?”
ppiness in the center. I bought it at a record store, so it wasn’t really childish, unless, I realized, a child wore it. On Tiffany, it would have been cool, but I was flat-chested. Suddenly, a year seemed like an eternity waiting for breasts. “
parents.”
n in the last year alone. My father would never allow him to teach me. I moved my feet.
ven’t had time lately.”
rents?”
ther things I needed to do, like reading the list, studying for exams, or volunteering.
— We all have
ear-old so busy?”
e Prep”,
to school?”
ning.”
mmunity college?”
is backpack is as big as you.”
ng me.