“You think you have enough shoes?” I asked with a raised eyebrow as Cyrus led me into his newly-acquired room. “No,” he replied with a smile. The medium-sized room was a complete mess. Posters of bands and famous bicyclists were tacked sloppily on every wall and an unmade bed sat in the center of the room, pushed back against the window, with a big tree directly outside of it. Boxes were strewn all over the room, some opened with their contents spread around them and others still taped shut. Clothes was all over the room, and the closet was open and packed with more boxes. But more than anything, there were shoes. On the floor, on the bed, in the closet, on the dresser, in the boxes. “Jeez, you probably have about three hundred times as many as I do,” I added, shaking my head at the endless footwear. He laughed, “How many shoes do you have?”
“Six. Sandals for summer, tennis shoes for running, converse for every day, rain boots for fall, and snow boots for winter.” He laughed, “Well, sticking to the basics is one way to go.” I moved a pair of shoes and a pile of books about bike riding off the bed and sat down. I picked up the book on top, Bike Riding: Motor, Classic, and Off-Road. “Wow,” I said, looking at the other books, “You like bike riding?” I asked with a raised eyebrow. He shrugged and took the books hurriedly from me. He put them over on the dresser and said, without looking at me, “Something like that.” My eyebrow went up higher and I shrugged and leaned back on the bed. “So,” I said, “what brings you to our little corner of the underworld?” He laughed, “Pardon?”
“What, nobody told you? This place sucks to the tenth power.” He sat down next to me, putting his fist under his chin and smiling at me. I caught my breath, freaked out by how close he was.
Let me tell you something I think I might have forgotten to mention:
I’m not good with anything that makes my heart beat slightly different than normally.
You know what that means: boys, sports, public speaking, horror movies, even
thunder-storms. Which sucks, considering those are all things I have to deal with. Well, all those things except boys. There are ways to avoid boys. And I have my guy friends, so my life isn’t completely male-free. I had a boyfriend once. After a while, I couldn’t handle it anymore. The fast-heartbeat thing just totally throws me off. I can’t function. I can barely even think.
“Well, that’s a bummer. Not exactly what you wanna hear about the place you just moved into. A nice, “Welcome to paradise!” would be very preferable.” I scooted away from him and allowed my heart to slow as I said, “I’m not a liar.” He laughed, “Clearly.”
He stood up as the other kids came in, but I just scooted back farther onto the bed until I was leaning against the window. I brought my knees up in front on my chest, figuring one more pair of shoes on this bed wouldn’t be a problem. “So, which one of you guys is her boyfriend?” Cyrus asked with a smile, motioning to me, as everyone found places to sit on the floor. It was weird how we all acted like old friends. But it’s not like it would make much of a difference, since it was pretty clear this guy was gonna be one of us, not one of the preppy we’ll-get-out-of-here-somehow kids. Nate and Tim blushed bright red, “Oh, neither of us.” Nate grabbed Queen, pulling her onto his lap, and said, “This is my girl.” Tim grabbed Keira, pulling her onto his lap, and said, “And this is mine.” Keira slapped him and moved away. “You wish!” she yelled, but she was smiling. Tim laughed and leaned back against the wall he was sitting in front of. Cyrus turned to me, “Oh, your boyfriend couldn’t make it?” Calm down heart, he’s just asking a question. I’m not the center of attention. This is no big deal. “I don’t have one,” I managed to choke out. Queen, knowing my freakish disorder, said to Cyrus, “What about you? You leave behind your girlfriend?” He laughed, “Definitely not. I did, however, have a close friend back home, and she was always saying my bike was my girlfriend.” He laughed again, an easy-going kind of chuckle that somehow returned my heart immediately to its normal state and made a soft smile spread over my face.
© 2010
No comments:
Post a Comment