Her

by Heywood, Carey

  I just got asked out. I wasn’t sure what to do so I said okay. Part of me feels like I’m being unfaithful to Sarah, but that’s crazy.

  Her name is Karen Bishop. She’s a sophomore. Technically, since it’s the last week of school, she’s almost a junior. I’m about to go out with a junior. One of her friends was standing next to her when she asked. They both just stared at me until I answered her. She’s pretty, but it’s not like I even know her that well. I just panicked and said yes. I haven’t told Sarah yet. She has to stay after to take a science test she missed. I stay after and hang out in the gym so I can ride the late bus home with her. I’ll tell her then.

  I’m waiting by her locker when she walks up after her retest. She doesn’t look happy.

  “How’d your test go?” I ask cautiously.

  She pauses, her face relaxing. “Fine. It went fine.” She pauses and looks down at her feet. “So when were you going to tell me about Karen Bishop?”

  My mouth drops. Karen asked me out after sixth period. How had Sarah already heard about it?

  She reads my mind. “Oh, Tracy Parlond told me before our retest.” She’s trying to sound like she doesn’t care, but I can tell she’s annoyed.

  “I was going to tell you. It just happened.” She shuts her locker, and I follow her down the hall. “Are you annoyed at me?”

  She stops, her mouth open.

  “Well?” I just want her to admit it.

  She rolls her eyes. “I just thought, as your best friend, that I would hear it from you.”

  “I haven’t seen you since it happened, until now.” I bump her shoulder with mine, and she smiles.

  Makes me want to pull my camera out and take her picture. She hates pictures of herself, though. She thinks she looks weird in them. We make our way out to the bus circle.

  After we’re seated, I ask. “Well, what do you think?”

  She spins her ring, her eyes on it before looking up at me “She’s very pretty.”

  “She is,” I agree.

  “I’ve never talked to her.” She hesitates. “She seems nice, though.”

  I nod.

  “So what are you guys going to do?”

  “Going to the movies. Want to come?”

  She bumps her shoulder into mine. “Dork. You didn’t just invite me to tag along on your date.”

  Whoops. “Probably not a good idea.”

  “Probably,” she agrees. At least she doesn’t seem mad at me anymore.

  “How do you think you did on the retest?”

  “Good, which means I probably failed it.” She spins her ring then laughs. “How many more days ‘til summer break?”

  “Not many. I can’t wait. Plus, only six more months ‘til I can get my license.”

  She rolls her eyes. It pisses her off that I’m turning sixteen four months before her, so I remind her every chance I get. When we get to her house Brian is already camped out in the family room watching Law and Order reruns. Sarah doesn’t like that show so we go hang out in her room.

  I’m trying to conjugate verbs for Spanish when she asks me if I’m nervous about my date.

  I shut my Spanish book with my spiral notebook in it, saving my spot, before I answer. “I don’t want to do anything embarrassing, but it’s a movie so it’s not like I have to talk a lot.”

  “How are you guys getting there?”

  I grin. “She has a car. Cool, right?”

  Sarah just rolls her eyes and doesn’t say anything after that. What the hell? Why doesn’t she think its cool Karen has a car? I look up when she stands.

  “Want a snack?”

  I get up and follow her down the stairs to their kitchen. She pops some popcorn while I make us root beer floats. She’s in front of me, holding the bowl as we walk up the stairs. Her ass is right at eye level, I can’t take my eyes off of it. She doesn’t wear tight stuff like most girls at our school. The t-shirt she’s wearing is baggy but not long enough to cover her ass.

  She’s wearing black soccer shorts, and every step she takes, they pull tighter to one side. I’m not paying attention and almost trip. She must notice me stumble because she’s laughing at me as we walk back into her room. Bet she wouldn’t be if she knew why I almost tripped.

  We finish our homework just as Brian is leaving for his part-time job at the mall. We talk him into dropping us off at the pool on his way to work. Brian lets me borrow one of his old suits. Sarah leaves a note for her mom letting her know where we’ll be. When we get to the pool, we sit with some kids from our school. Sarah’s the only girl wearing a one-piece. She’s also the only girl who will play sharks and minnows.

  She hates it when I’m a shark. I always ignore everyone else and go right after her. I swim faster than she does, so I sneak up on her and pull her by her ankle. She looks like she wants to kill me every time she comes up sputtering. It’s great.

  We stay for a couple hours before walking back to her house. It’s not a long walk, but my legs feel like Jello. By next summer, I’ll be driving. Then we can go to the amusement park or the mall.

  Mrs. Miller is already making dinner when we get back. I change in their downstairs bathroom and put Brian’s suit and the towel I used on their back deck to dry while Sarah goes upstairs. I’m hanging out with her mom in the kitchen when she comes back down, already in her pajamas. She shrugs when I give her a look.

  “I’m lazy. What?” she snaps.

  “Sarah be nice and set the table.”

  When her mom isn’t looking, she rolls her eyes and reaches for the plates. I don’t know why she’s annoyed. Her mom is great. I wish my mom was as cool; instead, she just doesn’t seem to notice me at all. I take the plates from her to help. She grins and turns around to grab forks and knives.

  Once the table is set, we go hang out in the den. Her dad comes home not long after. He pops his head in the door to say hello to us before heading back to the kitchen. I can hear them talking in there about work and their days. Mrs. Miller mentions a movie she wants to see. He asks if she’d like him to take her tonight. It’s quiet, and I know she’s kissing him.

  I look over at Sarah. I know she worries sometimes that the kids at school think her house isn’t big enough or the car her dad drives isn’t fancy enough. I wonder if she gets how lucky she is. How most of the kids we go to school with would kill to have parents as laidback and cool as hers. The difference is they care.

  My mom seems spaced out all the time and my dad works all the time so he doesn’t have to deal. I think of the Millers as more of my parents than my actual mom and dad.

  After dinner, Mrs. Miller drives me home. Sarah comes along, and we both sit in the back and listen to the radio. Sarah teases me about Karen. To anyone else, I’d play it off like it was no big deal, but with Sarah I can’t.

  “So what do you think you’ll do after the movie?” she asks.

  I shake my head. “I have no clue. I don’t even know if she’ll want to hang out.”

  She gives me a look. “Of course she’ll want to hang out. Are you going to kiss her?”

  “Maybe.” I admit. “It’d be cool to kiss a sophomore.”

  “Maybe?” she questions. “Do you think she’s pretty?”

  I picture her face. “I guess.”

  Her mouth drops, and she reaches out to push my shoulder. “You guess? Will, she is one of the prettiest girls at our school.” She sounds surprised.

  That right there is one of the coolest things about Sarah. I know so many girls who can’t admit another girl is pretty, like saying it somehow makes them less. Or they’ll make some backhanded compliment like, ‘yeah she’s pretty, if you’re into that.’ What does ‘that’ even mean? Who wouldn’t be into pretty? With the exception of Sarah, I don’t understand girls at all. Half of the time, I’m not even sure if I understand her too. Even Karen, who I do think is really pretty. I don’t understand why she asked me out. I’m flattered, but I don’t even know her or have any classes with her. I’ve had girls ask m
e out before, just never one I didn’t really know.

  Sarah’s looking at me, waiting for me to say something. I just lift my hands and shrug. I know she is cool to talk to, but this isn’t the kind of stuff I want to share.

  “Thanks. Mrs. M,” I say, grabbing my backpack and tilting my chin toward Sarah. She gives me a half wave and moves to the front seat.

  “So, how was it?” she asks quietly.

  I roll onto my side so the phone is tucked under my ear. “Mmmm. I don’t know. Not great. We didn’t really talk at all,” I admit.

  She laughs in my ear. “Will, you’re not supposed to talk at a movie.”

  “I know that.” I snap. “I mean when we were in her car and before the movie. Then after the movie we got milkshakes.”

  “Oh. Did you talk about anything?” she asks.

  I turn so I’m on my back and press speaker phone. “She told me about her pet bird.”

  I start to say more, but she cuts me off. “Am I on speakerphone?”

  I pause. She hates speakerphone. “Maybe.”

  “Will, take me off of speakerphone,” she orders.

  “Fine.” I grumble, lifting the phone back to my ear. “Better?”

  “Much, just don’t ever do it again.” She pauses. I can hear her holding back a laugh. “A pet bird? Sounds thrilling.”

  I smile. “Very. I think she was bored too. Don’t see a second date in my future.” I’m not disappointed.

  “So.” She seems to hesitate. I’m about to say something when she continues. “No goodnight kiss?”

  “No kiss,” I answer.

  She makes a click sound with her mouth. “Too bad you already picked out baby names.”

  Sometimes Sarah says straight up crazy things. “Do what?”

  She sighed. “Just trying to be funny. Ignore me.”

  I laugh. “That was supposed to be funny? You seriously need to work on your material.”

  “Oh, it’s on.” She scoffs.

  “What, like Donkey Kong?” I finish, laughing.

  Our freshman year is finally over, we’re officially sophomores. I haven’t gone out with Karen again, and that’s cool. I have three goals for this summer: get my learner’s permit, hang out at the pool, and do as little as humanly possible.

  Sarah is babysitting a kid named Colin on her block for the summer. He’s eight so at least she won’t have to be changing diapers or anything, and he loves the pool so I can still hang out with her there. My dad has been too busy with work to teach me how to drive. I was bummed until Mr. Miller offered to teach me along with Sarah on the weekends. Today is our first lesson.

  He drives us over to the high school. They have a big parking lot, and other than a couple of cars belonging to people running on the track, it’s deserted. We both sit in the back on the way over. Sarah is terrified. Me? I can’t wait.

  He turns to look at us. “So who’s going first?”

  Sarah looks at me with a look that’s clearly meant to tell me to go first. Fine. I’ll bite. “I’ll go, sir.” I grin.

  “Alright, William, Sarah. Out of the car.” We glance at each other, confused.

  He pops the hood and explains stuff like checking the oil, coolant, and transmission fluid. He has us walk around the car and look at the tires before taking out a gauge to show us how to check if they need air or not. After all of that, he has me sit in the driver’s seat and adjust the seat and mirrors to where they feel comfortable. He and Sarah are still outside of the car. He has her stand off to the side before getting in.

  “Now, William. Check all your mirrors. Do you see Sarah?”

  I do what he asks. I check the rear and side mirrors, but I can’t see her in any of them. I have to turn my head and look out the window to see her.

  “That, young man, is your blind spot. Before you ever think about turning or changing lanes, remember to look first.” He looks at her. “Got that, young lady?”

  “Blind spot. Check.” She says seriously.

  He shouts for Sarah to get back in the car, muttering that Mrs. Miller will kill him if I run her over. They both laugh while I internally reject the idea of anything ever happening to her. I don’t think I could deal with that. After everyone is buckled, he lets me start the car. This is the coolest feeling ever. Closest I’ve ever come to doing something like this is the one time Kyle Nelson let me ride his scooter around the block. My mom saw me when she was driving home from work. She was not happy about it and forbid me from ever going on another one.

  The gear shifter is in the middle. He has me practice moving it from park, to reverse, to drive, and back, all with my foot on the brake. It’s weird how you use one foot to drive even though there are two pedals. Wouldn’t it just make more sense to use both feet?

  It doesn’t help that I can see Sarah from the rearview mirror. She’s covering her mouth with both hands at my questions. I’m so giving her shit when it’s her turn. He has me take my foot off the brake. The car moves forward slowly. It feels too fast. I glance over at him, and he nods, telling me I’m doing fine. He has me turn the steering wheel to get an idea of how far I need to move it for the car to turn. When he has me give it a bit of gas, we all jerk forward.

  “Next time just ease onto it,” he says calmly.

  My eyes flick to Sarah’s in the rear mirror. I’m nervous, thinking maybe I scared her.

  She just shakes her head and sticks her tongue out at me.

  I take a couple laps around the parking lot before he has me park it so Sarah can have her turn. He doesn’t pop the hood again or have us look at the tires since she’s already seen it. He does do the thing where I’m now standing in her blind spot.

  Once she starts the car and gives it a bit of gas, she’s a natural. I chew on the corner of my lip. Somehow, I assumed I would be the better driver. I kill her in Mario Cart on a regular basis. Her eyes meet mine through the rear view mirror, and she lifts her eyebrows. Fuck. She is so going to give me shit for this.

  After she parks, Christ, between the lines on the first try, Mr. Miller takes us for ice cream. I sit quietly on the way over, waiting for the first dig.

  She elbows me, her eyes bright. “That was so cool.”

  I shrug and feel like shit when her face falls.

  “What’s wrong?” She gets this little wrinkle right between her eyebrows.

  I look out my window, depressed, before looking back at her. “I thought I’d be better at it.”

  She starts spinning her ring. That means she’s trying to think of something to say to make me feel better, which means I wasn’t imagining it. I drove like shit.

  “You weren’t that bad,” she grins.

  Now I feel worse. “Thanks, Sarah. Translation: I sucked ass.” I cringe and glance at Mr. Miller to see if he heard me. If he did, he’s not acting like it.

  “You did not suck ass. Are you just pissed that I did better? ‘Cause that sucks ass if you are. This isn’t a competition.” She crosses her arms over her chest.

  Awesome. Damage control time. “That isn’t what I was saying. My birthday is before yours. It’s just freaking me out.” I look at her to see if she believes me.

  She leans over, putting her head on my shoulder. “You don’t have to worry. My dad will totally take us out again. Right, dad?”

  He grunts a response as he pulls into the parking lot of the ice cream place. Sarah sits up and is out of the car before I can even acknowledge the fact that I miss her head on my shoulder. Sarah and I both get chocolate dipped waffle cones while Mr. Miller gets a plain old cake cone. We look at him like he’s crazy, but neither of us rag him for it since he’s buying.

  “Hey come outside.”

  “What are you doing here?” She looks at me sideways.

  I grab her hand and tug her up off of the couch. “I want you to see something.”

  “Hang on.” She grumbles. “Let me find my shoes.”

  Once she has them on, Sarah follows me to her front door. Before I open it, I spin
around so I’m facing her and cover her eyes with my hand. She reaches up to steady herself, placing one of her hands on my forearm. I glance down at her hand, wishing there wasn’t a jacket keeping her skin from mine.

  “Really? You have to cover my eyes? We’re going to be late for school, and I haven’t had breakfast,” she huffs.

  “Don’t worry. We have time. Besides, I know you’ll cheat and peek.”

  She smiles because she knows I’m right. I snake my other hand behind me to open the door and walk backwards out it, pulling her with me. Once we’re off her front stoop and standing in front of her driveway, I move my hand.

  “A car!” she exclaims. “You got a car. It’s gorgeous,” she gushes while I grin, watching her.

  She walks all the way around it before she tries the front passenger door. When it doesn’t open, she smirks at me.

  “Now what do we say?” I tease.

  “Don’t be a tool and open the door Will,” she says, tugging on the door handle.

  I unlock the doors, and she climbs in. I walk around to the driver side and sit next to her.

  “A sunroof,” she shrieks pressing the button and looking at me when it doesn’t work.

  “The car needs to be on, Einstein.” I joke, putting the key in the ignition. “Wanna ride to school?”

  “Hell yeah,” she says, pulling her seatbelt on.

  “Forgetting something?” I ask.

  “Oh crap,” she grunts, letting go of the seatbelt and jumping out of the car. I wait for her as she grabs her stuff for school. I’m used to this by now. She always forgets stuff.

  “Does this mean my days of riding the bus are over?” she asks, sliding back in after grabbing her backpack.