Not My Match (The Game Changers, #2)(44)

“Black holes are still awesome,” I assure him.

Aunt Clara pops an eyebrow. “Are they?”

I shoo her.

Another huff from Corey. “To me, black holes are the vacuum cleaners of the universe, and when I said that, he nearly flipped a table. He also said they’re invisible and don’t even suck everything!” He exhales. “In Zanthia, it’s a swirling black spiral that you can clearly see, and it destroys a whole fleet! All the good space movies are ruined. It’s okay when you do it, but not him.”

Annoyance at my cohort makes me frown. Why stifle a kid’s imagination and dismiss a somewhat fair analogy? It’s not really a vacuum, but it’s a common misconception. “What he meant is that black holes don’t really suck; they have a gravitational pull, just like everything does, plus an event horizon, and once matter passes that point, it will be pulled in. Also, event horizons appear to emit a light when accelerating matter passes the boundary, so invisible is not quite accurate. What was his name?” I usually pay attention only to my teaching schedule and not everyone else’s.

“See!” he calls to Addison. “Dude was a dick. I don’t know his name. He never told us.”

I close my eyes. Why couldn’t he try to be personable with these kids? “Back to the vacuum and the idea that it sucks everything—you ever watch Sesame Street and see Cookie Monster devour cookies?”

“I have a Cookie Monster shirt. It says ‘Eat Me,’” he chirps. “Girls love it.”

“Of course they do. Think of black holes as Cookie Monster eating anything that gets close, munching and spitting, some of the bigger crumbs falling out. Some of the matter that’s pulled in is large, but once it hits the event horizon, particles fly everywhere—some in, some out.”

“I like my vision better. Giant Dyson. Black spiral. Maybe a wormhole to another dimension.”

“No. An invisible Cookie Monster with a flash of light when matter approaches.”

He sighs. “He was just up there spouting off facts and pissing me off when he didn’t explain them—like I’m supposed to just get those words he used.” He groans. “I shouldn’t have called you. You’re busy—”

“Where are you now?”

“The library. I’ve got a stack of books in front of me, and frankly, I’m ready to rip them apart with my teeth. Dude. I usually only rip off beer tops with my teeth.”

I bite back a smile at the image of him and Addison disgruntled in the library. “Books are expensive, and it’s not their fault. Take a breath. Wait for me.” Auditorily is not the way Corey learns. He needs to see my face, and I can draw some diagrams . . .

“Would you really come?”

“I can’t have your black holes dream dashed, so yes.”

He yells, “I told you she would, Addison!”

She squeals in the background, and I hear him rustling back to me. “I . . . shit, Ms. Riley . . . thank you, thank you. I swear I won’t drink this weekend just for you, just in case you ever need a kidney,” he says.

After getting off the call with him, I grab my purse, then pull out several twenties and leave them on Aunt Clara’s counter.

Her mouth twitches. “Hate to miss whatever color your hair turns out, but go and save little Corey.”

I run a quick brush through my hair.

“Can I come?” Topher calls out as I head to the exit. “I want to watch you in action, and I really want to ride in Red.”

“Don’t you have to work?”

He grins. “The Daisy Library is closed today after lunch. Let me be your ride-or-die bitch. I don’t know much about black holes, but I can google on the way there. We can stop and grab some cookies and use my sock as a puppet.”

Elation swells. Topher is Elena’s BFF, and him wanting to hang out with me makes me giddy. I smile so big it hurts and nudge my head to the car. “Nobody drives her but me,” I say as we walk out.

He smirks, delight on his face as he runs his hands over the sleek hood. “Uh-huh. I bet you go fifty on the interstate in this fine piece of horsepower.”

“Sixty-five. I’m more of a rebel than you know.”

“Give me the keys. Devon never has to know.”

“You don’t know the password.”

He chortles. “Damn, it takes a password to start this machine?”

I pop the locks, liking the clicking sound it makes. He’s insisted I drive it every day. “Nope, just a song you have to know before you get the keys from the valet—who knows me now.”

“What is it? Come on; tell me.” He slides into the passenger seat. “Devon’s password . . . hmmm . . . is it ‘Closer’ by Nine Inch Nails—no, how about ‘Get Ur Freak On’ by Missy Elliot?”

“You can keep guessing all the way to Vandy, but I hold that man’s secrets to my heart.”

He smiles as I pull out of the parking lot, dodging the potholes. “Do you now? How interesting.”

“We are friends,” I say grimly, repeating the mantra in my head. If I keep telling myself over and over, it might just become the truth—on my side. It’s already truth for him.

He throws his head back and laughs. “Oh, Giselle, that man has been checking you out since the night he met you at the community center for Romeo and Juliet. He didn’t take his eyes off you at the wedding. Looked to me like a man conflicted.”