Blind Kiss(38)

“Hey,” he said, walking toward my car. “What’s up? Where’ve you been lately?”

I rolled the window down and stuck my head out. “Just practicing a lot.”

“I’m off in ten. You want to get a bite?”

“I just stopped by to say hi.”

He rolled his eyes. “Hi, okay. Now let’s go eat.” He waved to Pete. “Hey man, are we good?” Pete nodded, letting Gavin know he could leave. Reaching for my driver-side door handle he said, “Scoot over, let me drive.”

I crawled over the center console into the passenger seat. He glanced at my body and down to my bare feet, wrapped in tape. “What?” I said.

“Aren’t your feet cold?”

“No, they’re burning up. I had a gross infection on my big toe.”

“You look banged up and a little too thin, P.”

I looked out the window, avoiding eye contact. “No such thing in dance. Just drive.”

“But you have to be strong.”

I turned and glared at him. “Drop it, please.”

“We’re going to get burgers. One burger is not going to make you fat.”

He had a bandage on his lower neck, peeking from the neckband of his sweatshirt. “Please tell me you didn’t get a neck tattoo.” He unzipped his hoodie, lifted his white T-shirt, and pulled a bandage from the left side of his chest, revealing a tattoo of the exact “L” that Laverne wore on her sweaters in Laverne and Shirley.

He smiled. “For Lottie.”

I shook my head. “That is Laverne’s ‘L.’?”

“I know. Isn’t it funny?”

“No.” I shook my head. “Just drive.”

Pulling his shirt down and laughing, he put the car in gear and drove onto the main road. “You jealous?”

“Not at all.”


WE WENT TO a place that had a million different kinds of burgers and beers; it was mostly famous for the buffalo burgers. The mere thought made me nauseous but it was one of Gavin’s favorite places. I ordered a turkey burger, no bun, with a side salad and a light beer.

“A French fry is not going to kill you.” He tried feeding me one but I waved his hand away.

“So what’s new?” I asked.

“Nothing much. I just found out that I’m three units short of having an English degree, too.”

“So you’re getting your engineering degree and then you’ll take one class over the summer and get an English degree as well?”

“Yup.” He took a bite of his burger and talked through a mouth full of food. “Crazy, huh?”

“Wow, Gavin, that’s so impressive. I had no idea.”

“Me neither. I don’t know what I’m going to do with it. Maybe go track down Carissa and write a book with her, or do some stupid performance art in Denver.”

“What about Lottie?”

“What about her?” he said nonchalantly.

“Well, you got a fucking ‘L’ tattooed on your chest.”

It wasn’t always easy to pry things out of Gavin; sometimes he would catch me completely off guard with a gut-spilling confession. Other times he would be totally enigmatic and evasive. “I like her. A lot. She likes to fight, though.” He drank the rest of his beer and smiled serenely. He was staring into my eyes. I was chewing my burger slowly, wondering what he was thinking. “Not like you, Little P. You’re a lover.”

I swallowed hard.

He looked down at his lap to check his phone. “Speak of the devil. Lottie’s off work. I should probably get home and take a shower. I’m meeting her later.”

“Where does she work?” We rarely talked about Lottie if we could help it. I never even asked him how she felt about our friendship.

“Jamba Juice.” He laughed.

“Why’s that funny?”

“I don’t know. I’m convinced all the blender noise makes her a little agro.”

“That’s a stupid theory.” We paid the check. “Come on, I’ll take you back to your car,” I said.

He grabbed my hands from across the table. “P, don’t fall apart over this, okay?”

Like a little girl? I thought. “I’m not going to. You sure think a lot of yourself.”

“I just mean don’t read into this too much.” He pointed to the tattoo bandage.

I breezed past his comment. “Are you coming to my finals performance in three weeks? I think my parents and Keeks are actually gonna be there.”

“I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

We were staring into each other’s eyes. I thought about our blind kiss and how his lips felt on mine. I sighed. “You can bring Lottie if you want. We should all be friends, you know? So you and I can see each other more outside of our one-off study sessions.”

“I agree, but I think she’s jealous of you.”

“Why?”

“I love you for not knowing why.” Did he just say I love you? It wasn’t quite the real thing but it was something.

Several moments of silence passed between us. He was the only person I could unselfconsciously look at in silence for that length of time.

“I love you, Gavin.”