Free The Henry Sessions by June Gray Page B

try not to let my feelings for her now color how I remembered her in the past.
    Elsie was a cute girl. She was this little thing with light brown curly hair and big hazel eyes. When I walked into the Sherman house, she came running down the stairs with an eager smile, but when she saw me, her expression changed like she’d smelled some bad. I couldn’t really blame her. I had braces so I never smiled, and a head of crazy wavy hair that I rarely ever brushed. Turned out that was the thing we’d bond over: our hair.
    “Your hair is out of control,” I said just to piss her off.
    “Yours is worse,” she said with attitude. I wanted to tease her more, to see how mad I could really make her, but her mom came out to greet me so I bit my tongue.
    “Jason, who’s your friend?” she asked, looking me over. But she didn’t look at me with distaste like other parents because she hadn’t heard anything about me. She just looked at me with curiosity and maybe some amusement.
    “Henry Logan,” Jason said, clapping me on the back. “Nicest guy in school.”
    I didn’t really agree with that appraisal, but who the hell cared. I could pretend to be the nicest guy in school if it got me free food and some company.
    Dinner at their house was like a revelation. Until then, I’d never realized how nice it could really feel to sit at the table with mom and dad and talk about your day. The Shermans asked their kids about their day and really listened, but then they asked me about myself and also seemed really interested. It was really sweet and intrusive and made me a little panicked. I think I might have said three words before stuffing my face with mashed potatoes.
    I was invited over for dinner twice more that week and I returned, soaking up their normalcy. They were what I’d always wanted in a family but never got.
    I don’t know if it’s healthy to both resent and envy the Shermans, but I will tell you one thing: I never stole a thing from their home. It never even occurred to me.

 

 
 
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    Jason and I became really good friends. At first he hung out with me because I was the only person he knew, and I hung out with him because he was the only one who still would. Eventually though, a real friendship happened.
    He was hilarious. He was always telling the nastiest jokes when there were no adults around. He had the largest repertoire of sexual jokes I’d ever heard, and the guy was smart without even trying. The best thing about Jason though was that he was loyal and a true friend. I couldn’t tell you how many times other students came up to him and told him stories about my past. Jason just shrugged them off and told them that I was his friend regardless, that I didn’t steal from him or beat him up so why should he care?
    He was so sure of himself, a trait that he definitely got from his dad who retired as a lieutenant colonel in the Air Force. Jason was one of the best-looking kids in school and his confidence and that laidback smile really drove the ladies crazy. He always had to let the ladies down easy. Ugh, it made me sick.
    I was the invisible sidekick for the longest time but then I shot up in height and the braces were taken off and all of a sudden girls were looking at me too. Not in the hey , aren’t you the guy who steals things? kind of way either. I wasn’t used to that kind of positive attention, so I took the cue from Jason and played it cool.
    Something changed when Elsie turned thirteen. I don’t know if it’s because she was officially a teen, but all of a sudden I saw her in a different light. I didn’t know what to do around her. I’d either clam up or just start saying mean stuff to get a reaction out of her but she was a firecracker and would always dish it back.
    I remember one time we were hanging out in their family room downstairs. Jason and I were talking about sex when Elsie came sauntering in, sucking innocently on a lollipop.
    I’m sorry if this sounds really crass but