Free Random by Tom Leveen Page A

· Comment · Share
    Tori Hershberger I’m pretty busy with softball and everything.
    Kevin Cooper K

NINE
    â€œOh . . . ,” I say.
    â€œShe was killed, and there was nothing I could do,” Andy says.
    â€œAndy, I’m sorry.”
    â€œ Are you?”
    His voice turns abruptly ragged and sharp, the serrated edge of a hunting knife. Why does it seem like everyone keeps asking me that?
    â€œWell, yeah, I mean . . . it’s tragic.”
    Andy hesitates, then just says, “Yeah.”
    â€œWe don’t have to talk about this,” I say.
    â€œNo, no,” Andy says. “We got this far. You want to know why I’m ready to put the pedal to the metal, right?”
    â€œWell . . .”
    â€œThat involves Kayla, and what happened to her,” Andy says. “Unless you can’t take it.”
    I shut my eyes and rub them hard until green spots dance behind my lids.
    â€œI can take it,” I say. “So . . . where’d you meet her?”
    â€œComic book shop. I got a job working there over the summer. It was pretty cool.”
    I’m glad he can’t see me roll my eyes. Maybe he’s not the semi-debonair guy I’d envisioned. Hot guys generally don’t hang out at comic book shops, except maybe Noah, and he’s only hot by comparison. He goes to one for his weirdo anime fix.
    â€œYou think I’m a big nerd now?” Andy asks, like he can read my mind.
    â€œNo,” I say. But think, Yeah, kinda. Not the first one I’ve met. Or lived with.
    I check my blinds again and catch Noah coming up the sidewalk. Thank God. I raise the blinds and slide open my window. By the time he gets there, I’m fumbling with the screen.
    â€œWell, she’d just seen the newest Superman movie,” Andy is saying. “That happens a lot. People see a superhero movie and then suddenly we get flooded with customers. It’s probably why the industry is still alive. But she came in asking about it, and we got to talking, and one thing led to another.”
    â€œSo you just took her right then and there,” I manage to say while Noah helps me with the screen. After another moment we’ve got it, and he’s climbing carefully into my room.
    Thank you! I mouth.
    Andy laughs. Or what amounts to a laugh for him. “No. That part was . . . different.”
    â€œDifferent how?” I say as Noah slides my window shut and sits on my bed. His eyebrows are squeezed together as he watches me, clearly trying to catch up to the conversation.
    â€œI don’t know, exactly,” Andy says. “Do you remember your first kiss?”
    My gut clenches. I look at Noah. What awful, stupid timing.
    Noah mouths at me, Put it on speaker.
    I wince and shake my head.
    Noah points to himself with both hands and mouths, Then why am I here?
    â€œTori?” Andy says.
    â€œHuh? Yeah?”
    â€œDo you remember your first kiss?”
    â€œUm . . . I’m going to put you on speaker, okay?” I say. “My hand’s cramping up and my ear’s all sweaty.”
    â€œOh. Sure, yeah.”
    â€œThanks.”
    Because I’m an idiot, I put my finger to my lips. Noah gives me a pitying look that says No shit, Hershy . Then I set the phone down in the middle of my mattress and tap the speaker button.
    â€œYou there?” I say.
    â€œLoud and clear,” Andy says. “Now quit stalling. Yes or no, do you remember your first kiss?”
    Noah looks confused. I wave it off. “Sure,” I say.
    â€œWhat was it like?”
    I shrug, as if Andy can see me, and start wandering around my room so I don’t have to look at Noah. I can feel him following me with his eyes. “You know. Okay.”
    â€œDo you remember his name?”
    As clear as the first time I struck someone out, I think.
    â€œUh-huh,” I say.
    â€œWell?”
    â€œWell, it’s not