Page 29 of Irons

“Do you think she’s pretty? Are you going to kiss her? You know, she kissed a boy at her church camp this summer. She’s a total slut.” Yeah, I’d put an end to it before he even thought of kissing her.

He chuckled. “She kissed one boy and that makes her a slut?” He sat down in a chair and motioned for me to put my leg on his lap.

“Well, yeah. She’s only eleven and won’t be twelve until Thanksgiving. She’s already talking about her stupid birthday party. It'll probably be a slut fest.”

He laughed at me.

“What could possibly be so funny? She probably has mouth diseases, like cold sores or something.”

He shook his head. “Kissing one boy does not make anyone a slut. A slut is someone who kisses a lot of people, like Tony. He’s a slut, not a twelve year old girl.”

I gasped. “She’s eleven for one and Tony can’t be a slut because he’s a guy.” I corrected him.

“The whole word is stupid. Just forget it exists, and no, she does not have mouth diseases just because she kissed somedude.” He laid the ice pack on my now naked ankle, and I flinched.

“That’s cold!”

He rolled his eyes. “Duh. That’s why they call it ice.”

“Okay, back to slut girl. Are you going to kiss her?” If he said yes, I was going to kick him.

“No.”

I scrunched my nose. “She’s really not all that pretty.”

He tilted his head. “She’s your friend, isn’t she? Why be so mean?”

I shrugged. “Herpes, duh.” I like the way he always looked at me and I didn’t want him to look at another girl that way. “Have you ever kissed a girl?”

His eyes met mine. “No, have you ever kissed a boy?” He asked.

I rolled my eyes. “I’m definitely not going to kiss some random boy, so no. My reputation is intact and will stay that way.”

He sighed. “It’s not a big deal. Tony kisses all kinds of girls, and I heard your dad does too.”

I gasped. “My dad does not kiss girl’s.” I gagged.

“He does a lot more than just kiss girl’s. What do you think he does when you stay with Grandma Patty? He has sleepovers too.”

“Ugh, he does not!” He was being such a liar.

“I’ve seen them leave your house in the morning when you’re gone. Tony said something about your dad getting caught in the backseat of his cruiser with some chick. It’s normal to dostuff like that, Wrenly.” He was holding the ice pack on my ankle, but I was squirming because my butt still hurt really bad.

“That’s gross, and I’m not ever kissing anyone but you. You’re going to kiss me someday, Travis.”

His face turned red. “Change of subject because that’s not happening. I think I’m going to try to go to basketball tryouts on Thursday. My dad said he would pick me up from school.”

I felt sorry for him because he always had high hopes, but he never got to do any after school stuff. Tony worked second shift, and he was the only one in his family that would be willing to give him a ride, but of course he worked and couldn’t pick him up. Plus, the school already told him he couldn’t be in any sports until his attendance got better.

“I have tennis after school on Thursday, maybe Grandma Patty can give you a ride.” I offered.

He shrugged. “Yeah, maybe. I’m supposed to go to my house though. My mom isn’t leaving until Friday morning.”

“I hate it when you have to go there.” I pouted. He was never happy there because they always fought. At least he was old enough to hang out at Tony’s and didn’t have to go to the other places all that much. He was bored at his grandparents and his aunt had a new boyfriend. Betty, his mom’s friend was really weird, and he hated it there. He had to go to those places still, but on nights like tonight he rode the bus home to Tony’s because he couldn’t remember where he was supposed to go. His parents were in town but were really busy with some sort of missing kids network thing. I didn’t understand any of it.

He didn’t reply very quickly, just looked down at my foot. “I wish I could be here every day, with you.”

He had no idea how much I wanted that too. He was my best friend, and I loved him as much as I loved my dad and grandparents. “I couldn’t imagine what it would be like without you.”

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