Page 34 of Mr. Picture Perfect
I somehow remember the mint green dress my kindergarten teacher always wore—maybe some odd association I formed and can’t forget—but nothing comes to mind about spending any time with Cole as kids. We had no mutual friends in school. We had no classes together, either. Nothing in common except for us being human beings, and even that’s debatable where I’m concerned.
“No,” I finally say. “Not a thing.”
Something in Cole’s eyes deflate.
I think he’s disappointed that I can’t remember.
I’m just about to apologize when he quickly brushes it off. “Y’know what? Don’t worry about it. It was a long time ago. I don’t remember a whole lot myself.”
I get the strong suspicion he’s playing off just how much he remembers. I bet it’s a lot.Why can’t I remember anything…?
“I mean, we were basically begrudgingly pushed at each other because our moms were besties,” he says. “That’s the gist I know.”
I snap my eyes to him again. “They were besties?”
“Used to be, apparently.” Cole tenses up slightly. “Um … don’t read too much into that. I don’t know anything else. We’re getting to know each othernow, right? That’s what counts.”
“Okay,” I mutter absently as Porridge rushes up to the base of a tree and begins to investigate it, sniffing around. We stop to let her explore. I decide I’m ready to start the interview—theactualinterview. “So, um, the day … the day that you saved my life …”
“Yesterday.”
“Right. Yesterday. Um … What would you say was going on … uh … wait, no. What would you say went through your head when you, uh, when you saw me and …ugh, this is worded so much better in my notebook at home… well, actually, you must’ve seen the picture frames falling first, and … and that’s what made you—”
“It was your face I saw first, actually.”
I look at him. “Really?”
“Yep.” He peers back at me. “I was just minding my business, enjoying the festival with Nan … and there you stood, right across the street. I caught sight of you and …” He gazes off with a shrug. “I was instantly pulled back, thinking about all the times I passed you by in the halls of Spruce High, how many times I didn’t say hello … and how I should’ve said hello.”
Is Cole being funny? None of this makes sense. “What do you mean? We didn’t know each other in school.”
“We might not have been close,” agrees Cole, “but it doesn’t mean I didn’t know who you were. Doesn’t mean I wasn’t curious about you.All the time,” he adds in a mumble, then chuckles. When he chuckles, his eyes sparkle in the sunlight. I’m mesmerized as I listen to him. He smirks. “I’m observant, too, y’know. Good thing I was observant yesterday, otherwise I wouldn’t have seen you and charged across the street to do what I did.”
I find all of this information too much. I don’t even know how to respond. What to ask next. What to think.
“By the way,” he goes on, “didyouever noticemeback then?”
Porridge stops sniffing at once and looks up at me, as if she’s also somehow interested in my answer.
“Of course,” I tell him absently. “Everyone noticed you.”
“Really? I wasn’t sure. You were always kind of …” Cole makes a gesture with his hands around his head, the leash wiggling in his grip. “… trapped up here all the time. That’s how it seemed to me. I think I was too intimidated to approach you.”
I stare down at the ground.
Hewas too intimidated to approachme?
“I always wondered what was going on in your mind,” he says. “I mean, not to sound like a stalker, but I was always curious about you. The quiet guy in his shell. You were a shy one, Noah Reed.”
“I just liked to keep to myself.”
“It’s okay. You can be shy. You can keep to yourself. As long as you’re happy in the ways that matter, that’s all I care about.”
I can’t pull my eyes from the ground suddenly.
How did I not know Cole was paying so much attention to me all this time?
Is he this attentive with everyone in his life?
