Page 30 of Some Kind of Forever
A knock on the door has me jumping from my spot on the sofa. Mom comes rushing from the kitchen, giving me a look of warning when she says, “Sit down, Kayla Marie.” I roll my eyes at her back as she opens the door. She’d keep me lying on this couch until I get my stitches out on Friday if she could.
“Hey, Ms. Harris,” Ashlie says as she walks through the door, carrying her hair box in one hand and a box of sushi in the other. “Hey, girl.” She turns toward me on the couch. “How you feelin’?”
“Bored,” I say, shifting a side-eyed look over to Mom who throws her hands up in the air, shaking her head like she’s exasperated. She walks back into the kitchen without another word.
“Well, let’s get into this hair,” Ashlie says, standing behind the couch and handing me the food. She’s been doing my hair for as long as I’ve known her, and she’s the one who encouraged me to get locs back in high school. I maintain my hair on my own when I’m away at school, but Ashlie helps me retighten my locs whenever we’re both back home. Since we don’t have many essentials for Black hair care here in Fort Bender, it’s been nice having someone to share the load with.
I turn toward the TV as she sections off the bottom row of my locs. She begins weaving the strands until they’re tight against my scalp.
“So…” I say. “How are the guys?”
“Chaseis fine. He keeps asking about you.” Her hands loosen the silk scrunchie at the top of my head long enough for her to pull down the next row of hair.
“And what do you tell him?”
“Do you want me to give him your number so you two can talk and leave me out of it?”
Do I?That remains unclear. Everything after my fall has been different, and I’ve been trying to reconcile the friendship we cultivated at camp with thesomething moreI’ve felt since waking up in the infirmary. I still feel the warmth that spread through me as he laced his fingers around mine in the car. Flutters surged through my core each time he called me sweetheart, and I liked watching him walk through the door of my hospital room with a smile and flowers, just for me. But it’s been a few days, and having some distance from him has given time for doubts to slip in. Something in me wants to leave that experience, and all the warm fuzzies thataccompanied it, under lock and key in my memory so nothing can taint it. “I-I’m not sure. I don’t know.” I shrug.
Ashlie sighs, dropping her hands from my hair, prompting me to turn and look at her. “Do you like him?” She watches my face for any nuance. I can’t even admit it to myself right now, and saying the words out loud will cement them into canon in a way that feels detrimental to my carefully crafted dignity.
“We’re just friends,” I answer with finality. She squints at me, quietly calling my bluff, before shaking her head and leaving it alone. I turn back around, digging into the sushi and pretending I’m fully invested in the show on TV. My mind, however, is trying to sort out feelings I’ve been avoiding for weeks.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHASE
“Hard no.” Ashlie shakes her head as she leans around Hunter to look at me. It’s Wednesday afternoon, and we’re at the diner like we would be on any other Wednesday. Everything’s like it normally is, except Kayla isn’t here. Pattie with anIEis nice and everything, but she’s no Kayla.
“Ashlie, please…” I beg. “I just want to check on her. It’s been days.”
“She’s at home with her mom, who’s a nurse. And I saw her last night. She’s fine.”
“Ashlie—”
“Uh-uh, nope. I’m not hopping over that boundary. If she wanted you to have her number, she would have given it to you.” She turns back to her food, shaking her head again.
I look to Hunter, and he shrugs back before checking the newest notification on his phone. “Ugh, okay. You’re right.” I give up, blowing out a breath and scrubbing my face in my hands. This is literal torture, going from talking to her every day to radio silence. “Can you tell her I was asking about her, at least?”
“I did, last night. And the night before.”
“And…?”
Ashlie growls in frustration, shooting a glare over at me.
“Bruh, chill,” Hunter finally chimes in before turning to Ashlie. “He wants to know if she’s asking about him, too, but he’s too scared to say it.”
I clench my fist and tap it on my leg, thinking better of slugging him in the arm.What the hell, man!
“Sorry. Girl code,” she says, pushing back from the counter. “And now,I’mtaking my lunch to go becauseyouare driving me nuts with your one-man lovesick, puppy dog show over there. She’s fine. She’ll be back to work on Saturday.” Ashlie stops at the counter to pay for her food and rolls her eyes over at us before waving and walking back to the museum across the street.
I kick Hunter’s foot from the stool ledge. “Speaking of, what ever happened to guy code, Hunt?”
“Oh, I’msorry. With all the whining you were doing, I didn’t realize you were trying to hide your feelings for this girl.My bad.”
Shaking my head, I let out a breath and focus on lunch. Pattie with anIEasks how we’re doing, and all I can think about is how much better I’d be if I could talk to Kayla.
I tap my knees,trying to focus on the detective show on TV. It’s good, one of my favorites, but I can’t concentrate when my thoughts keep straying to Kayla. How is she doing?Whatis she doing? Fidgeting is the only way I feel like I’m making something happen, when I know I can’t do anything until she’s ready to see me—talk to me, even. Shifting on the couch, I lean back into the cushion until the energy coursing through my body forces me to sit forward with my elbows on my knees. I finally stand, stretching my back and walking into the kitchen for a bottle of water. Needing something to do with my hands, I tap the bottle lid on the counter a few times. It doesn’t help.
