Page 12 of Damnation
“If you don’t like philosophy, then why are you taking the course?”
“I started three years late, but I need the elective credits,” he answers calmly. “One course is as good as any other for me.”
“Wait, you started three years late? Does that mean you’re twenty-two?” I ask, disoriented.
Thomas just nods, facing downward as he ties his other shoe and avoids answering the question I’ve only implied:Where was he those three years?
I can tell he doesn’t want to talk about it, so I switch topics. “In any case, wouldn’t it have been better to get credits with courses that were more up your alley? I saw your drawings; they’re beautiful. You could have picked something in the arts. Or focused on sports.”
“You know, I could have.” He approaches me wearing a crooked smile. When he’s just a few inches from my face, he taps me lightly on the nose with his index finger. “But you weren’t in any of those courses.”
His answer leaves me speechless. What doesthatmean?
Thomas laughs, watching me. I’m sure he can see the gears turning in my head as I try to figure out what he’s saying. “We need to go,” he says, only a breath away from my mouth. “I have practice in twenty minutes, and your mother will be home soon too. Should I take you to the Marsy?”
I jerk my head no. “To campus. I need to meet up with Tiffany before work.”
“Great, I’ll be waiting downstairs.” He walks out of the room, leaving me standing there in a daze, staring after him.
Oh, no.
Like hell am I going to let him get away like that! This time, I’m going to demand an answer.
I pull on the sweater at light speed, grab my work uniform and my schoolbooks, and throw it all in my bag before chasing after him. The moving box can wait.
“Thomas!” I call out to him, shouting. But as soon as I hit the first step of the staircase, I see him close the front door behind him.
Dammit!
Don’t you run away from me!
I take the stairs two at a time. I grab the house keys, lock the door, and run to the car, pinning him with a look that will not permit silence.
“Tell me.”
“What?” He chuckles as he turns the key in the ignition and starts the car.
“Don’t play dumb.” I fasten my seat belt without taking my eyes off of him. “Tell me why you took philosophy.”
“I already said.”
I blink in disbelief. “You really want me to believe that you enrolled in philosophy…for me?” That’s impossible. He didn’t even know I existed before that Monday when he sat down next to me and decided to pester me. “Seriously?”
“Maybe,” he answers nonchalantly as he puts the car into gear and we head off.
I shake my head and rub my temples. “Now I know you’re lying. You didn’t even know who I was.”
“Ness, we’ve been going to the same college for over a year now. You were dating the motherfucker who used my sister. Of course I knew who you were.”
Sure, he must have seen me in passing occasionally in the hallways, or maybe at one of Travis’s practices. But I doubt he ever took much notice of me. “But you…you never thought about me,” I point out.
We slow down as we approach a stop sign. He stops and looks seriously at me. “That doesn’t mean I didn’t know who you were.” He accelerates again.
“But then why? Why would you do it?”
“Who knows?” he replies, giving a distracted shrug. “One day I saw you, and you seemed interesting. And I’ll admit that I was a little bit tickled by the idea of pissing off your asshole boyfriend.”
“A spur-of-the-moment thing. So that’s why?” I ask in a faint voice, trying and failing to understand. “To punish Travis?”
