Page 58 of Tell Me Softly
I pretended to smile as I told the woman behind the counter I’d take some too: strawberry flavored, ribbed, size XL. I stiffened as I felt Thiago’s eyes on me. “I agree,” I said, “one hundred percent.”
“Don’t play with fire, princess. You don’t want to get burned.”
“Maybe I’m looking to get burned,” I snapped back.
We must have been entertaining to the cashier, but I didn’t care.
“Some people may be a little too hot for you to handle.” What was he getting at?
“I’m sorry, Thiago, are you trying to tell me who I should sleep with?”
He grabbed the bag with his things and took his change. “Almost. I’m telling you whonotto sleep with.”
Just then, Taylor walked in. Kate came up behind me and laid her things down on the counter. Thiago looked at his brother, then made a show of looking back at me and saying loudly, “Good night, Kamila.” Then he walked outside.
The cashier scanned my items, and Taylor came over to say hi. I could tell that he hadn’t liked his brother and me talking at all. I tried to grab the condoms and shove them in my pocket just as Kate asked, “What the hell do you need those condoms for?”
Fuck. Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuck.
I blushed and Taylor looked down, amused but suspicious.
“Strawberry, huh? Very tasty,” he said as I shoved everything into the bag.
“Yeah, it’s my favorite flavor,” I responded in a neutral tone, trying to let him know I didn’t feel like talking about it.
“Well, if you get the craving for it later, let me know.” The door opened again and Danny, Harry, Lionel, and Victor came in as a group. I wished I could vanish and prayed for the conversation to end so I wouldn’t give them more to gossip about. Kate asked Taylor out of nowhere, “So, party in your room at midnight, right?”
Taylor nodded. “You’re invited too, Kami. Bring those condoms. We need to make sure everyone stays safe.”
I struggled to pull the corners of my lips into a friendly expression. “I’ll think about it.”
I waited for Kate to pay and exhaled the giant breath of air I’d been holding as Taylor went to buy his food. She turned to me and asked, “Dude, are you and Taylor going to have sex?”
I rolled my eyes and grabbed her arm. “Listen, if I decide to, you’ll be the first one to know about it. I promise.”
A bunch of us ate in my room and talked about everything and nothing: the next day’s game, the other cheerleading squad, who had a crush on whom.
“I think my brother likes you,” Kate said.
I remembered Julian asking if we could watch a movie and replied, “I told you, we’re just friends.”
Kate’s expression turned strange just then. She looked out the window, and I knew she was hiding something.
“Kate, is something up?”
She shook her head, but then Marissa started pushing her, and she opened up: “It’s just…you know, it hasn’t been easy. Having him at home, you know.” She looked uncomfortable and was biting down on the inside of her cheek.
I had forgotten about how weird their whole relationship was. Kate had barely known him before he came to live with them. That had to have been hard for her.
“Yeah, I get it,” I told her. “It must be hard, adapting to someone else at your house.”
“That’s not it. It’s Julian. He’s a difficult guy, you know.”
I thought of when I had hung out with him and couldn’t imagine what she was talking about. But then, what did I know? Lisa asked her what she meant, grabbing the last of the Pringles out of the tube.
“Mom told me when Julian was little, he used to spend the weekends with us. She said he wasn’t like the other kids his age. And, like, I was always super relaxed, but whenever he and I were in the same room, I’d supposedly start crying my eyes out.”
“Probably you didn’t like him messing with your toys,” Ellie said, taking a big swig of Coke.
