Page 27 of Tell Me Softly
“I’m not. It’s fine, don’t worry about me.” But it was true that I was still staring at the empty space where he’d stood, as if by looking hard enough, I could make him come back.
“I’ll talk to him.” Taylor rubbed my cheek, and I saw how gentle his expression was.
“Don’t bother,” I said, forcing a smile. “It was just a dumb argument. Your brother’s always loved pissing me off.”
“He’s that way with everybody, trust me. So…” He looked back at the gym. “Were you going to donate?”
Why lie? The thought of it made me panic, and I’d probably be woozy the rest of the day, but I didn’t want to leave the rest of the cheerleading squad in the lurch. My friends would kill me. I was the captain; who else would stand at the top of the pyramid?
“Will you hold my hand?” I asked sincerely.
He smiled.
“I’ll hold anything you tell me to hold,” he said. I slapped his forearm. He laughed, but as he walked me in, he turned serious. “Of course I will. I’ll stay with you the whole time, don’t worry.”
“Thanks, Tay.” I couldn’t help but give him a hug. I felt his hands on my waist and his cheek hot against my head. “I’m really happy we’re friends again,” I said, pulling back and kissing him on the cheek.
“Me too, Kami,” he replied with a shine in those blue eyes––his father’s eyes, as I remembered. “You ready?”
“Ready as I’ll ever be.”
Chapter Ten
Taylor
There was barely anyone left outside the bloodmobile. We’d had the cheerleaders line up first and the basketball team behind them, and by now, only two players were still waiting. My brother was there too, sitting at a picnic table on the lawn, filling out forms and writing notes on his clipboard.
He was being a dickhead with Kami. He had to know it wasn’t fair to hate her the way he did. And he scared her and made her sad; I’d seen it in her face every time he’d yelled and talked down to her. If he wanted to blame her, that was his problem, but she wasn’t guilty of anything.
Seeing her again, talking to her, hugging her, had brought back memories from childhood that I hadn’t thought about in years. Memories I’d stored away because they hurt me. Because the truth was, I’d missed her. Bad. Kami had been my friend since preschool. Our mothers became close at the same time we did, not long after I turned five. That was one reason why what Dad and Kami’s mother did hurt so much: two people had betrayed us, not one. We had almost been like one family. How could she do something like that to someone who was basically her sister?
My brother looked up and motioned for us to get a move on. The two remaining players had already donated. When Kami went inside, I threw an arm over her shoulders. I could feel her shaking as she saw the nurses and doctor, and I tried to encourage her: “Be cool—it’s nothing, just a little prick.”
She sat down and closed her eyes as the nurse told her, “This will just take a second. Can I see your left arm?”
Kami stretched it out as I held her right hand and rubbed her palm with one of my fingers. She opened her eyes and looked away, over my shoulder, trying not to watch as they slid the needle in.
“Very good,” the nurse said. “Now, we’ll just have to wait a few minutes here.”
Fifteen minutes later, they took the needle out and gave her a cookie and a bottle of water. She was fine. She actually looked better than when we’d gone inside. I walked her out and noticed she was staring at Thiago, whose look was strangely gentle. It was an expression I was familiar with, the same one I’d seen all those times we’d had to take Mom to the doctor because she’d had another anxiety attack. He’d practiced that look; he knew it calmed her down. I always used to get so upset when she was sick, but Thiago was a rock, the very personification of confidence, the person who always made us feel safe. I was glad he’d found it in himself to be that for Kami just then.
I wanted them to get along so badly. She and I had been close, and I was glad we were getting close again, but I knew that between my brother and her, there was something special. At the same time, that made me angry. I was the one who had stayed with her, who’d forgiven her… So why was she looking at him like that? And if he really hated her so much, what did that stare of his mean?
Thiago saw I was watching them and looked back down at his papers. As Kami turned to me, I smiled and asked her if everythingwas OK. She nodded. But she looked pensive, even confused somehow.
“You sure?” I asked. When she wavered, I decided to go out on a limb: “Why don’t we grab some dinner?” I was hungry after practice, and I didn’t feel like dealing with my family just then.
Kami frowned and said, “Nah, I think I’m going to go home. I really don’t feel very good.”
“I could take you,” I said. It was true; she was suddenly white as a ghost.
“You can’t,” my brother said, walking up beside me, his gym bag slung over his shoulder. “I need you to help me out with some stuff here, and then you’d better go home and hit the books.”
“Dude, she’s sick!” I said.
“I’m fine,” Kami said.
“See, she’s fine!” Thiago repeated.
