Page 26 of The Second Kiss
After they’re gone, I throw the bloody paper towel in the garbage and then head to the hall to eat my popsicle. I want to see if Jacob is still with the brunette. Standing outside the door to the gym, I can’t see them, but I can hear their voices.
“Good,” he says. “But turn your wrist more this way.” I imagine him with his arms around her, rotating her wrist.
She says something and they both laugh again. I suck on the popsicle and taste blood. Blood and grape–gross, but my lip isn’t bleeding so much anymore.
“Rotate through your hip so you get more power behind your punch.” Jacob says. I wish I could see if he was touching her hip when he said that.
“She’s cute,” the woman says. I slide closer to the door. “Does her mother know you have her out so late on a school night?”
I cringe. They’re talking about me.
“Yes, her mother knows where she is,” Jacob says. “I brought the signed permission slip and everything. Do you want to see it?”
“Doesn’t Carl usually help you with this class?” she answers back.
“He’s on duty tonight,” Jacob answers.
“Convenient.”
“What is that supposed to mean?” Jacob sounds irritated.
“Nothing. Just trying to keep you respectable.”
“I thought you had enough going on trying to keep Bryan respectable.”
She snorts. “Yeah, well, I’m marrying him. I hope that will keep him respectable.” Suddenly I like the dark-haired woman more.
“She’s an old family friend.” It stings when Jacob says that.
“Obviously not that old.” The woman laughs at her own joke.
“I’m trying to help her out. Her asshole ex-boyfriend came by the other day and was pretty rough with her. I want to make sure she can defend herself.”
My chest gets tight. I guess that explains why he asked me to help with this class. He doesn’t think I can take care of myself.
“Are you sure that’s all it is?” the woman says.
“She’s barely seventeen,” Jacob answers. That stings too, even if it is the truth.
Her voice gets serious. “I'd bet ninety percent of the unmarried guys on base wouldn’t have a problem asking her out. Some of the married ones too.”
“Yeah,” Jacob says, “Another good reason to teach her how to defend herself.”
I walk over to the garbage can to throw away my popsicle stick. There’s some kind of trophy case by the garbage can. I lean forward to study my lip in the glass. The case is a kind of tribute to soldiers from Fort Lewis who’ve died in one war or another. Most of them aren’t much older than I am. I think about all those women in the gym. A lot of them are waiting for their husbands. My stomach twists.
“There you are.” It’s the woman Jacob was working with. “We were starting to get worried.”
“I’m coming back now,” I say.
“Oh, you’re going to want to get some cold water on that.” She touches a spot on my white tank top. Grape popsicle. “And that.” Another spot, blood, this time. “I’ll come help you. I’m Becky by the way.”
“Jess,” I say. I can’t believe I got popsicle and blood stains all over my shirt, like some little kid.
“I think Jake can handle things for a little longer without you,” she directs me back to the bathroom.
By the time we have turned the bloodstain to a lighter orange and the popsicle stain to a lighter purple the class is over. Beckyleaves with a stocky guy with brown hair, introduced to me as Bryan, her fiancé. He has a little boy with him, Becky’s kid, but not his. Jacob is sitting on the floor filling out some papers when I come in.
“How’s your lip?” He barely looks up from his paperwork.
