Page 10 of Spyder
But back then, I was so incredibly jealous of Max for pulling the dumping the juice in his lap thing. I wanted to be him more than anything because he’d earned her respect. Her affection. He had earned her gratitude from that point on and I wanted to kick myself for not thinking of it at the time. Maybe there’s still a little piece of me, even to this day, that envies him for that.
“So, how’s she doing?” I ask, trying to sound casual.
“Smokeshow, man. She’s a total smokeshow,” he says. “She done growed up real nice.”
I laugh. “Shut up, dude.”
“I’m serious, actually,” he says with a smile. “She’s actually even more beautiful today than she was back then. It’s like adulthood has really agreed with her.”
“Yeah? That’s a good thing,” I say. “So, she’s turned out to be the complete opposite of you then.”
He shrugs. “Pretty much,” he replies. “But she’s still the same old Bellamy. Sweet. Kind. Caring. She’s teaching over at the junior high now.”
“Oh, wow, that’s great,” I say.
There was part of me hoping she’d turned into some hunchback troglodyte with a really bad attitude, and that she’d somehow gotten dumb or become a horrible person. The last thing I wanted to hear is that she’s still the same incredible, amazing woman I fell in love with as a kid. The same incredible, amazing woman I’m still carrying a torch for after all these years.
“So, why I’m telling you all that is so that you can take your baby nuts over to the junior high and talk to her,” he says. “Now that you, too, are all growed up and have some hair on your balls, you can go tell her how you’ve felt about her all this time.”
“You know what the best thing about being in love with somebody from afar is?”
“Do tell.”
“You never have to get close enough to spoil the fantasy.”
He arches an eyebrow at me. “You know every bit as well as I do that Bellamy Young is far better than any fantasy you can conjure up,” he says. “She’s the total package and you know it.”
I don’t say anything. Instead, I drain the last of my coffee and pointedly look at my watch to subtly let him know we have an appointment to keep. He chuckles, recognizing the tactic, and sits back in the booth with his coffee mug in hand to subtly tell me not to worry about the time.
“She asked about you,” he tells me.
“You’re so full of shit.”
“I’m serious, bro. She did.”
“Dude, she didn’t even know my name back in high school.”
He leans forward again, showing me his eyes to let me see how serious he is and that he’s not bullshitting me.
“She clearly did because she straight up asked me, ‘How is Derek doing?’ Just like that.”
“Did you bring me up first?”
“No,” he says. “Why would I talk about you when I’m tryin’ to get my shine on with some hottie in a parking lot.”
“You better not be getting your shine on—whatever that means—with anybody but me. Especially in a parking lot,” Ashley declares as she stops at our table.
“Busted,” I say with a grin.
Domino laughs. “I’m talking about Bellamy. I told you about her earlier.”
Her face lights up. “Oh, yeah,” she says then rounds on me. “So, when are you going to go get your shine on with her. I’m assuming that’s a good thing, right?”
“Let’s pump the brakes here,” I reply. “I haven’t seen her in a decade—”
“She asked about him. By name,” Domino says.
Ashley grins. “Clearly, you’ve been on her mind over this last decade. That’s all but an invitation to go talk to her,” she tells me. “Trust me, I understand girl speak.”
