Freeing Carter (15 page)

When we get back to school
,
Trina and Mel go their way
,
and Trav and I head to English. It
'
s not until we
'
re almost there that I realize Mel didn
'
t kiss me goodbye. Really
,
it
'
s not a big deal
,
but for her it is. I mean
,
it wasn
'
t too long ago Travis gave me shit about Mel and her leash.

"
Is it weird that before we could hardly get two seconds to ourselves and now they want nothing to do with us?
"

"
Nope.
"
Travis shakes his head.
"
It
'
s normal. People grow
...
change
...
get antsy. I
'
m pretty sure there
'
s an expiration date on all relationships.
"

I raise my eyebrows at him
,
wondering when he figured all this out. When he turned into Mr. Cynical all of a sudden.
"
And how close are we to ours?
"

Travis pats me on the shoulder.
"
Just about expired
,
my friend.
"
He turns and walks into class. In my head
,
I know he
'
s right. I
'
m pretty sure we
'
re past the expiration date
,
I
'
m just not man enough to clean out the fridge.

***

Mrs. Z
'
s praise of my homework gives me a high that carries me to practice. Here
,
I don
'
t need anything else but a ball in my hand and four teammates with me on the floor. When practice is over
,
Mel and Trina disappear to do whatever it is they
'
re doing lately
,
leaving me and Trav on our own.

"
Wanna do something? Tad
'
s parents let him move into the room behind their house. People have been going there to chill and stuff. I
'
ve been a few times. It
'
s crazy. He has a fridge full of beer in the closet and they don
'
t even know!
"
Travis stands on the back of my truck.

Beer? Nope. Not feeling it.
"
When did you start chillin
'
with Tad?
"

"
When he started getting beer.
"

I laugh.
"
Nah
,
I
'
m going to head to the store. Mom wants me to help Kira.
"
It pops out of my mouth without my meaning it to. Mom wanted me to help her yesterday
,
not today.

I start to walk toward the driver side when Travis says
,
"
Ok. She
'
s hot. I
'
ll go with you.
"

My feet tangle and I stumble a little. Shaking it off
,
like I did it on purpose (which makes no sense. Who trips on purpose?)
,
I look at him
,
trying to figure out why I
'
m annoyed while talking at the same time.
"
Dude
,
she
'
s going to be working.
"

"
Dude
,
who cares? I
'
m there with you. It
'
s not going to interrupt her work if I
'
m looking
...
well
,
unless she
'
s so into looking back she can
'
t do her job.
"
By now he
'
s walked over to me
,
fist out and waiting for me to hit it. I swear I will my arm to do it
,
but the thing suddenly has a mind of its own and won
'
t listen.

"
I thought you were going to Tad
'
s?
"
I keep digging myself a grave.

"
Is there some reason you don
'
t want me to go? I can go to Tad
'
s later and I
'
m sure as shit not going home
..."

Huh?
"
Why? What
'
s up at home?
"
Travis has never talked like that.

"
Nothing.
"
He shakes it off.
"
Just boring. Plus I
'
m killing two birds with one stone here. A pretty girl first
,
then beer at Tad
'
s.
I like
that plan.
"

"
You have a girlfriend.
"
Shut up
,
Carter. Close your mouth.

"
And do you have a fever? What the hell
'
s wrong with you?
"

What the hell is wrong with me is right
.
"
Get in the truck. I
'
m just giving you a hard time.
"
I think.

***

Mom slips out of the store
,
mumbling something about errands and a quiet question of if I can help Kira if she needs it. My answer is just as quiet and mumbled
,
each of us treading the uncomfortable ground between us.

"
Catch you later
,
Ms. Delilah. You
'
re looking lovely today
,
by the way!
"
Travis calls after Mom
,
who rolls her eyes at him
,
before waving goodbye.

"
Dude
,
why do you flirt with my mom?
"

He shrugs.
"
She
'
s hot. She
'
s single
"

"
What the hell
,
Campbell!
"
I shove him.
"
Don
'
t call my mom hot.
"

"
Why? She is.
"
Kira steps up beside us.

"
Umm
,
no. She
'
s really not. Again
,
she
'
s my
mom.
Pretty sure that
'
s against the law.
"

Trav puts his arm around Kira
'
s shoulders.
"
She
'
s on my side so I
'
m sticking with her. Why don
'
t you enlighten us on why it
'
s illegal?
"

I suddenly want to punch my best friend in the face. Again.
"
Because she
'
s old. Plus
,
it
'
s against the guy code. Thou shall not covet your best friend
'
s mom.
"
Or put your arm around the pretty girl with the braids
,
even though I have no reason to care about that.

Kira laughs
,
steps out from under Travis
'
s arm and touches my shoulder.
"
I think you
'
re safe
,
Sleepy. I
'
m pretty sure your mom wouldn
'
t go for him.
"
She walks over to a stand of books and starts organizing. Grabbing his heart
,
Travis is right behind her.

"
What? You don
'
t think Ms. Delilah would go for me? I
'
m crushed. Well
...
she
'
s not really my type either.
"
Travis
'
s eyebrows go up.

I stand back in awe
,
wondering when Travis got so much game. He
'
s totally flirting with her and I
'
m stuck between wanting to give him props and kicking him out. I mean
,
it
'
s harmless. Not the dissing-your-girlfriend flirting
,
so what
'
s my deal?

"
So
,
how
'
s your girlfriend
,
Romeo?
"
Kira teases him.

Travis shakes his head.
"
Oh
,
I see how it is. I can take a hint. Travis isn
'
t allowed to be nice because he has a girlfriend. Forget that said girlfriend has split personalities
,
liking him one minute and trying to kill him the next. Oh
,
and I
'
m pretty sure she
'
s up to something shady
,
too
,
but no
,
Travis can
'
t be friendly to the new girl or ogle his best friend
'
s mom.
"

"
Dude! Shut up about my Mom.
"

"
I
'
m kidding
,
Sleepy
. Simmer down.
"

I
'
m pretty sure I
'
m coming off like a douchebag today.
"
Whatever. I
'
m doing some homework.
"

"
Oh! What
'
s the bet today? What do you want from me that I can bribe you with?
"
Kira steps up onto a stool
,
dusting books. I groan
,
unable to hold it back. She looks like an office worker today. A hot office worker with a tight skirt that goes down to her knees
,
with a matching jacket-thing. The difference is
,
her jacket has little glittery things on it
,
that look like she glued them there herself.

"
So not touching that one.
"
Travis laughs
,
walking over to the table and plopping down.

"
I don
'
t know
...
I
'
ll let you know when I figure one out.
"

She giggles
,
but doesn
'
t reply
,
and keeps working. I sit with Travis
,
pulling out my books.

"
We
'
re really doing homework? Why are we doing homework?
"
Travis asks.

My reply is a shrug. Not like I can tell him I
'
m a slacker and might get kicked off the team if I don
'
t bring up my English grade. Then something he said a few minutes before pops into my head.
"
What did you mean by thinking Trina is up to something shady?
"

Travis leans backward in the chair
,
crossing his arms.
"
I don
'
t know
,
bro
...
it
'
s just. It
'
s been weird lately. Even before they suddenly started doing all that cheer stuff with Sam. I don
'
t know
,
it
'
s been different for like a month
,
but more lately. Every time we
'
re together she
'
s on my ass about something
,
but she
'
s spending more time with Sam. You know her parents are never home and Devin always has his friends around. I don
'
t trust it.
"