Second Chance (19 page)

I give her the same intense stare I give my catcher when I’m
reading
the plays
.

“Well
,
my life’s a little
busy right now
,
” I say
.
“
Some people actually have
a routine
.
I have
baseball
and classes.
Y
ou can’t just expect me to
drop
everything and
entertain you
.”

She ignores me and
digs
around in her duffle bag
.
I glare down at her
.
Shouldn’t she be apologizing
?
Begging me to forgive her for so easily crossing me out of her life
?
She
stands up
and her face is too close to mine.
I take a step back
.
She doesn’t say anything for a few seconds, like she’s trying to calculate something in my expression
.

“
I’m sorry
.
I
just
wanted to
surprise you,” she says
.

This makes me laugh
,
but it sounds forced, rubbed with bitterness
.

“
What really surprises me
Dylan,
is
that
I haven’t heard
from you in
four
months
,
”
I say
as s
he throws my
bedroom door open and drags the duffel bag
behind her
.
She
marches down
the stairs and shakes her head
.
Her bag thumps loudly behind her and she shouts over it
.

“
You
could have tried to contact
me
,
”
she argues.

“Says the gi
rl with no telephone or
permanent
address,
”
I yell back
.
“Is it that hard for
you
to
use
the phone
once in a while
?”

She turns
to
me
when she reaches the
bottom
of the staircase
.
“I don’t understand international calling cards
.
Too many numbers
.
It freaks me out.”

“
What about emailing
?” I say
and walk down the stairs
.
“Or do they not have computers in
Europe
?”

“
You never emailed me
.
At least
I sent you postcards,” she points out.

“Oh, wow, two postcards, one from Germany telling me
‘
how many great wieners they
have.
’
Very
considerate
.”

She blinks up at me
.
“They
have amazing hot dogs
,” she says
.
“I thought you’d appreciate that.”

“That’s
you
r
idea of keeping in touch?”
I ask and lean closer to her.

“I wanted to
surprise
you,” she
says
again, leaning back at me
so her face is
inches from
mine
.
“But I didn’t
know
your events calendar is completely booked this
spring
.”
 

I hear
a
chuc
kle and wince to
see all
my roommates sitting in the li
ving room
watching
us
like we’re a
new reality show,
The Ex-Files
.
They all
stare at Dylan and she
has the nerve to smile
and start
introducing
herself
.
They
’re all
plenty eager to mee
t her but I
cut them off
.
 

“Don’t bother making introductions,” I tell
Dylan
.
“You’re not staying.”

“Do you mind
?
I’d like to make a good first i
mpression.”

“It’s a little late,” I point out
.
“
They already met you on the front porch when you

looked
like you were
strung out on heroin.”

“Y
ou say
that like it’s such a bad thing.
”

I hear a
nother
chuckle and turn to glare but I can’t tell who laughed
.
Dylan’s
feet
stomp along the
hardwood floors.

“What about your shoes?”

“I told you
.
T
heir
names are
Heidi and Klaus
—
”

“I’m not
calling them by their names
—
”

She’s out the front door before I can finish
.
I quick
ly
glance at
Bubba as he shakes his head.

“This completely redefines the term sexual tension,” he says.

“Stay out of this,” I yell back
.
I
slam the front door behind me and
follow
Dylan
onto the grass in the front yard
.
S
he unzips a side pocket of her bag and pulls out some
silver
flip-flops
.
She kicks her feet into them
.

“Where are you going?”
I ask.

“
I’ll figure something
out.
”

I cross my arms over my chest
.
“Do you have any money?”

“I have
seventy-five
Euros,” she informs me
like this currency will work in the U.S
.

She
bends over and her
shirt rides up to expose her bony spine
.
She
lifts her
duffel bag
with a g
roan and swings it over her side to use
the
straps like a backpack
.
The change in weight takes her body by surprise and she starts to
wobble
.
I
take a
step
towards her
.

“
Wh
aa
—
” she
yells as she
stammers
to the side
.
I try to grab
her but
the
bag wins and
she f
lies
sideways
and
pulls
me down with her on
to
the grass
.
She lands half on her
bag
and half on my chest
and our bodies connect with the grass in
a
muffled thud
.
We lay there for a moment and despite all my efforts to be mad, I’m cracking up
.

“
Ow
,”
Dylan
moans
, her voice close to my ear, her body pressed against mine
.
She starts laughing and p
retty soon we’re both
laughing so hard my whole body is shaking
and I can feel her
stomach
muscles
flexing
against mine
.
I look up and see the sun flooding down on us through tree branches just beginning to bud
.
I haven’
t laughed this
hard in months
.
It makes my
face hurt
.