Maybe they were flirty ones.
How many people knew of me as the fun guy? How many thought this was all I was good for?
That was the thing about a town like this. Once you were labeled, your fate was sealed. No one changed their minds.
I was suddenly the fun guy who was good in bed.
“Now that we’ve cleared things up—” She stepped closer and I smelled her perfume. “Can we continue?”
I wasn’t sure what I wanted to say because my mind wasstill reeling. My heart hammered in my chest and it felt like I couldn’t breathe.
That’s what all of these people thought of me. I didn’t care about the gossip, but this one hurt. Everyone here knew about Mom and Dad. They knew that they had raised me right. Most of my classmates had been at Dad’s funeral, awkwardly offering their condolences. How could they see what I came from and still gotten it wrong?
A few things happened all at once. I tried to pull away from Julie as the door to the closet she was reaching for sprang open.
A man stepped out. He was sporting a tool belt and a thinning hairline. His eyes went between us, and I had no doubts in my mind that he had heard the whole thing.
“Aren’t you a little young for this?”
Julie whirled around, her entire body tensed. “Oh my God. Sir, I’m sorry. I didn’t know anyone was here.”
“Always in the shadows I am.” He crossed his arms. “Now, you might wanna scram before someone else catches you.”
Julie didn’t have to be told twice. She darted down the hallway. The guy didn’t sound all that nice and I knew that I needed to make a break for it too.
My entire world had been pulled out from under me like a rug. I was moving slower than I should have been.
“You,” the man looked at me. “Hang on a sec. I wanna talk to you.”
“Technically, I didn’t break any rules.” Yet.
“I ain’t a teacher or a snitch, but that was a level of awkwardness that I didn’t wanna deal with.”
Great.My mortification was heard by a random stranger. “So I’m guessing the whole town will know by tomorrow ...”
“Don’t worry, kid. I’m only a visitor.”
Despite everything, I let out a chuckle. “That’s one good thing, at least.”
He looked in the direction that Julie had run off in and sighed. “You know ... she’s wrong. You’re a good kid ... probably.”
“It’s okay. You don’t have to try and make me feel better. I’ll get out of your way.” My vision went blurry with tears I didn’t want to shed as I tried to get the hell out of there.
“Now, hang on a second.” His hand landed on my shoulder. It reminded me of how Dad would stop me before I ran out the door. “Look, I don’t have any kids of my own so I’m shit at this, but you seem like you need a little pep talk.”
“I think I’d rather crawl into a hole and die, actually.”
“You’re young. Things’ll change. And you sound like you’ve got a whole life ahead of you.”
“You’d think I was throwing it away with going to trade school with the waysheacted.”
“Don’t worry about the opinions of some girl. People need the trades and there’s good money in it.”
“I know. Everyone here is so worried about how they’re viewed. I hate it.”
I was starting to hate everyone here, actually. I didn’t realize how much I had started to resent this place until I was hurt by it. The selling of all the land and all of the change had caused micro cuts in my soul.
Julie had just broken it open.