Stupid Fast

Chapter 58: BIRTHDAY




We spent the afternoon of my birthday in the big city! Dubuque, Iowa. We went out for lunch at a brew pub (I ate a Reuben) and then went bicycle shopping for me. That was Grandma Berba’s present.

“Since I’m not getting you a car, we can spend a lot of money,” she said.

“I’m so sorry I was a jerk about your permit,” Jerri said.

“I don’t want a car,” I told her. And I didn’t.

In the end, we did spend a lot of money. Well, $800 anyway, a lot more than the old $10 limit, on a road bike. I took it for a test spin and raced cars up Dubuque’s big hill. It rides much easier than the Varsity, which I’ll always love but am glad is gone. This bike is super fast and thus matches me. Then Jerri bought me a new cell phone, which I appreciated, as I had just bashed mine to bits, much like I bashed my poor Schwinn to bits. Then we went to a movie. I sort of wanted to see a teen flick but didn’t want to bawl about Aleah, so we ended up going to a serious Meryl Streep movie that was just depressing.

Andrew loved it: “Ooooh. Ohhhhh.”

Grandma and I didn’t: “Blah blah blah.”

Jerri stared at her shoes through it. What else would she have done? She was leaving for Arizona the next morning.

On the way home from Dubuque, I got that weird feeling again, sort of a light feeling. I believe I was feeling happy. I looked over at Andrew, who was sleeping because he’d been up all night practicing piano with Aleah, and smiled. Good kid.

Back home, I charged my phone and watched TV with Jerri in Jerri’s room while Grandma Berba cleaned the trash from the drive (she insisted she do it, and I was grateful for that).

Around 8 p.m., my phone connected to the network. Within minutes, I received my first text. It was from Aleah. It said:

See Chicago skyline. Very sad. I’m serious about you.



me too, I replied.



You replied! YAY! :)



new phone!!!



We continued to text until Aleah arrived at her Chicago apartment. She called.

“I’m here. I miss you.”

“I miss you.”

“Talk tomorrow, Felton. Okay?”

I didn’t have a chance to say okay back. I could hear Ronald telling her to get moving in the background. She hung up.

Then I knew it was time to run because I had ten thousand square inches of adrenaline jangling in my legs. It was nearly 9:30, but I knew I wouldn’t sleep unless I ran some of this energy off.