We stared at each other for a second, and then we both started laughing, relieved to have it out in the open.
Jay and Gregory met us in the food court. I nibbled on a soft pretzel while the others had pizza. Jay and Veronica were flirting so much that Gregory rolled his eyes at me. We were throwing away our trash when Jay lifted the bill of his ball cap to peer across the food court.
“I’ve seen that dude before,” he said. “Where do I know him from?”
“Who? Where?” Veronica asked. Jay pointed him out.
Through all of the moving people there was a lone man next to the ice-cream stand, watching me. His skin was a smooth dark brown. His hair had grown into a poofy, short Afro.
“It’s Kopano,” I whispered, heart in my throat.
“You know him?” Veronica asked. “He’s, like, a man.”
She was right. Kope couldn’t be mistaken for a boy. He must have been nineteen or twenty, just a few years older than us, but he was so serious. Manly.
What was he doing here?
“I’m gonna go talk to him,” I told them. “I’ll meet you guys back here in half an hour.”
I stopped a few feet from Kopano, hands clasped behind my back. My pulse remained at a steady high as his eyes held me.
“Is everything okay?” I asked.
“Everything is well. I hope I have not frightened you.” His gentle tone never faltered, and I wondered whether he’d ever raised his voice. How deep was his hidden wrath, and what would it take to unleash it? The thought prickled the back of my neck.
I tilted my head toward the corridor of shops. “Wanna walk with me?” I asked.
Kopano came to my side, and we moved together into the stream of shoppers who became like background noise as I concentrated on him. I was patient, hoping he would explain why he’d come.
“How have you been?” he asked.
“It was a rough semester, to be honest, but I’m doing better.”
He nodded down at the polished floor in front of us.
“How about you?” I asked.
Keeping his eyes straight down, he answered, “I have thought of you often since the summer.”
Heat tore through me at his blunt openness. My hands tingled. I had no idea how to respond.
We came to an open area where Santa’s shop had resided a few days prior. It was now naked in its emptiness except for a fountain with a thick marble ledge around it, where we sat together. Kopano stared down at the water, full of copper and silver coins on the bottom from years’ worth of wishes.
“The twins arrive tomorrow for a visit,” he explained. “They fly into Atlanta, and Marna requested me to come.”
“Oh,” I said, realizing he hadn’t come to Atlanta for the sole reason of seeing me. My initial reaction was relief that I wouldn’t have to deal with a complicated situation. But disappointment followed on its heels. It wasn’t fair to feel let down, since Kaidan still ruled my heart, but I did nonetheless. Maybe because I knew I could never be with Kai.
“I arrived early, hoping to see you,” he continued. “I went to your home, but your mother told me you were here.”
“I’m surprised she didn’t call me.” I pulled out my phone and rolled my eyes with embarrassment. “I guess it helps when I turn it on.”
He flashed me that dimpled smile, which set my inner butterflies aflutter, as always. I peered down at my phone.
“Do you have a cell?” I asked.
He took out his phone and we exchanged numbers.
A loud group of boys were passing through the court, jeering at one another and roughhousing. When I spotted Scott among them, I moved fast, angling my body away from their group and tilting my head so my hair would shield my face.
“You know them,” he stated.
“Some of them are from my school.” I said no more, but tension filled the space between us.
“One of them has hurt you.”
Was it that obvious, even with my colors hidden? I raised my head now that the boys’ backs were to us.
“There was an incident this summer,” I said.
He watched me with expectancy, so I told him a brief version of the story, keeping my head down. When I finished and looked up, my heart faltered. Kope was a display of barely contained rage as he stared in the direction Scott and his friends had gone. His nostrils flared and his mouth was taut.
“Kope?” I whispered.
No response. Sudden fright struck me as I imagined him flipping out and going after Scott. I spoke in the calm, gentle voice he always used with me.
“Kope, look at me.” His chest rose and fell with rapid breaths. I reached out and laid a hand on his forearm, half-afraid he might lash out at me in his daze. He jolted at my touch, bringing his eyes to mine. For one second longer his wrath steamed below the surface, and then he closed his eyes. I didn’t know whether he was counting to ten or praying, but whatever he did worked. When he opened his eyes again the fury was gone.