“You’re not leaving already. Are you?” I asked desperately.
“Yeah, I have to stop by Karl’s to pick up his phone charger and I should be there if my dad decides to call tonight.” He assessed the sadness in my face and started smiling again. “But I promise to call you soon,” he added.
At the door I had to subdue my feelings because my parents were sitting nearby on the couch watching TV. I limited my goodbye to a kiss on AJ’s cheek and a brief hug. When I tried to pull away from him, he wouldn’t release me from his grasp right away. “I love you,” he whispered as his lips grazed my ear. The warmth of his breath made me quiver.
He stared into my eyes before he turned to walk out the door. I closed it behind him and leaned against the wall, trying to remind myself that I only had three days until I’d see him again.
*****
Monday morning I turned off my car and ran inside to wait by the door. There was lively conversation buzzing behind me, mostly people bragging about the gifts they’d received for Christmas. It all went in one ear and out the other as I waited. A dark Blue Benz pulled up in front of the school and I was shocked me to see AJ climbing out the passenger side of the car. His face was twisted up in anger as he stormed toward the door. From inside the car I could see Mr. Hahn glaring back at me. AJ was so upset that he nearly walked past me. “That sucks a little,” I stated flatly, referring to his new driving arrangement.
He looked shocked to see me standing there, but his expression softened and he leaned in to hug me. “You don’t know the half of it.” He replied. We walked to my locker hand in hand and were nearly to my locker when I stopped dead in my tracks. “What’s the matter?” AJ asked. I quickly shifted my eyes to the floor so that he wouldn’t catch on to what grabbed my attention.
“Nothing. I’m fine,” I replied quickly.
“Did you forget something?”
“No, I just thought of something. It’s fine though.” AJ looked at me questioningly, but dropped the subject before turning to walk to his class. I stood there in the hall for a moment as I watched Antonio and Megan standing at her locker. It was hard to look at. They were laughing and talking more closely than I was used to seeing them to one another. Antonio looked at her the way he used to look at me and it made me uncomfortable. She was being flirtatious with him and I know Megan. It wouldn’t be long before she would let her guard down and give in to anything Antonio asked her to do. That was another thought I could’ve lived without.
Did it even cross her mind that I might mind that she went after him? Was she plotting against me the whole time, secretly wanting him for herself? I definitely knew her better than he did and she was nowhere near good enough for him, but I guess that’s something he’d have to find out on his own.
At lunch I couldn’t help but to think about Leila. I tried to just be glad that she’d seemingly fallen off the edge of the Earth, but something didn’t feel right. Trevor had stopped sitting with us shortly after Leila’s last outburst in Karl’s basement. I made up my mind to talk to him after school, just to find out what was going on. Deanna, noticed that I was deep in thought. “You look like your mind’s a million miles away” she said.
“I was just thinking.” I leaned in so that no one else could hear me. “Have you heard anything else about Leila?”
“Nothing. It’s kinda weird that she just stopped showing up. Maybe she changed schools or something. I wouldn’t be disappointed” Deanna replied.