Now I was irritated. “What happened to you not pressuring me, AJ?”
“What are you talking about? I’m not pressuring you. I’m just trying to understand you.” He raised his voice a little. I was even more frustrated now than I was when I left my house. Mostly because AJ had a point and I hated to be wrong. Maybe I didn’t deserve to be as happy as I was, seeing as how I’d caused Antonio to be so miserable.
“So, what do you want me to do AJ? Just forget about everything and give in to you?”
“I don’t want you to do anything. This is your show, so run it,” he sighed. That hurt a little. I didn’t want him to feel like I was stringing him along like some kind of puppet. He deserved better than that.
“So let’s do it. Let’s make it official. Right here. Right now. Let’s not play anymore games. From this point forward, we’re together…like really together,” I blurted.
AJ didn’t answer me or even look in my direction. I sat there waiting for him to say something: yes, no, maybe, but he said nothing. Thinking that I’d thoroughly pissed him off, I felt defeated. Now he didn’t even want to talk to me.
“Did you hear me?” I asked in frustration. He nodded nonchalantly, but that was all he gave me.
And?” I added.
“And?” He repeated mockingly. When I saw him crack a smile, I got out of my seat and in the next instant I was all over him. This day marked the beginning of an actual relationship between him and me. The way it happened was far from conventional, but then again, we were far from conventional. When I first approached him, I could sense that he was still upset, but that melted away quickly. He let me have my way and stopped fighting back. The passion was so severe that there was no escaping it, but I somehow managed to stop myself before things got too out of control.
We were there way longer than I’d expected. I looked over at the clock and was shocked when I saw the time……3:06. “Wow I didn’t realize that it was so late. We’d better go now.”
“Yeah I guess I lost track of time too when you attacked me,” he smiled.
“An attack would imply that you weren’t a willing participant, and if I recall you were very willing.”
“You’re delusional, but I love you anyway,” he said jokingly. I resisted smiling at him as long as I could, but that didn’t last very long.
The drive home went by too quickly. When I was back in my room I snatched my shoes off and crawled into bed to get what little sleep I could, smiling to myself all the while as I lay there with my eyes closed. It was so surreal, but AJ and I were really together now.
*****
The next morning I felt a bit more rested than the first time I’d snuck out. Then again, it could’ve just been because I was still on my high from the night before. I was on time to school and sat in the back of Mr. Talbert’s class waiting for the bell to ring. When it did, reality set in. I’d have to face my friends and they’d know what happened on Monday morning between Antonio, AJ, and I. There was no way that I was ready for that. I could already imagine what Kyla would have to say. I walked into Mr. Kendall’s class, took my seat, and put my head down. Seconds later, I heard Kyla’s voice. “Are you Ok?” She asked snobbishly, referring to incident the other morning.
Once I got over the initial shock of her speaking to me, I replied, “Yeah, I’m good. Thanks for asking.” She didn’t say another word, but that was enough. I knew that she was still mad, but at least she didn’t hate me. If she hated me she wouldn’t have cared how I was.
That was my first and only encounter with any of my friends until lunch. Preparing to eat alone since AJ wasn’t even present to keep me company this time, I walked into the cafeteria and went straight for my table. I was smart this time; I remembered to bring a book with me so I wouldn’t get bored. Before I could even set my tray down on the table I heard Leslie calling my name.