Soon, lunch is over, and I get through the day. After classes end, Shane meets me at our locker, as promised. It occurs to me that we have a few hours before the others arrive. This can be a mini-date. Since we’re not in a hurry, I push my bike and Shane walks alongside me.
I’m about to jokingly suggest he needs some way to keep up with me when I spot a yard sale. There’s an older woman puttering among the tables, and I can’t resist. It’s not that I love rummaging through other people’s junk, but sometimes I can find cool stuff that doesn’t cost a ton. Aunt Gabby appreciates it when I do my own clothes shopping.
“Do you mind?” I ask.
“Go for it.”
While I’m poking through piles of T-shirts, Shane wanders toward the garage. In fact, this is more of an everything-must-go sale, since it’s lined up on the lawn, up the driveway, and beyond. I find a couple of vintage T-shirts, priced cheap, along with various tank tops. This stuff looks like it’s from the eighties, but it’ll work now. Off the shoulder tops are coming back.
He comes out looking purposeful, heading for the old woman. “How much for the bike?”
“That belonged to my grandson,” she tells him. “He’s thirty-one now. I can’t even remember what we paid for it, but I’ll let you have it for twenty-five dollars.”
Shane’s about to accept her offer. I can see him reaching for his wallet, but I know he only had eighty-seven from the Coffee Shop on Sunday, he’s bought some groceries, and I don’t know if he’s gotten paid from the P&K yet. I can’t resist haggling.
So I carry my purchases over and point out, “The tires need to be inflated and repaired and there’s some rust on the chain.” Not enough to make the bike unusable, but it’s worth noting. “Fifteen.”
“I could get far more for it on the Internet,” she says, frowning.
“And you’d have to list it on an auction site, give them part of your proceeds, and then figure out how to ship it. It would be simpler to make us a deal.”
“Twenty,” she counters.
I nod at Shane, who’s already got a crumpled bill in his hand. He says, “I’ll take it.”
“Excellent. I hope you enjoy it. Did you find some things?” she asks me.
I nod. The prices on the clothes are so low that I don’t feel right about bargaining. I mean, I’m getting five tops for less than three dollars. “Here you go.”
She hands me fifty cents and then hurries away to scold a kid who’s about to break a cookie jar because his mother is absorbed in a fringed lampshade. I stuff my purchases into my backpack and then kneel to examine his bike. It needs some fixing up, but the repairs are mostly cosmetic.
“I got a bargain, huh?” Shane’s smiling, so I guess he doesn’t mind that I haggled for him.
“Definitely. You can ride it now, if you want. And I can help you fix it up. We have bike stuff left in my shed from when we restored mine.”
“You and your aunt worked on your bike?” He seems impressed.
“Yeah. I mean, it wasn’t a big deal. Come on, let’s see how well yours works.”
He nods, swinging onto the bike. It’s ridiculously fun riding with Shane to my house. I’m used to being the lone geek pedaling away, long after the weather turns. With him behind me, this feels like an adventure, and I take pleasure in the sun shining down and the wind in my face. As I zoom down the hill, I throw up both hands, showing off a little. I can’t count all the times I fell over before I perfected that trick. I’ve never had anyone to show before now.
When we stop in my driveway, I’m laughing so hard, and Shane pulls me off the seat into his arms. “That was crazy.”
“But cool?”
“I should say it was just crazy. But … yeah. Sometimes you strike me as fearless, the way you do whatever the hell you want, and it doesn’t seem to bother you what anyone thinks.”
“I care what you think,” I say softly.
“From where I’m standing, it’s all good,” he answers.
Then he kisses me. Mmm. Shane tastes like mint, and his lips are magical. If our neighbor hadn’t come out of her front door and stood there clearing her throat like she was choking on a corncob, we might’ve gone on all afternoon.