K. Randis - Spilled Milk

“Woah, don’t take it out on the apple.” Cristin snatched it from my hand and replaced it with a piece of her chocolate chip cookie. “This’ll help you gain a little weight then you won’t have to worry about those girls lifting you up into the air anymore.”

I wrinkled my nose at her.

“Okay, I know, they’re horrible,” she assured me, “How many games are left before the season’s over?”

“Two.”

“Ah ha, see? You’ll be fine. Just punch them in the face next time they drop you, I don’t like that.”

“ You don’t? I’m the one they keep dropping.” At our last practice Coach insisted I try a stunt called a Liberty. Instead of having both feet securely placed in my bases hands, I had to raise one leg and support everything on just the one foot. The flyer position I took over left the ex-flyer as one of my bases.

Obviously still upset over Coach’s choice, she fumbled me as I nailed a Liberty my first try and if it weren’t for Coach standing right there I would have added a dramatic face plant as my finishing stunt.

“I’ll punch them in the face.” Paul took a seat next to me and Judd slipped in next to him.

“I’ll pamper their wounds when you’re finished,” Judd said. He winked at me. “You know, take care of them.”

Judd and I hadn’t talked much since Paul and I officially became a couple. Cristin said he was bitter he missed his chance. I never even knew he wanted one.

“Brooke they’re just jealous you look bangin’ in your little cheering outfit,” Sonia said, pointing to the emblem spread across my chest. “Why you gotta wear that thing all the time anyway?”

“For team spirit,” I said, tilting my head to the side and forcing a wide toothy grin.

“Who said Brooke’s bangin’? I’ll punch them too.” Paul ripped into this chicken patty and darted glances at me.

Sonia rolled her eyes. “No one, Romeo. Take it easy.”

The bell rang and the cafeteria turned into a swarm of chatter as everyone moved towards the double doors. Walking next to Paul I grazed his hand with mine. “Coming to my locker?”

“Nah.” He searched through the sea of people. “Gotta meet Chalky by his. See ya.”

I tried not to let his mood bother me but my heart sank a little as he pushed through the double doors and went in the opposite direction of my next class. We had been dating several months already and he constantly brought up the fact that every one of his buddies was having sex but us. When I told him I wanted to wait, his solution was to tell his buddies we were having sex anyway. “Just to get them off my back,” he said. “I don’t get why we have to wait though, but whatever.”

“I’ll walk you, loner.” Judd appeared and grabbed my book bag. “What do you have in there, bricks?” He pretended the bag was too heavy and fell to the floor. “It’s… too heavy. I can’t go on. Just…go Brooke. Remember me.”

“I’ll remember you.” A cafeteria aide nudged Judd with her foot. “Up, Judd. Or you can stay behind with me to visit the principal.”

Judd bounced up off the floor. “Ah look at that, I suddenly have super human strength. Thanks Bertha!” He winked at the cafeteria aide and lead me to my next class.

I walked with Paul to his house after school in silence. When we got there, he went straight to his room and shut the door behind him. I stood in the hallway, waiting for him to remember that I was out there.

Annoyed, I knocked on the door. “Paul? What’s wrong?”

Silence.

“Can I come in?”

His bed creaked and I heard the TV come on. I opened the door and his back was to me. His hood was up over his head and he wrapped the blankets around his body. If he were any more closed off I would have needed a can opener.

“What’s up?” I sat down next to him as he looked past me and flipped through channels. His face was serious, and he pulled his hood down lower in response.

“You’ve been acting weird all day. What’s wrong?”

He looked at me and spoke in a sarcastic tone. “You’re in my way. Cartoons are on.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Nothing to understand.”

“Do you want me to leave?”

“If you want to leave, then leave.”

“Is this about the sex?”

“What sex? I’m certainly not having any.”

“Paul that’s not fair.”

“No, it’s not.”

I turned away from him. I didn’t understand why it was so important to him that he could tell people we were having sex. The topics of choice in the guy’s locker room was either sex or drugs, so I assumed his stories were getting harder to make up since he didn’t have any real experiences to share with everyone.

“Well I gotta get to work,” I said.

“See ya.”

Secretly I hoped he would move, or tell me to come back. His gaze stayed on the TV and he continued to flick through channels as I closed the door behind me.

“What’s wrong Brooke?” My boss circled my desk and gave me a face. “You’ve been here two hours and haven’t made one appointment? You usually have five by now. You feeling okay?”

I jumped at the opportunity to possibly go home early. “Oh, no. Not really. I’m feeling kinda sick.” I rubbed my stomach for visual confirmation.

“All right. Give it another half hour, if you don’t make anything, call it a day.”

Making sure I was in safe distance of the office I sprinted towards Paul’s house. He refused to answer any texts I sent him during work and I wanted to talk. Gina answered the door, looking confused. “Hey honey. You know Paul’s not here right?”

My heart sank. “Oh yea. I know,” I lied. “I got out of work early and thought if I stopped by and called him he would want to hang out.”

Gina nodded and opened the door. “All right, but he only left to go to Mack’s house about an hour ago. Give him a call.”

I held my breath as I dialed Paul’s number. After the fourth ring he picked up. I was met with an irritated tone. “What?”

“Hey, it’s me.”

Silence.

“I got out of work early, so I stopped by to see if you wanted to hang out.”

“You’re at my house ?”

“Well, yea I figured-”

“Why would you go there? Didn’t you get the hint when I didn’t answer your texts?”

His honesty hurt. “You were purposely ignoring me?”

“Look, I don’t have time for this. Bye.”

I held the phone against my face for another minute until I heard a fast beeping noise. I didn’t want to believe that he had just hung up on me. I re-dialed his number and it went to voicemail after a few rings. When I tried again, it went straight to voicemail. He had turned off his phone.

I sat on his bed trying to decide what to do when Gina came to the door. “He’s not coming back?”

I didn’t want to hear the disappointment in my own voice so I just nodded. Gina saw right through it.

“Okay well we’re going to eat, come eat.”

Lou was already helping himself to seconds of salad when I sat down. As I tried to figure out what to do with Paul, Gina’s voice interrupted my thoughts. “So, how’s things at home?”

The question caught me off guard.

“Oh. Good?”

“Oh.” Gina nodded. “Everything, you know, going okay?”

I moved my fork around. “Yep. Everything’s good.” My face never cooperated with my lies and I hated the heat that started to flow over my cheeks.

“Good. That’s good.” Gina gulped her wine. “You and your dad get along?”

My mouth opened but Lou interrupted. “All right well, looks like we’re done here. Joseph you want to help clean up?” He pushed himself away from the table and Gina nodded following suit.