Neighbor Wars

Chapter 7- November Part 1

“He did what?!” Guiliana says through the plastic window. I look over at AJ. and give a pleading look. He stills looks upset by the whole event. I think what bothered him the most was the fact that he couldn’t do anything. He says that he is willing to take over the booth while I am gone.

I walk out of the door, and meet Giuliana outside of the booth. We walk further out of the way of the screaming children. When we are out by the baseball field I stop and slouch against the fence. 

“I am going to ask you this again. He did what?!” Giuliana repeats. She is wearing a cat costume (real creative), so clearly she was in the middle of either passing out candy or walking around with Andre, Maria, and Rose. Or maybe she was at a costume party?

“So he showed up with your brother and Ryan. By the way, if you ever need black mail for your brother, take a pic of him hungover tomorrow. Were they at a party?” I get a little side tracked with my last question, but she shrugs anyway. 

“Yeah he made me go trick and treating with Rose and Andre. By the way Maria thinks that since she is in fifth grade, she is too old to go, so I had to deal with that. But yeah, we were supposed to be with them together, but he blew me off to go to some senior’s party. I heard those get pretty crazy, not surprised. So, explain what Leo was doing.” GIuliana motions with her hnd for me to keep going, and I do.

“Well, AJ. and I told them that they can’t go in there drunk, but they ignored it. I threatened to call my boss or the police for underaged drinking, and Ryan and Brady took that as a cue to leave.”

“But Leo?”
“Leo, went from loopy and groggy to scary in a matter of seconds. He was tripping over his feet, but got into the booth with AJ. and me. But there wasn’t really enough room for us all to be in there, and he was blocking the only door.” I tried to say it in the clearest way possible without him sounding like a creep. It was weird the whole thing was already slipping my mind, maybe my brain wanted to forget it. “Then he pulled me super close to him, and he kissed me.”

“French?”

“Ah, no way. I was still sober. You forget that.”

“Okay, sure. What happened then?”

“Well he kissed me. He pulled away, and then he looked like he was about to kiss me again, but then he randomly stopped. It was what I wanted, but it was still strange. Why would he kiss me? We hate each other, just last week I threw something at him from my window.”

“Maybe he is just looking for some sort of coping mechanism for his break up with Kate. Brady told me that he is super depressed about it still. Maybe since you guys were like diaper buddies he is just trying to latch on to anything that is stable in his life. I mean his parents' store was robbed earlier this year, Gwens moving away to college next year, and of course Kate was still a big part of his life, even if she was a washed out snob.” Giuliana just shrugs like she didn’t just sound like a therapist. 

“Giuliana, no offense, but that was the smartest thing I have ever heard come out of your mouth.” Even in the dark I can tell she is blushing. 

“Well I am taking Psychology this semester. We were talking about trauma and depression for the past few weeks. That is something people who are going through a bunch of stuff do sometimes. He is going through alot, maybe you are one of his more solid relationships. Weren’t you his first kiss? Brady told me you were his first crush in middle school. Maybe he is just referring back to that.” All she does is shrug as she talks, like she didn’t just say something crazy.

“Wait, he liked me in middle school?” I truthfully had never heard this. Yeah, we stopped hanging out around the end of sixth grade, but I just thought it was because we both had our friends. 

“Do you mean that you didn’t know that?”

“No!?”

“The whole class knew.”

“Well not me.” All Giuliana did was laugh. “Whatever. You really think that is why he kissed me. Well then why did he stop all of the sudden?”

“Maybe he realized it was you. You said he was high, maybe he snapped into sense all of the sudden, realized he screwed up, and stopped.”

“I guess.”

“You sound disappointed.” She says poking my shoulder.

“No, I am just worried about him, I guess. I mean aren’t you. He’s been going around all week looking like some sad puppy. Maybe we should tell his parents about tonight.”

“No. You like him, don’t you. I should have figured it out. All the “fighting” between you too. You both always look at each other, and him with that random love letter by “Cooper” something. Omg, you would be Meo. You two would be so cute, send me a wedding invitation.”

“Hell no. What? Why? Wedding, really? And I don’t like him, and he doesn’t like me.”

“Give me proof.”

“One I nailed in the area with a baby monitor a few weeks ago.” She gasps, and then laughs, but I continue. “He has just been an overall jerk. So drop it, alright?” She nods and it is silent for a while. I can tell I made it awkward between us, but I don’t care. She is the second person in the past month who has thought that I liked Leo. Why would I? He is selfish, annoying, doesn’t think stuff through, and he thinks he can just walk up to me and complain about his problems. 

“So I like your costume, what are you? Oh, are you one of Alex’s socks!” Guiliana says pointing to my costume. We both laughed, it is loud, and deep. I feel it in my stomach, like a sore muscle. 

“It’s a uniform. They want us to and I quote ‘fit the setting.’”I shrug, and she just laughs. 

“Hey, isn’t your family coming?” She always used to come over and play with my cousins all the time during the holiday season. Our house isn’t that big, and we only have two guest rooms. My dad has 3 brothers and 2 sisters. He is the second oldest. Aunt Rita and her husband Steeve  always stay in the same room as my parents on an air- mattress. The rest of the aunts and uncles share the two guest rooms. All of the cousins either share a room with me or Alexander. We would play outside in the snow, jump into leaf piles, bake with Yayai, and get all dressed up for church together. “Don’t they normally come around this time.”

“Yeah, but this year they are coming in next week. There was the whole thing with Alexander and all that, so my mom asked them to come a little later.” I say, still slumped against the fence of the baseball field.

“I have always wondered why they always come around Halloween and then leave around New Years. That is like 4 months.”

“Well ever since Papou died, it has been hard for Yaiya to live alone. Plus it is fun.” I feel a twinge of sadness deep in my heart. Papou died when I was five, it is hard to sometimes think of because it is such a distant memory. I only have 3 memories with him. One is when I had my fourth birthday party and he and Yaiya came. Second was when I said goodbye to him. And Third, his funeral. It was awful, with everyone crying, and tons of little kids just like me who were too young to remember what was actually going on. 

“Oh, sorry didn’t know. I think that I should go back home. I left the kids at home alone. Remember, Leo this was probably nothing.” She waves, and walks away towards her house. 

I sit there in the dark for a while, staring at the stars, then walk back to the booth. There is a huge line out front, and AJ. is running around like chicken with his head cut off. He waves a hand, and I jog the rest of the way back. Inside I work until I almost forget everything that happened just half an hour ago.