Where We Begin

Chapter 11 - You Didn't Hear This From Me

July 5th, 2002 - Busta

The next day at work was a short one, like Carl promised. I was relieved when I heard him assign the clean up of the Johansen's backyard to a couple other guys, but at the same time, I was a little bummed. I was dying to know how Taylor was. I was also dying to know if she hated me even more now. 

All I could picture was the way she looked at me, bursting into tears and running away. I mean, I don't claim to be an expert on women, but her reaction to seeing me there was not inspiring a lot of optimism in me.

I finished up the lawns I was sent to mow before noon. I hopped on my bike and started to head back to my house, but then I changed my mind. It was time to stop wasting my summer in my room. It was time to get to know Mt Blue, because like it or not, this was home now.

I rode out of the neighborhood and down the main street into the little downtown area. I spotted a pizza place advertising a $5 lunch deal and decided to check it out. 

While I was chowing down on a couple of slices of pepperoni pizza, two younger kids with skateboards slid into the booth across from me.

"Hey you're Buddy's brother right?" one of them asked.

"Yeah," I said, taking a swig of soda. "Who are you?"

"I'm Duke, this is Kayden," The other one answered. Oh right, Buddy's fancy new Cali friends.

"We were at the party last night. Dude, you were sick!" Kayden exclaimed.

"Totally. Like some real life hero shit," Duke nodded.

"Uh thanks, but I think anyone would have done the same thing." I was a little uncomfortable with this hero talk.

"Except everyone else just stood there and watched. Did you get a big reward for saving her life?" Duke laughed and winked at me.

"OK, nice to meet you guys, but I just want to finish my lunch, if you don't mind," I said.

They got up and walked out. As they left, I could hear one of them say under their breath "I bet that means he got the BIG reward." 

I sighed to myself. Yeah, some big reward. A ride home in soaking wet clothes and not even a thank you from Taylor, because the sight of me makes her cry. 

I turned my concentration back to my pizza, but after a couple minutes, someone else took a seat across from me. It was Jake.

"Hey. I think we should do this over." He held out his hand. "I'm Jake West."

I wiped my greasy hand on my ripped jeans and shook his. "I'm Busta Peterson."

"That's quite a name," he laughed.

"I could tell you my real name, but then I'd have to kill you," I joked. "But um, on a more serious note, is Taylor OK?"

Jake nodded. "Yeah. Well, physically fine. Emotionally, not the best I've ever seen her. She's pretty angry about what happened. And embarrassed. She was really looking forward to that party, she's been talking about it non-stop ever since school ended."

"You've known her a long time?" I asked.

"Yeah, we both grew up here. Kiki and Brandy too, and Amber moved here a few years ago. The girls said you were from Chicago, right?" 

"Yup. Just moved here like 5 weeks ago. Already setting myself up with a killer reputation." I rolled my eyes. "Hey, did Taylor say anything else last night? Anything maybe about... me?"

"Not really. Sorry. Just a lot of crying and death wishes for Kit and Susie," Jake shrugged.

"Oh. Gotcha. Just wondering," I said, staring at my plate. 

"Listen, Taylor would kill me for saying this, but from what I have seen, you are a decent guy. I heard this secondhand from Kiki, but apparently the past couple days Taylor wouldn't shut up about you. The talk started off all good, but whatever went down between you two went down, and then it all got bad. But she wasn't really angry, more like disappointed." 

"You really know how to lift a guys spirits," I snorted. 

Jake chuckled. "Yeah, but the thing is, ever since breaking up with Kit, Taylor hasn't cared about guys at all. She was all girl power, I want to be single, whatever. That's how she is. She's crazy confident and she's an awesome person, but she doesn't handle rejection well at all."

I wasn't getting his point. "What does that have to do with me?"

"The second she caught Kit cheating, Taylor was done. She was upset, for a long time, but there wasn't a second that she ever considered taking him back or even talking to him about it. Now you pissed her off, but for some reason, she's not letting it go. So I think there's a really good chance that you can get back in her good graces, if you try being a little nicer," he explained. 

"Are you saying she likes me? Because I just feel like she's messing with me." 

"I'm not saying anything except that Taylor has big personality, but I can promise you, she would never go out of her way to be mean to someone, unless they came at her first." Jake stood up. "I have to go meet Kiki. Good luck with everything. Maybe we could hang out sometime, if you can stay off the girl's shit list."

"That would be cool. If you see Taylor, could you tell her I'm sorry about everything?" I asked.

Jake thought for a second. "I could, but it would probably be better coming from you. Again, you didn't hear this from me, but when Taylor is in a bad mood, she likes to go up to Crescent Park to run. It's that one right there near her neighborhood. There's a big oak tree by a pond she chills under afterwards, it's kind of her alone time thing. No guarantees, but just a tip."

"Thanks, man. Hopefully I'll see you around sometime," I smiled.

Jake gave a little wave and headed out. 

What do you know, it seems like I might have just made my first fancy new Cali friend.