The Summer Daze

Chapter 7

            Noah and I began hanging out following that late-night phone call. Most of those hang out sessions were at his house whenever his mama and sister weren't home. He cut my hair and gave me a fresh lineup every Sunday while his mama and sister were at church. Some afternoons after I left the country club, I'd pick him up and we'd grab something to eat and talk in my truck. Tavian was usually busy with one girl or another, so it wasn't too hard to keep my friendship with Noah private. As my first few weeks being in Morrison Heights flew by, I found myself liking the place more and more. Of course, Noah had a lot to do with that.

            "What are you doing for your birthday?" he asked me as we ate ice cream in my truck one afternoon.

            "I want something small," I replied. "I get too shy when I'm around too many people. I was hella shy at that welcoming party when I first got here."

            He giggled and said, "That's cute."

            "How is that cute?"

            "You must've played in a hundred plus basketball games and you still get shy around a lot of people. Your brother is the complete opposite."

            "Yeah, I know. He can walk in a room full of strangers with a big smile on his face while introducing himself to all of them. I could never do that."

            "Why not? Dorian, if you don't mind me saying, you're an attractive guy. I don't see why..."

            He kept talking but my ears zoned out the moment he said I was attractive. I was already geeked when he said I was cute for being shy, but once he said I was attractive, my heart was beating overtime. In my opinion, him saying I was cute and attractive trumped all the girls who had ever said the same about me. Still, that wasn't enough to assure me that he wouldn't reject me if I told him I had feelings for him. What if I wasn't his type? What exactly was his type? There had to be a way I could find out without him realizing I wanted to be his boyfriend.

            "Did you hear me?" he asked, snapping me back into reality.

            "Oh, my bad. I was thinking about something. What did you say?"

            "I said maybe you could have a small dinner with your family and then come to Maxi and celebrate later that night. Your birthday is this upcoming Saturday, right?"

            "Yeah. What's Maxi?"

            "Hold on, you've been here for like three weeks and Tay hasn't told you about Maxi?"

            "Nope."

            "It's a teen nightclub in the downtown area. Tay was just there last Friday night."

            "Oh, he asked me did I want to go with him but he didn't say where. I stayed in and watched reruns of The Walking Dead."

            "Get outta here! I love The Walking Dead. I've seen every episode. How do you feel about Fear the Walking Dead?"

            "I hate it."

            "Me, too! Wow, so not only do we both love vanilla ice cream with caramel sauce on it, we both love The Walking Dead and hate Fear the Walking Dead. Could you be any more perfect?"

            I smiled and told him, "I could ask the same about you, shorty."

            We looked at each other and just as it seemed there was about to be a moment between us, his phone rang. He had to get back home so he could braid his sister's hair. The sun was setting while I was driving him home so whenever I glanced over at him, I caught a glimpse of him in either red or orange light. It made him look even more beautiful than he already looked. When we got to his house, I climbed out and opened the passenger side door for him and helped him step down. I don't know why I always did that for him but he was just as used to it as I was. After a quick hug, he hurried through his yard and into the house. I climbed back into the truck and pulled off.