Learning How to Bend

NaNo Day 14 - Just keep writing...

"Can I get you something to drink?" Kat asked from the kitchen. "I also have chocolate. And very large supplies of cauliflower and pickles."

"Only if you have sweet tea," I said with a smile.

"You and Joe with your sweet tea." Kat sighed, opening up a cabinet. She did not speak again until I heard the fridge door open. "I'll never understand your obsession with it."

"It's a Texas thing," I said. "No one in the city even makes it right. Not really, anyway. Hill Country Barbecue does a fairly good job. Chick-fil-A, too, but none of it is the same. Sometimes I think about visiting Texas for a few days just for Whataburger and sweet tea."

"Joe's told me about Whataburger." Kat put a glass in my hand. "Best hamburgers in the state, apparently."

"They are," I said with a grin. "Joe and I always used to go after school. Once a week, it just became a tradition once he got his license. We'd drive ten minutes away from the school on Thursday afternoons. Most times we'd actually go inside. We'd both order cheeseburgers with spicy ketchup. I tended to order the junior-sized burger. One of us would always What-a-size our meal so we would have loads of fries. We'd just sit there and talk until either all the food was gone, or it all went cold. I don't have many pleasant memories of my childhood, but those were some of the best of times."

"Joe never told me about that." She sat down next to me. I heard the telltale crinkling of a bag and then the sound of her crunching down on a potato chip. "He talks about you all the time, but that was something he left out."

"Hopefully he tells you all good things." I tried to smile, but it might have come out more as a grimace. There were many things about my youth I preferred not to remember, much less spread to people without my permission. Even if that person was Katherine Montran. "Joe and I shared a lot of good memories. I only went to high school football games because he dragged me to them. I didn't understand a minute of what was going on, but it was fun to spend time with him."

"There are times when I'm completely shocked you and Joe never got together."

"I don't think it ever crossed either of our minds, to be honest," I said. "We were just...friends. Close friends, yes, but...friends. There was never going to be anything else. When I was stuck in eighth grade, Joe was in tenth. He was one of the popular students at that point. The kind of guy who had a multitude of friends, and girls fawned all over him. From what I heard, they all wished he'd take them to the dances—homecoming, prom, you name it, they wanted him as their date. But he never asked. He interacted with everyone with a smile on his face; he never got involved in any of the drama that was typical of high school. He was above it all, not in a haughty way or anything of the sort. Joe was just a genuinely good kid."

When I stopped, Kat put a hand on my thigh, encouraging me to continue.

"When I was finally in ninth grade, Joey claimed me. He walked with me to class, hung out with me between classes, ate lunch with me. We took some of the same electives—even though Joe hated singing in the choir, and at the time, I hated P.E.—and he looked after me. He still had his friend group, of course, but he always took me to Whataburger on Thursdays. Every Thursday of the school year until he graduated. He'd even do it sometimes when he was in college if he didn't have classes on Fridays. Granted it was really rare, and he'd never let me know when he was coming into town. He'd just...be there. I was infinitely blessed to have him in my life. I'm still blessed. Because let's be real, if it weren't for him, I probably would've stayed in Texas. If only for the Whataburger."

"You don't talk much about that part of your life. Joe's an open book. You're not. I've always wondered."

"It's not worth wondering about," I said with what was hopefully a nonchalant shrug. "I sang in the choir; I was in the alto section. I studied a lot. I read a lot. I graduated valedictorian and went to a public university because I got my first year of tuition free. I didn't do sports. I didn't go to dances. I wasn't ever nominated for student government or the homecoming court. I tried to coast through anonymously as much as I could. I already heard enough whispers for being the blind girl. The only real bright light in my life at that point was Joey. I don't like to talk about it. I don't like to even think about it."