Little Rooms

Chapter 19

Joe couldn't have sat farther away from me in government class. I was on the couch, while he sat in the corner, scrolling through text messages. We had not said hello, and it burned my heart that a single moment of no would tear us so far apart.

I stared ahead, eyeing him every few minutes. There was nothing I could do to make myself exist in his presence. All I could think was that his feelings and emotions were raw from the death of Ted, and that with whatever happened in his kitchen it would do no good to rationalize.

"You could cut it with a knife in here!" said Jessica, sauntering to her seat to count non-existent calories and shoot the shit. Joe looked up at her and smiled.

"It is a bit thick," he said, putting down his phone and moving to sit next to her.

My throat closed and I felt hot water sitting on my eyelids. Jessica glanced my way.

"What's up, Nicky? You look sad."

"Maybe I am," I said, opening my eyes super-wide to stare at Joe. He gave me a two-second look before going back to Jessica.

"What's going on with the Bowl kid?" she asked him, clasping her finger bones together on the table.

"He's got an alibi. Says he wasn't at my house that night. Fucking liar."

"But he left evidence?"

"A hair on the stairs." I thought for a moment that perhaps, in the most minute of situations, that Isaiah's hair could have traveled from my jacket to Joe, who took it home with him. It landed on the stairs and remained until the police came calling. Fat chance.

"Who's the alibi?"

"Some girl he sleeps with. That's all I know. My parents aren't giving it up cause they think it's hurting me."

"It all hurts," said Jessica, reaching for his hand. He grasped her bones with his strong grip and smiled at her, his eyes warm and soft. Damn it.

"It sure does," I said, standing up and moving to their table. If I was going to be in the room, I wanted them to know it. Joe looked direct in my eyes, fire seething behind his pupils.

"Nicole's been a big help," he said, keeping his sight on me.

"That's so good to know. I always said you two were meant for each other."

I kicked her hard underneath the table. If her shin snapped, then my work was done. She winced and rolled her eyes.

"You don't know me very well, do you," I said. Jessica raised her eyebrows at me and looked at Joe.

"I thought you guys liked each other."

When a guy is hurt, he does everything he can to be as mean as possible. Girls, on the other hand, let their guts hang out. However I wasn't going to play that gender game. Instead, I gritted my teeth.

"Oh, we do. Some of us more than others."

"What's that supposed to mean?" he asked, his voice summoned from deep within his chest.

"It means, Joe, that just because someone likes you, it doesn't mean they like you in that way."

Jessica sat back and crossed her arms. This was becoming good for her.

"I always thought it meant that when someone gives it back as good as it's given, that they like you in every way."

"Oooh, what's happening here?" asked Taryn, walking in with Tim trailing behind her pink-swathed ass. They stood behind Jessica, watching the debacle.