I head for the front door, his laughter following me.
Chapter Two
Anthony
I walk Mai out to my car, still grinning. The girl is as tightly laced as a pair of work boots, but she’s got a bit of the rebel hidden down deep. She showed me flashes in March and April, and each time it was like a breadcrumb drawing me further in. She wasn’t who I expected, and I couldn’t resist the mystery.
Which is what got me in trouble the first time around.
I open the passenger door for her. Never thought I’d be doing that again. Never thought I’d see her sitting on my cracked vinyl, a first-class princess traveling coach.
I didn’t know who she was when we met at the community pool over spring break. Didn’t even recognize her from Cholla. She was lying on a lounge chair in a plain black one-piece, wearing sunglasses the size of her face. There was something about her that caught my attention, though I wasn’t sure what. I usually go for the curvy type, and this girl was on the thin side. Straight. Rigid. Even soaking in the sun there was a humming tension about her, a tilt to her chin that warned me to stay away. Of course, I wasn’t smart enough to listen.
I flicked her with a spray of water to get her attention. She sat up, shifting her sunglasses to the top of her head, and I about lost my breath. Gorgeous dark eyes stared back at me. Sculpted features and the sweetest curved mouth I’d ever seen. I pulled up on the cool deck, resting my elbows and, yeah, I’ll admit, flexing a little. Did I mention she was hot?
She put her glasses back on, but not before I saw her staring at my arms. “I need a partner for pool chicken,” I said.
“For what?”
“Pool chicken.” I pointed to the other couples waiting.
Her voice was exactly how I imagined. Low. Clipped. Impatient. “You want me to ride around on your back?”
“On my shoulders. And shove the other girls off.” I smiled, daring her. She was still humming, but now I was, too. My muscles tensed while I waited for her to answer. My hands itched. Was her skin as soft as it looked? I about choked when she slid to the end of the chair and said, “Okay.”
Well, lucky me.
I must have been grinning like a little kid. “I’m Anthony.”
She nodded. “Call me Killer.”
We nearly lost because I was laughing so hard. But we prevailed—her word—and I would have gotten her number if she hadn’t disappeared while I was talking with the guys.
I didn’t find out she was Maya Senn, the smartest girl in our school, and maybe the planet, until a couple weeks later when she showed up to watch a baseball game at Jason’s house. That’s when it started.
And for a few weeks…well, it was special. I hadn’t felt much of anything for anyone in a long time. When my dad died before sophomore year, part of me died with him. I had Mom and Troy. I had my buddies and baseball. But I felt like a walking zombie half the time.
Mai woke something up in me. Made me feel human again. I’m not sure why or how. Only that I started looking forward to school every day. Because I’d see her. I started thinking about the weekend on Wednesday because I’d be with her. She made me laugh so hard my face hurt, and that wasn’t even half as good as the feeling I got when I made her laugh.
I knew it couldn’t last. Couldn’t work. But I didn’t let that bother me. The attraction would burn out the way it always did. We’d hang out, and then we wouldn’t. That’s how it had gone with every girl before her.
Then we ended.
And it wasn’t like every other girl. Any other girl.
I moved on, sure. Kept it chill at school with the guys. But it was harder than I expected. Took a while to stop thinking about her. Missing her.
Seeing her here now, sitting in my ride, brings it all back with a punch I’m not expecting. Probably because this is where she ended it. My car.
Talking a long breath, I shake off the past. There’s no way the two of us could have stayed together. I climb in beside her and start the engine. Mai and I were nothing more than a science experiment. We joked about it. Complete opposites in every way. Vinegar and baking soda, she said. A chemical reaction that bubbles. Yeah, we bubbled.
“You added parts to your speech today,” I say.
She turns to face me, tugging on her seat belt. “What did you think?”
She read most of it to me one night, testing to see whether it would put me to sleep. Most speeches would, but I could watch Mai recite the dictionary—which is probably something she can do. She’s got these soft, full lips. The rest of her features are sharper lines and angles. Almond eyes with slashes of eyebrows. Black hair with a hint of auburn cut to her chin with bangs as straight as a ruler. Stubborn, pointy chin. But those lips. “It was good,” I say. “You made people think.”
She sighs, satisfied. “That was the idea.”
“So when do you go to California? Josie said you’re doing a summer program?”
“I am. It starts in three weeks.”
“Gives you a little time to chill, I guess.”
“Not really. I’ve signed up for a volunteer program through Community Cares. Trail work in South Mountain Park.”
Of course you did. “Over-achieve much?” I tease as I pull up in front of her house. I’ve never been inside, but I dropped her off a few times while we were hanging out. The porch light is on, and I can see people sitting in the living room. Her parents are scientists who teach at the university, her brother a sophomore at Harvard. All of them grinding like hamsters in ivy-walled cages. I let the engine idle. It won’t be a long good-bye. “Good luck with that.”
“Thanks.” She undoes her seat belt. “What are you doing this summer?”
I rub my hands over the steering wheel. “I’m going to take a road trip. Do a little traveling. Pick up some work here or there.”
“Construction jobs?”
She knows I work for a general contractor, doing odd jobs on home remodels. She’s the kind of person who would champion laborers, but date one seriously?
“Probably,” I say. “Depends on where I end up.”
“You’re going to Mesa Community College in the fall, right?”
“Maybe.” I shrug. “Might put it off for a while.”
Disapproval flashes in her eyes; she doesn’t bother trying to hide it. It’s one of our many differences. She’s going to spend enough years in school for the both of us anyway.
“You’re just going to bum around?” she asks.
“After I see some things, I’ll probably end up in San Diego. My brother lives there now, works at a surf shop. They might have an opening in the fall.”