“Pixie punched the ass that was bullying her. And I wasn’t allowed to attend practice today, but I can go tomorrow.” I pulled on Austin so that all three of us were walking on the side of the sidewalk as a large group of adults in business suits could pass.
“Wow. We’ve got some badasses here.” Austin had his attention on Pixie. “How’d that feel?” She lit up looking in his face. I understood it. Attention from Austin just hit differently. It was special.
“Disgusting. I keep hearing her nose crack. And I feel a little bad. I mean, she’s an asshole, but I think we all hope to get out of high school without any real damage. I’m thinking her nose might heal weirdly.” Then she shrugged.
“You’re a good person, Pixie Rae. Hold on to that. She needed a lesson that not everyone will take it when she’s needlessly cruel. May her crooked nose remind her to be a better human.” Austin flipped his hair out of his eyes without using his hands.
“Thanks.” Pixie looked reassured. Austin stepped backward and unhooked his arms from ours, grabbing our wrists to make us hold hands again.
“I’m starving. What’s the best place to eat around here? Why don’t you two show me around?”
I gave Pixie’s uninjured hand a light squeeze. “That sounds great. I’d love to run around like we used to for a little while.”
“Okay. Me too.”
Chapter 49
Pixie Rae
IT FELT LIKE I was in a dream that I was afraid to wake up from. I was out of my apartment. I was with Gaze. GAZE! And Austin couldn’t be cooler if he tried. Punching Ashlin wasn’t something I was looking forward to in my life, but I think the recent change in my situation gave me the courage to do it.
And as awesome as it was to have Gaze holding my hand in school, I had no delusions that I’d stopped Ashlin from her fixation on torturing me. But I’d worry about that on a different day. Today, we went to Pete’s Pizza and Gaze bought us a cheese pie and Cokes. The three of us sat at the table and swapped stories while we plowed through the food.
Gaze and I told Austin about Fat Asshole, the pigeon that started our walking the plank routine. When Gaze got to the part when we kissed accidentally, he skimmed past it, but gave me a wink.
It was a wonderful type of confusion, because my soul had welcomed Gaze so long ago, but now having him be a totally grown up, handsome guy made me blush a bit.
“Do you remember the food fight this past summer?” Austin egged Gaze on.
“That wasn’t a food fight. It was an unprovoked attack.” Austin held up the crust of his pizza.
“You were looking at the pudding pie funny. It spoke to me.” Austin dug into his pocket and pulled out his phone. As he scrolled through his pictures, I noticed that his nail polish was getting raggedy. And that it looked good on him.
“Oh, here we are.” Austin passed his phone to me.
Gaze was there, going to town on an ear of corn. Just past him I could see a pool and a basketball court in the background.
Gaze leaned closer to me as I hit the triangle button that started the video. Laughter bubbled out of the phone.
Gaze pointed at the screen like it was dramatic proof of something. “This was premeditated? You videoed it?”
“I’m sorry. I thought I sent it to you. It’s just so hard to get everyone added to that big group chat.”
In the video a launched pie landed square in Gaze’s face like an old-timey movie.
The camera caught how quickly Gaze stood, dove over the table, and then Teddi, according to Austin’s narration, grabbed the phone, and flipped it so it could get the wrestling match between Austin and Gaze before Austin was launched into the pool.
Another boy came from behind and pushed Gaze in, too, then dove in after them. “That’s Milt. I didn’t even know he could swim or I’d have been watching my back.”
I gave Austin his phone back, smiling with their joking around. “You needed that bath after the pie anyway,” I said to Gaze. “You were so happy.” It was just a fact. That little snapshot was a dream come true. Ideal. “It had to be hard to come back here.”
“Nah. I mean, it was, but I was hoping you were still here, so that part is a win. If I could have you and them? Then it would be perfect.” Gaze started stacking up our thick red plastic plates.
“You guys want to do the park and head to the river real quick? Finish off the tour?” I offered as we all took our plates and cups back up to the counter.
“Yes, but let’s do that in the reverse order so I can get this pizza down a little lower.” Austin rubbed his stomach.
“Not too low, dude.” Gaze grimaced.
“Mind your own butt business, brother.” Austin took my hand like Gaze had done on the way out of school. “You need any ice?” I shook my head no. “So, this is where you grew up. Tell me what you liked about it.”
We had our topic for the stroll.
“I guess it’s really easy to shop, lots of choices. I mean, we had a budget and all. There are a ton of people in this community, and usually we have a couple generations of families. So that’s nice. I like how the kids got to play in the summer and time off. The best part was Gaze, though.”
I pointed at him with my pinkie.
Gaze leaped as we went under a crosswalk light, slapping the sign that was way too high for most people to reach.
“Yeah. I bet it was hard when he left.” Austin pulled my hand and maneuvered us around the grate in the sidewalk. “I hate those things. I feel like that’s how I’ll go someday. Getting sucked down one while the It clown is hungry.”
“It’s better because they are closed. You gotta watch out for those.” I pointed to two metal cellar doors that were latched shut. “Sometimes shop owners leave those open and you walk right in. You can break a lot of stuff falling down there. A few weeks ago a lady broke both her hips and her ankle when the furniture shop was getting a stock delivery.”
“Oh, good. I have a new nightmare to haunt me.” Austin looked over his shoulder warily.
We crossed two more crosswalks and made our way to the river. To me, it looked like it always had. Water was soothing for me, in general. I loved the sound of it. But now, showing it to Austin and revisiting it with Gaze, I felt the river’s shortcomings shining through.
It was a brown color and trash dotted the edges. When the wind hit right, there was a certain smell that no one would refer to as refreshing.
“Pixie and I used to eat Creamsicles down here like it was our job.” Gaze hopped onto the cement highway divider that served as a border to the waterway.
He did a tightrope routine that I recognized from our childhood. Austin jumped up as well and copied him. I sat down on the bench and watched. My hand was throbbing again, the joints in my knuckles protesting the most. Maybe I should have taken the ice.
I heard the gravel crackle near me and then Gaze was there touching the knuckles I was staring at. “You need more ice? Painkillers even?”
“I’m okay. Should we show him the park before heading back?” I was careful not to call it home, because that’s what they referred to their foster house as. I didn’t want to assume that had changed.
“For sure.” Gaze spun on his heel. “Want to get in some one-on-one?”