Chapter Six
I paced outside of the tent where the on-set medic was treating Danny. I wanted to see how he was doing, especially when he grumbled or hissed in pain, but the security guards let me go only as far as they could see me.
The medic pulled off her gloves as she stepped out to give us the final prognosis. “He’ll be fine. The cactus he landed on had short, soft spines. They mostly stuck to his clothes, but there’ll be some minor irritation.”
My hand pressed on my chest, relieved that Danny was okay, but something didn’t add up. “It sounded like he was in pain, though.”
The medic smirked. “He’s suffering from a prickled butt and a bruised ego.”
Danny emerged from the tent, limping with his suit jacket folded over his arm. “Thank you for your help,”
he said to the medic, adding under his breath, “and for telling the whole world.”
“You should thank Natalie,”
the security guard said, as he escorted us to a golf cart. “She insisted that someone take a look at you.”
Danny wasn’t exactly the picture of gratitude as the security guard zoomed through the botanical garden, taking us on a bumpy ride with little regard to Danny’s injury. Danny’s mouth formed a tight line, his jaw clenching with every sharp turn.
“I’m sorry,”
I whispered between us. “This was my fault.”
“It’s fine,”
Danny said through gritted teeth as the cart took a sharp turn. “It was an accident.”
That might have been true, but it didn’t make me feel better. In a show of solidarity, I reached out and covered his hand with mine. The medic might have classified Danny’s injury as minor, but his discomfort was evident. Danny drew a sharp breath, furrowing his brows at the sight of our hands. He stared at my hand like it was a nuisance, so I withdrew it. Nothing I did seemed to be right, so I gave him as much space as I could until we got into my car.
“I’m so, so sorry,”
I squeaked out as I drove out of the parking lot. I had to run over a speed bump, causing Danny to wince. At this rate, I wasn’t sure if he was going to last the ride to my apartment. What were the odds that Danny believed in third chances?
“Just”—Danny held his breath as the car dipped and transitioned onto the curvy, tree-lined road that took us through the affluent San Marino neighborhood—“drive gently.”
The poor guy was leaning so as to put all his weight on one butt cheek.
“Do you need a . . .”
I didn’t have much to offer. There were some extra napkins in my glove box, but that didn’t seem helpful. “You look uncomfortable.”
“Well, a cactus gave me acupuncture on my ass, so I’m just feeling a little vulnerable right now.”
It was hard to be mad at his snappy tone when he put it that way. “What can I do to help?”
“It’s okay. I’m fine. I can make it to your place.”
As if to prove it, Danny sat up straight in his seat, squarely on his whole ass. He played the part of a perfectly healthy man for a hot second, but when the car rolled over a few reflectors dividing the lanes, he whimpered with a sad puppy face.
“Danny. Stop being macho.”
That was a sentence I never thought I’d say. “Tell me what’s wrong,”
I implored. Danny shook his stubborn little head. “Fine.”
I signaled to change lanes. “I’m going to take you home, then.”
“No,”
he insisted, growing more frustrated. “I don’t want us to waste time.”
How could he think about keeping on schedule when he was injured? “Forget about the reunion. You’re hurt.”
“I’m not hurt per se.”
What was that supposed to mean? “If you’re not hurt, then what is it? What’s bothering you?”
“It’s that . . .”
Danny sighed and after some time he mumbled, “It still feels like there’s something . . . poking me there.”
The tips of Danny’s ears turned hot pink.
“Let me pull over,”
I said, ignoring Danny’s protests. There was a row of cute shops on the next block, and Danny could use the restroom at any of those establishments. I found a parking spot along the curb.
Danny ducked and looked out of the windshield. “You brought me to Noodle World?”
“What?”
I looked above my steering wheel at the building ahead. “Huh. I had no idea there was a location here.”
I’d only been to the one in Alhambra. It was the ideal place for cheap late-night eats after a night of partying (so I’ve heard). I never imagined anyone from San Marino trekking out of their mansion to eat pan-Asian noodles. “Do you think they have spicy spaghetti?”
Judging by the expression on Danny’s face, he didn’t seem to care about the possible differences in their menu. It was a fair question, since this location didn’t have a random gigantic Bob’s Big Boy statue at the entrance like the one in our hometown. That alone made this establishment classy by comparison.
I opened the center console and dug under some old CDs I’d forgotten about. When I bought the car, the salesperson had thrown in a first-aid kit and other small accessories to “sweeten”
the deal. Who knew that kit would come in handy? “Here. There are some bandages in here.”
I was in the driver’s seat, so there wasn’t much Danny could do. Plus, it was unrealistic of him to sit in that uncomfortable position for too long. He was bound to get a cramp.
Danny begrudgingly relented and took the first-aid kit. “I’ll be back.”
After he disappeared into the restaurant, I texted Nat to apologize for disrupting the shoot.
Rachel: sorry about earlier
Nat: me too. I should’ve told you about the passes
Nat: They might be in my desk
Nat: Or check in the fridge
Nat wasn’t the most organized person in the world, but she wasn’t the type to put random things inside the refrigerator. They had to be around somewhere.
Rachel: k
Nat: I might wrap up soon here. I think I can still make it.
Rachel: To what?
Nat: The reunion
She still wanted to go?
Nat: Can you bring me an outfit?
That didn’t narrow anything down. Nat’s closet was bursting at the seams with clothes. She liked to show up to auditions dressed for the part, so she had pieces for characters of all walks of life. I’d bring five outfits for her to pick from to give her some options.
Rachel: Will do
Nat: See you soon
Not too soon, I hoped. I wasn’t even halfway to our place yet.
Rachel: Text me when you’re on the way
What was keeping Danny so long? I was about to text him, but we hadn’t exchanged numbers. I got out of my car and went into the restaurant, crossing the dining room full of chatty patrons.
I knocked on the restroom door. “Danny?”
“Rachel?”
Danny asked, his voice muffled through the door.
“Yeah. Everything okay in there?”
Danny grumbled something, but I couldn’t make it out. “What was that?”
The door opened a sliver, enough for me to catch the profile of his face. “I need some help.”
“Okay.”
I swallowed. I had a feeling about where this was going. “What do you need?”
Danny sighed his deep suffering. “I can’t really see behind me. Can you take a look for me?”
I read between the lines to gather what Danny couldn’t muster to say. He wanted me to check out his ass. This would’ve been more exciting under different circumstances, but my answer would’ve been the same nonetheless. “Yeah.”
Without warning, Danny yanked me inside and shut the door.
“You have to stop doing that,”
I hissed. “I’m not some rag doll you can throw around.”
I instantly forgot about my arm, though, when I caught a whiff. Men’s restrooms were the pits. Not that I frequented them often, but whenever I mistakenly walked into one, the overwhelming chemical smell of urinal cakes made my head spin. I pinched my nose. It wasn’t the time or place to faint.
Danny locked the door and turned around. My eyes darted to his unbuckled pants, and I tried miserably to think of unsexy things like taxes and the blister that was forming on my toe.
“All right,”
Danny said, snapping me out of any inappropriate thoughts, “let’s make this quick.”
“We got this,”
I said, sounding dumb to my ears, but the smell in the bathroom was potent. It was killing my brain cells with every passing second. I washed and dried my hands before taking a look. “You’re lucky I’m not squeamish. Remember when we had to dissect a frog for bio? I aced that shit.”
Danny wasn’t listening to me. He paused for a second, like he needed to gather himself before he unzipped his pants and let them fall to the floor. I knelt down until I was eye level with his scientifically round butt. It was covered by black boxer briefs, which helped me narrow my field of vision to his wound. There was a pink patch about the size of a golf ball, located south of his butt on his thick, muscular thigh.
Focus, Rachel.
Someone pulled on the locked door from the outside and knocked, reminding me that I had to act fast. But the medic had done a good job of treating the wound, and I wasn’t sure what I was looking for.
“I don’t see anything,”
I whispered. I tilted my head and leaned closer. There was a glint of something that looked like a blond hair. I shined my phone flashlight on it to get a better look. “Wait. There are”—I counted in my head—“three little spines still stuck on you.”
“Can you pull them out?”
Danny asked like a prayer.
I assessed the wound again. I had to tackle this strategically before I made things worse. The spines were too short to pull out with my hands. I searched my purse for the small makeup bag I always carried for touch-ups. Luckily, I found my tweezers. I cleaned them with an alcohol wipe, scrubbing them like I was about to go in for surgery. “I’m going to need you to stay still.”
“Okay.”
Danny shut his eyes. “Do it.”
I went in a few times and clipped nothing but air. It was hard to see while staying at a respectable distance.
“Um.”
I swallowed. “I have to get closer. I might have to hold your leg. The, uh”—I cleared my throat—“inside of your leg.”
Danny mumbled some curse words. “Just do what you need to do.”
“Okay,”
I said, praying that he didn’t hear the crack in my voice. I palmed the side of his thigh, ignoring the way his muscles flexed from my touch. He was probably bracing himself for some pain. Was Danny afraid of needles?
When I was a kid, the nurse would talk to me, asking me about my favorite color or food to distract me while she administered shots. It was pretty effective, so I gave it a try. “Hey, Danny,”
I said, as I positioned the tweezer over a cactus spine. “What’s your favorite animal?”
“What?”
I didn’t think the question was that hard, but apparently it confused Danny enough that he twisted his body around to look at me, putting my face and his right butt cheek on a collision course.
Danny’s ears brightened to his signature hot pink. “I-I didn’t mean to do that. Are you all right?”
“I’m fine,”
I said, trying to be cool about it. The last thing I needed him to do was panic. “We’re both adults here.”
And one day we would laugh about the whiplash I experienced after my face bounced off his ass, but for now, I had to get these damn needles out. I gripped his thigh harder this time, reminding him not to move. “Now, answer the question. Favorite animal.”
Danny groaned as he contemplated his answer. “I don’t know? A parakeet?”
His favorite animal is a bird? I plucked a needle. One down, two to go. “That’s oddly specific.”
“That’s the first one that came to mind.”
“A bird, though? Not a cat or dog?”
“What’s wrong with birds? I had one as a kid.”
“I don’t think you ever mentioned that,”
I said as I plucked the second needle. “What do you like about them?”
“You don’t think they’re cute?”
I held my tongue because, no, I didn’t think birds were all that adorable. Also, if I opened my mouth, I was afraid I’d say what—or who rather—I did think was cute. After I removed the last bit of cactus from Danny’s leg, I wiped the small wound with an alcohol wipe and delicately affixed the biggest bandage I could find. “All done.”
“That’s it?”
Danny glanced behind him to review my work. “That wasn’t so bad.”
Our eyes met briefly, and awkwardness settled in. I was still on my knees, intimately close to his ass. I scrambled to my feet. “If you still feel something, I can double-check at my place.”
“I think we’re good,”
Danny replied, his voice sounding a little strangled. He pulled his pants back up. I turned away to give him as much privacy as I could, but I couldn’t help but notice his pink cheeks. This must have been humiliating for him.
“If I haven’t said it enough, I’m sorry. For lying and for this.”
“Stop apologizing.”
Hearing his frustration made me want to say sorry again, but I held it back. Danny hastily opened the door and almost walked into an older patron standing in the hallway. The man grunted, annoyed from the wait, but his jaw dropped when I followed Danny out.
I couldn’t give much thought to a judgmental uncle when Danny couldn’t even look me in the eyes. How were we going to recover from this? When I’d decided to attend the reunion, I didn’t think it’d be this hard to make amends. Wasn’t time supposed to be on our side? It had been so long that I didn’t even remember exactly what we said to each other. The thing I couldn’t forget was the hurt and defeat in Danny’s face when I said I never wanted to speak to him again. He knew as well as I did that I’d make good on that promise.
We were about to exit the restaurant when Danny took a detour to the front counter. The hostess handed Danny a to-go bag.
“You bought something?”
I asked as I held the door open for him. The telltale aroma of Thai basil gave away the spicy spaghetti inside. I wasn’t hungry before, but I was now.
“The restroom was for customers only.”
Danny opened the passenger door. “Might as well get something you like.”
I couldn’t believe that Danny would do something nice for me after everything that had transpired. I made sure to drive to my apartment as carefully as I could.
April 2003
Danny was online, but his screen name had been idle for a long time. His away message had some lovesick lyrics from a Dashboard Confessional song.
Did he like someone?
I blinked away the temporary surprise. It was stupid, really. In the years that we’d chatted online, we talked about crushes. That was before I knew who he was and where he went to school. It was normal to be curious about the kind of person that could catch Danny’s eye. What if it was someone in our class? I should ask him. He’d tell me. I started typing, but then backspaced.
What if he just really liked that song?
Ugh. Even when he left clues, it was hard to know what was going on in Danny’s head.
xxaznxbbxgrlxx: can you burn me a copy of the dashboard album?
Five agonizing minutes later, he replied.
SuperxSaiyan85: you got it