Untouchable - Chapter 14
Tuesday
I caught up with Felix after class. I’d been chickening out from asking him to meet my uncle all day.
And I had no idea why. I knew I could trust him.
Despite Kennedy’s reservations, I knew Felix was a good guy.
The worst that could happen? He’d laugh and tell the whole school I was related to the janitor.
The best that could happen? Telling him the truth would make us closer.
And now that I knew I wasn’t related to him, I wanted to be closer to him.
He’d promised me a kiss. It was hard not to fantasize about it.
“Hey, I need to ask you something,” I said.
He stopped at his locker to pull out a few books. “What a coincidence. I have something to ask you too.”
“You do?” I was stalling again and he was giving me the perfect out.
He slammed his locker closed and we started walking toward the cafeteria. “There’s a party this Saturday. Come with me.”
“Like…as your plus one?”
He laughed. “It’s not a fancy thing, newb.
Just a get together after the football game.
But yeah. I want you to be my plus one.” As we entered the cafeteria, he slipped his hand into mine like it was the most natural thing in the world.
“I know you’re working, but we could go after. I can pick you up.”
His hand felt warm and safe. I didn’t know why my eyes gravitated toward the Untouchables’ table. Or why my heart skipped a beat when I saw Matt glaring in our direction. I turned my attention back to Felix.
“I’ll have to ask my uncle. Speaking of which…
” Now was my chance. The perfect lead in.
“He wants to meet you. Do you maybe want to come over for dinner sometime this week? I make a pretty great vegetarian lasagna.” I didn’t have to tell him everything right this second.
The whole secret non-scholarship student thing could wait.
But for some reason he still looked confused.
He stopped me before I could get in line for a salad.
“There’s a whole lot about everything you just said that I need clarification on,” he said. “First…vegetarian lasagna? What’s wrong with good old fashioned beef?”
I laughed. “It’s bad for your heart. And I’m trying to get my uncle to eat healthier.”
“Fair enough. That brings me to my second question. You want me to meet your uncle ? That’s a first. Already introducing each other to extended family?” He laughed.
“He’s not…” my voice trailed off. “He’s not my extended family. He’s my only family. I live with him.”
“Shit. I’m sorry. I know you mentioned at the party that you lost your mom. I’m sorry I didn’t ask you about her. I just knew it would be…I don’t know why I didn’t ask. I’m sorry.”
I cringed at his third apology. I hated when people said they were sorry. It wasn’t like he had killed my mom. He had nothing to be sorry for.
“I just assumed you lived with your dad?”
I shook my head. “No, my dad was never in the picture. It’s always just been me and my mom. I mean was. It was me and my mom.” I wasn't sure I'd ever get used to referring to her in the past tense.
“I’m sorry.”
Why did he keep saying that? “Honestly, I’m not. If he didn’t want me then I don’t care to know him either. But I should probably clarify that even though I don’t know who my father is, my uncle does. And you have nothing to worry about, my uncle told me that we’re not related.”
Felix just stared at me.
“Like you’re not my…secret brother or step-brother or something. Or cousin. None of that. Not that I was thinking you were. But it’s good to double-check that kind of thing. Just to be safe.”
“Just to be safe.” He flashed me a smile. “It sounds like you were worried about that. Which you shouldn’t have been. Wouldn’t you like being my sister? I think it would be great if we were related. I’ve always wanted a sibling.”
What? Seriously wait… what?
Felix started laughing. “You should see your face.” He tried to catch his breath.
“What is wrong with you? That’s not funny. At all.”
“Well, it kinda was.”
I slapped his arm. “I thought you were serious for a second. That you wanted me to be your sister instead of…” I let my voice trail off. What were we exactly?
“No, definitely not. It would have been really hard to unlike you, newb.”
I felt my cheeks flush.
“I can do dinner Thursday. And I’ll ask your uncle about Saturday myself, okay?”
I nodded.
“Save me a seat at your table. I’m going to go get something with tons of beef.”
I laughed and his hand slipped out of mine.
Felix had only ever sat with me at lunch that one time to ask me to his party.
But he probably knew that saving him a seat wasn’t really necessary.
The only person I ever sat with was Kennedy.
Speaking of which…she had been avoiding me all day a lot better than I had avoided Felix and Matt yesterday.
I grabbed my salad and sat down across from her.
“Hey,” I said.
“Hey.” She was staring at the display on her camera instead of at me. “Look, I’m sorry about yesterday. I was just trying to help.”
“Trying to help? You were trying to get my uncle to lock me away like Rapunzel.”
She slowly swallowed the green beans she’d just put in her mouth and finally looked up at me. “No. I was trying to push you toward Matt instead of Felix. Because…you two make more sense.”
“Yeah…no. He’s still not speaking to me in public.”
She put her chin in her hand. “But he’s staring at you.”
“He’s not staring…” my words died away when I turned around to look at the Untouchables’ table. Matt was still staring. Directly at me. I swallowed hard and turned back around. “Random coincidence. But it doesn’t matter anyway. Because my uncle calmed down and now he wants to meet Felix.”
Kennedy spit water out all over the table. “He what?”
“Geez. Watch it.” I grabbed a napkin and started blotting up her mess.
“What do you mean he wants to meet him? Why would Uncle Jim want to meet Felix?”
“Because I told him how much I like him.”
“But…that’s…that’s not…but…”
“Hey,” Felix said and sat down next to me. “Thanks for saving me a seat.”
Kennedy closed her mouth. And then opened it again. Closed it again. And then a smile spread over her face. “Hey, Felix. So great that you could join us.”
“It is?” he asked. “Why do I feel like this is some kind of trick?”
“What?” She laughed but it came out way higher than usual like she was pretending to be someone else. “I was just saying how fun it would be if you ate lunch with us today.”
She most definitely hadn’t been. I watched as she started eating again without spitting anything anywhere.
“Uh…yeah,” Felix said. “I was kinda hoping to make it a normal thing.”
Kennedy swallowed the food in her mouth. “Awesome. We can be the three amigos. Amigas? Probably amigas since there’s only one boy.” She reached across the table and lightly flicked Felix’s hand.
“Sure. Are you feeling okay, Kennedy? You’re acting all…well…more like you used to freshman year.”
“What do you mean?”
“Like…nice to me.”
“Psh.” She waved her fork in the air.
The other day I would have been worried she’d stab him with it. But she didn’t look murderous today.
“When have I ever acted mean toward you? We go way back. We knew each other before Brooklyn even started going here. Before she even moved to this state. We were already a twosome. The first twosome.”
“Right.” Felix gave me a weird look. “Well, great. I’ll even be part of your awesome girl group if that’s what you want.”
“Definitely. The three of us can hang out all the time. Like…always together all three of us. Speaking of which, what are you guys doing Thursday night? I was thinking we could all hang out.”
“Kennedy,” I said. “I just told you Felix was going to meet my uncle on Thursday. We’re having dinner...”
“Great! What time? I’ll be there.”
Felix glanced at me again and then back at her. “Actually, Kennedy it was more of a date kinda thing.”
“The three amigas classic date night! Plus Uncle Jim. Awesome! Can’t wait.” She shoved more green beans in her mouth.
I didn’t know what I was supposed to say.
I was glad that Kennedy was being nice to Felix for a change.
I didn’t want her to go back to being mean by uninviting her.
Not that I’d invited her in the first place.
But having her at dinner would make Thursday night less awkward.
I was worried my uncle was going to go all Spanish Inquisition on his ass.
Or maybe that was what Kennedy was doing in some weird twisted way? Why was she being so overly nice?
“The three of us are going to have so much fun,” Kennedy added and gave Felix a big smile.
I shrugged. “Yeah. Dinner Thursday’s going to be great.”
“Yeah. Great,” Felix added. Although neither of us sounded quite as excited as Kennedy.
At least she was speaking to me again. Her weird behavior was better than her avoiding me altogether and berating Felix. So lunch was kinda sorta a win. I think.
***
I pulled my notebook for my entrepreneurship class out of my locker and a piece of paper fluttered to the floor. What the hell? I bent down and lifted it up.
We really need to talk. I’ll be waiting for you in the auditorium after class.
Matt. Again it wasn’t signed, but I knew it was him.
And again he was pleading with me to meet up in the auditorium.
But why not just talk to me in class? Was he too embarrassed to let Rob hear what he had to say to me?
Was he worried stupid Charlotte would be jealous?
He clearly didn’t want a paper trail or he’d sign the notes.
And meeting in a dark auditorium away from the scrutiny of the elite pricks in our class?
Screw him. I wanted to crumble the paper up and throw it on the ground.
Instead, I folded it and shoved it into my pocket. I was such an idiot.