Untouchable - Chapter 16 #2
I had no idea how my uncle would feel about a boy being in my room. But for some reason all I could think about was the fact that there was a huge box of condoms hiding in the top drawer of my nightstand. What if Felix saw them? “I mean…it’s just a normal bedroom.”
He leaned against the doorjamb. “Come here.” He reached his hand out.
I walked over to him, slipping my hand into his.
“Are you nervous to have me here?”
“I feel like this is a trick question.” My heart had started beating again, but not because I felt guilty. Felix had nailed it. He made me uneasy. Being alone with him made me uneasy. Him finding out about Matt made me uneasy.
“Not a trick question.” His eyes drifted to my lips. “You make me nervous, you know.”
“ I make you nervous?”
“Rumor has it that the best way to squash nerves is to distract yourself.” He pulled on my hand, drawing me closer. “I can think of a few ways we can distract ourselves right now.”
“A few ways?”
“Well, one way in particular. After all, I think I promised you something.”
The kiss. The kiss I gave to someone else.
He leaned forward.
“Yay! Group hug!” Kennedy yelled and lunged at us, somehow wiggling between us, creating a Kennedy sandwich. “We should probably get some studying done, don’t you think?”
“The only class I have with Brooklyn is PE.”
“Awesome. That means you can do pushups while Brooklyn and I go over English notes.”
“Kennedy,” I said. “I actually need to start making the lasagna. Maybe you two could help with…” my voice trailed off when Kennedy dislodged herself from her attack hug.
She was wearing…well, she was wearing barely anything at all.
Because a miniskirt, a tight top that revealed her midriff and way too much cleavage, and a pair of heels didn’t count as clothing to me.
And she’d applied a lot more eye makeup.
Like the amount of eye makeup I’d seen some women on the corner down the street wearing.
I was still in my school uniform. Knee socks and Keds included.
“Oh how about a game?” Kennedy asked and looped her arms through either of ours, pulling us away from my bedroom. “Let’s play Twister.”
I hadn’t played Twister since elementary school. “I don’t have Twister.” Which was a relief. Because if Kennedy bent over she’d be mooning the entire apartment.
“Bummer. Okay, let’s do your dumb lasagna thing. Come on, Felix, I can show you how to thinly slice some mushrooms.” She pulled Felix away, leaving me alone in the living room.
What the hell? There weren’t mushrooms in my vegetarian lasagna. I hurried after them before they could mess anything up.
***
“Oh, I almost forgot.” Felix pulled out a bottle of wine from his backpack. “Where are your wine glasses?”
“What are you doing with that?” I asked.
“I grabbed it from my parents’ wine rack. I wanted to make a good first impression.”
“By bringing a bottle of wine? My uncle is going to kill me. Put it away.” I pushed his hand holding the bottle back toward his backpack.
My uncle walked in a few seconds too early. He spotted the wine bottle and my hand on it. I removed my hand like the bottle was on fire.
He cleared his throat. “You must be Felix Green. The young man who’s been serving my very underaged niece alcohol.”
Kill me now.
“Hi, Mr. Sanders,” Felix said and lifted up the bottle. “I brought this for you.”
“How old are you?”
“Sixteen,” he said.
“Sixteen.” My uncle took off his coat and hung it on the hook by the door. “That’s five years too young for that.”
“It’s just for you,” Felix said. “I wasn’t planning on having a drop, sir.”
A bomb slowly ticking down to zero. I waited for an explosion. But instead, my uncle smiled.
“Right answer.” He took the bottle from Felix. “It smells great in here, kiddo,” he said to me. “What are we having?”
“Vegetarian lasagna.”
“Sounds good.” He uncorked the bottle and poured himself a glass. “Will you be joining us for dinner, Kennedy?”
She was currently adjusting her shirt to cover herself a little more. “Mhm.”
He grabbed four plates and set the table just in time for the timer on the oven to go off.
“So, Mr. Sanders,” Felix said as they took the seats across from each other.
“Please, call me Jim.”
Felix smiled. “Jim. How long have you been working at Empire High?”
“Ever since I graduated from high school. What do your parents do?”
“My mom is an art dealer. And my father manages the business.”
“I’d like to meet them.”
“They’re in France right now for some art gala. I can arrange something when they’re back in town.”
“Are you living alone?”
“We have a staff. I’m not a good cook like Brooklyn,” he said and put his hand on my knee underneath the table. “I’m pretty sure I’d starve if I was left to my own devices.”
My uncle’s rapid-fire interrogation continued as I silently chewed my lasagna.
My very delicious, mushroom-free lasagna.
I was pretty sure I learned more about Felix in that thirty minutes than he’d ever offered to me.
He didn’t have any siblings. He used to go to public school when he was little.
He’d lived in a small apartment on the wrong side of town like this at one point.
He was pretty much a C student. He didn’t participate in any extracurriculars.
At least, not ones he was willing to share with my uncle.
“I was actually wondering if Brooklyn could come to a party with me on Saturday night?” Felix asked. “I know she has work, so I was hoping it was alright if I took her after? I’d have her back here no later than 1.”
“Will there be alcohol at this party?”
“I won’t drink. And I’ll make sure she doesn’t either.”
My uncle pushed his plate aside. “No later than 1 you say?”
Felix nodded and squeezed my knee beneath the table. I smiled over at him. There was something so comforting about the way he kept his hand there all throughout dinner.
“Uncle Jim,” Kennedy said. “There’s nothing to worry about. I’ll be there too.”
She would?
“Oh. In that case, it’s a definite yes. That makes me feel better.”
Kennedy beamed at him.
“Of course,” Felix said. “She’s definitely invited to come too.” His phone buzzed in his pocket and he pulled it out. “My driver just pulled up. I have to get going.” He smiled at me. “Thank you so much for dinner. Who knew vegetarian lasagna could be as good as normal lasagna?”
I laughed and pushed my chair back.
“It’s okay,” Kennedy said. “I’ll walk him out. I need to get home and study anyway.”
We usually did our homework together. But I was okay with being alone tonight. I needed a second to breathe. I thought about how easy it was to breathe in Matt’s exhales. Stop.
“Goodnight,” Felix said. He leaned down and hugged me, his breath warm in my ear. “I promise we can have some alone time on Saturday. You look beautiful tonight, by the way.”
I felt my cheeks flush. “You too. Goodnight,” I lamely said back as he and Kennedy left the apartment. Did I just tell him he looked beautiful too?
My uncle was quiet as I cleared the dishes from the table. And while I started scrubbing the plates. I looked behind me and he was doing his nightly crossword puzzle.
“What did you think of Felix?” I asked as I wiped my hands dry on a towel.
“I’m glad he has a driver,” he said while he filled out another word. “I don’t want you in a car with him if he’s behind the wheel. Do you understand?” He looked up at me and I had never seen him look so serious.
I shook my head. “Why?”
“I remembered what Kennedy said about him having a drug problem.”
“Uncle Jim…”
“I looked at his school records. He’s gotten in trouble several times for getting high on school premises with that Hunter kid.”
I remembered James Hunter coming into school looking like death.
The dark circles under his eyes. The way he downed champagne at that party.
The awkward conversation I’d had with Matt about him handling it.
That there was nothing to worry about. “Which Hunter brother?” It was a strange question to ask.
I should have been defending Felix. But for some reason my mind always ended up wandering back to the Untouchables.
“The older one, I think. James was the name in the write-ups. Look, I trust you, kiddo. I do. That’s the only reason I’m letting you go to that party Saturday night.
But I don’t trust him. He came here with a bottle of wine, for Christ’s sakes.
He’s clearly been left to his own devices for far too long.
A staff isn’t the same as having parents. ” He coughed into his shoulder.
“Felix never smokes around me. He’s never offered me drugs. All I’ve really heard are rumors. I’ve never seen it.”
“That doesn’t make it untrue.”
“I get that. But…” my voice trailed off. “I don’t know why any of it matters if you trust me.”
“Just promise me you won’t smoke.”
“I won’t.”
“And I don’t just mean cigarettes. I mean anything he tries to give you. Promise me that.” He looked so serious. Like his life depended on my answer.
“I promise.”
“Okay.” He lifted his pen back up for his crossword puzzle. “Other than that, he seems like a good enough kid. Just make sure you have a few of those things I gave you on you at all times. Just in case.”
I was pretty sure my face was redder than it had ever been.
Thank God he hadn’t brought up the condoms when Felix was here.
I had wanted to ask if Matt was my half-brother.
But now that my uncle had basically just mentioned sex, I didn’t know how to bring Matt up without sounding weird.
And honestly, it didn’t matter. I’d never tell a soul that he kissed me.
And our kiss was certainly a one-time thing.
If we were related? It was best if I never knew.
“I’m going to go do some homework.”
“Alright, kiddo.” He didn’t look back up.
I went to my room, sat on the edge of my bed, and pulled out the note that was tucked into my blazer pocket. Please, tell me I’m not too late.
My fingertips touched my lips, remembering how being kissed felt. Like my whole body was on fire. And the sound of Matt groaning? I swallowed hard and dropped my fingers from my lips.
My mom had once sat in this same bedroom when she was pregnant with me.
And even though she wanted me, I knew I was a mistake.
A mistake she probably brooded over. I didn’t need any time to brood over what happened today.
That kiss was a mistake. And I would never. Ever. Kiss Matthew Caldwell again.