Chapter 10
EVERETT
W hy had I gotten myself into that situation that night?
I was doing just fine before that stupid girl had thrown herself at me.
I was never going to do anything with her; I was just joking around.
She was too drunk to be able to consent to anything, anyway.
I just wanted to get her home and end that stupid night.
Jahnvi went into her house with her to probably help her into bed while I sat in my truck. The lights were all out in the sprawling house, but I wasn’t taking a chance on running into Ruby’s parents and taking the blame for her condition.
“Damn, Pickles,” I muttered to her after she got back into my car. “I didn’t know you had friends on this side of town. You should casually mention how you might need help paying your college tuition.”
“She’s not that close.” She put her hands into her hair and separated the soaked strands.
“And her dad thinks immigrants are polluting the country, so that wouldn’t work.
” With a final shake of her head, her hair fell around her shoulders and dripped onto her yellow flowy dress with little red flowers.
She looked...different, and not in a bad way.
At school, she was always so focused on trying to throw insults at me and compete at everything. I never really saw her as anything more than some annoying girl who hated my every move for some reason.
“Well, y’all seemed like friends when you were helping her not fall over.”
“Well, it’d be rude to just leave her there like that. Speaking of which, um, thank you for giving us a ride.”
I raised my eyebrows. “Wow, Pickles. I think that might have been the last thing I would’ve expected to come out of your mouth.”
“’Scuse you! What does that mean?”
“Well, it’s just that you never thank anyone for anything. I always assumed you’d spontaneously combust or something if you showed gratitude. Speaking of gratitude, how does Thanksgiving go for you?”
“I”—she jabbed a finger in my arm—“am grateful. I’m actually very grateful. It’s just that you never do anything that makes my life easier and makes me grateful for you.”
“I gave you a ride today.”
She opened her mouth for some smart rebuttal as always, but shut it when she realized she had nothing. I got why. This was out of character for me. She’d never even been in my truck, even though we’d known each other for so long.
But it wouldn’t have been right to let her walk home alone.
You’re right; it was none of my concern.
It wasn’t my place to act like some overprotective brother or something.
But I couldn’t help it. She was just so.
..naive sometimes. I didn’t like the way the people behind that store were looking at her, especially because she wasn’t even noticing their looks.
I didn’t like where this was going already.
I needed to get her home and be rid of her soon.
But the universe hated me as usual. The rain got so bad that I could barely see two feet in front of me. I had to pull over to a gas station to wait out the storm. Much to Jahnvi’s displeasure, of course.
“Pfft. It’s not even that bad!”
“You don’t even have a license, Jahnvi. You don’t have a say in this.”
She rolled her eyes and reached for my radio. In the process, the red ribbon that she’d placed on her lap fell over near my feet. But before I could bend down to pick it up, she dove down for it.
As she fished the ribbon from somewhere on the car floor and raised herself back up, she hesitated.
She stopped somewhere right in front of my lap and looked up at my face.
Her eyes looked up into mine, then below my nose, and then back up again.
For that one second, I knew exactly what she was thinking.
And whatever self-restraint I had, I lost at that moment.
Get your mind out of the gutter; it was only a kiss and nothing more. After that night, we never brought it up again, and she’d continued to throw insults at me as usual.
Well, we’d never brought it up until today.
I found that ribbon the very next day, but something had stopped me from returning it to Jahnvi, or even just throwing it away. It wasn’t laziness. I kept my car tidy, always.
Maybe I just wanted a memory of that night.
Whatever it was, it raised a lot of questions. My guy friends, and the occasional girl who got in, always asked where the ribbon was from. Eventually, they gave up when they didn’t get the clear answer they wanted.
But their questions always sparked some excitement in me.
It was like I enjoyed creating cryptic answers about the piece of ribbon. I enjoyed it when people asked me about it, and I enjoyed hiding her and that night from their knowledge. It was something they’d never know about.
Something only for me.
She broke the silence with a whisper. “Y-you don’t have to answer if you don’t want to, but was that your first?”
“Huh?”
“Your first...” She was nervous, plucking the collar of my jean jacket still draped over her shoulders. “You know, your, um, first kiss?”
I shook my head no as my answer.
Her face fell a bit, and I felt a sudden pang in my heart. I mentally slapped myself; I should have said yes or something. Maybe that would’ve made her feel better. But why was she looking all sad anyway?
I cleared my throat, but my voice still came out as a hoarse whisper. “What’s the matter?”
“Well...” She smiled a little, still blushing. “I don’t know. It was my first kiss. It just, I guess, might make me feel better about it if it had also been yours. So, you know, my bad kiss wouldn’t have been so bad, because it was your first too.”
I leaned toward her. “That was your first kiss, Jahnvi?”
“Yeah, was it too obvious?”
“You’re not lying to me? Your first kiss?”
She played with her sleeves. “A-are you making fun of me right now? Maybe it is a bit late. I don’t go making out with just anybody like you do, Everett!” She tried to sound angry, but her voice was still very soft.
It sounded hurt more than anything.
“Jahnvi.” I couldn’t help but smile. “That was an amazing kiss. I didn’t know it was your first until today, and I definitely wouldn’t have guessed.”
“You’re not lying?”
I shook my head, and a little smile escaped her lips. It was so contagious that I don’t think anyone could’ve resisted smiling at the sight of her at that moment.
“I’m sorry about calling you a slut.”
“Don’t worry about it.”
She did it again. Her eyes swiveled from my eyes to my lips, and back again to my eyes.
And for the second time, I knew exactly what she was thinking about.
She leaned toward me, and I couldn’t help it. I mirrored her actions. I felt my own eyes fall to her lips before they slowly closed on their own accord.
But I jolted away from her at the terrible sound of screeching tires.
A big truck with Manny’s Auto Service printed on the side in big red letters had pulled up next to us.
I looked to the side to see Jahnvi avoiding my gaze, her cheeks a violent red now.
Not saying a word, I hopped out of the car as I saw Manny’s huge figure emerging from his door.
It was just as well. I knew this needed to end here and now. I suppose that was why I’d never tried to see what might happen after we’d kissed before.
But for the first time, some deeply buried part of me started to resist.