Chapter Five Kami #2
I shook my head and let go of his hands.
“That doesn’t matter to me anymore,” I said, fiddling with the dish towel in my hand.
“It’s true that I don’t like the way they’re all looking at me, and I don’t like being accused of things I didn’t do, but I never liked being the center of attention.
Now that I’m not, I can just be me, you know? ”
“Kam, if you’re going out with Taylor Di Bianco, you are the center of attention.”
I shrugged. “I can’t help it. He’s my boyfriend. If people don’t like it, fuck them.” This was the first time I’d publicly acknowledged my relationship with Taylor.
“Well, well, well,” he said, and his eyes got wider. “You’ve finally confirmed it. Now I want all the dirty details. What’s his package like?”
I was blushing, since I had no idea what the answer was.
“Don’t tell me you haven’t done it!” Julian exclaimed.
I shook my head, uncomfortable. Julian was going too far. That was private; it was between me and Taylor and no one else. “Not yet.”
He shook his head. “What are you waiting for? He’s hot.”
“I don’t know,” I said. “We just haven’t had the chance.”
“But do you want to?”
I thought it over. “I don’t know if I’m ready yet.”
“Are you still a virgin?” he asked in a near-whisper. I couldn’t believe how nosy he was!
“No, but I don’t see why that’s relevant.”
“Don’t tell me Danny Walker is the only guy who’s had the privilege?!”
“Julian! Can we please stop talking about my sex life?”
He raised his hands in surrender. “Sorry, sorry.” But he looked amused. His expression changed from sly to tender as he smiled and said, “I missed you.”
“Me too,” I said. Just then the doorbell chimed. It was Taylor and Thiago. They eyed us suspiciously, and I stood, hearing Julian beside me say, “Love comes calling.”
“Shut up,” I hissed, walking back to the counter. With a smile, I asked the two of them if they wanted anything.
“Yeah,” Thiago said.
“You,” Taylor added, acting like his brother wasn’t standing right there. I blushed again. Why did his saying that in front of Thiago make me feel guilty? Almost like I was cheating… I know it sounds ridiculous.
“I guess you heard this idiot is throwing a party at our house tomorrow?” Thiago said.
“Yeah, a Halloween party.” I nodded.
“Well, we were heading out to buy decorations and…”
“What Tay’s trying to say is your brother jumped into the back seat of our car and he insists we take him with us,” Thiago continued. “I kept saying no, but he wouldn’t budge, so finally we decided to drive over here and leave him with you so you can take him home when you’re done with your shift.”
Taylor frowned at his brother. “Actually, we came to ask if you wanted to come so the four of us could do it together. Incidentally, though, I will say your little brother can be persuasive when he wants to.”
“He didn’t persuade me of a damn thing,” Thiago said.
I frowned. That was weird, my brother just getting into someone else’s car. “You’d better just leave him here,” I responded. “I’ll be off in twenty minutes.”
“Great, then we’ll just wait for you,” Taylor said.
“I don’t know if that’s a good idea,” I said.
“Why not?” Taylor crossed his arms. He was as stubborn as my little brother.
“Uh…” I couldn’t think of a decent excuse.
“I thought so,” Taylor shot back. “That settles it. You’re coming.” He went out to the car to get my brother.
“You could have made up some excuse,” Thiago said.
I sighed. “Let me get you a coffee while you wait.”
I walked behind the counter to greet a couple who had just walked in, Taylor and Cam behind them.
As the three of them settled in at a table, Julian stood, waved, and came to say goodbye.
I was sneakily pouring chocolate syrup into a steaming pitcher—my brother loved hot chocolate, and I knew Mrs. Mill would want me to charge him for it, which I couldn’t bring myself to do.
“You’ve got a whole entourage of guys today, don’t you?” Julian said.
“I don’t know how I do it,” I said, smiling at my three favorite people in the world. Why lie? I liked seeing them together. I was glad we were all getting along again, the old gang, even despite what had happened in Thiago’s car a few weeks back.
“Sure,” Julian said, looking back at them. “Listen, let’s grab a coffee sometime, OK?”
“You got it.”
Julian paid, and as he left, I noticed both Taylor and Thiago staring at him. He waved at them, and Taylor responded in kind, while Thiago ignored him.
“Can we go now?” Cam asked, hopping up and down in his seat.
“I need another minute,” I said, going into the back to hang up my apron and grab my things. I said goodbye to Mrs. Mill, and the four of us walked to the car. Thiago got in the driver’s seat, and Cam and I sat in the back.
“Can I go to your guys’ party?” he asked.
“No,” Thiago and I said in unison. Taylor, though, shouted, “Hell yeah!” I narrowed my eyes at him, and he changed his tune. “I mean, you can help us set up. But you can’t stay for the party. Sorry, pal. It’s for grown-ups.”
“How is it for grown-ups if it’s a costume party?” Cam asked.
“Older people dress up too,” Taylor replied.
“Not me,” Thiago murmured as he put on his turn signal and took a right. It was dark, and there was lots of traffic, mostly people headed home to the suburbs. We were going to the Walmart in the next town over—Carsville didn’t have any big-box stores.
“Whatever. If you’re dressing up, I am too,” Cameron protested, crossing his arms.
“Sure, man, I’ll dress up with you, and we’ll put up the decorations together. It’ll be super Halloweenish!”
“Is that even a real word?” asked my know-it-all brother. I laughed, and Taylor shrugged.
“I like making up words. Where do you think languages come from anyway?”
“But to be a real word, it has to be used by lots of people. Isn’t that right, Kami?” Cameron asked.
“I guess so.”
“So let’s all start using it, and it’ll become one!”
Thiago had to rain on his parade. “You try using the word Halloweenish with your teacher and see what kind of grade you get.”
Taylor turned and winked at us, and Cam smiled as we got out of the car.
My brother clung to Taylor like a leech as they walked through the aisles filling up the cart. I hung back with Thiago.
“Those two,” he said. “If you didn’t know better, you’d think they were brothers.” He grabbed a couple of tools from a floor display. I could tell he didn’t give a shit about Halloween. He had just used the trip as an excuse to get stuff for his motorcycle or some other project.
“I wish I could keep holding on to that childlike innocence,” I said.
“Yeah,” Thiago responded. “I haven’t felt that for a long time.” There was bitterness in his tone.
I remembered we were supposed to open our time capsule the next day before the party, and my stomach did a flip. It brought back all the times we’d snuck out at night to have adventures. I was excited to finally do that again with the two guys who had been like brothers to me.
Taylor and Cam reappeared with a full cart.
Taylor had gotten cotton spiderwebs, giant spiders to hang from the trees, ghosts, fake blood, candy, cups with monsters on them, eerie lights, even one of those dumb speakers that makes a scary noise whenever you walk by it.
“They’re having a fifty percent off sale,” Taylor said, shrugging.
Thiago didn’t say anything. After we’d checked out, he grabbed six of the bags and took them to the car. Taylor, Cameron, and I divided up the rest. When we parked at their house, Cam reminded Taylor that he’d be by early to help set everything up.
“Sounds cool,” Taylor said. I grabbed my little brother’s hand and said goodbye to Thiago. Taylor came over to give me a kiss on the cheek. “See you tomorrow, precious,” he said and winked. I smiled and dragged Cameron home.
As soon as we’d closed the door behind us, he asked, “Kami, is Taylor your boyfriend?” I tried to tell him to zip it, but before I could, Mom walked out of the kitchen.
I had texted her to let her know Cam was with me.
She hadn’t even noticed he was gone or that he’d run off to the neighbor’s house.
“Did I hear the word boyfriend?” she asked suspiciously.
“No,” I replied.
“She’s got one, Mom. It’s Taylor Di Bianco!” Cam screamed.
Shit.
With daggers in her eyes, my mother said, “You are kidding me, right?”
I wondered whether I should lie to her, but it was probably too late. And anyway, I was tired of hiding. “We’re dating,” I admitted, and waited for trouble to come. But Mom was silent for a moment.
“You’re grounded,” she finally said.
“What? Now you’re kidding, right?”
“Cameron,” she said, “go take a shower. Dinner will be ready in ten minutes.”
My brother looked at my mother and then at me, and I could tell he was happy to get away. He ran off up the stairs, and Mom spun around and went back to the kitchen.
“You can’t punish me for having a boyfriend,” I said, hot on her heels.
“I can punish you for whatever reason I feel like.”
“You can, huh? Then you better buy a padlock and shut me in my room because there’s no way I’m staying home just because you tell me to.”
Mom stopped stirring whatever she had in the pot and looked at me in a fury. “It’s not enough that I’m getting a divorce! It’s not enough that your father’s broke! No! You have to go out with the last person your father and I would ever want to see you with!”
“Can you stop making everything about you? This is my life! I’m having a hard time too! And in case you forgot, Taylor and Thiago used to be my best friends before you screwed everything up and they had to move away!”
“Well, you can kiss them both goodbye because this is not happening, not as long as you’re under my roof.”
“Sure, Mom, you screw their dad and that means I can’t be Taylor’s girlfriend? Sorry, that’s not how it works. Taylor is my boyfriend, and the sooner you get used to the idea, the better.”
Without waiting for a response, I turned on my heels and walked up to my room.