Chapter 10
“Which one to buy?”
Roy ambled down the hallway to his next class. It was when he rounded the vending machines that he saw her.
It was his second year in middle school, his second year at the school he attended, and still each day he would come to be lost between classes.
Ring.
The bell for the first period rang, Roy was late.
What is she doing?Roy saw a girl in front of the vending machines.
Roy stood beside her.
“Are you okay? Do you need help?” He asked the girl.
“Yeah, I’m okay. It’s just, I hate making decisions. So I don’t know what to buy.” She said still, gawking at the machine.
“I hear what you are saying. I’m always afraid I’ll make the wrong decision.”
“I know. And if you do, you can’t take it back, it’s yours to keep. It’s just too much of a strain to live with wondering what could have been.” She looked at Roy, he could hear from her voice that she was nervous.
“That’s true, but if someone helps you make the decision, the burden isn’t only yours but also theirs.”
“Will you help me then?”
“Yeah I’ll help you.”
“But what about class?” She asked.
“Screw class.”
“Thank you.”
“It’s no big deal.” Roy thought for a moment, then added, “Are you new here?”
“Yeah, I just transferred yesterday.” She answered.
“I’m Roy.”
“I’m Nina.”
For almost an hour they stood in front of the vending machine. Finally they came to the denouement to buy a bag of chips.
Nina slipped four quarters into the machines slot and then entered the bags identification number. The screw like device spun, pushing the chips off the holding rack, they fell to the collection bin.
“So Nina what class do you have now?” The bell rang as he finished.
“I have math in room 103.” She said looking at a small piece of paper, her schedule.
“I have that class next too. Can I see your schedule?”
“Sure.” She handed Roy the paper.
“Yep, we have the same classes.” He handed her back the paper. “I could show you to your classes, if you would like.”
“I would love that.” She hugged him, “Thank you.”
Roy escorted her to each of their classes, with each one they were late. It was only by chance that, even in that small school, they ever found their right classes with him leading the way.
At lunch they sat with each other and talked about themselves, their hobbies, interest, admirations and condemnations.
By the end of school they had accumulated hours of time together talking. As the final bell rang Roy leaned over to her, “Would you like to go out some time?”
“Really?! Yes I’d love to.” But she looked down, as if despondent.
“What’s wrong?” Roy asked, but her head rose and she was smiling.
“I was going to ask you the same thing.”
They walked out of the school’s front entrance together.
“Well, I guess I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“See you later Roy.”
Nina started walking away from the school, Roy followed. She turned her head and saw him following. Roy saw her look at him, “Wait up.” He ran up to her. “I’m not, like, following you, I’m not a stalker. It’s just that I live this way too, and usually walk home. Well not usually, but more like always.” He impulsively started rubbing the back of his head.
“Awesome.”
The walk to Nina’s house was silent and quite awkward.
That night they both lay in their own beds looking at the ceiling, thinking about the other.
During the next few days they decided they would “hangout” during the weekend. They would introduce the other to their parents, then spend the rest of the time “watching television, or something or the other”.
Throughout the rest of the school week, the days seemed to repeat themselves, with all of them the same as the first.
When Saturday arrived Roy walked to Nina’s house. He got there around noon. With a knock on the door he was greeted by her father. The man was corpulent, with what might appear to be muscle. Balding, the only hair he had was that of his eyebrows, beard, and the forest of hair on his arms.
“Who the hell are you? What the hell do you want?” His voice was like that of a frog’s, as if he smoked a carton of cigarettes daily.
“I’m here to see Nina.” Roy spoke, like a child talking to the first stranger he had ever seen.
“Ain’t no one named Nina here. Now get the hell off my property.”
What? I thought this was the house. She must live here.
“Excuse me, I don’t mean to be rude but, for the last week I’ve been walking Nina here. My name is Roy.” He offered his hand, in hopes of a hand shake.
“So your Roy, stay away from my daughter.” He smacked Roy’s hand away, “I hear what you’ve been doing, making her be late to class and I know what you’ve been telling her. Telling her she needs help making decisions.” His voice was loud, stern, but he was not yelling.
“I’m sorry, but what you’ve been hearing is wrong. What I said was you don’t have to carry...”
“You get the hell out of here!” He brandished his hand as if to strike Roy.
Is he actually going to hit me?!
“Phil! What are you doing!?” From a room just beyond the doorway, came a woman. A mirror image of Nina, with dark tan skin, green eyes and long blonde hair, her mother. “Who are you talking to, and why the hell is your hand raised to a boy?” She walked to her husband. “Get out of here,” Roy started to walk away, “not you. Come in, you must be here for Nina.” She gestured for him to come in. “Come on in, your welcome here.”
In his mind Roy wondered if he should take her up on the offer. Go in, end up dead with my head only to be found in the forest later, or walk away and watch cartoons?... Screw it, let’s go in.
“Okay.” He walked into the house. Hope I don’t get raped.
Nina’s mother walked Roy down a wide and long hallway, every so often there was a door to either a bedroom or a bathroom. Finally they entered a large room.
In the room there were two long couches, facing one another, between them a large glass coffee table. At the back of the room was a bookshelf that concealed the entire wall. It was full of books, far too many to count.
On one of the couches sat Nina, on the table in front of her a half complete puzzle.
“You can go set with Nina, and I’ll go get something for us to drink, what would you prefer?” Nina’s mother asked.
“I’m okay. I’m not really thirsty, thank you though.” Roy, not trying to be rude, answered. Nina’s mother’s face, that had up to that point been a smile, was then an emotionless stare.
“I’ll get something for you, and you’ll drink it.”
Is she joking?But a smile broke through and she let out a laconic chuckle. It was sweet, full of happiness. Thank God she is joking.
“I’ll get you something just in case.”
“Thank you.” Roy replied.
Nina ran from the couch to Roy and hugged him.
“What took you so long? Ah, never mind, do you like puzzles?” She held his hand and walked him over to the couch. “I just started this, today. I don’t really like puzzles, but the picture is cool, so I decided to do it.”
Roy looked at the box, the puzzle was an image of a Spartan fighting a Persian, a scene from the Battle of Thermopylae. That is pretty awesome. But more importantly he looked at the piece count, five thousand pieces.She just started this today? Damn.
Over the course of about ten minute Nina’s mother gathered an assortment of warmed drinks, pitchers of various juices and a variety of soft drinks. She carried them on a large metal tray; all at once, with the finesse of a ballet dancer, without, even, spilling a drop of liquid.
She walked into the large room, seeing her daughter laughing with Roy. Setting the tray on the table she walked out of the room. It’s good to see her laughing, happy.
Even though Nina was quite intelligent and pulchritudinous, in all of her previous schools she had few if any friends. For her it was hard to make friends, she gave off a presence of uncertainty, creating an awkward feeling in those around her, or maybe it was her that was awkward. Being so lonely blocked her from happiness’s grasp. That was the first time, in a long time, that she had seen her daughter laugh and be with a friend.
She came back to the room and sat across from Roy and Nina.
“So your this Roy we hear so much about. I can see why Nina talks about you so much.”
“Thank you, Mrs. Smith. Your daughter is the nicest person I’ve ever met.” Nina looked away to hide her blushing face.
“That's very nice. I’m sorry for how my husband treated you. He’s a... what do you call it... he’s a dick.”
He’s the biggest asshole I’ve ever met!
“So, why don’t you two tell me how you two met. That’s the one thing I’ve yet to hear.”
Roy and Nina told her how they met, about the days that followed. They laughed and blushed as their story progressed. They told it meticulously, right down to the fact that each day, she has been tardy to class.
“That’s quite a love story, the funniest one I’ve heard at least.” She looked down and saw they were holding hands. They noticed and quickly let go. “How cute, I’ll be leaving now, you two don’t be getting to serious in here, okay.”
The next day Roy walked Nina to his house. She was greeted in a much more appropriate style than Roy had been. Sitting around, Roy’s mother made small talk with Nina, they were getting along well.
From the short time they spoke Roy’s mother soon after said, “She’s a sweet girl, don’t mess it up.”
To which Roy replied, “I won’t.”
By that years Christmas break, they had become inseparable. They did the usual winter time activities, skiing, snowboarding, and sledding. On many nights they sat in front of the fireplace at Roy’s house, just watching the fire and holding each other.
Roy was the same as Nina, he was awkward but others seemed to be drawn in by him, only to be pushed away. Roy, like Nina, was smart, but in no way humble. He would flaunt his superiority, to his fellow students and to all his peers. He would plan, or so much scheme, compulsively, never stopping to take a break. But in the days that followed meeting Nina his mind started to slow, not losing capability, just slow.
It was two summers later that Roy would make his most heart felt promise, one that he would not break.
On the fourth day of July love evolved from just a word, to a action, to a promise, to a purpose to live.
The year’s senior class, that had graduated, volunteered to put on the Independence Day firework display. They positioned the fireworks on the tops of the buildings in the middle of town. Their plan was to make it so everyone in the town, just four hundred people, could see it.
Early in the morning Roy had picked up Nina and they were walking to his house.
“Where are we going to sit tonight?” Nina asked.
“I don’t know. Do you have any places in mind?” Roy asked, he had not thought as to where they might sit, they had arranged to see them, just not where to sit.
“Let’s sit at the park on the swings.” They stopped walking, Nina stood facing Roy, still holding his hand. “Plus it would give us a clear view.”
“Yeah that’s perfect, I would really like that.” He leaned forward and kissed her on the forehead.
“Why’d you do that?” She grabbed his collar. “That’s not a real kiss. This is how your supposed to do it.” Pulling him down they started to osculate passionately.
They arrived at Roy’s house, where his mother was waiting in the kitchen.
“Nina are you hungry? I fried some eggs and bacon, or there’s cereal if you want.”
“Thank you, Ms. Black.”
“Your welcome.”
Roy’s mother walked out of the kitchen to her bedroom.
They sat around the wooden dining table.
“Roy,”
“Yes.”
“What does your mom do for a living? I’ve known you guys for so long, but I don’t know what she does. Where does she work?” Nina asked.
“Well that’s an interesting question, and to answer it would require a long boring story.”
“So you don’t know?”
“Well, in a sense... no not really.” Weird, what does she do?He admittedly never concerned himself with his mother’s affairs, but at that point he thought that he really did not know much about his mother.
“Don’t you think you should know? You know what my mom and dad do.”
“Your mom is like an author, and your dad is a professional asshole...” I didn’t just say that out loud, did I?
The longest minute of his life followed. Awkward silence. Nina covered her face with both her hands and was making a sound. Was she crying?
“I’m... sorry?”
“Ha, ha, ha” She laughed, so hard tears came from her eyes, she held her sides. She did that for about five minutes.
“So that’s how you really feel?” Nina waited a moment, “Join the club, everyone thinks he’s an asshole, you don’t have to apologize.”
They then shared a laugh.
Throughout the day as they waited for night, they passed the time playing games and watching television. They packed a backpack and started to walk to the park, one at the edge of town.
It was dusk, with only a hour or two left of light. The park was empty, Roy and Nina had it all to themselves.
Roy pulled from the backpack a can of insect repellent.
“Okay, close you eyes and I’ll spray you, then you can spray me.” He removed the cap and sprayed Nina’s arms, legs, stomach and back. Nina then did the same for him.
They sat in the swings, facing the town, as darkness closed in.
“I know this is kind of random, and I know it’s not for a long time, but what do you think you’ll do after high school?” Nina asked, with her legs she pushed off the ground and started to swing.
“I haven’t really thought much about that. The future is uncertain, and plotting a course through uncertainty defeats the purpose of having a future,” Roy had not planned on sounding poetic or philosophical, but that was just his thought on the future.
“Oh, I didn’t expect that.”
“Don’t worry, I didn’t forget you. You’ll be there too, right next to me just as we are now. You’re the only constant in my world, in all the uncertainty you’ll be there to guide me.”
“That’s so sweet. For me you will be the same, you’ll guide me and I’ll guide you. We’ll share each others past, tears, regret, happiness and all.
Roy did not notice that Nina was swinging. He moved closer to her, and her swing hit him at a lancing angle to his side. He flew through the air and landed in the chips of wood that blanketed the park.
Nina jumped from her swing. “Roy! Are you okay?!” In the darkness she tripped over her shoe laces. Landing on Roy, her forehead hit the bridge of his nose, breaking it. She saw the blood, “Oh my god! Are you okay?!”
Roy was in pain but he shrugged it off. “Yeah. Good thing we’ll be each others guides, because I don’t think we’d survive any other way.” She used the sleeve of her shirt to wipe the blood from his lips and kissed him.
As if planned, as their lips touched, fireworks exploded over their heads. Like large glowing flowers, they illuminated the night sky. A sharp pain shot through Roy's nose.
Wait isn’t she a nurse? Yeah mom’s a nurse or something like that.
“Nina,”
“Yes,”
“I know what my mom does.”
“That can wait.”
“She’s a nurse.”
“Your nose is broken, isn’t it?” She asked.
“Yep.” But he did not care, all he was thinking was,I don’t want this moment to end.
“Okay, we’ll walk to your house.” It was dark, they carried flashlights in hand as they walked down the main road. A car drove up beside them. In the car was an elderly couple, they lived between Roy and Nina.
“Do you two need a ride?” Asked the elderly man.
“Yes please.” Nina answered. She helped Roy into the car.
“You sure did kick his ass, didn’t you.” The elderly woman said from the passenger seat.
“Oh no, this was an accident. I accidentally head butted him in the dark.”
“If she wanted to I’m sure I’d have more than a bloody nose.” Roy said jokingly.
“So, I assume you want me to drop you off at your house boy, so your mother can bandage that up.” That came from the man.
“How’d you know my moms a nurse?” Roy asked.
“A nurse really? Aren’t you Nelly Black’s kid?”
“Yeah.” He answered.
“Your mom ain’t no nurse. She’s a doctor, you idiot.” The man said, partially joking and partially austere.
What? A doctor? Since when?
Nina looked over at Roy, “You really should get to know your mom.”
The elderly man drove them to Roy’s house.
“Thank you for the ride. If you ever need anything just ask.” Nina said as she waved them off. “Okay let’s get you in the house.”
His mother was sitting on the couch in the living room, watching television.
“Um... Ms. Black...” Nina started.
“Yes Nina,” She turned to Roy and Nina, “Holy shit! What happened?”
“There was a tragic swing accident and... and this happened.” Nina pointed to Roy’s nose.
“You finally made her snap. Don’t worry Nina I won’t call the police, he probably had it coming. Good for you, you little bastard. I heard what you said,” and in an attempt to copy Roy’s voice, “Well... not really, I don't know what my mom does for a living, because I’m a little prick!”
“What?! Your not going to help me?” Roy yelled, “Screw you, I kind-of-almost knew what you did, kind of.”
“Nina, is he telling the truth?” She asked.
“He said you were a nurse.” Nina answered.
“You piece of crap! A nurse! A nurse! After I popped your ugly ass out, I spent most of my life up to what, like three years ago, juggling school and you, to be called a nurse! I’m a doctor you bastard!”
“Okay! Mom as a doctor will you fix my nose?” Roy asked.
“No.”
“What?! You have to, I’ll die!”
“Okay, get in the kitchen.”
Roy and Nina walked into the kitchen while his mother went outside to her car. She brought in a large leather bag, inside there were multifarious medical instruments and supplies.
She bandaged up his nose and looked inside for any cracks in the lining of the nose and made sure the discharge of his nose was free of cerebral fluid, which it was.
“I’m sure it’s funny, but make sure you two tell me tomorrow what happened, okay? Good night you two.”
“Good night Ms. Black.”
“Good night mom.”
“Oh yeah, Nina your mom called, you can stay the night, just don’t go fooling around, got it?”
“Okay Ms. Black, I won’t.” Nina answered.
“I was talking to Roy. Just break his nose further if he tries anything.”
“Okay Ms. Black, I will.”
“That’s a good girl, see you two in the morning.”
Once she left the room, “You wouldn’t actually do that, would you?” Roy asked.
“Of course not.” She patted his back, “let’s get some sleep.”
“Okay.”
In the darkness of his room they lay in his bed. His arm around her waist and her hand grasping his, fingers entwined.
But soon their bodies shifted; their eyes met, staring into one another.
In a spontaneous spark of passion, the covers came off. Nina sat on top of Roy, he sensually kissed her, he kissed her on the lips, on the neck and on the sternum right between the base of her breast. She still wore a bra, her hands reached her to remove the hooks from the rings to remove it. Roy removed his shirt and shorts.
But in both their minds thoughts formed, each identical to the other, We can’t do this, we shouldn’t. He/she might think I don’t love him/her if I stop. But before it went any further they mustered the courage and stopped.
“I want to do this, but we shouldn’t.” Roy pulled his shorts back on.
“Same here. I want to as well, but we shouldn’t.” Nina began hooking her bra back up, but stopped. She grabbed the shirt Roy had taken off and put it on. The then reached her arms into the shirt and removed the hooks and took off the bra.
“Nina please get out of my bed.”
“Why? Are you mad?”
“No, just get out.”
“Okay.” She started to cry, thinking he was mad. She rolled off the bed and stood next to it.
Roy then rolled out of the bed as well. “Nina don’t cry.” He got on one knee. Nina looked down at him. “I’m sorry I don’t have a ring,” he held on to her hand, “but will you marry me? It might not be today, nor tomorrow, but the first day we are able to, will you?” He did not do it with the spur of the moment. Roy had planned on doing it earlier that night, but one thing led to another. Roy was not inane, he was as pragmatic as could be, he knew this was not just some puppy love, but it was the real thing.
“Wait, what?... Yes, oh yes. I will, I will.” Tears of joy flowed, no longer thoughts of sorrow. “So once we can, we’ll get married?”
“Yes. I promise.” And with that she knew they would.
Roy stood up and they went in for a kiss but...
Clack!
Smack!
They “knocked teeth”, his left front tooth chipped in half. With that he jerked his head, his nose hitting Nina’s brow. “God damn it!” He yelled but his anguished yell turned to uncontrollable laughter.
At three o’clock in the morning, Roy’s mother was awaken by a knocking on her door. She opened it to see Roy with a re-broken nose, and half a tooth missing.
“You realize I was just joking. What happened? No, never mind, I don’t care. You two really should take sex-ed, between the two of you, you don’t know jack shit about foreplay. Now come on lets get that bandaged up.”
From that point on they were even more inseparable, but still they never spent much time at her house; do to the fact that her father hated him, and on many occasions at private family dinners had told Nina and her mother that he would kill Roy, given the chance.
It was the first day of school, their first day as sophomores and nine months from the time Roy would move.
As always on the first day of school, they were driven to school by their parents, as was custom for the two families, however, Roy arrived to school late that day, like any other..
He entered through the front entrance, as always, but made a sharp turn to the gym and to the boy’s locker room. The stalls in the boy’s locker room were the only toilets in the school that he would use.
On the toilet he sat, but soon a ruckus was made just outside the stalls.
“Give me your money, you little redneck.” Came the voice of a man.
“I told you I don’t have any.” Came another voice, one he recognized. That’s Billy, or Dave, or, well, that kid from last year.
“I’ll fucking cut you if you don’t give me your money.” And yet another voice. These people did not notice Roy in the stall.
Roy finished his business and flushed. He walked from the stall to a sink, paying no attention to the people mugging his fellow classmate, there were more pressing matters, he had to wash his hands. And that he did, there were three of them, two men, or, more so, boys, and a girl. They ceased their onslaught to watch what Roy was doing.
“The hell?” The tallest of the boys said. Though he was the tallest of the perpetrators he was small in comparison to Roy’s over six foot frame.
“Is this guy serious?” The girl asked.
Roy turned around and looked at them. “Are you guys new here? Girls aren’t allowed in the boy’s locker room.”
“So!” The girl said contorting her face, as if to intimidate Roy.
The smaller of the boys looked at Roy’s face, “Hey, I’ve seen you before, yeah, I have, you were with a girl.”
“See you know me, even though I don’t know you, let’s walk away and get to class.”
“Watch out Roy, these guys actually have weapons.”
“It’s okay Billy, nothing is going to happen.”
“It’s Charles.”
“Same thing.”
“So this fag actually has a girl, that’s a surprise.” The taller one said, “You sure it wasn’t his sister? Hell, sisters and girlfriends are the same thing around here, aren’t they?”
“No, it wasn’t his sister, she was wetback.” The smaller one replied.
The girl then added, “Looks like the hillbilly likes the senoritas.”
“Jacob, get to class.” Roy said to Charles.
“What are you talking about?” Charles asked.
“Just get!” Charles ran around a row of lockers avoiding the trio. They made no attempt to stop him. “I told you to walk away, but you have forced me to become involved in your little hoodlum antics.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” The tallest asked.
“If you put down a dog after it bites a child that dog’s death acts as an embodiment of what could happen to the others. So if dogs are as aware as humans, they would know not to bite another child. Do you understand what I’m saying?”
“What the hell are you saying? Your going to kill us? That’s freaking funny!” The girl said with a chuckle.
“No, but I’ll beat the crap out of you three, to teach you to watch what you say and teach you that bullying the weak is unforgivable. Girl don’t think that just because you’re a girl that you are exempt.”
“This motherfucker is bluffing, look he’s just talk. Throwing his best metaphors and all his vocabulary at us. Let’s teach him a lesson.” The girl pulled from her purse a knife, the taller boy took from his pocket a pair of brass knuckles and the smaller one had a lead pipe. How the hell did he get a pipe? Where was it?
The girl rushed him, knife straight out. He dodged it and followed with an elbow to her face. The knife fell to the floor, followed by her unconscious body.
“You’ll pay for that?” The two charged at him. The smaller one swung the pipe, Roy dodged and grabbed him, using him to block the larger one’s punch. The brass knuckles smashed against his face, knocking him out. The sound of the pipe hitting the tile floor made a loud echo. On the parry of the blow Roy turned around, back facing the opponent, and “Mule-Kicked” him in the stomach. The boy vomited. Roy followed with the back of his fist to the boy’s face, knocking him out, as well.
Roy walked to the office, just across from the gym.
“Hello Roy, what’s wrong?” The attendant greeted and asked.
“In the boy’s locker room, I just knocked out three people, so some one might want to get them.”
“Why did you do that?” The attendant asked.
“Oh, they attacked me and had weapons.”
Roy helped the principal and the school nurse carry the trio into the informatory. He told them what happened, everything about what he heard, what they said to Charles, what they said about Nina, everything except his speech that he told them, which, at that point, he regretted. He thought it was a little queer. They gave him a slap on the wrist, because it was in self defence and the three were expelled for possessing weapons.
Nina and Roy had the same schedule, which they got after countless class changes, so Roy told Nina what had happened, all except for the insults.
“Why didn’t you run away?” Nina asked.
“Shh!” The math teacher tried to hush her.
“I couldn’t, I’m not like Billy over there.” He pointed to Charles.
“Shh!” Again he tried to quiet them.
“Billy, your such a coward.” Nina shuck her head at Charles.
“It’s Charles!” Charles yelled.
“That’s it! Charles, Roy, Nina go to the office!”
“I’m just glad your okay Roy.” Nina hugged and kissed him.
