CHAPTER 20

We worked for a solid 3 hours, before we decided to call it quits. By then, we had the whole piece committed to muscle memory, and trained our bodies to look like objects instead of characters. Mr. Salvador was definitely going to be impressed with us.

After we decided to call it quits, May exhaled and flopped down on the nearest couch. Too timid to do anything more bold, I just sat down on the floor. "I'm hungry." she said after a few seconds. "Are you hungry?"

"Isn't it suppertime soon?" I asked her, then realizing it meant I needed to go sooner.

"Not for an hour! C'mon. Want nachos?" She asked with a sweet smile. Damn, nachos?

"You bet!" I roared as I got up. She giggled and made an effort to get up, but then just crashed on the couch again.

"Aw, but this couch is so comfy." she mock-complained, daring me to drag her off.

I called her bluff. "Comfiness can wait, you just offered Adam Watson nachos." I told her, pulling her off the couch by her arm. She giggled as she was brought up, only to abruptly stop when I accidentally pulled her closer than I thought and we were suddenly intimately face-to-face. I could hear her breathing, and swore that she was breathing a bit heavier than normal.

"So, uh… nachos, huh?" she all but whispered. I nodded slightly. We lingered there for a few seconds after, then she broke away and walked upstairs. I followed, not daring to say a word.

I followed her into the kitchen, where she was putting some kind of cheese into the microwave. She then reached into a cabinet and pulled out a bag of nachos, popping the bag open.

"Want one?" she asked before diving into the bag herself and pulling out a few. I pulled out a few in turn. We sat down at the table and waited for the microwave to finish.

"Mind if I ask you a personal question?" I asked, not even knowing myself where I was going with this.

"I guess!" she shrugged.

"If you used to be overweight, how'd you end up looking like… that?!" I gestured towards her. "That's a heck of a change."

"I guess so." She half-smiled. "When I was younger, I was a really bad eater. I only drank chocolate milk, ate a lot of sweets, and didn't really have a good diet. Mom and dad liked to baby me, so they didn't stop it. Then around grade 3, people began teasing me, and… they really didn't stop."

She paused for effect, then continued. "Around grade 7, I decided I had enough. I stopped eating anything with sugar altogether, for a year. Even fruits. I drank water constantly, and started exercising, which was really difficult, but… It sounds weird, but I would have done anything to just get away from everyone being mean to me. I've said it over text before, but I didn't have any friends, and you're damn right I would have changed my body to stop that."

That was the first time I heard her really swear, I thought as she continued. "Heck, I would have even moved to a different school to get away from it all."

"Yeah, I know how you feel." I said, not thinking.

"No, you really don't." May said defensively.

"Yes, I really do." I shot back, a hint of anger in my voice. "I live in the next town over, and had to plead with my parents to go to our school instead. The reason I'm lonely, the reason I never had friends, is because I always get teased for being the shy, geeky, stupid socially awkward kid in class. I got bullied so much I stayed inside during recess. At least you could change your image. I got stuck never knowing what to say or how to say it, and I couldn't get better. I just had to deal with it, that being me meant being a loser."

May said nothing for the longest time, the hum of the microwave being the only sound in the room. After what seemed like forever, she slunk off her chair, walked over to me quietly, and embraced me in a meaningful hug. "I'm sorry." she said, a sentiment that sounded like it took a great effort to say.

"It's okay. I'm sorry too." I replied, hugging her back. The hug felt tighter than our last one, with our bodies more pressed together. I could feel her heart beating through her chest, complemented by the sound and feel of her breathing. Slowly, the two of us turned our faces so that we were looking at each other, no words in our mouths but a million in our eyes. Still embracing, her eyes turned innocent yet determined as her face slowly got closer to me. I was nervous as hell, but swallowed down any chance of a panic attack as I followed suit, my face becoming closer to hers. I could feel the heat of her lips on mine as I realized how little space war was between us.

DIIIIING! The timer on the microwave suddenly went off like an atomic bomb, and May and I pushed each other back instinctively. With a nervous cough breaking the silence, we became a mess of sounds.

"I.. uh…"

"The… you…"

"With the…"

"And… eugh.."

"Guh… ehrm… Microwave."

"Right, the microwave."

She slowly moved towards the microwave and retrieved the cheese. She put it on the kitchen table and we sat down and ate, making painfully awkward small talk all the way through. After we polished off the chips, the awkwardness was mostly gone, but we didn't dare bring up what just happened for fear of recreating the awkward moment.

"Well, I think we're all set for Monday. What about you?" May asked, stretching.

"I'm going to be nervous performing. Sometimes I get panic attacks." I confessed.

"Don't worry." she said, giving me a reassuring smile. "We've practiced. It's polished. It'll all work out really well."

"Really well." I corrected her. She rolled her eyes and laughed.

A few seconds later, she looked at the clock and began to look down, the cogs turning in her head. I think Nicole was passing her mind-reading on to me.

"You want me to leave now, don't you?" I asked her humorously.

"Oh Adam, it's not like that." she protested. "If it were up to me I'd want you to stay all night."

"All night?" I repeated. She turned pink.

"You know what I mean." she answered quietly. "But yeah, I'm sorry, but yeah. Thanks for making the trip, I think this practice was really worth it. I just don't want to get in trouble. Sorry!" She dragged out the 'sorry' to make it sound like it had seven extra 'y's.

"I understand, it's okay." I said, moving in for a hug yet doubting myself. She seemed hesitant too, and we shared the most awkward goodbye hug in existence.

"See you on Monday!" She called out after me as I opened the door.

"Unless I text you first." I smiled and held up my phone.

"Yeah, do that." she smiled. I exited and shut the door behind me. Oh, right, text. I probably should have texted Nicole. Now I had to wait because she had no idea I was fini- Oh.

There she was. Leaning on her car, waiting for me, eating a green apple for goodness sake. When she saw me, she barely acknowledged me. "Yo."

I sputtered. I stammered. I stumbled. "Were you here the whole time?!" I asked her.

"Nope, I got here about five minutes ago, squirt." She replied, calm as the ocean on a sunny windless Tuesday.

"Then how did you know that I would be leaving her house and you'd need to pick me up at this time?!" I asked her, before quickly adding, "Wait, let me guess. Grade eleven."

"God, you take all the fun out of it." she complained as she chucked the apple core into May's family's garden. "C'mon, let's make like a stoner and blow this joint."

I chuckled. "Was that one original?" I asked as I stepped into the car.

"I wish." she replied as she started the car.

"Hey, I never really asked – do you smoke?"

"Me?" she asked. "Nah – my mind is fucked up enough as it is. You can smoke all you want but I'm not about that kind of thing."

"That's fair." I answered. "I don't."

"I didn't ask." she told me.

"But you were thinking about it." I replied.

She smiled slightly. "So how was the da-"

"Oh my God. I came so close, so close to kissing her." I started to rant.

She laughed out loud. "So she blue balled ya."

"Not quite. Her microwave did."

She thought about my answer. "Huh. Never heard that one before. Is there a story to that?"

There definitely was, and the more of it I told her, the wider her smile got.

"Ooh, so close, hotshot!" She said, half mocking me, half sympathizing. "Well hey, if she blue balled you like that and you're pent up, I don't have plans…" she trailed off.

"Are you just constantly horny?" I asked her.

"That's for me to know and you to find out. Again and again and again." she laughed at herself. "Now text your folks. It's about 5:30. What do you say we spend some quality friend-to-friend time 'til about… eight?"

"Will your parents be home?" I asked her.

"Absolutely." She said with confidence.

I sighed and chuckled at once. "Fine." I told her. She cheered, and started rubbing my thigh as she drove. But my mind wasn't on her, frankly. My mind was fixated on May.