Chapter 15: THE BET

"Hey. You're kind of quiet" Christopher said, his accent heavy to Ashleigh's ears. She was sipping her smoothie in deep thought. She glanced up and smiled.

"Um…acai, cabbage and mango?"

He chuckled. "Not even close."

"Not even one?"

"Nope."

"I give up."

"Green apple, a tiny bit of watermelon, pears and green tea."

"Green tea?! That's cheating. Whoever heard of a green tea smoothie?"

He smiled. "It's good though, right?"

"Delicious." He stood and then helped her up. Whenever he gave her a hands up she was again amazed by his height, and of course his big hand swallowed hers. Being a fat woman next to a man who was feet taller than you was good for the ego. She felt dwarfed by Christopher.

"What's it like being so close to the sun?" she had asked him once. His charcoal grey eyes had twinkled.

"Amazing."

They went through their workout and when they got to the tenth rep she didn't even believe it. "We're done?"

"Done."

"No way…I'm still breathing."

"Maybe it's an indication that it's time to up the reps?"

"I'm game….um, tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow is fine."

"Bye Christopher." His eyes followed her as she walked out of the room. Christopher headed to the security door grinning and humming and when it opened three guys were standing on the other side. The smile left his face.

"If this is about y'all damn bet, I'm not interested." He brushed past them.

"Beast. There is no bet."

"Hmph." He grunted and headed for the showers.

"Beast. Christopher!" He stopped and turned. All three men were standing there glaring at him. "What the hell are you waiting for? Ask her out for Christ sakes!" A slow flush ran up his neck and enveloped his face.

"What are you talking about?"

"Dude, you've been training her for a month. The girl likes you. Why else would she drink that shit you make every morning? And no girl works out five days a week!"

Christopher looked away. "Don't turn this into a game." He turned back to them with a cold look on his face. "This isn't a game." His heart was drumming in his chest and he was angry but unsure.

Carlos stepped forward. "There is no bet. We're all routing for you, Beast. That's all. Just ask her out…or else."

He looked at Carlos in confusion. The big man flexed his muscles. He was a foot shorter than Christopher. He looked at the other two guys. They were flexing their muscles, too.

"What in the hell do you mean, 'or else?'" Christopher liked each of the guys he worked with. But he had never been threatened by any of them.

"You got three days to make something happen." One of the men said. "Or we're going to make it happen for you."

Christopher's face paled. "You guys got way too much time on your hands…"

They gave him angry looks. "We know." And then walked away.

~*~

There was nothing much worse than 16 Marines with nothing better to do than to butt into his personal business. Christopher sat back in his armchair and drank a beer, something he seldom did. If they weren't lying about there being a bet, then this was worse than he thought. Because it meant that they would keep pushing and pushing until they were satisfied.

He groaned. They couldn't understand, they hadn't been in this same position before. He knew how it worked. He squeezed the half empty bottle and tried to shut away the memory. But it replayed despite his reluctance to relive it.

Debbie Roberts lived down the street from him down in Corbin. He knew her only in passing. She had something like ten brothers and sisters and it seemed that all she did was take care of the little ones. They were always running wild and Debbie would come to their house and ask if anyone had seen this or that one.

Sometimes she would look so tired. They'd catch the school bus, which was all the way down at the bottom of the hill. It took a good fifteen minutes to walk it, worse was when you had to walk up it. You actually had no choice but to be in good shape if you lived on Cobb Mountain. Debbie was certainly built nice, even for a fourteen year old.

She didn't talk much either and kept to herself. There was no such thing as poor white trash when you lived on the mountain—everybody was poor. It wasn't a word he learned until they moved to Covington. But Debbie's family was poorer than poor.

One day they were walking up the hill and Debbie just sat down. They weren't walking together, just at the same time. But when he looked back and Debbie was still sitting on the ground he went back.

"You alright?"

She didn't move for a long time, then she squinted up at him and he remembered that she had dark brown eyes and blond eye brows and the fine blonde hairs around her face was damp with sweat. "Why should I get up? Why should I walk up the mountain, take care of my mama's kids, do my homework, walk down this hill the next day, sit in school where people talk down on me? Why should I do that?" There wasn't a tear in her eye and she was asking him an honest question and waiting for an honest answer.

He swallowed. "Because you ain't never going to get off this mountain if you don't."

Debbie had pulled herself up and walked up that hill…with him. And every day after she waited for him at her gatepost or he waited for her and they walked down it and then later in the afternoon they walked up it once again.

Then at school she started sitting next to him during open assembly. There wasn't much need to talk but it was nice that she sat near him. And when he thought that he was satisfied with her silent company, she changed it by asking him about his scars and she reached out and traced a finger down the long one that ran down from his forehead. He'd given her a surprised look. No one but family and doctors had ever touched his scars.

He'd explained about the cleft palate and though she didn't seem to completely understand she was satisfied with his answer. Later that day she came knocking on his door and asked if he wanted to walk with her to the store. He did.

And the next day when she knocked on the door carrying her schoolbooks they sat on the sun porch and did their homework together. And that is how he and Debbie Roberts became friends. They didn't talk a whole lot; it was mostly comfortable quiet.

"She likes you." His brother Walt had said. Walt was a year older and had a girlfriend that he had been seeing since summer. "Why are you being a baby about it? She likes you, Chris! You're like her only friend. Just ask her to be your girlfriend."

He'd blushed beet red. He thought about her all the time, he thought about her sad eyes and her long blond hair. He thought about her skinny elbows and her beautiful legs in cut off jeans.

But did she think about him?

"Just do it." Walt said. He gathered up his nerves and on Saturday when they walked down to the spring to bring back fresh water he'd reached out for her hand.

Debbie looked at him but didn't pull her hand out of his. "Debbie. Do you want to be my girlfriend?"

She had given him a confused look. "I am your friend Chris."

"No like…" He leaned in and kissed her and she'd touched her lips in surprise. Then he knew…Debbie didn't like him like that. Debbie had never even thought of him in those terms. She made up some excuse to go back to her house. Afterwards she slowly stopped coming around after school and he stopped seeking her out.

Not long after, they had moved up to Covington Kentucky where his Dad had gotten a job at the VA hospital. Debbie didn't even say goodbye to him. For years he wished that he had just kept his mouth shut and then he would have never lost her friendship. Even if he couldn't have her as his girl, he at least could have had her as his friend.

Ashleigh's friendship was about the most important thing to him right now, even though it had only been a month. She gave him something to look forward to each day. She made him laugh. She made him think. The guys could say 'go for it.' But he liked Ashleigh and he wasn't willing to risk losing her friendship by making the same mistake twice.