Chapter 2: Opening Doors
The pictures ran a week later, and I was self-conscious all day at school worrying that somehow someone would be able look at the pictures and sense the giddy feeling I got when Luke Danes was around.
On Saturday morning I went to deliver several copies of the paper to Luke. His dad's store was a place called Willams Hardware. It was a beautiful building on the square that apparently his dad had built himself. As I pushed the door open, a little bell rang over my head. With my presence announced but unnoticed, I stood by the door and looked around for a minute. There were cluttered shelves and tables everywhere I looked. I didn't know much about hardware, but from what I could tell, there was no rhyme or reason to how things were laid out. Two men were standing around the counter arguing loudly.
"Who cares about the damn Commies," one of them said.
"Well obviously I don't care about them, but what good is it to win something when your worst opponent isn't even participating?"
"I say good riddance. Why would we want those fuckers in LA anyway? Keep our country free of that kind of scum."
"Oh shut up Louie, I'm just saying, it doesn't seem right."
Still unnoticed, I took another step inside and picked up an old doorknob from a box of random odds and ends. The dust I unsettled floated around like a bunch of fruit flies in the late morning sun. The men were still arguing quite loudly about the up coming Olympics. I set the doorknob back down and the rising dust made me to sneeze.
The men stopped arguing suddenly. One of them came out from behind the register.
"What was that?"
"Someone's in here. Hello? Where are you?"
I tried to take a deep breath, but sneezed again. I came back out from behind the shelves. "Hi," I sniffled. "I'm...ah...I'm looking for Luke."
"Oh," the man said. " Well I'm his father. Luke's upstairs in the office doing the books. Did you need to give him something?" He pointed to what I held in my arms.
Suddenly I remembered why I was here in the first place. "Yeah...I mean, yes sir. He asked me to bring these by."
"That's fine. Why don't you just take them up there yourself." He pointed to some stairs. "It's right up there."
"Thank you," I said nervously. I tucked my head down and walked past the other man, Louie, to go upstairs. I could feel his eyes on me as I walked by.
At the top of the narrow stairs was a small hallway. A door was open and I could hear announcers calling a baseball game on the radio. I walked quietly over to the doorway and peeked inside. Luke sat at a huge wooden desk, hunched over an enormous ledger book, his back to the door. The men on the radio roared about a home run. Luke looked up at the radio for a moment, as if he could see what was happening.
I rapped lightly on the door's glass. Luke turned around startled, then stood up quickly, almost knocking over the chair.
"Hi," he said quickly. He looked nervous, but he was trying to play it cool.
"Hi," I said. "I brought you some copies of the paper like you wanted."
"Oh, right. Thanks." He came closer as I held out the papers for him.
"The pictures of you are right here just below the fold."
"You mean I'm not the lead story?" he quipped.
I smiled involuntarily; his eyes were steadying the queasy feeling in my stomach. "Yeah, well nothing beats out a biting expose on the need for new carpet in the library."
"Heh," he laughed, deep and rough. I couldn't help but notice the sparkling gold tones in his hair.
We stood still for several moments. Both of us kind of swayed where we stood. We didn't notice the person coming up the stairs until he was standing between us.
Luke stepped away from me quickly. "Uncle Louie, wha...what do you want?"
"Lucas," he drawled, "your dad sent me up here to see if you would run a delivery. Who's your friend?"
"This is Rachel. Rachel Hadley. She brought over some copies of the school paper. They did a story on me and the track team. See," Luke showed his uncle the picture.
"Well that's a damn fine picture, boy. Your mom'd be proud." It was a nice sentiment, but seemed somehow condescending the way he said it.
Luke shuffled his feet, and looked down at the floor. One of his fists clenched. He worked his jaw for a split second before looking back up at his uncle. "Right," he said quietly. He looked back at me. "Well I guess I've got to go."
"Yeah, that's okay. I just wanted to bring those by for you."
"Well thanks."
"Oh...you're welcome. I...I should be going too." We shuffled around each other, out the door, and down the stairs. Luke stopped at the counter to talk to his dad.
"Bye," I said quietly. I attempted a nonchalant wave, but immediately regretted it.
"Bye," Luke called as I left.
I was halfway across the square when I heard my name. "Rachel," Luke called after me. I turned around and saw him jogging towards me with a package under his arm. "Hey, I'm sorry about that," he said when he reached me.
"Oh...it's...it's, okay," I stuttered, my hands tucked in my pockets.
"Listen, I have to go, but...uh...I was wondering...Some guys on the team are having a graduation party next week. You're, um, welcome to come...if you want to I mean."
"Well, I'd have to check with my dad, but I...um...sure. Yeah," I didn't know what else to say, and I giggled nervously.
He laughed a little too, then smiled sweetly. "Okay then, great. I...I'll call you some time before then." He started walking away backwards. "Well, I've gotta go," he flashed that smile.
I smiled back and waved again. This time with much more success. I stood there in the square and watched him run off before floating the rest of my way home.
