Chapter 52: Truth

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The tips of Ryan's finger's whitened as her slowly drug his pencil
across the paper. The gray graphite curved down to a small arch and
then back up in the other direction. He drew semicircles on either side
of the topless oval then brushed the pencil around it. Wisps of hair
formed around the face. Eyes appeared then lips, then a nose. He
erased the nose; he never liked drawing them, they always looked funny.
The pencil arced again creating elegant arched eyebrows, the kind only
seen on movie stars. He erased the chin-too fat. It curved down again,
this time thinner. Ryan brushed the pencil down and then out in a soft
curve. Then he did it again-she had shoulders now. He skipped the rest
of the body-he didn't like drawing that as much either. But then he
reached the hands. Beautiful hands. He wondered if she knew how
beautiful her hands were. He drew the long soft fingers, the thin
wrists, the long nails. Done.
Ryan leaned back and scanned the drawing, still needed a nose. He tried
again. Good enough. Not quite like hers though. The hands worked- he
loved to draw hands. His mom had great hands, and they were so soft,
and they always smelled good. Hope had great hands too. He loved it
when he held her hands in his. So soft and warm.
The door whined open and Anthony walked in. "Whacha doin'?" He asked
pulling a chair up beside Ryan's bed. It creaked as he sat down. He
leaned forward over the back of it.
"Drawing," Ryan said.
"Drawing what?"
Ryan's ears reddened slightly. "A picture."
Anthony laughed. "Thanks Captain Obvious. What are you drawing?"
"Hope," Ryan said.
"That's kind of abstract isn't it, how do you draw that?"
"No I mean Hope Hart, you know the "Amazonian Queen"?
Anthony nodded. He reached out and took the drawing pad. "It looks
like her. So why didn't you draw the rest of her body?"
Ryan's shoulders raised and fell. "It never turns out right, they
always look like deformed. I don't know."
The door opened again and Hope bounced in. The light shone off her
silky blue robe and glittered off her shiny necklace-a heart made of
diamonds. Ryan had given it to her for an early Christmas present,
since she'd be going home for the holidays. Hope grinned and let the
shoulders of the robe slide past her shoulders. Both Ryan and Anthony's
eyes widened.
"Ryan, I want you to draw me with this necklace on, only this necklace
on." Dramatically she threw off the robe. Ryan slapped a hand over his
eyes. Anthony laughed."
"It's okay virgin boy-she's not in the nude," he said jabbing Ryan in
the ribs.
Ryan opened his eyes to see Hope's smiling face. It reddened as she
laughed. She wore a white sweatshirt with no collar-like they did in
the eighties- and a pair of jeans. She pointed a long finger at him.
"You should have seen the look on your face."
"Darn," Anthony said snapping his fingers.
Hope clocked him in the back of the head and plopped onto the bed beside
Ryan. Ryan crossed his arms. "Are you making fun of me Miss Hart?"
"Why yes, as a matter of fact I am Mr. Walker," Hope said. She reached
out a long fingernail and brushed his nose.
"You're gonna pay for that." Ryan surged forward and tackled Hope.
They fell on the floor legs flailing. Ryan landed on his back and all
the air gushed from his lungs. Hope dug her nails into his sides
mercilessly tickling him.
"No fair," Ryan yelled. "I'm still a cripple." He crumpled into a ball
laughing so hard that his abs hurt.
"Are you gonna let a girl beat you Ry.?" Anthony asked.
"I.can't.help it, she found my weakness!"
Anthony pointed at them. "Hey, you two better be careful, that's how me
and Andie."
Hope and Ryan stopped and stared up at Anthony.
"I have to go." Anthony jumped out of the chair and disappeared through
the door.
Hope and Ryan looked at each other. "What?"
"You talk to Andie and I'll talk to Anthony," Ryan said pulling himself
up and grabbing his crutches.
"Do you think it's out business?" Hope asked.
"No."
"Oh well."
* * *
Ryan moved as fast as his crutches could pull him but he still had a
hard time catching up with Anthony. He finally had to yell at him to
slow down. They stopped by Anthony's room and went inside. Ryan
assumed the chair position and Anthony sat on the bed.
"So spill dude," Ryan said.
Anthony rubbed his giant hands together and rested his elbows on his
knees. "Well two nights ago, me and Andie had sex."
* * *
Hope knocked on Andie's door.
"What?"
"Andie it's Hope, can we talk?"
Pause. "It depends, does it have anything to do with Mr. Schamaluffel?"

"Yes."
"Forget it."
"Andie!"
"Fine, the door's open."
Hope pushed the chunk of wood out of her way and walked into Andie's
room. Clothes lay all over the floor-a defeated lump of soldiers lying
on the battlefield. Andie lay on her bed, her arms crossed over her
chest, her eyes glued to the ceiling. Her hair, which was now blond
again, stuck out in all directions and she wore a gray sports bra and
gray cloth pants. She did not look at Hope when she entered.
Hope sat on her knees and rested her elbows on the bed.
"This had better be good," Andie said.
"What's going on with you and Anthony?"
"We had sex."
* * *
Ryan nodded his head. "You sure get straight to the point don't you."
"Yep."
"So why did you?"
"Why did I do what?"
"Sleep with her?" Ryan asked. "I thought you two hated each other."
"So did I."
Ryan waited, but Anthony didn't say anything. "So why did you not want
me and Hope to know?"
Anthony rubbed his chin with his fingers and shook his head. "I didn't
want to get another lecture about what a stupid kid I am."
"Dude, who am I to call you a stupid kid?"
"You're still Mr. Perfect, even if you're cool."
Ryan shook his head. "You still think I'm perfect huh?" He said.
"Well let me tell you somethin' Anthony, next to me you probably look
like Einstein. I never passed one class in high school with more than a
"D", except for art class. I smashed a kid with powers I could not
control. I let a little kid die because I was stupid enough to think
that Stryker and Dobson would let me go that easily. I.I sound like a
girl on PMS don't I?"
"Yeah."
"Thanks," Ryan said. "Look, my point is, we all do things that maybe
look stupid or are stupid but we all do them."
"Now you sound like a psychologist."
"So how do you feel about that?" Ryan asked.
"I feel scared."
"Why?"
"I don't want to discuss this," Anthony said.
"Okay." Ryan grabbed his crutches and started to stand.
* * *
"What do you mean?" Hope asked.
Andie's green eyes rolled over to her friend. "I don't know how to put
into any clearer terms." Her abs contracted as she slid onto her side
and faced Hope,. "We had sex Hope. When a guy and a girl like each
other they do that.but apparently he didn't like me that, much because
now he won't talk to me!"
"I though you hated him!"
"So did I."
* * *
"Hey I'm not done talkin' to you," Anthony said.
Ryan grinned and sat back down.
"I did it because I like her." Anthony said his voice laced with a
certain annoyance.
* * *
"So why did you do it?" Hope asked.
"I like him okay!"
* * *
"And how do you feel about that?" Ryan asked putting on his serious yet
concerned face. But when Anthony narrowed his ice blue eyes at him he
dropped the act. "Just kidding," he said. "Well, in an attempt to be the
voice of reason here.just because you like someone doesn't mean you have
sex with them."
* * *
"So.what was it like?" Hope asked.
Andie pulled the pillow over her head and whined.
"What?"
"You're not helping Hope," she said.
"Can you blame me? I haven't have sex in a really-" Hope slapped a hand
over her mouth.
The pillow slowly moved out of the way. Andie's mouth dropped and her
eyebrows rose. "Well you can't hide it now." She rolled to her side
again. "So you and Ryan huh?"
"No, he.turned me down."
* * *
"Um yeah, that is what you do dude," Anthony said.
"Um, no. Look, you like Andie right? And you don't want her to end up
with a baby right?"
"Definitely not!"
"So how do avoid this problem?"
"Depo-provera?"
Ryan shook his head. "You know how often that stuff works? What if it
doesn't? What if just one time it doesn't? You'll end up with another
kid."
"You can't be a total saint, you can't tell me you've never done it?"
* * *
"If not Ryan then who?"
"Oh, well.um."
"Spill it Hope."
"It was Max okay!"
* * *
Ryan drummed his thumbs against the back of the chair. He looked at the
floor and rubbed the back of his neck.
"You mean you've never done it with Hope?"
Ryan shook his head.
"Anybody?"
Ryan shook his head.
"You looser! You have a beautiful girl with the.with the.Amazon
thing.and you haven't?"
"Nope-"
"Well why not?"
* * *
"MAX! What were you smoking?" Andie asked. "You knew what kind of
rep. he had when he first got here!"
Hope put the palms of her hands to her forehead. "I know, I know. But,
you have to admit that cowboy thing's pretty sexy-"
"Hope! I've lost so much respect for you. You did it with a
self-proclaimed man whore!"
Max peeked in. "I heard my name, what are y'all talking about me for?"
"We're talking about you and Hope doing.bad things!"
"Oh, so you finally admitted it to somebody?"
"Out, out, out!" Hope slammed the door in his face.
"If it's any consolation you were really good!"
"Shut up Max!"
* * *
"Because I would never want to hurt her," Ryan said.
Anthony waited. Ryan did not expound. "So what are you saying? By
expressing my feelings for Andie I hurt her?"
* * *
Hope pulled a chair beside Andie's bed and pushed her hair from her
face. She looked at Andie. "Did you sleep with Anthony because of
Asher?" She asked.
Andie groaned and smacked Hope with her pillow. For a moment her green
eyes studied the ceiling. Hope decided to keep her mouth shut and let
Andie answer if she wanted, when she wanted. A sigh pushed itself out
through Andie's lips and she turned to Hope. "Maybe that's part of it,"
she said. "But.I do like Anthony."
"Why?" Hope asked. "He's got a baby!"
Andie pointed a finger at her. "Be careful not to cast any stones
missy, you slept with Max."
"I know."
* * *
"Anthony, I don't want to tell you what to do and I don't want to sound
like I'm preachin' at you, but I believe sex is a beautiful thing that
should be reserved for marriage," Ryan said. "I know that now-a-days
marriage is not the sacred thing it once was, but there's more of a
commitment when you're married."
"Sure there is."
Ryan stared at him but when Anthony did not continue he did not probe.
"Look, if you like Andie, I mean, if you really like her pursue her.
Don't just have sex with her and leave it there, go after her. Who
knows, maybe you two were meant for each other."
* * *
"I'm sorry Hope, I don't mean to make you feel bad, I'm just so
frustrated."
Hope took Andie's hand. "I understand."