About half way through the school year, so right before Christmas break, they made an announcement that they were changing the structure of the schools in Los Angeles. I didn't watch the news or read the newspaper and didn't really care about school system structure until I realized what it meant. They were shifting the grades. Now, what was once junior high was going to introduce 6th graders to the mix and it was going to be labeled middle school. In turn, 9th grade was going to move to the high school. I didn't really see the point in doing this. But, it meant one thing- Letty would be at the high school with me the next year.
"So, you're going to be coming to school with the big kids next year," I joked with her one day after Christmas break had started.
"That's what they tell me," she replied, unenthused.
"Think you can handle it?" I asked her.
"Gee, I don't know Dom. Luckily, I'll have you there to protect me," she said sarcastically. She had no idea. I was sure that I would watch her like a hawk.
"Yeah, don't worry. I run that high school," I swaggered.
"Oh, I'm sure," she replied in disbelief.
"What can I say? I Dom-in-ate!" I joked. This was a horrible joke. Only around Letty would I say something that was clearly this ridiculous. I mainly did it for a response.
"You did not just say that," she smiled.
"You like that, huh?" I smiled back.
"Um, I'm probably going to go ahead and pretend like I never heard that," she joked.
"So what are you doing tonight?" I asked. I wanted to hang out with her. I had been far too distracted this year. I needed to focus again. And, Letty was an amazing focus. She had really grown up a lot this year. She had turned into an extremely awesome girl. She was hot and she had a great personality. Even better, she was going to be at my school next year. Soon, I would be out of pansy-ass excuses for not actually making a move on her.
"I don't know. It's Wednesday," she said. As if that made a difference. Wednesday, just another day.
"Sometimes I do things on Wednesdays," I told her, teasing.
"Dom, you do things everyday," she remarked.
"That's because…" I started.
"And, please don't make another stupid joke," she interrupted.
"Fine. Well do you want to do something?" I asked, finally finding my balls again. For months I'd wanted to ask Letty to hang out, just us, but hadn't been able to. Usually when we were together there were other people around. I enjoying hanging out with a group but had missed the time that we got to spend alone. It certainly, by no means, was meant as a date. And I didn't anticipate that Letty interpreted this invitation as such. But, I just wanted to chill with her. I didn't know why I had been such a wuss about it.
"Sure. What do you
want to do?" she asked. She didn't want to know what I really
wanted to do.
"I don't know. Let's go rent a bunch of lame
scary movies and make fun of them," I suggested.
"Okay," she agreed.
We went outside and got into my car. I decided to take the long way to the video store. A couple of weeks ago, Vince and I had discovered a straight strip leading up to some railroad tracks that was exactly a quarter of a mile. We used to fuck around and drag there after school sometimes. But, I wanted to go up against some other people. It was fun to race Vince, but I knew everything under his hood. The thrill was minimal.
"Where are we going?" Letty asked.
"The movie store. We're taking the scenic route," I told her.
As I pulled up to the stoplight, I was in luck. A young guy that I had never met before pulled up beside me. How convenient. I didn't notice him till her revved his engine. I looked over at him and he motioned for me to roll down my window.
"What are you running under there," he asked me.
I didn't answer this question. I just smiled and said, "You want to go? On green?"
"Let's go," he said.
I revved my engine back and stared at the light. Red. Red. Still red. This was the longest light ever. Then, finally, green. I floored it and shifted. I looked over at Letty. She was smiling. The guy and I were running almost neck and neck. But, on my next shift, I gained a clear lead. I shifted again, and again. We got to the tracks. I had won. We weren't betting any money, but it was still a rush. We both slowed down on the other side.
"You running some pretty hot shit," he told me.
"Thanks, man," I replied.
"What's your name?" he inquired.
"I'm Dom," I told him.
"Edwin," he said.
"You ever been out to the races?" I asked. I would have imagined that any guy that was this willing to race had been. But, I didn't recall ever seeing him before.
"Nah, man. I just moved here. What races?" he asked excitedly.
"Just a little something that comes together on the weekends. You should check it out," I invited.
"Sounds cool," he said.
"Here, I'll give you my number. You can come out and see what we're all about this weekend," I said.
"Awesome," he replied. I wasn't usually this open about giving people my number. But, he was the first person I'd dragged out here that wasn't Vince. I liked him. I wrote my number down on a piece of paper and handed it over to him.
"Alright, yo. You guys do this every weekend?" he asked, very interested.
"Just about," I told him. I looked over at Letty. I felt like I should make some sort of an introduction. "Edwin, this is my girl, Letty."
"Sup, girl," he said, eyeing her.
"Hey man," Letty said.
"Alright, just give me a call this weekend. I think you'll have fun," I said, trying to distract him because he was still checking her out.
"Cool. Check you later," he relied.
"See you," I said. He turned left and headed down the road.
"Your girl?" Letty questioned as we pulled off.
I just rolled my eyes. Honestly, it had just sort of slipped out. I wasn't going to lie, though, I liked the way that sounded. But, I wasn't thrilled about Letty's reaction.
"Sorry, next time I'll say that you are my junior high school friend," I teased.
"You're such a dick," she said annoyed with my response. I didn't often bring up her age. I guess, I didn't want to keep reminding myself that she was two years younger than me. Two years didn't really make much of a difference. But, at this point, it really seemed to. I couldn't tell people that my girlfriend was in middle school, junior high, whatever the hell it was. That just sounded creepy.
"Or, I guess I could say that you were my mechanic. But, who would believe that?" I said, in jest. Everyone that found out that Letty worked at the garage with us was extremely impressed. Girls in the racing world typically knew about cars. Rarely, though, did they actually put in the wrench time.
"That's funny. You're a funny guy," she replied, punching me in the arm.
"Yeah, that's the word on the street," I said back.
"I don't know. I think funny is one of the few words I've never heard people call you," she smirked.
I just looked over at her. This received no response.
We got to the video rental store and made our way to the horror section. I let Letty select a couple of old scary movies. We got them back home, popped some popcorn, and got ready to make fun of idiotic girls that ran upstairs towards their killer.
I sat on one end of the couch while Letty transferred the popcorn into a bowl. She came in and placed the bowl between us. I was sort of hoping that she would have sat a little bit closer but there wasn't really anything I could do about this. I just acted casual.
"She's in for it now…oh, I knew it," she said, as some random secondary character got stabbed. It was bloody, in a ridiculous 1960's type of way. Regardless, Letty turned her head and leaned into my shoulder. She wasn't afraid of, well, anything. I was a little surprised by this reaction. And, it wasn't gory. But, I also wasn't complaining.
Should I put my arm around her? In a normal situation, I probably would have already done it. This wasn't a normal situation, though. This was Letty. However, her move really gave me an opportunity. I didn't know. I didn't want to take any chances. I wanted to do it, though. I didn't really know what would happen. I wasn't sure if I was brave enough to enter such uncharted waters. I could make it a joke. But, it would be hard to explain if she wasn't okay with it. And, I was afraid that I would take any type of pseudo rejection way too seriously to not get sort of pissed, or at least kind of hurt.
Okay, I needed to just do it. Just suck it up. This was, of course, easier said than done. I just needed to lift my arm. Just lift it. She had already scooted over closer to me. Of course, with Letty, I realized this probably didn't really mean shit. But, I would never know if I didn't try. I couldn't do it. What the hell was wrong with me? I was being such a damn pussy.
Before I realized it, the movie was over. Fuck. I missed my chance.
"You want me to put the other movie in?" I asked as the ending credits rolled by.
"Yeah, let's see if the exact same thing happens in this one," she joked.
"I bet it does," I said, standing up to slip in the next movie. I hoped that it would. Maybe I'd get another chance and find wherever it was that I had dropped my testicles.
"You bet what?" she asked. A challenge. This is why I liked Letty.
"Oh I don't. No offense but are you really going to place something against that?" I asked. I was down with winning. I could think of a lot of things I'd like to bet Letty. However, given as I wouldn't even put my arm around her, I doubted if I would actually say any of them.
"Let's bet your car," she smiled.
"What are you going to put up?" I asked. I couldn't think of a single thing that she could put up that would cause me to put up my car. Well, maybe one thing.
"My car," she replied.
"What car? Hell no. You're crazy," I said, sitting back down. I should have sat back down and casually slipped my arm around her shoulders. But, I didn't. I did manage to scoot very close next to her. She was sitting with her legs to the side.
"Not yet. One day," she said matter-of-factly.
I knew she would have a car. She would have a very hot car. I had hoped that she'd kicked the Wrangler idea out of her head, though. But, for now, I liked the way Letty looked sitting beside me in my car.
"Well, when that day comes, we'll talk," I told her.
We watched the rest of the movie. I decided to stop thinking about putting my arm around her. I didn't know what was wrong with me. But, I was too nervous to try it. And, the more I thought about it, the more pissed I got at myself. I decided to just ignore it.
Letty grabbed a couch pillow and put it down in my lap. She laid her head down and stretched out. What was this? This was new.
"Can I help you?" I asked, looking down at her. The lights were off and the only light in the room was coming off the television. She looked so relaxed, content.
"No, I'm good," she said. She was so casual about the whole thing. How could she do things like this and I couldn't even muster up the courage to put my arm around her? I guess a lot of it had to do with feelings. I felt too much. It made things too difficult. I was overanalyzing. I was turning into a girl.
I looked down at her. She was looking at the television. She didn't look as young as she used to. She was turning into a really pretty girl. She had such unique features. Her eyes were so dark and her lips were full and luscious. Her skin was tan. The way her hair fell framed her face perfectly. It ran over her thin, delicate shoulders. I needed to stop this and just watch the movie. I had no idea what was going on- with me and Letty or in the movie. But, I didn't care about the movie. This other thing I was really going to have to figure out.
TBC
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AJ