Chapter Six

He kissed me! He kissed me! He kissed me! He kissed me, he kissed me, he kissed me!

My head's in such a whirl I scarcely know how it happened. One minute we were strolling along the cliffs behind my house enjoying one of the most gorgeous Saturday mornings I'd ever seen. The next minute we'd stopped walking and Demarco was suddenly in front of me, gazing at me in a way that made my throat close up, with my hands firmly captured in both of his.

He leaned toward me, closer, closer, and I couldn't help myself. I'd dreamed so many times of this moment, and how it would feel to kiss him. I just meant it to be a chaste kiss on the corner of his mouth, so that if he didn't like it, I could pretend I hadn't meant anything by it. But he pulled me to him and –

 

Time stopped. The world stopped. My heart stopped. But that kiss went on forever. The soft pressure of his lips on mine went on forever, and his warm breath in my mouth, and his tongue silky against mine, and his arms pressing my body tightly against his, all of that went on and on as the sea breeze blew over us and the sun warmed us.

Something in the  vicinity of my heart erupted in exquisite slow motion. Something  warm and bubbling and flowing like lava. Something that grew warmer and more tingly as it spread through my body and flowed out of every pore and took flight like a flock of birds when it could no longer be contained, and sang as it ascended to the heavens.

If the world ended this minute, I'd die happy.

A year or two later, when the sky was darkening, we began to come back to earth. But it was a different earth than the one I'd woken up to that morning. It was an earth where the man I love loves me.

We'd walked and talked and kissed and dreamed, until our prosaic lives demanded to be acknowledged once again. Before Demarco took his leave, there was one last thing that had to be said. I never saw it coming.

"Lisa seems to think she and I are an item," Demarco confessed, embarrassed. "She might not take this well." He looked me straight in the eye. "I just want you to know," he said, "she's not the one I love. She's never been the one I love. You are."

Lisa. My best friend Lisa. I was shocked; I'd had no idea she wanted him, though she knew full well how I had felt about Demarco ever since he came to our school. It wasn't enough that she'd broken Davy Linnell's heart and left a string of other conquests in the wake of her trek through high school? I couldn't help but wonder if her possessive interest in Demarco had more to do with making sure she was the one who got him and not me, than with any honest emotion.

We both knew well the dark side of her personality. He wouldn't leave me to face her jealous wrath by myself, he told me. But I knew that I had to see her alone. She'd been my friend all through school, and if I knew full well how snobbish and petty and spiteful she could be, I also knew I owed it to her to see her myself, and try to make peace.

I didn't let Demarco see how upset I was; instead I took my frustration out on a head of lettuce that I made into a salad for dinner.

When I could put it off no longer, I went to Lisa's house. She wouldn't come to the door, though I could see her through the window, and I know she saw me. It was her brother Ethan who finally let me in.

Mrs. Bunch greeted me as warmly as ever, but Lisa stayed where she was on the sofa, watching TV and pointedly ignoring me. Without ceremony I simply sat next to her on the sofa and started watching TV. I really didn't know how to handle this, so I said nothing and waited for her to make the first move. Her sour look and the way she ignored me said it all. She wouldn't even look at me, keeping her face averted to such a degree that she couldn't see the TV she was pretending to watch. It was a slap in the face.

She eventually got up and made as if to leave the room. I couldn't let her just walk away. I followed her and we finally had it out. I had been right. She didn't love him; but she was livid that he preferred me. She wouldn't listen to a thing I said. Her hateful looks bore right through me. It broke my heart, but Lisa made it crystal clear: she didn't want to be my friend any more.

I remained sad over Lisa for a long time. I didn't want to admit what I'd known all along: that she wasn't as good a friend to me as I was to her.

Michael has remained my steadfast friend through everything. He and Demarco made it their mission to keep me from falling into the doldrums.

We took a picnic lunch up to Crystal Springs one day, and I told them about Mom and Grams. I'd never really opened up about it much. I got a little emotional, but my friends didn't care, and Demarco held me and dried my tears. It might seem odd to picnic in the place where tragedy nearly ruined my life, but it's really very peaceful there, and somehow I feel close to my family when I'm there.

Michael and Demarco are good friends to have. They're a comfort to me when I'm blue. We lazed in the sun and talked about our dreams as we venture into what we used to call the real world. Michael has gotten a job on the police force and has grandiose dreams about becoming James Bond. We didn't laugh. Demarco, by virtue of his athletic prowess, was approached by a scout right after graduation and is working at the stadium and training for an athletic career. He says that’s where the money is, although his private dream is to perfect his talent in the kitchen and collect all the recipes he can.

I have to say I'm a little worried about Michael. Molly French has got her hooks into him. She's a heartbreaker and everybody knows it. I think it’s sleazy. She could at least have kept to men her own age. I only hope he keeps his head and doesn't fall for her too hard. I want him to get out of this in one piece. Demarco and I will be here for him if he needs us; it's all a friend can do, I guess.


author's note: I got pretty verbose this time, but I wanted to do justice to Avi's romance and Lisa's defection. I'm a little worried about Michael. I hope he's not headed for heartbreak, but I don't see how he could not be, given that Molly French already has two love interests in this game, and a child almost Michael's age.