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“Changes color depending on the light.” He put the brush back in a drawer and then tossed the blow dryer under the sink. I wondered if Kota would be upset he didn’t carefully put it back where he’d found it. Gabriel curled his finger to me. “Come here, step in front of me.”
I stood in front of the sink and he stepped behind me. His eyes appeared over my head in the mirror and his fingers crept up to my scalp. He was playing with my hair, threading his fingers through the strands and combing out the locks to the tips of my hair. He tried curling a few strands around his fingers and then smoothed the hair back out again. “You’re stunning,” he said softly.
My cheeks heated and I could see myself blushing in the mirror all the way to the tips of my ears.
“Don’t be embarrassed,” he said. “You can’t be embarrassed by the truth. Look at that cute nose you have. You know what? It doesn’t even matter when you blush. That’s just nature’s makeup. Heavy makeup looks like shit on a girl. You don’t need it.” He pursed his lips together and then brought his cheek to the side of my head so I could see his whole face next to mine in the mirror. He focused on my eyes by looking through the mirror. “I want to ask you something personal and I want you to be honest with me. You’ve never had a boyfriend, have you?”
The question caught me off guard. I shook my head and my mouth shaped into an ‘o’.
“I didn’t think so.”
I made a face at him. “You think I’m naive?”
“Innocent,” he corrected, his voice was softer now. He curled a lock of my hair through his fingers. “I’ve been flirting with you this whole time and you haven’t once told me to shut the fuck up or do that stupid thing girls do when they want another compliment.”
I was beet red. Flirting? “Should I tell you to... to back off?”
His lips parted and he started to sing. “Sang, heart on your sleeve. You watch out, I’m going to steal your heart.” The way he was singing was sweet and his voice flowed from his lips as smooth as water. It was clear he had some lessons. He stopped singing and waited as if expecting me to say something. When I didn’t, he beamed. He turned and shooed me with his hands. “Let’s get you out into the sunlight and see what your hair looks like.”
I was blushing badly as I followed him back out into Kota’s bedroom. My mind was whirling so fast that I felt like I needed to stay behind and calm myself. It just shocked me that I hadn’t recognized the things he was doing as flirting. Or was he teasing?
My hair did feel really good.
He padded back out into the bedroom and then side stepped, holding his hand out toward me in a presentation. “See guys, this is how hair should look.”
Victor was still on the bed, fiddling with the medallion at his neck. Kota was at his computer, typing something in. Nathan was sitting in the window seat, punching something into his phone.
They all turned at the same time to look at me. Kota stopped typing and readjusted his glasses. Victor sat up, his mouth open. Nathan dropped his phone but caught it before it fell to the carpet.
“Did you change the color?” Kota asked.
“I didn’t do shit,” Gabriel said. “I washed it and then blow dried it out. That’s all her.”
“You just keep it tied back in that clip,” Victor said. “That’s why it looks different now.”
I pulled a strand behind my ear. “It gets in the way when I’m busy.” I wasn’t sure if he heard me.
“Just wait until I get my scissors,” Gabriel said. He reached back to me, running a finger through a lock of my hair close to my face. “I can give it some depth.”
“I don’t think I should,” I said. “My parents will notice.”
He made a face. “Your parents are a complication.”
“We’re working on that,” Kota said.
I blinked at him. “I...” I swallowed.
Gabriel leaned in to me. “Just whisper it to me. I’ll tell them.”
I sighed and then whispered in his ear. He leaned in so closely that my lips touched his lobe. Even as I leaned away to avoid it, he kept himself close. He smelled like warmth, floral.
He repeated what I said, “She thinks we should keep like we’re doing now. She’s okay with escaping every morning and just not telling them where she’s going.”
“That’s part of it, for now,” Kota said. He stood up, moving to sit on the carpet again. I moved over to sit next to him. This time Victor got up and sat on the floor next to me. The others joined us. “I made a promise to you, didn’t I? I just think we need to figure out a way to reach you. We probably also should slowly start just showing up. I mean, maybe your mom would get used to us.”
My eyes widened and I shook my head. “No. We can’t.” They still didn’t quite understand but I didn’t want to worry them anymore. The swallowing vinegar was bad enough but who knew what else she would do to me if she knew for sure boys were talking to me? Would she fulfill her promise about the bleach?
He nodded, rubbing fingers at his chin. “Maybe we should start with a girl. There’s Danielle who lives up the street. We could ask her to go over.”
Nathan rolled his eyes, looking away. “Is she going to want to?”
“She’s not that bad.”
“Unless you try to talk to her,” Gabriel said.
“Or sit next to her on the bus,” Nathan said.
“Or walk by her in school,” Victor added.
“She’s who we have to work with,” Kota pointed out. “Or we could try Jessica. But she's young so I don't know how that would work.” He turned back to me. “In the meantime, I was wondering if you’d allow us to give you a cell phone to use.”
My head tilted backward a little and I stammered. “M... me?”
“I think it’ll be the best way to check in with you and make plans if we’re going to make any. It’ll be the best way to communicate.”
I rubbed a palm over my head. “I don’t know. You guys are going through a lot of trouble for me already. You still hardly know me.”
“It’s a cell phone, not a marriage proposal,” Victor said. His strong, lean hands smoothed a wrinkle on his jeans.
“It costs money,” I said. “I don’t really have a way to pay for it.”
“That’s not something you need to worry about,” Victor said. He locked his fire eyes on me.
“We’ll find an inexpensive one at the convenience store,” Kota said. “Nothing fancy. It’ll allow for phone calls and text messages.”
I glanced at the carpet, still feeling uncomfortable. How strange it felt that they were including me into this circle. Now they were pulling together to get a cell phone for me. Guilt weighed on me that they even thought to spend any amount of money on someone like me. As I looked at all of them, it seemed as if this decision had already been made. They were just waiting to tell me. “I’ll have to be careful,” I said. “If my parents ever found it, I don’t know what they would do.”
“Do you have a place to hide it?” Nathan asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Maybe. There’s an attic door in my room,” I said, pushing a finger to my lower lip.
“Why not just under your pillow?” Gabriel asked.
“Someone will find it,” I said. Unless I stayed right there in my room, it’s easy enough to unlock the door and poke around. I knew my mother could easily search my room if she wanted and Marie often did anyway. A phone was the last thing I wanted any of them to find.
“You do it the best you can,” Kota said. He turned to Victor. “Can you go find one?”
Victor nodded and stood up.
“Get her a pretty one,” Gabriel said. He smiled wide and turned to me. “If you’re going to get a new phone, you’ll need a good one. What’s your favorite color?”
I blushed as the attention was diverted to me again. Should I be honest or say something I thought was cool? “Pink,” I said, trying to be honest.
Gabriel’s blue eyes brightened. “Yeah. Good choice. Get her a pink one.”
&n
bsp; Victor smirked. “One pink cell phone.”
“Try to get her one that’s inconspicuous,” Kota added.
“One inconspicuous pink phone.”
“And get her a sturdy one,” Nathan said. “She might drop it. You know how accident prone she is” He grinned at me.
Victor shifted on his feet, looking annoyed. “One inconspicuous, sturdy, pink cell phone. Do I need to glue sequins to it and include an antenna array?”
“Do they have those?” Gabriel asked, blinking at him.
Victor shot him a look. “I’ll be right back.” He fished out his keys and headed to the stairs, storming down them and closing the door with a bang.
After he left, Kota adjusted his glasses again. “Well, that’s taken care of.”
“I don’t know,” I whispered.
Kota pointed a forefinger at me. “Sang, look at me.”
I focused on him. His smile and his eyes were so warm that it was hard to keep looking at him. Why did it feel he could read my own thoughts in my head? I wanted to hide my face.
“We’re friends, right?”
I blushed. Were we? It was the very thing I wanted to know from him. Are we still friends even after all of this? “Yes,” I said, hopeful it was the right answer.
“Friends help each other. Stop worrying, okay? We’ll take care of it.”
