Page 31 of Xavier

"Guys…”

"I won't eat it, Mikey, I pwomise,” Michael’s twin says, giving him an earnest, chocolate covered mouth grin.

"Brian," I nudge him with my elbow. But he doesn't say anything, just grins and reaches out to Mikey's ice cream with his finger.

"No!” Michael cries, twisting out of his brother’s reach, and taking the ice cream with him. “I told you!"

"Bri!" I yell.

"Fine, I promise, geez. I don't want his germs anyway, he's licked all over that thing,” Brian sulks, popping the last of his cone into his mouth.

Michael smiles triumphantly back at his brother, finally letting go of his sundae. I check my watch, and as much as I want to stay, to be with her every second that I can, the twins need a nap.

"Okay, guys, have you thanked Malynda for your ice creams?"

"Thank you, Malynda,” they repeat in unison. They've recovered from their initial shyness, but their respective crushes on her are still evident. I don’t blame them.

"Thanks guys, but save up those pennies. Next time, you'll be paying for MY sundae and let me tell you, I'm going to ask for EXTRA cherries!"

She says the last word while jumping up from the table and pretends to leap toward them, making them scatter across the front of the Dairy Joy in a chorus of screams. Her laughter penetrates my ears and echoes inside of my brain for a moment, and I forget where I am. Her laugh does things to her face that her smile doesn't. It breaks up the elegant structure of her jaw, her cheekbones puffing out, her eyes crinkling.

"What?" she says, noticing my stare. I thought she'd be used to that by now.

"Nothing. I just like hearing and seeing you laugh."

She reaches out, her hand squeezing my arm. The gesture surprises me. Other than the hug she always gives me before we say goodbye for the day, something about today, maybe because of the presence of my brothers, I think we've both been especially aware of our bodies and their proximity to each other’s. I look up into her eyes, her smile softens, and she leans in a little closer to me.

"Hey, lovebirds." A voice speaks up just then and we both turn to see a crowd of kids from Malynda's high school strolling up to us.

The guy who'd fought me is standing at the front of the pack, his face plastered with a smug expression. I feel Malynda's eyes on me instantly, but I keep my gaze locked on him, and remind myself my brothers are there.

"We were just leaving. You can have this table if you want,” I say, trying to keep any animosity from my voice.

"Oh, don't leave on my account. In fact, why don't you sit down and join us, you can tell us all about what's been going on with you two," he replies, the sarcasm dripping like melted tar.

"Shut up, Jack," Malynda says, as she presses up closer to me, her hand slowly snaking around my wrist. "Just leave us alone." I can feel her body buzzing, tense. I want to snap my fingers and have us both magically disappear from here.

"Oh, that doesn't sound very nice, babe. I haven't done anything but be nice since I got here. Right? I mean, have you all heard me say anything mean?"

His crowd snickers and says no, almost in unison.

"Let's go," I say softly to Malynda, giving her hand a soft tug before picking up Michael's sundae. She nods and we push past the pack.

"Where are you going?" he says, pushing back, not letting me through. His breath is hot against my face. He's not that much taller than me, but he's big, shoulders stretching far beyond mine.

I know he can throw a punch. My eye has barely recovered from the one he landed on me before. I'm thin, I'm fast. But punch for punch, I can't go up against him. I know that. Best to just avoid it altogether.

"I'm going home. I don't have any beef with you, I just have somewhere to be." In the corner of my eye I can see Brian and the twins coming in behind the group. I give them a shake of my head, but it's too much to ask them to understand to just stay away.

"You might not have a beef with me, but I have a beef with you." With a swipe of his hand he flings Michael's ice cream out of my hold and it goes flying to the side, scattering ice cream and nuts and cherries all over the path in front of the store.

"Oops," he says, his voice flat and cold. "Shouldn’t you go clean that, parlor boy?"

"No! My ice cream!" I hear Mikey cry out, and I see Brian grab a hold of his little brother’s arm, holding him back.

"What the hell did you do that for?" Malynda shouts, pushing ahead of me and getting in Jack's face.

I can see his jaw tighten as he looks down at her. His fist curling and uncurling.