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“Alright, so Mr. Sexy-green-eyes had girl trouble in high school, go on.”
“First of all, try to imagine me twenty pounds lighter with no muscular definition, a crew cut, acne, and thick glasses.”
I laughed. I didn’t mean to, but I laughed.
“You’re lying.”
“God, I wish. There was even a rhyme.”
“No!” I covered my mouth with my hand, trying to stifle the bout of laughter that was threatening to explode out of my lungs.
“Did you realize that Levi was left seaside and his face got stuck in beehives?” he repeated the taunt that had no doubt haunted him throughout his high school career.
“Kids are awful,” I told him, feeling sympathetic.
Note to self; make sure Selene isn’t being bullied.
“Yeah,” he laughed it off, “my dad told me that girls were a sucker for a guy with a guitar. And me, being a horny fifteen-year-old boy, I saved up everything I had, to buy myself one. And it worked to a degree; I was bullied less, and some girls thought it was sweet. When I grew out of my awkward years, everything changed though. My high school reunion was a blast for my sister and I,” he said with a laugh.
“Was she awkward too?”
“Bethan? Ha! No, she’s always been the rebel of our family. She was one of those rare few that never cared what anyone thought. She’d wanted to come along with me to see how the prom queen and the quarterback looked ten years later. She laughed for days. Everyone thinks of her as a wild child, but she’s a lot more sensible than most people give her credit for. You know the club we met at?”
“Twenty-Four?”
He nodded. “She had stashed away every penny that anyone had ever given her, be it birthday money, or Christmas money or even her weekly allowance. She kept it all hidden under the floorboards of her room. By the time she graduated college, she had almost twenty grand to her name. She took that money and put all towards opening that club,” he said beaming with pride.
“Your parents must have—”
“Lost their shit,” he finished. “They did. But it worked for her. She made it work for her,” he smiled.
He seemed to be really proud and fond of his little sister. In a way, she reminded me of Selene.
“I’m glad it worked out for you,” I said, as I leaned even more into the couch.
“What about you, what were you like in high school?”
“Urgh. No.” I groaned, not wanting to go there.
“Come on,” he urged, “it can’t possibly be worse than the rhyme.”
He had a point.
“Let’s see,” I mused, wondering just how much I should reveal. “Well, I was overweight and a teacher’s pet, that about covers it,” I nodded, wishing that I could have avoided this conversation.
“Overweight? You?”
Now it was his turn to be incredulous.
“Thank you, I’ll take that as a compliment,” I said. “But yeah, my grandmother was a chef, and even though she was retired, she still fed us every waking moment. Jesus, when I think back on it, it was pretty bad. That, plus my baby weight…” I shuddered at the memory, “If it wasn’t for the few sports I played, I would have needed to be rolled down the halls.”
He thought about for a moment— “Yeah, I can’t imagine that.”
“Oh, but you don’t have to,” I said, already regretting the decision I was about to make.
I stood up, moving towards a stack of boxes. After a moment, I found the one I was looking for. A box filled with my photo albums. Selecting the right year, I scanned through it briefly before handing it to him.
Putting the guitar away, he wordlessly flipped through the album. I sat forward, trying to gauge his reaction.
