Bleed Read Free

friend. We can even talk about Kelly. That’ll be fine. That’ll be perfect. I can go over just to find out how Kelly is. I haven’t spoken to her in two whole weeks, after all. “I saw you out here working,” I practice into the mirror. “By the way, have you heard from Kelly?” I do want to know if she’s having a good time. Maybe Sean has some news.
    I watch my lips as I practice what I’ll say. I hate my lips, the top one is way fuller than the bottom. I conceal it as best as I can with more Nude Glow, the way the woman at the Clinique counter advised me. I wish I had lips like Kelly’s, stacked up like perfect little peach wedges, lipstick or not.
    I’ll just go over and say hello, I tell myself, squirting down my hair with extra spray gel. I repeat the word “hello” in my head as I make my way past the mailbox and across the front lawn.
    “Sean!” I shout. I raise my right arm up and dip my hips to the left, the way Kelly once did when she spotted me and Maria coming across the school parking lot.
    “Hey,” he says. “What’s up?”
    “Not much,” I say. “I didn’t know you worked for the Harrises.”
    He nods and runs his fingers through his hair.
    “How’s your summer going?”
    He glances at the lawn. “It’s going.”
    I scour my brain for something to talk about. For all the time I’ve spent imagining this moment, I feel like I should have a dozen things to say. But somehow, I can’t think of one.
    “Kelly will be home in a few weeks, I guess,” he says.
    “Yeah, Maria and I are getting together later to start planning a surprise welcome-home party. You’ll have to come. To the party, I mean.” I twirl a piece of hair and bring it up to my lip for coverage. “Has she called you lately?”
    “A couple days ago. She’s doing good. Likes having her own pool.”
    “Is she getting along with her father?”
    “I guess so. I don’t know. I only talked to her for five minutes. She had to go.”
    “Yeah, she must be pretty busy. I thought we’d be talking more, you know … since she has free nights and weekends on her cell plan. My parents refuse to let me get one, and I know they’d absolutely kill me if I called her in California.” A weird gurgling sound escapes my throat when I say California. Quite attractive.
    Sean shrugs and looks away. So not interested. I imagine what Kelly would do, how she would handle the situation.
    “It’s so hot out here,” I say. “How can you work in this heat?” I grab the front of my shirt and jerk it back and forth from my chest as a fan. I notice Sean peek down at my front, then at the house, then back at my front again.
    “I have to. I’m saving up to buy a new car.”
    “You are? What kind?”
    “Jeep.”
    “Sweet,” I say. “Will you take me for a ride sometime?” Yuck—hearing these words trail out my mouth, I decide to come up with some excuse to leave, like having to water the garden.
    “Sure,” he says. “Anytime.”
    “Really?”
    Maybe Kelly had exaggerated their relationship. I’ve caught her blowing stuff like this way out of proportion before. Like the time she said she landed a date with Derik captain-of-the-lacrosse-team LaPointe. I later found out that Kelly’s mom did business with Derik’s parents and, as a thank-you, Derik’s dad made him take Kelly to a party. Some date.
    I point a hip toward Sean and churn my hands on the mower handle, like revving a motorcycle engine. “Looks pretty good.” I make an effort to glance at the lawn, but end up staring at those calves. I can’t believe I am this close to them.
    “I’ll say,” he says.
    I peek up at him and he’s just … staring at me. Calm down, I tell myself, looking away, practically biting through my bottom lip. Think. What would Kelly do?
    “You must be dying out here in this heat,” I say finally. I check my hair to make sure it hasn’t kinkified on me, wishing I had thick and wavy locks like the Pantene girl, or straight, Barbie