Earth Read Free Page B

in I dashed out the door to pick up a
very impatient Steven who was waiting outside his house, foot in
full tap motion. He climbed in, ready to give me a verbal thrashing
but stopped short at seeing the circles under my eyes.
    "Whoa Shay, babe, you look awful."
    "Thanks," I said flatly as we pulled away
from the curb and I tried to hurry as fast as the van would allow,
knowing any hope of a decent parking space was all but lost at this
point. At least leaving would be easy. There’s always a silver
lining.
    "No, Shay, what is wrong ?" He was
trying to search my face in the flashing lights of the street
lights as we passed under them.
    "Just tired," I said, waving his concern
away. I didn’t know why I wasn’t telling him and Jodi about the
dream. Probably because I was determined to think of it as that,
just a dream. Just thinking of explaining it out loud gave me an
ominous, sinking feeling in my stomach. Until tonight I hadn’t put
much stock into it
    "Well, we have to do something about your
face before we get there." 
    "We're already late, Steven."
    "Babe, we can’t know where we're sitting – I
mean standing – until the squads and band get into the bleachers
anyway." He had a point. I heard him digging through the messenger
bag he always carried with him. He pulled out a make-up case, armed
and ready to attack me when I parked.
    Once parked I turned and surrendered my face,
knowing resistance was futile. He dabbed concealer into the dark
areas around my eyes, his chin tilted up slightly, reaching blindly
with his free hand for eye brightener. "I know it would kill Jodi
if you ever started wearing make-up regularly, but with just a few
key elements you would really be a knock out. Not that you aren’t
already beautiful, but I mean you’d be like insane if you did."
    "What do you mean it would kill Jodi?" I
blinked trying to concentrate on not sneezing in Steven's face.
    "Sweetie, you're much prettier than her
without any help, even with all that make-up she wears. If you
started wearing make-up to really draw out all of your features she
just might hate you." I glanced at Steven, looking for something in
his face to tell me he was just kidding. I could taste the truth of
his words on the back of my tongue and my stomach clenched when I
realized he was serious.
    I started tracing the short curls of his dark
hair with my eyes to distract myself. Steven’s hair grew faster
than most people’s so one week it would be short enough to spike
and then the next it would be curling softly as it was now. It was
too dim inside the van to see the natural highlights that the sun
always caught, showing shades of honey and amber.
    If Steven hadn’t been gay he would’ve been
beating the girls off of him. As it was he had plenty of offers
anyway. He was tall and lean and he carried a casual confidence
born from the years of love and acceptance Jodi and I provided that
he didn’t always get at home. And under all the trendy outfits he
hid lean, practical muscle that made you feel safe in a dark
parking lot.
    "Why do you always have mine and Jodi’s
shades of make-up with you anyway?" I switched the subject,
uncomfortable with the idea that our friendship hung by such
uncertain strings.
    "For. Just. Such. An. Emergency." He stopped
on each word as he examined my face after one last brush of
mascara. He nodded, seeming happy with what he was looking at.
"Ok, I think your hair is fine. Kinda has that tousled not
quite sex hair look to it."
    "Oh gee, just what I was going for." I rolled
my eyes and hopped out to make the long walk to the
stadium. We walked through the bleachers just as the band and
squads were settling into their designated section that we called
The Cheer Section. Steven and I ducked under the railing and
squeezed in next to Jodi. A couple of the girls near us squealed
and hugged Steven tightly.
    "You guys were cutting it close," Jodi said
to me over the roar of the crowd as our team took