Page 40 of Size Queen
“I’m not sure,” I reply. “She just said she feels terrible and doesn’t want to move. She’s being really weird all of a sudden. I don’t get why she’s acting this way.”
“Maybe she’s pregnant,” he says.
I burst out laughing, finding the suggestion preposterous.
“I wrap it up, man. And I pull out.”
“Those ways ain’t always effective, bud,” he points out. “You never know.”
If either Kace or I knew just how prophetic his theory was, I would have surely become more alarmed than ever before. As it was, my mind returned to business.
Wednesday came and went,as did Thursday—anxiously waiting forsomethingto happen—and Friday brought a major thunderstorm with it. The heavy thunder and rain represent well the conflict and change going on in and around me.
I sit by the entrance to the clubhouse, door open, wind and rain sweeping past us, contemplating it all. I’m aware that one day soon, something has to happen. Either the police are going to move in on someone, or the Hell-Snakes and the Rolling Heads would see combat yet again—and there would likely be mass casualties unlike anything Miami has seen in years. Turmoil.
Kace joins me, a strange look imprinted on his face.
“What’s up?” I ask him.
“Nothing,” he says. “You talk to Noelle at all since Wednesday?”
“Unfortunately not. I don’t want to come off desperate or clingy. That’s chick stuff.”
“I’m thinking maybe you two should get back together,” he says.
“What makes you say that?”
“Well… as you know, I’ve been seeing her friend Sabrina from time to time,” he says slowly. “She… well, she says that Noelle wants to see you. And… that she’s sick, and that it would be easier if you went to her place.”
“What did she say? Sabrina, I mean?”
“She said a lot, actually,” he chuckles. “She’s not avoiding you. You just need to be assertive and get over there.”
“I’ve been plenty assertive,” I say bitterly. “She’s told me that she wants to be alone. If I just show up to her place, won’t that come off like… stalker-ish?”
“Just tell her you wanted to come by and check on her,” Kace suggests. “You two are too stubborn. Just go fucking see her—man up.”
I punch Kace in the shoulder as I stand to leave. I’m going to go straight to her place. First, I’m going to get on my bike and ride down Ocean Avenue to think about what all I’m going to say to Noelle when I get there. I can’t figure out why I’m putting so much thought into what I would say to her, but it probably looks completely obvious to Kace and everyone else around us why we’re putting so much thought into each other.