Page 10 of So Long, Honey
“Why do you hate me so much?” He whined and blew out a huff of air.
“Because you’re exactly the kind of boy I’ve been avoiding the entirety of high school, and now I’m stuck tutoring you in a class you don’t respect so you can win your big match and get laid.”
“Whoa now,” he put his hands up, “I can get laid without winning a ball game.”
I practically growled at his response. “Could you take this seriously for two minutes?”
“I’m over it,” he leaned back in his chair and studied me. I was growing increasingly frustrated with his flippant attitude toward the work. “Listening to you talk about your bowling escapades is far more interesting.”
“If you aren’t working on your assignments, then there's no point to this tutoring,” I looked him over, grabbing my binder, but he reached out and stopped me. “I’m not going to sit here and let you make fun of me, Mr. Cody.”
“Oh, stop it,” Ryan shook his head, “don’t go back to the Mr. Cody crap.”
“You’re treating this like a joke, and I have things to do.” I scoffed, pushing back from the table.
“I’ll do the assignment tonight. I don’t want to sit here scribbling down some fake memory while you stare at me like I’m an idiot. I would rather use the time totalk to you.” He said.
“Youarean idiot,” I stood up. “This is about you passing that class so you can play in your big, important, life-changing game, Mr. Cody. It’s not about me.”
“I hate when you call me that,” he pouted but stood up.
“I hate it when you don’t do your assignments.” I shook my head and slung my bag over my shoulder, preparing to walkhome. As I left the library, I could feel him on my tail, “What are you doing?” I spun around to look at him.
“Walking you home.” He said, his hat back over his hair and his chin tucked down into his sweater as he followed behind me at a distance.
“I told you no,” I said.
“For someone so smart, you sure don’t figure stuff out very quickly. I’m abadlistener.”
I sighed, staring at him for a moment longer.
“You better hurry, Mouse. You’ll be late for dinner.” He said, cocking his head to the side with a serious look on his face.
He had stayed true to his words and walked me all the way home, almost right up the driveway, before ensuring I was inside. Dinner was boring. Mom grilled me on my whereabouts after school, and I had to fork over the letter from Mrs. Raymond about the tutoring before she left me alone.
Dad didn’t bother to show up.
I spent most of the night in my room focusing on homework that had briefly been neglected until a knock on the door pulled my attention from the book.
“That young man is back on our porch, Lorraine. I thought you understood the rules,” Mom said in a cold, authoritative tone. My heart was pounding in my chest, thinking she might do something about it herself, but part of me knew she would never make a scene—not the mayor's wife. Never. I nodded and slipped off the bed.
“I’m not sure why he’s there, but I’ll send him away,” I said, moving past her toward the stairs. I stopped in the hallway to ensure my sweater covered my chest before opening the door and stepping into the chilly air.
Ryan jumped from his spot on the bench and closed his book over, extending his hand to me. “Here,” he held a small stack of papers covered in his messy handwriting. “I finished.”
“How long have you been out here?” I asked him.
“Since you left me,” he said. I looked down at the watch on my wrist, six hours. He had been out there forsix hours.
I scowled, backing away from him and wandering inside without a word. I walked to the kitchen, collected the glass pan with the leftover lasagna inside and a fork, grabbed a pop can, and carried it back outside. He was slumped on the bench, pouting, no doubt thinking I was still mad at him.
“Eat,” I said, almost dropping the pan in his lap.
“I’m not a charity case, Rae. I just wanted to finish this,” he waved the paper at me.
“You eat, I’ll read it,” I said, sitting quietly on the bench beside him.
CODY