Chapter Two
We were driving home after my shift that night and I was telling Leo about what happened. He couldn’t believe the stuff about Tom dumping all those women.
He said, “Let me see if I got this right. After he left his first wife, Tom had seven kids with three different women? In, like, what? Ten years?”
He burst out laughing. “The man’s a love god! I hope I’m doing that good when I’m ninety.”
“Okay then. I hope I’m doing that good when I look ninety.”
I cracked up. We both cracked up. That was mean. But it’s true. Tom’s this little round guy with a white ponytail and shorts that come up to his armpits. No one around town could believe he managed to get himself one tall, beautiful wife. They were going to die when they found out he’d had four.
Anyway, we were having a great time together and so I just kept blabbing away. I told Leo about Devin grabbing the picture and seeing right off what was wrong with it. I said the guy sure had a good eye. I was really impressed.
That was my big mistake.
Leo slammed his mouth shut and just stared at the road the whole rest of the way home.
I hate it when he gets like that. All I did was make one little comment about a guy having a good eye.
But that’s not what Leo hears.
Leo hears: “The guy is really artistic so he must be really smart too. And, by the way, did I mention that you’re not? You’re just a big dumb hockey player who wants to stay in Lockeport for the rest of his life and take over his dad’s garage. That’s why I’m going to dump you for some complete stranger.”
Which just goes to prove that Leo really is a moron.
Ever since I decided I want to go away to art college next year, he’s had this big chip on his shoulder. Like I was doing it to make him look stupid or something. Nothing I could say made any difference. Leo is smart. I’ve always said that. Not in school, maybe. (Okay, not in school, for sure.) But he’s smart in other ways. He can fix anything. He’s got common sense. He’s really funny. He understands stuff about people and the world that a lot of kids with good marks just don’t get.
And if all that isn’t enough, he’s a whole lot hotter than a dorky girl like me deserves.
I love the guy. Even when he’s being an idiot.
Part of me really wanted to let him have it right then. He was acting like such a baby. But the other part of me was just too tired. I was working hard at school. I was working hard getting a portfolio together for Art College. And I was working at the Highway Buyway. Frankly, at one o’clock in the morning, I didn’t have any energy left to work at our “relationship.”
It pissed me off to think that I even had to.
Leo pulled into my driveway and left the car running. I looked at him. I wanted to say, “C’mon, Leo. Don’t be like that. I couldn’t care less about Devin.” But Leo turned his head away. He started drumming his fingers on the steering wheel like I was wasting his precious time. Like I was supposed to just hurry up and apologize.
I couldn’t do that.
I sighed and said, “See ya.”
He said, “Yeah.” Then he punched the dashboard hard.
I got out. He gunned it down the driveway.
The light in my parents’ room went on.
Great.
Two more people mad at me for something I didn’t do.