Ache by P. J. Post Read Free Book Online Page B

mean?”
    “I’ve known you for almost six months and as far as I know, you’re like Jason Bourne, I mean before you joined the band.  We never talk about you.  Family?  School?  Ever had a boyfriend?  I haven’t even seen any friends, what gives?”
    “Jason who?”
    “He’s a character in a Ludlum book, doesn’t know his past, never mind.”
    “Hmm, you guys are my friends — we don’t really talk about you either, do we?  But none of that stuff matters anymore.  I don’t know if it ever did or does, family that is.  As for boyfriends, men are pigs, don’t you listen to my lyrics?  Except for you, you’re not a pig.”  She kisses the top of my head and drops the used bandages in the trash as she goes to the medicine cabinet.
    “No, I’m a pig too.  I think it’s genetic or something.  But being a pig isn’t the same as being an asshole is it?
    She retrieves the medical supplies and sets them down on the vanity.
    “Close call,” she says.
    “You didn’t really answer my question.”
    ”I don’t know, maybe I just haven’t met anyone yet, you know that special guy,” she says, waving jazz hands in the air.
    “I think you go out of your way not to meet anyone.”
    “Thanks, Dad.”
    “No, I’m serious.
    “Do you miss school?” she asks, changing the subject.
    “You mean high school?”
    “Yeah.”
    “I never thought about it.  We started gigging so much I just sort of stopped going everyday, and then one day I never went back.  I would have graduated this month, theoretically speaking that is.  Funny, I didn’t even think about it.”
    “I feel bad about it, like I’m kind of responsible or something, like I should have pushed you more to go.  You only had a few months left.”
    “You’re making the assumption I was passing any of my classes,” I say through a laugh.
    “Well still, h igh school can be so much fun.”
    “Hey, you know what?  The band is cool.  Don’t apologize for what we’ve accomplished, everything started to happen when you got here.  Besides, it was miserable for me.  You did me a favor.  Everyone knew way too much about my family-time and I got picked on a lot, well, I used to anyway.  Not a lot of friends back there since Todd graduated.  I figured you’d have been picked on too.  Not so much?” I ask.
    She grins in the mirror from behind me, steps over in front of the vanity and then she slowly begins to slide down, her head sinking behind me.  I turn and see her doing the splits, bouncing on the floor.  She leans over and touches her nose to the floor, and then she gracefully slides to her knees and stands back up.
    “If we had more space I could show you a few other things.”  She winks.
    “Okay, holy shit and all that, but I give,” I say.
    “I was a cheerleader and pretty competitive in gymnastics,” she says as she wipes the blood away from my scalp and wounds.
    “No shit?  You?”
    “Well, don’t act that surprised.  I was little Miss Popular.”
    “I just never figured.  A Cheerleader, wow, popular?”
    “I think I’m a little offended,” she says through a fake scowl.
    I start to respond and then flinch.
    “Be still.  The stitches seem okay, but you’re going to have some nice Frankenstein scars,” she says.
    “So what happened?  Bad breakup, what?  What sent you over the edge?”
    “People change, that’s all,” she says while smearing the medical goo on the cuts.
    “It was only two years ago.”
    “Yeah, well, sometimes things happen fast.”
    She grabs the scissors and starts cutting the medical tape.
    “Hold out your fingers,” she says.
    I hold my hands up and she starts sticking strips of tape to my fingers like streamers.
    “In h igh school, I had guys chasing me all the time.  I could take my pick, but now, I don’t know why I’m alone.  Why can’t I find a nice guy like you?”
    “Who said I was nice?”
    “You’re one of the good ones, Connor.”  She stops and stares at me