Perchance by Lila Felix Read Free Book Online Page A

hilarious.  I was still laughing when we got to the car and he kept up his act the whole ride home. 
     

 
Remi
     
                  “Why didn’t you say ‘Hi’?”
     
                  I looked at her like she was nut s and went back to eating my General Tso’s chicken.  I had seen him going down the escalator at the same time Aunt Brenda and I were going up.  He looked so darned good when he was laughing.  It was like his whole entire face just lit up.   I wanted to know the exact words and events that made him laugh like that so I could record it and play it over and over again just to make him laugh like that.   And honestly, he seemed to be having a good time, so I didn’t say anything.  I just stared like the voyeur that I was.  
     
                  We had been shoppi ng for hours upon hours. We shopped so long that not only had we eaten lunch at the mall after church, but we were now eating dinner here too.  And my feet were begging for mercy because I was still wearing my wedge sandals from church this morning.
     
                  We browsed and bought in every single store in this place.  Aunt Brenda shopped for herself and I shopped for me.  I bought the basics, but found three dresses that were on sale.  She spent way too much on me and when I even dared to look at something ; she picked it up and bought it.  I was so grateful that she took me in and now this? 
     
                  She was still waiting for a response when I looked up at her.
     
                  I rambled, “He was busy.  He was laughing his head off at that guy with him.  He was having a good time.  I didn’t want to bug him.”
     
                  She laughed and nodded her head at me.
     
                  “Trust me, I saw that boy looking at you at church today and he would not have minded you saying ‘hello’.”
     
                  I covered my eyes with my free hand out of embarrassment.  This was not supposed to be happening.  I was supposed to come here and get a job and finish school so I could go to college , at least some kind of trade school so I could have a career .  That’s the only way that I was going to be able to make it.  
     
                  “Once school starts, I am not going to have time for a social life Aunt Brenda.  I hate school as it is and I’m going to have to get good grades this year so I can get into some kind of school.” And then I looked her dead in the eyes. 
     
                  “I’m not going to end up like my Mom, relying on a man to provide for her just long enough to make a mini -van full of kids and then leave her.  That won’t be me.”
     
                  She reached across the table and h eld my hand as she spoke, “Remi , you will do those things, I have no doubt.  But you can be who you want to be and have a boyfriend, it’s not unheard of. And your mother chose to get married before finishing school.  And yes, your Dad was a bad seed, but that doesn’t mean they all are.”
     
                  I threw my fork down in my Styrofoam to go plate and relented just a little.
     
                  “Ok, we’ll see, but I am not, I mean not, talking to him first.”
     
                  She laughed and put the lid down on her own plate.
     
                  “Deal.”
     
                  We left the mall with all of the bags.  They filled the trunk up.  It was ridiculous. 
     
                  We went home and I hung all my new clothes up and placed my shoes in the closet.  I called my Mom, but she was tired, so we only had a short conversation and then she needed to go to bed. She did say that she had found a babysitter for the twins, a local college student.  That was a relief.  I was worried about the twins by themselves after