The Space Between Us (5 page)

Chapter Four

   It had been a few months since school started and things between Asher and I were back to normal – almost. There weren't many more uncomfortable situations between us. No more instances of touching longer than usual or breathing him in just to keep his scent within me. Guys at school were keeping their distance, although it was hard to tell if it was just because of Asher's outburst the first day of school, there still being some residual fear that if any of them spoke to me he might go all caveman on them again, or if they had just gone back to not noticing me like any other day. Either way, I didn't mind. It didn't seem like my dad did either.

  
“Charlie Bear, how are the boys treating you at school?” He asked me one night over dinner. I finished chewing the bite I had just taken while shrugging my shoulders.

  
“They don't really pay me any attention,” I said while still looking down at my plate. I didn't want to talk to my dad about boys.

  
He raised his eyebrows at me. “I don't believe that for a moment,” he scoffed.

  
“It's true. One boy said something terrible to me the very first day and Asher nearly killed him.” The fork that had been on its way to my father's mouth was stopped mid-air, and his jaw hung open. After a second or two he closed his mouth and put his fork back down.

  
“Is that so? What did this boy say to you?”

  
I rolled my eyes while poking the food on my plate, supremely uncomfortable with the direction of this conversation. “You don't want to know, Dad.”

  
“Yes, I do. Answer the question.”

  
I let out an exasperated sigh, still not brave enough to look him in the eye.

  
“He might have mentioned how I filled out over the summer and then added something about the back seat of his car,” I mumbled as quickly as I could. I peeked my eyes up at him only to see the red flush spread from his neck all the way up to his hairline. His hands gripped in solid white fists on the table and I could hear loud breaths whistling through his nose. “Dad, it's not a big deal. Like I said, Asher made it known that it was not ok.” It took a little while but my dad finally calmed down a little and managed a drink of his water. It looked like he was trying to formulate his next statement. I felt it was going to be important.

  
“Charlie, what would you have done if Asher hadn't been there?”

  
“What do you mean?”

  
“Exactly what I asked you. That boy says something profoundly inappropriate and uncalled for to you in the hallway and Asher is nowhere to be found to defend your honor. What would you do?”

  
“Uh, ignore him and keep walking?” That's probably what I would do, but I wasn't really going for honesty. I was just trying to give my dad the answer he was looking for so that we could move past this horrid discussion.

  
“Any boy who disrespects you in public will only do worse in private. At this age, Charlie Bear, boys are too focused on the, uh, physical aspects of a relationship with a girl. It's important that you realize that just because a boy says things to you that you might find, uh, flattering, you need to have respect for yourself and your body. Any boy who says things like that to you isn't worthy of your time or attention.”

  
“Dad, please, let's not do this,” I said as I started to stand up to take my plate into the kitchen.

  
“Charlie, sit.” I instinctually sat back down quickly. Dad used his 'I mean business' voice, which he only reserved for times when I knew it was best to obey him. “You're in high school now and it's important that you understand how the male mind works at this age. Now,” he paused, again trying to put something together in his mind. “When boys your age are interested in girls, there is a chance that they are thinking about a physical relationship with her more than she might be. Boys are more curious, more driven by hormones, and sometimes more, well, uninhibited in a sexual nature.”

  
“Have you met Reeve?” I joked, trying to lighten the mood. My dad's eyes grew wide and I immediately regretted my joke. “I'm kidding! Jeez, Dad. Reeve isn't like that. I mean, she's flirty and boy crazy, but she's not – you know,” I tried to insinuate what I meant because, Lord knows, I didn't want to say it. He let out a loud breath.

  
“Ok, good. Don't scare me like that.” He reached up to try and loosen the neck of his shirt. He looked a little warm. “All I am trying to say is that even though I am glad that Asher was there and did the right thing, he won't always be. Boys are going to try to date you, Charlie Bear. They're going to ask you out, and they're going to want to kiss you and possibly more.” He wiped the palm of his hand over his forehead which was now beaded with sweat.

  
“Dad,” I said softly. “I am not ready to date boys. I'm not even really interested in being someone's girlfriend. The boys at my school are pretty immature and dumb. You've got nothing to worry about. Plus, Asher seems to do a good job of keeping them away anyhow.”

  
“So long as we're on the same page that you're not allowed to have a boyfriend until you're sixteen and you understand what I'm saying about boys, I think we can end this conversation.”

  
“Oh, thank God,” I said quickly and jumped up from the table. After putting my dishes in the sink, I headed towards my bedroom but was stopped by the sound of the phone ringing.

  
“Hello?” I said as I answered.

  
“Hey, Bit. What are you doing?”

  
“Just finished dinner.”

  
“Wanna go shoot some hoops with me?”

  
“You mean watch you shoot hoops while I try to throw a round thing into an impossibly small hole?”  I had never been very athletic, so playing a sport with Asher was usually pretty pointless.

  
He laughed. “Yeah, that.”

  
“Let me ask my dad.” I held my hand over the mouthpiece of the phone and yelled through the house. “DAD! Is it ok if I go to the elementary school and play basketball with Asher?” My dad came around the corner and I smiled at him sheepishly.

  
“You've got school tomorrow, so be home by nine. And tell Asher I want to talk to him before you leave.” I felt my eyes darting all around the room, trying to figure out what my dad wanted to say to Asher. My dad turned and walked away, leaving me nervous.

  
“Uh, yeah, I can go but my dad wants to talk to you before we leave.”

  
“That's cryptic.”

  
“Just get over here.” I heard the line go dead and knew he'd knock on the door soon so I went and changed into some hoop-shooting clothes. When the damn doorbell rang, and rang, and rang, I headed downstairs to find Asher already inside and my dad closing the door behind him.

  
“You ring that doorbell every time only because you know how much I hate it.”

  
He smiled a big toothy grin. “Not gonna lie, Bit. It's the highlight of my day.”

  
“Asher, come with me into my study,” my dad said.

  
“Ok,” he replied and started to follow my father. I started following too, but made it only a few steps before my dad stopped me without even looking back.

  
“Charlie, wait in the living room.” I stopped in my tracks and watched Asher disappear into the study with my father. I had no idea what he was going to say to him, but I knew it made me nervous. I wandered into the living room and sat on the couch bouncing my knee up and down, trying to distract myself. Ten minutes later I heard the door open and walked towards it. I saw Asher come out first and my dad's hand was on his shoulder. They were both smiling, although Asher's smile looked a little forced.

  
“Can we go?” I asked, desperately.

  
“Yup. Nine o'clock, Charlie,” my dad said as he raised one eyebrow at me.

  
“Got it.” Asher and I walked out of the house and started the mindless walk to our elementary school. A walk I could take blindfolded I'd done it so many times. We were silent for half the walk and finally I couldn't take it anymore.

  
“What did my dad say to you?”

  
“Not much.”

  
“Asher Carmichael, don't you lie to me.”

  
He laughed at me. “You sound like my mom,” he said through his laughter.

  
“Asher, tell me right now what he said to you!”

  
“Ok, jeez, Bit. Take it down a notch.” He took a breath in and let it out loudly. “First he asked me what happened on the first day of school and made me tell him
exactly
what that guy in the hallway had said to you.”

  
“Oh my gosh. How embarrassing.” I dropped my head into my hands.

  
“Then he thanked me for sticking up for you and defending you. He followed that up with an anti-violence campaign,” Asher said, laughing again.

  
“Then what?”

  
“That was it.”

  
“No. You were in there with him for ten minutes. What else did you talk about?”

  
“Just drop it, Bit.”

  
“No! Tell me,” I begged.

  
“He just wanted to make sure I knew that you couldn't date until you were sixteen,” he said quickly. My eyebrows scrunched up in confusion.

  
“Why would he tell you that?” He didn't answer me. “Asher? Why did he say that to you?”

  
“I don't know, Charlie.” He sounded a little angry. “I think he just wants me to remember that you aren't allowed to date anyone.” I shook my head, still not really grasping what was going on.

  
“Wait, does my dad think that
you
want to date me?”

  
“I'm not sure,” he said as he bounced his basketball on the pavement as we made our way to the hoops hanging under a large covered area. “It's not a big deal.  Let's drop it.”

  
“Ok,” I said quietly. “I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you upset.” He stopped bouncing the ball and looked over at me.

  
“I'm not upset, promise. Now, let's play Horse.”

  
“Ok,” I tried to smile, but still felt the tension coming off of him. It wasn't until I had lost the first game that I felt like we'd moved passed the awkward moment of the evening. I watched him dribble down the court and then execute a perfect lay-up. He was gifted when it came to sports. I was cursed. But I enjoyed trying to keep up with him, sometimes. I breathed a sigh of relief. I didn't want there to be weirdness between us. Something told me, however, that the weirdness was something I was going to have to get used to. Things were slowly changing between us. I could feel it. And I knew he felt it too. I just didn't know what we were going to do about it.

   Freshman year continued without much incident. Asher and I still walked to and from school together, until basketball season when Asher made it on the Varsity team. It was quite a big deal to be put on the varsity team as a freshman and he was doing amazingly well. He didn't always get to start, but he always played, and I was so proud of him. Reeve and I went to most of his games and cheered him on. I even had my dad help me make a special jersey that had seventeen on it, his lucky number.

  
At one of his games, a girl who looked like she could have been a junior or senior sat next to Reeve and me. She saw me cheering Asher on and kept sending glances my way. Finally she said something to me half-way through the game.

  
“Your boyfriend is really good.” I turned toward her, finally able to look at her without it being weird. She had long blonde hair and it was split in to two braids that hung down past her shoulders. Just as I started to answer her, Asher made a three-point shot and the crowd erupted into intense screaming. After a few seconds the noise died down enough that I was able to answer. I leaned towards her but only turned my head far enough to make sure she heard me, but not far enough to take my eyes off the court. I didn't want to miss anything.

  
“He is really good, but he's not my boyfriend.”

  
“He's not?” The blatant surprise in her voice had me turning to look at her again. “That's interesting.”

  
I did not like the way she said that. It was as if I had just told her that there was one piece of chocolate fudge cake left just for her.

  
“I just always see you guys together, and you're always at his games, wearing his jersey.” She said, looking at me with a perfectly pleasant expression on her face that for some reason I wanted to smack off of her.

  
“Well,” I said, trying not to sound too irritated by her, “Asher is my best friend and I am just supporting him.”