Chapter Thirty One

Faith, Saylor and I were hanging out in my bedroom again. It was like good old times. School was a drag and Juice was back to not talking to me. He didn't outright ignore me, but he was keeping his distance. I didn't press the Juice. I didn't want to scare him away. I wanted to give him the time he needed to come to terms with what we had done in the bathroom the day before. I decided I'd let him come to me, however long that took, unless a spire happened to pop up around him.

Faith had been teasing me with a surprise all day and finally dug it out of her bag. She was smiling wide as she clutched three sleek white boxes that had pairs of colorful tubes prints along the bottom in various sizes.

"I got one for each of us." She set them down on my bed and spread them out.

I was sitting Indian style on it already, watching Saylor help me with Algebra II. He was wearing his usual nondescript polo and jean combo while I had on a red, distressed button notch shirt and black skinny jeans. Faith wore a faded pink tee that had a sash made up of three different pastel colored strips of fabric that were sewn in layers to it.

I wasn't on her level.

"What are these?" I reached for a box, but she slapped my hand away.

"They're ancestry kits," she said, holding one up and pointing to the tubes, "see, these are the little chromosomes. Cute, right?"

They were cute. I exhaled and knocked the back of my head against the wall a few times. "I can't believe I waited all day for this."

Ever since one of my way older brothers had let slip that my father had freaked out once when he'd learned Fidel Castro was a distant relative, she'd been convinced I had to resolve my 'daddy issues'. After telling her about Tía, I should've seen this coming, but Mom didn't kick me out, so it seemed kind of pointless.

My father was long gone to Mexico. That was it. I'd seen enough movies to know that those 'find my daddy' missions always end in misery. If he wanted to see me, he knew where to look.

"So, did you honestly think by getting Saylor and yourself one, I wouldn't know what you were up to?"

"If she hadn't told you what it was, would you have?" Saylor asked, not taking his eyes off the homework I had yet to set eyes on.

"Yeah, when she tries to start jabbing blood out of me." I covered my shoulder and lurched away as if she had a shot loaded and ready.

She did have something in her hands though. "It's just spit, no sangre." She made this deep frown that reminded me of a mob boss as she shook her head. "Now, open wide."

She moved the swab around in circles like a plane in front of my mouth. I didn't open it up until she made the appropriate accompanying sounds.

She scraped the sides of my cheek several times and then broke off the end of the swab into a capsule. "Muy facilmente."

I never got offended by her infantilizing, even when she tried her best. I was I lost cause.

"Great, now you can take the others back and give me the money for them," I said.

She reached for her purse, but I shoved it away. I never took money from her. It wasn't a pride thing. It was a 'once I got a taste for it, you'd have to put me down' thing.

"Keep it, you can order pizza though and Saylor can go pick it up," I said suggestively.

She missed the suggestion. "Isn't he busy doing your homework though?"

"I thought I'd try some of it my own while he's gone," I said, through gritted teeth.

"Really?" Saylor asked, his head shooting up from the page.

I mouthed, "No," to her and said, "Mm hmm."

"Okay, but I don't know how you're going to pass the tests." She wagged a finger at Saylor. "And you shouldn't be enabling him. Muy mal!"

She had some residual infantilizing left in her. I had a plan for the tests. Teachers didn't want anyone to fail, so there was a bit of a life hack I'd like take credit for. If you had an excused absence on the day of the test, then they'd let you take it at home. That meant Saylor could take those for me as well.

I thought that was taking advantage, but the valley girl voice in my head thought, like, it's fine, if you don't want to like go to college and everything, but if you do, then like, don't be a bozo. Oh my god, college is about using resources, right? There you go. Thank you.

I watched over Saylor's shoulder while he wrote some form of advanced cryptography in my Algebra II notebook that had always returned perfect marks, so I went along with it. The alarm on Faith's phone went off when it was time for him to go pick up our pizzas and we watched intently until he left. He was the smartest person I'd ever met, but he didn't think to question my motive. Perhaps, this is was a mystery his heart preferred left unsolved.

I opened my phone and loaded up Snapchat while Faith butt up as close to me as possible. She was actually excited. I'd like to pretend it was for my happiness, but something in my mind told me she was pining for the opportunity to search and destroy all bragging rights. I went to Jin's name and held my phone out, so she could open the snap. I watched her face, not the screen. That was the only way I could know her honest thoughts versus what she thought she was trying to protect me from.

On the first tap, her pupils dilated, but she said nothing. I turned to the screen and saw a shirtless picture of Jin. The second was from his camera roll. He was wearing a pale blue button down shirt. He was still handsome, but of a different kind in a well-lit photo. He smiled like he was innocent and looked, studious, like the type of guy that'd work as a tutor and volunteer at homeless shelters in his free time. Not the type that would ever go to the fifth floor to make out in the darkness and definitely not the type who had the confidence to pull an employee into a session with his boyfriend.

"Wait, how do you know this guy?" Faith asked. Her opinion must've changed from 'no' to 'still no, but I'll humor you' based on the second photo. The first one disappeared on a timer. Clearly, it was meant for my eyes only.

I looked down at the chat window before answering. I had to make sure his messages conformed with whatever lie I was about to cook up.

Jin: It was nice meeting you. I hope I see you around.

Jin: Want to hit up Starbucks with me?

Jin: Nothing like a hot coffee to melt away the timidness. LMK CGB

I immediately noticed three things. One, he didn't mention Joel at all. I had assumed they were dating, but he went out of his way to make certain I knew it'd be just him and me. Two, he was discreet. He didn't say anything that would've suggested our first meeting had been intimate. Three, he flirted like an old man, but I still appreciated it. No one under thirty drank hot coffee, especially not from Starbucks. It wasn't worth the money. I had to believe he only said it to make the pun work.

"Let me know, CGB? Cute gay boy?" Faith scoffed. "Que creativo?" She did a wiggling thing with her fingers that was probably meant to be falling confetti.

"No, it's ghost boy," I said.

I was a little too quick to come to his defense. That and she noticed me grinning. She knew about my voyeurism, so I knew it wouldn't be long before she made the connection. I had to act fast. "I scared him when I was outside. Not on purpose. It was dark."

"And then he said, 'duh cute ghost boy'," Faith said in a demeaning tone, "And sends you a picture of his abs?" She stared daggers at me.

I stared them right back. My pace, steady pouring rain. "No, I didn't call you right away. I'd been out there, just thinking, about Mom and I caught him off guard when I pushed off the ledge behind those tall conifers. You know, the ones near the pay lot. Anyway, I made him spill coffee on his pullover. Then, he took it off and his undershirt rode up on him. So, I complimented his abs. Then, he said they looked better in the light. And they do. So, we're joking and as I'm about to leave he said, 'see you cute ghost boy', which was really nice. So, it makes sense I owe him coffee. I have to go. I have no choice," I said.

My face, Poker World Series. Strangest times, medical grade bullshit.

I knew I had almost won. I didn't overuse conjunctions because that would've aroused Faith's suspicion, but prepositions went right under her radar. I was alright at English. I couldn't be bad at everything in high school. I wanted to smile, but I couldn't. I had to wait for her to relax first.

This had been really hard for me already because I usually talked with my hands. With her, I had to keep them in my lap the whole time. Literally any move, change in posture, even too deep of a breath would've been used as evidence against me.

"So, have I answered to your satisfaction? Can you be happy for me, yet?" I asked, "Or do you want to kill a few more minutes?"

Faith's expression finally softened and she gave me a hug. I smiled behind her back. "I just worry about you, tu sabes?"

We parted. Her face showed genuine concern.

"Yo se," I replied meekly.

I imagined being so much happier the first time I successfully lied to Faith, but I didn't look it. I knew she enjoyed reading me more than anything, but a part of her honestly thought she was doing it out of concern. In hindsight, I realized that it would've been impossible to feel happy about lying to her. Not because of the guilt, my happiness would've given away the lie.

"You can meet him, but I'm coming." Faith put her hand over my mouth before I could protest. "Not with you, at a table I can you see from."

We had rules. There was no talking her out of it. I compromised. "Fine, but if we decide to hang out after. You have to be okay with it."

She reluctantly agreed. I had to keep my location on and answer texts at all times.

I pretended to mind, but I always liked being worried over.