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“I think you couldn’t pay soh toas the red sprung up on his cheeks

“You’re going to be proven wrong in the best way,” he’d replied, waggling his finger “Just wait”

Ali to my car, I drew out a pair of jeans, a nice button-up, and changed into the away, I took a shot of tequila, enjoying the wave of confidence that rushed throughthe bartender a ten-dollar tip, I walked down the street with swagger, knockingonce more at the entrance of the elementary school

Sure enough, the raven-haired woot ready to leave I watched her crouch down, buttoning up a girl’s jacket She winked at another, squeezing his nose There was a wared on maternal

I hung back for a while, peering atup from time to time Just after the last student scrambled into the back of his parents’ jeep, I moved up the sidewalk With a lurch, I watched her eyes find nized me, but she wasn’t terribly pleased about it

“Hi!” I said to her, ain today”

She looked atalmost sassy There was a wall between us One I’d have to break down

“I guess that’s right, although I don’t knowto butter her up “You’re a secretive one, it seems”

“I don’t knohat else you’d want me to share with you,” she said, her nostrils flared “I mean, it’s not like I’ll be—”

“Going out withmy hand side to side “Of course not I just have this curiousdifferent than most of the women around here And I just—”

“That’s the oldest trick in the book, isn’t it?” the wo me I’m different That I mean more to you than others, because there’s just another layer toher intellect

Not for the first tienuine wave of curiosity for her But I couldn’t give into it, knowing that the aale both