Almost Perfect - Brian Katcher [1]
I yanked away. “Drop it, okay?”
He didn’t drop it. “You’re a senior, Logan. In May, we leave this place forever. Don’t spend your last semester moping about your ex-girlfriend.”
I stormed into the gymnasium, a blocky building that we shared with the middle school next door. I made sure I was alone in the locker room. Then I drove my fist into a metal door. The sound echoed through the empty room. Pain radiated through my wrist and shoulder.
Jack thought he was being helpful. He thought Brenda had just been another girl. For the past month, he’d been trying to fix me up. To him, all I needed to do was make out with some random chick and I’d forget about how Brenda had dumped me.
To be quite honest, she never actually dumped me. It was her decision to sleep with another guy that had put the strain on our three-year relationship.
I quickly stripped down and hopped in the shower. As the stall steamed up, I thought about Brenda. The homecoming dance in early October. I’d sold my baseball card collection just to pay for her corsage and had to drive to nearby Columbia to rent my tuxedo.
I paused, midlather, remembering that night. My tux hadn’t fit exactly right; my arms were too long and my chest too broad. With my advanced hairline and jutting forehead, I’d thought I resembled a shaved ape. Even with my mom’s help, I looked like some Mafia don’s bodyguard; a muscle-bound lummox, washed and dressed for a night out with sophisticated people.
Brenda had told me I looked suave, like a James Bond supervillain. She’d said I had the face of an angel and the body of a god. I found out later she didn’t always tell the truth.
Brenda had been dolled up like someone you’d see on a movie poster. Her long black hair had been styled at the local salon. She’d worn blush on her high cheekbones and had left her glasses at home, even though that meant she was almost blind. Her dark blue dress had exposed her smooth shoulders. As I strapped the corsage onto her delicate wrist, I’d felt a sting of electricity shoot through my arm, down my legs, and out the heels of my rented shoes. Of the dozens and dozens of guys in Boyer, Brenda had chosen me. If I’d won a million dollars in the lottery the next day, I’d have called the money the other good thing that happened that week.
After the dance, I’d driven her in my mom’s car to the empty field out by the water tower. I don’t think I’d ever been that nervous. I wanted everything to be perfect. I had a blanket in the trunk and her favorite songs in the CD player. I had driven all the way out to Moberly to buy condoms.
We’d kissed for about two minutes. Then Brenda had asked me to drive her home. I could still remember the little speech she gave me as we pulled into her driveway at eleven p.m.
Logan, I’m just not ready for that. Could we wait a little longer? Please? Think about how special it will be.
As I turned off the shower and wrapped a towel tightly around my waist, I wondered how special it had been for Brenda. I just wished I could have been there.
chapter two
“MOM! I’M HOME!” That was totally unnecessary for me to say. When you live in a single-wide trailer, it’s pretty obvious when someone comes in.
As far as mobile homes go, it wasn’t too bad. We had nearly an acre of land, which I kept neatly mown. Whoever had owned the lot before us had built a nice outbuilding. I kept my weight bench out there, along with my mower, weed eater, and snow shovel. During the summer and winter, I’d pull in about a hundred bucks a week cutting grass or shoveling driveways.
I found Mom in our living room/dining room/kitchen. She had already put on her waitress uniform, ready to work the night shift at Ron’s Grill, Boyer’s only nonchain restaurant. As long as I could remember, my mother’s nicest clothes consisted of sturdy shoes, black pants, and a top with her first name stitched on it.
Mom smiled when she saw me.
“Hey, honey, how was school?”
I shrugged. “Dinner shift again? That’s, like, the tenth night in a row.”
She frowned, and I felt a little guilty for