Almost Perfect - Brian Katcher [54]
I shook my head. “No, Sage. It’s not that I don’t want to understand, but … look. I still think of you as a girl. It’s hard not to. And maybe we should just not talk about the other side of things for now.”
Sage stood. I think she was slouching so I wouldn’t seem so short. “I’d like that, Logan.” She moved to hug me, then pulled back quickly. She held out her hand for me to shake.
What the hell. I gave her a quick squeeze.
There was one more thing I had to say. “Sage, listen. If you ever get desperate like before, just remember, you do have a friend in me. If you ever think about, um, hurting yourself, you’d talk to me or Tammi, right?”
I thought Sage was going to break down. “Logan, I’ve got a real friend. I haven’t had that since elementary school. That makes all the difference in the world.”
“I think I heard Rob pull up,” I said, a little uncomfortable. We were almost having a moment.
Sage and I walked to the front yard. It wasn’t Rob who’d arrived. It was my mom. Still dressed in her waitress uniform, she was walking to the house, exhausted from her early shift. Her tired face broke into a grin when she saw me walking with Sage.
“Why, hello there.”
I felt like I did years ago, when I had first shyly introduced Brenda to my mom. I’d been so awkward, so terrified that Mom would flat-out ask if we were dating. I felt so nervous and proud, proving to my mother that her son was becoming a man. So why was I feeling that now? I was no more interested in Sage than I was in Tim.
“Mom, this is Sage.”
Sage held out her large, soft hand. “Hello, Ms. Wither-spoon.”
“Nice to meet you, Sage. Would you like to come in and have a soda?”
Far down the road I could hear the squealing of tires and the blast of a horn.
“Thanks, but I think my ride’s here.”
Rob very nearly took out our mailbox, but Sage got in the car anyway. As soon as they peeled out, Mom winked at me.
“So tell me about your friend,” she prodded as we went inside.
“That’s all she is, Mom. A friend.”
Mom removed her name tag and kicked off her shoes. “An awfully cute friend.”
Two weeks ago, I would have violently disagreed. Instead, I tried to feel Mom out about Sage’s sex. “You don’t think she’s kind of, you know, burly?”
Mom glared at me. “That’s rude, Logan. She’s a little tall, but she’s very pretty. Don’t be so judgmental.”
“Yeah.” I poured myself a soda. Don’t be judgmental. Sage’s family certainly judged her. I wasn’t going to add to that. Her own parents didn’t accept her. Society didn’t accept her. It had almost driven her to suicide. But now she had me. I wouldn’t judge her. Not anymore.
chapter eighteen
WINTER WAS OVER. The last of the snow was gone, turning half the roads in Boyer into muddy, impassable swamps. The county ambulance district stopped pulling burn victims out of meth labs and started scraping them off the highway again. The girls at my school, and the middle-aged women who dressed like teenagers, would break out the halter tops and Daisy Dukes before too long.
Now that football season was over, the track team enjoyed a few months of unrestricted use of the field. Coach Garrison had us running laps. Garrison also coached wrestling, softball, and JV basketball, so we didn’t get much direction from him. “Run! Faster!”
The first track meet was in two weeks. Boyer would have its chance to square off against such mighty opponents as Moberly, Higbee, Centralia, Sturgeon, and a half-dozen other hick towns. The next few meets would be my last chance to compete. I felt foolish for thinking it, but I wanted to go out with an impressive record. Mom even said she’d come to most of my meets. Her manager had recently hired some new waitresses, and, as a senior employee, she finally was able to get a stable schedule. No more nights, and only two weekends a month.
Jack sprinted up beside me, moving easily. He sweated more than any human being I knew. Running near him was