Edenville Owls

Chapter 32

After school Nick asked me to come across the street to the bicycle shed with him so we could stay out of the snow and talk.

“Joanie says she doesn’t want to go out with me anymore,” he said when we alone in the shed.

I kept my face still.

“How come?” I said.

“She says she’s too young to get serious about dating.”

I nodded.

“I guess we all are, probably,” I said.

“She been dating you?”

“No.”

“I asked her out twice last week,” Nick said. “And she said she couldn’t and then the second time I saw her later, you were walking her home.”

“I just ran into her,” I said. “And we were talking and I walked to her house with her.”

It was funny how words were, I thought. Walking her home seemed to mean the same thing as walking to her house with her. But it didn’t.

“Are you going out with her?” Nick said.

Sometime, way back, the bike shed had probably been some kind of horse stable. It still smelled sort of horsey.

“No,” I said. “We’re friends.”

“She likes you,” Nick said.

“I like her,” I said. “We’ve known each other all our lives, you know.”

“So have we,” Nick said.

“Yes.”

“We played ball together since we were little,” Nick said.

I nodded.

“I showed you how to shoot a jump shot,” Nick said.

“Except you showed me wrong,” I said.

“Okay, so it was off the wrong foot. But you were still trying to shoot both hands before me.”

I nodded.

“Joanie likes you,” I said. “She told me you were cute and nice, and not grabby.”

Nick smiled. He looked embarrassed.

“Can you talk to her?” Nick said. “About me?”

“I don’t know if it will do any good,” I said.

“You could try,” Nick said.

“Sure,” I told him. “I’ll try.”

We both were quiet for a time. The snow kept coming steady and quiet. It looked like some kind of white curtain across the open front of the shed.

“Joanie is pretty sure about stuff,” I said. “She makes up her mind, it’s kind of hard to get her to change it, you know?”

“Do you not want to talk to her about me?” Nick asked.

“No, it’s not that,” I said. “But I don’t know how much good it’ll do.”

“I know that,” Nick said. “And if you don’t want to talk to her about it, that’s okay.”

“I do,” I said. “I’ll talk to her.”

“Because I think you’re hot for her too,” Nick said.

“We’re friends,” I said.

“That’s crap,” Nick said. “You’re as hot for her as I am.”

I started to say something, but Nick pushed past it.

“And that’s okay. You got a right. We’re friends. We been friends all our lives. If I don’t get her and you do, okay. We’re friends, we’ll stay friends.”

“Nick,” I said. “I...”

“Forget it.” Nick was shaking his head. “I said what I wanted.”

He put out his hand. I shook it.

“Owls for all,” Nick said, “all for Owls.”

And we laughed.