dis•PAR•Age: v. to make someone feel stupid
Duke runs out of the locker room and picks me up in a hug. “It was so good to have you here at my game. Looking up in the stands and seeing you there made me play better.”
He is so full of crap, but it still makes me smile. “Really?”
“You’ll have to come see some of my college games next year.”
“Where will that be?”
“You tell me.”
“Funny.”
Two of Duke’s teammates come out of the locker room. One is a smaller guy whose name I don’t know, and the other is Duke’s best friend, Ray. He’s at least a head taller than Duke and twice as wide. He points at me, “Hey, Addie, you seen my future yet?”
I smile. “I haven’t been looking.”
Duke clears his throat and looks over my shoulder. I turn to see the Norm guy Laila and I had seen before—Trevor. He looks sad? Angry, maybe? “Hey, man,” Duke says. “Are you checking out my girlfriend?”
It’s dark outside, but Trevor’s face deepens a shade. “No, not at all.”
“Why not? She’s hot.”
“Stop it, Duke,” I say.
“I’m just messing with you, man.”
Trevor looks among the four of us, probably wishing he could disappear. I have a similar feeling. “I didn’t mean to interrupt,” Trevor says. “I just wanted to say great game tonight.”
Duke puts his hand on his own chest and says, “Thanks, man, that means a lot. How’s your shoulder doing?”
“It’s all right. Anyway, good to see you.”
When he leaves, Duke’s two teammates exchange a look and a laugh that I’m sure Trevor hears. “That wasn’t funny,” I say.
“It was a little funny,” Duke says.
They laugh again and the two of them start to walk away. “See you two later,” Ray says, over his shoulder.
“Bye, Ray,” Duke says. “See ya, Andrew.”
I stare off into the distance, where I can barely make out the dark shadow of Trevor’s retreating form. “How do you know that Trevor guy?” I ask Duke.
“Is that his name? I had completely forgotten. Was it obvious?”
“No, you pulled it off pretty well.”
“Good.” He pulls me close again. “We were up for the same award last year.”
“Who won?”
“Is that even a real question?” He smiles at me, and I roll my eyes.
“Do you always get everything you want?”
“Pretty much.” He kisses me. His lips are soft, and I try not to forget myself. He pulls away. “So where’s Laila?”
“I’m not sure. She went and had a soda with some Norm boy and never came back. I think she was just toying with him, practicing Thought Placement. I’ll text her.” I pull out my phone. Hey, are you ready to go? My dad said we can all stay the night at his house.
Duke’s reading over my shoulder and he asks, “Is your dad going to like me?”
“Doesn’t everyone like you?”
My phone chimes. I’ll meet you at the truck in ten minutes.
Duke and I have been waiting for Laila for so long that the parking lot has completely emptied out. We even waved goodbye to the team bus heading back to the Compound. And now Duke’s giving me a play-by-play of the entire game. I lower the tailgate on the truck my mom rented for us and sit. “You do realize I was there, right?”
“Yes, but you weren’t watching half the time, and I know you’re dying to know what you missed.”
If by “dying,” he meant that it was bad enough watching from the stands and hearing it now without the action is making me die of boredom then, “So true.”
He positions himself between my knees, his back to me, and I rest my head against him. His voice vibrates my cheek as he continues to talk. The long day catches up with me and I feel myself drifting.
“I’m coming,” Laila yells from across the empty parking lot. “Sorry.”
I sit up, shaking my head until I’m fully awake. “How was Normville?”
“Rowan is funny. He is so curious about us. He kept asking the weirdest questions.”
“Like what?”
“Like why our school doesn’t have a website and why our football players never get injured.”
“Did you tell him it’s because we’re made of steel?” Duke steps away from the tailgate and helps me down.
“No, I just kissed him. That got his easily distracted mind off things.”
“You kissed a Norm?” Duke’s expression seems stuck between surprise and disgust.
“Yeah, I did.”
Duke draws his brows together like he’s about to ask a scientific question. “Was he any good?”
I laugh so hard that I have to steady myself against the truck.
“It’s not that funny. I’m just curious. She kissed a Norm, Addie. As in no abilities whatsoever.”
Laila’s lips purse, and her fists tighten—probably because I’m still laughing and Duke still looks partially disgusted. “Okay, Mr. Mover, how does Telekinesis help you kiss?”
“It doesn’t help, but when I kiss, I heighten all my senses, so I can anticipate every move, hear every noise …” He trails off when I stop laughing and widen my eyes. “You don’t?” he asks me.
“Uh …” I turn toward Laila. “Do you?”
“Yes. So there, Duke. You’ve been kissing a Norm and didn’t even realize it.”
“I’m not a Norm,” I say defensively.
Duke shuts the tailgate. “Don’t worry, I never would’ve guessed.”
“I wasn’t worried. You guys quite obviously think too much when you kiss. Some things don’t require extra thinking. Maybe you’re the ones doing it wrong. How are you supposed to feel anything when you have to concentrate so hard?” I know the more I talk, the more defensive I sound. But I can’t help it. It’s not often you get told you’ve been kissing wrong. “Let’s go.”
“My turn to drive,” Laila says. I drop the keys into her upturned hand and walk to the passenger door.
“I’m sure you’re a great kisser, Addie,” Laila says, unlocking the door. I get in.
Duke climbs in next to me. “She is.”
The middle seat belt is loose and I tighten it to fit. “Okay, stop talking, both of you. I don’t need to be reassured.”
Laila puckers her lips as she slides behind the wheel. “Maybe I just wanted to kiss you.”
The engine rumbles to life and Duke leans across me, his hand reaching toward the dash. It stops a few inches away from the radio. “How do you turn this thing on?”
“Uh …” I study the knobs and buttons, trying to remember. “This one.” I push the knob that says Power, and the radio blares to life.
At my house, Duke grabs my hand as we walk up the path. “I’m nervous.”
“Really? Why? You’re so at ease with my mom. Just tell the truth, and my dad will like you.”
He nods and squeezes my hand. We walk inside, and my dad is sitting in his chair watching what looks to be one of his criminal-interview tapes, but I can’t tell because he turns it off too fast.
Duke drops my hand and extends his toward my dad. “Nice to meet you, Mr. Coleman. I’m Duke.”
“Duke. Hello. How did the game go?”
“We won, so I guess that means good.”
“You guess?” My dad doesn’t like halfhearted statements. He thinks everyone should be able to answer definitively.
“There are always ways to improve,” Duke clarifies.
“I hear you have your choice of colleges next year. Any closer to picking one?”
Considering how many times people ask him about college when I’m around, I can’t imagine how much Duke has to deal with that question. It has to get old—I know I’m sick of it. Maybe because it reminds me that he’ll be gone next year.
“Yes, sir.”
“You’re closer to picking?” I ask.
“Getting closer.”
My dad stares at him for a long time, and I wonder how he could think there is something to analyze in that question.
I grab my dad’s forearm, and he turns his attention to me. “Well, Dad, we’re pretty tired. Where do you want Duke to sleep?”
His face is hard when he says, “The room across from mine.”
I wait outside the bathroom, toothbrush in hand, for Duke to finish. The doorknob rattles, but he doesn’t come out. Soon the door is banging against the frame.
I take a step forward. “Are you okay?”
The door goes silent. “I think I’m stuck.”
I laugh. “Just unlock it.”
“I’m trying.” The door shakes again. “Stupid Norm doors,” he mutters.
I lean my cheek against the frame. “See the little lock in the center of the handle? Just turn it a hundred and eighty degrees. It’s old, so it kind of spins. Don’t turn it a full circle or it locks again.”
The door swings in, and he’s suddenly right in front of me. “I’m free,” he says. “How’d you know all that? Are you a Norm-relic expert?”
I smile. “I got trapped in there earlier.”
He bites his lip. “You look cute without makeup.” We trade places, crossing in the doorway. He lets his hand slide across my waist. “Good night.”
When I get back to the room after brushing my teeth, Laila is already in the trundle bed, texting.
“Are you talking to your make-out partner?”
“Rowan? No. It’s my mom.” She tucks the phone under her pillow. “What do you think of Rowan anyway?”
“I think he lives too far away to put any effort into analyzing him.” The minute I say that though my mind drifts back to Trevor. “What was with all his questions? Why do you think he’s so curious about our school and stuff?”
“I don’t know.”
I stare at the wall, where moonlight, projected through the blinds, stripes the darkness with white. “You know who Duke kind of knows?”
“Who?”
“Trevor.”
“That guy you tried to do Thought Placement on?”
“Yeah.” I prop myself up on my elbow. “And he was kind of a jerk to him.”
“How so?”
“Trevor came all the way to the locker room to tell Duke that he did a good job, and Duke and his buddies laughed at him. Duke couldn’t even remember his name.”
Laila laughs. “Are you feeling protective of the cute Norm boy?”
I collapse back down onto my pillow. “No,” I say without conviction. He was cute though.