Battle Scars [ Chresanto August Story ]

Battle Scars | 12

The early morning sun wakes me up, hitting me in the face because I'm turn toward the window. I get up to go to the bathroom. What I'd done last night felt kind of like a dream. This isn't exactly how I'd thought things were going to be.

I wash my face, get dressed and braid my hair. I put on my last clean clothes, or, in the case of my jeans, mostly clean.

I had to do laundry today. And get a library card, now that I had an address. And go forage for returnable bottles. I recently realized I could make a bit of pocket change off of it.

It hit me that I was going to have to do all those things with Willow. And I'd promised we'd go to the thrift store. Okay, so no library card today.

Chres is awake, and Willow is just waking up. Chres touches my leg as I walk past him. He smiles,and I shoot him a quick smile back. I sit on the edge of Willow's mattress. She gives me a sleepy smile, and I brush the hair out of her face.

"You hungry?" I ask.

She nods. "An' I need to pee."

"Go to it then," I say, pointing toward the bathroom. She stands up and makes her way across the room, kind of rubber-legged, with the back of her hair standing up .

"Wash your hands," I call after her.

Chres stands in the middle of the room, stretching. He's wearing nothing but a pair of gray sweatpants. I could see the muscles I'd run my fingers over the night before. And there was no hair on his chest. Golden. I feel a fluttery feeling somewhere below my stomach.

Chres reaches for my hand and pulls me over to him. "Is everything okay with us?" he asks.

I nod, then glance at the closed bathroom door. "I just don't want to-."

"-give the kid the wrong idea," he finishes.

I looked at him, surprised, although I should have been used to the way he seemed to read my mind by now. "Yeah."

"Okay, so no mushy stuff when she's around."

"Just until...just for now," I say.

He nods. Then he shoots a quick look at the bathroom door and kisses me on the lips.

When Willow comes out of the bathroom, I get her a roll, part of my last banana and a bottle of juice Chres had stuck on the windowsill all night. It was still pretty cool.

"You want a peanut-butter-and-banana sandwich?" I ask Chres.

I have a couple of peanut butter packets I'd swiped from our last time at Coplin's.

"Yeah," he says.

He pulls on his boots while I make it, then takes a long drink from the water bottle that is still stashed in the window. He grabs the sandwich and his jacket. "I gotta go," he says.

Willow looks up.

Chres pointed a finger at her. "I'll be back. Promise."

"Okay," Willow says.

"I love you," he bends down and kisses her forehead,"very much."

"This much?" She holds her hands out.

"No ... Like," he stands and flings out of his arms,"this much."

"Woooow." Willow whispers.

Chres smiles at me. "See you later, Jessica,",and he's out the door and gone.

After Willow and I had both eaten, I shook out the blankets and made our "beds."

"Are we going to ride the giraffe?" Willow asks.