In Between Dallas and Austin

Chapter Four - In Between Curiosity and Obtrusion

Chapter Four

In Between Curiosity and Obtrusion

The next morning, when I step out of the house to walk to school, I'm surprised to see a car parked in front. The window rolls down and Kurtis pops his head out of it, grinning at me.

This isn't part of my usual morning routine and since I'm already skipping the running part of it, for a second I actually hesitate.

Kurtis knows this—knows me. "No, no, none of this OCD crap," he shakes his head and his hands at me—which he has also popping out, like half of his body is sticking out of that window. "We took a detour getting here, so you're coming with us, even if that means I have to swing you over my shoulder and drag you to the car," he warns me. I glare at him and his smile turns deadly sweet. "Oh, hey, hi Mrs. Franklin." I turn around and what do you know, my mom is now standing there. "Just came by to drive Dallas to school!"

"That's very nice of you boys." She fixes her attention on me. "Dallas, honey, you forgot your coat." She hands me the coat she bought me, the kind of thing that I'd bring to an expedition to Antarctica.

"Mom, it's like 64 degrees outside. I don't need a coat," I whine. I can hear Kurtis chuckling behind me. He finds my mother's obsession with overdressing me hilarious. I find it annoying but that's my prerogative.

"Fine, but you're taking your scarf," she says, handing me one of the many tacky Infinity scarves she's gotten me—the lucky winner today is a washed-off purple, sorta stained with grey, trimmed with tiny black pom-poms, and some of the pom-poms actually have little googly eye stuck on them. I have no idea where my mom buys these scarves, but they're often disturbing.

"Sure Mom. Thanks Mom," I answer, snatching the piece of fabric out of her hands and limp my way to the car.

"You're welcome. Have a good day at school honey," she calls back behind me.

I smile and wave at her, "Bye Mom!"

The second I shut the door of the car behind me, and Kurtis has closed his window, he bursts laughing, pointing at me. "I'm revoking your best friend status," I inform him, pouting.

"Good morning Dallas," Avery greets me, Kurtis's brother, and the owner of this car.

"Good morning Avery." I reply, smiling a little. "I didn't know you were back in town."

Avery is one year older than my sister, making him twenty-two years old. He moved to New York right out of High School. Part of my acute sense of deduction thinks he left so far away because my sister got knocked up and he liked her and it was painful seeing her pregnant with someone else's baby (and suddenly I'm thinking about Love, Rosie). Even if I grew up with Avery and I'm mostly comfortable with him, I'm unable to look in his eyes the way I look in Kurtis's. It's mostly because it feels like he's reading everything about you when he looks in your eyes. That was always a gift of is, his ability to just know how you felt. And it's also a little bit because his eyes are clear blue and it's a very destabilizing contrast with his black skin. With recessive genes, you wouldn't think someone with black skin could have anything else than brown eyes, but apparently it's possible. Kurtis told me that he met a guy once at a summer camp that was black and had natural red hair, so hey, anything is possible at this point.

"I'm back for our mom's birthday," he explained, looking at me through the rear-view mirror.

I frown. "Isn't it in like, two weeks?"

He fixes his eyes back on the road. "Hey, nothing wrong with spending some quality time with the family."

I pout at that thought. "I can't agree on that. Quality time with my family has only left me with a wounded foot."