Moose and Goose

Chapter Sixty-eight

Khalíd coughs over the smoke, taking the cigarette between his index and middle finger. The ashes trickle into the grass beside him, and he hovers his lips in front of his inner fist.

"What?" Manuel snickers at Jerome's response, and Judith feels her heart skip a beat. Her stomach twists and her caramel complexion drains to a pink undertone.

"Nothing, never mind," she tells him with a forced chuckle, then turns on her heels. Her expression sinks to its true nature – sadness – and she walks away with her arms folded over her chest for comfort.

Now, I see why my Dad always said never ask a boy out. God, I'm such an idiot!

"Judy, wait," Jerome yells when she reaches the sidewalk. She stops at his mailbox and watches him sprint toward her.

What now? Let me guess. He's allergic to the fucking flowers.

"What do you want," she asks sternly, and he knits his brows, clutching the roses to his chest.

Wait, no, he wants his sweatshirt back.

"I wanted to say yes." His voice is soft and uncertain, curious as to why her behavior and mood shifted so quickly. "Are you okay?"

"No! You embarrassed me in front of your friends," she whisper yells, and he glances over his shoulder at them. Eric holds the boot up to meet the beam of sunlight, fawning over his reflection while the other two belly laugh.

"Judy, with all due respect." Jerome stops to look at her again, his left brow raised. "Taking them seriously would be the same as crying over a three-year-old's insults; it's ridiculous. They're airheads."

"Then why do you hang out with them," she asks, and he shrugs while glancing from his left to his right, then back at her.

"We share the same beliefs and hobbies – mostly." She glances at Khalíd, who's calming down with a puff of his cigarette. "They're good people. You just gotta get to know 'em."

"Good people? That Mexican friend of yours keeps calling me Goose!" Jerome cracks a smile, and she gives him a blank look. "Now you're laughing at me?"

"Judy, he's teasing you. You called him a beaner at the store near the campus," he reminds her, and she scoffs, dropping her arms. "What you said was offensive, but he didn't lash out, unlike you; you threw your drink at him."

"You're really using that against me, right now." Her question resembles a statement. "It's not the same thing."

"Exactly. One's a joke, and the other is racist." She narrows her eyes at him, hoping that he's joking, but the seriousness in his tone doesn't falter. "What?"

"You really don't understand why Goose is offensive?" He shakes his head, his eyes wide and impatient. "He called me that because my neck is long."

Jerome pauses for a moment, practically frozen in an unblinking state. He resumes blinking, takes her hand, and walks her toward his steps. She whips her head at them and him, wondering what he's about to do.

"Manny, why do you call her Goose?" Manuel glances at his friends beside him without turning his head.

"Because she sits with a slouch," he answers in the form of a question, and Judith leans closer to Jerome.

"He's lying." Manuel scowls at her and twists his mouth into a smirk.

"And maybe because she has a long neck, but I suppose giraffe would suit her better," he confesses. His eyes follow the red truck passing through on its way out of the neighborhood.

"I told you." Jerome meets her gaze, noticing the softness in hers. He licks his lips, then returns his attention to his friend.

"Apologize to her," he orders him, and Manuel stares at him with his face toward Khalíd. He eventually bursts into laughter alongside his hightop-wearing friend. "I'm not messing around. Apologize!"

"What the fuck do you take me for? A toddler," he asks through hysterics, and her forehead aches from sulking. "I'm twenty. I'm not apologizing to this pendeja when I didn't do anything but laugh like Eric and Khalíd."

"Honestly, I figured you called her that because of her lips," Khalíd chimes in before Jerome can respond.

"No, but that's pretty funny too." They chuckle, and Jerome turns his body to watch her storm off. With her cold gaze locked on the path in front of her and her hands squeezing the sides of her denim miniskirt, she speed walks onto the sidewalk.

"Judy!" He chases after her before she passes his mailbox, but unlike the first instance, she doesn't stop. He runs faster, his face turning red and sweat glistening against his flat forehead.

"Leave me alone," she yells in his face when he takes her wrist and spins her toward him. They're facing each other, both breathing heavily for different reasons.

"Look, I'll get an apology out of him, but you have to apologize too," he says, and Judith rolls her eyes with a scoff. "I'm serious. He's wrong but so are you, and after you two squash things, that'll be it. You dig?"

She nods, glances behind him, and spots Kacey's car cruising into the neighborhood. He follows her gaze and furrows his eyebrows.

"Isn't that your friend?" Judith hums Mhm. "She's insane. She came to my table in the student lounge asking for your number, said Mary mentioned me having it."

So that's how she was able to call me. I figured she found me through the operator.

"Well, I gotta go. I see she brought the Morehead guy for our interview, and I don't wanna be late." She takes a shaky breath, the pair turn to each other, and Kacey veers against the side of the road across from Judy's lawn. "God, I'm nervous. I feel like I'm gonna mess everything up and have to go to New York."

"What's in New York," he asks, lifting his dangling arm to hold the bouquet to his chest.

"My mom's side of the family," she tells him in the form of a question. "I thought I told you, but we're moving – well, they're moving if I get accepted to that school."

"I don't remember you saying that," Jerome says in a softer voice. "I guess this means I don't have much time left with you either way, huh?"

They gaze into each other's eyes, and when she lowers her head, he brings his arms around her. She leans into his chest, the left side of her face sinking into his flesh like a soft mattress, and listens to his pounding heart against her ear.

"That's why I wanted to go out with you." She pulls away and looks up at him as he takes his hands off her. "If I don't see you on campus after this interview, I wanna at least have the memory of going to a restaurant with you."

"And after – that," Jerome pauses, glances at his friends chatting where he left them, then stares into her warm eyes. "You still wanna go on a date?"

"Why wouldn't I," she asks, fidgeting her pouty lips to suppress a smile. He releases a breathy chuckle that leaves a grin on his face.

"Judy!" They simultaneously turn their heads and watch Kacey wave her over from Judith's porch. The representative steps into the living room when the door opens for them.

"I'm coming. Give me a minute." Kacey nods then walks behind Doctor Ahmed as Judith focuses on Jerome. "Well, I gotta go. Can we shoot for tonight at eight?"

"That sounds good. I'll pick you up around then," he says, and she returns to her house. Jerome glances at the flowers in his hand, lifting them to the light. He takes the black rose from the center of the rest, and with it in his right hand like a glass of wine, he stares at its petals.

Judith's unable to contain the contentment spilling from her aching cheeks, both burning pink. When she lowers her head, her throat contacts as if the butterflies irritating her stomach were trying to escape.

She takes a shaky breath and straightens her posture, a toothy grin appearing soon after.