Between The Lines

Chapter 10

 “Hey, snap!” I exclaimed, holding out my own lunch to show we had similar picks.

He frowned slightly at the gesture but the corner of his lips teetered upwards.  Placing his lunch on top of his black rucksack, which filled the small space between us, he swiftly opened up the sandwich box, ripped the sandwich in half and popped it cleanly into his mouth.  After three chews, he swallowed, the lump in his throat bobbing, and then reached for the second half which he polished off in another five seconds.

Thinking I’d better make a start on my own lunch, I peeled the seal from my own sandwich and began eating at a more regular rate.  I considered making polite conversation but decided against it.

Instead, I jumped straight to what was on my mind.  “So I feel like there’s a big elephant in the room and I want to say something about it.”

He stopped chewing and looked at me cautiously.

“I want to ask you to explain what exactly was happening when we first met,” I stated firmly.  My heart felt like it was knocking on my ribs but I steadied my eyes on Zach’s face.

He turned his head away and looked straight ahead for five seconds.  Then he faced me again.  “We’re not in a room,” he said seriously.

I glared at him and he blinked back.

I couldn’t help but laugh for the sake of it.  Of all things, he had to reply with such a ridiculous answer.

Once I was finished laughing, he sighed heavily and plucked the McCoys from his bag.  He ran a large hand over his chin, drawing my eyes to the small stubble decorating the side of face from his hair and down to his chin and back again.  It looked so extraordinary compared to Mattie’s baby-smooth and rosy skin.

“Alright.”  He sighed deeply again and looked at me sincerely.  “I’m uncomfortable telling you because I feel like it might make the situation worse,” he said quickly.  He looked like he was finished but suddenly decided to continue.  “I’m also not used to talking to many people so I find talking to you very weird and you probably shouldn’t waste your time talking to me.”

I pondered which issue to address first.  In the end I said blandly, “I like talking to you.”

It was his turn to smile for once.  Again, his face took on that rare form of light that I’d seen outside of my house.  “I have no idea why,” he replied.

I clasped my hands together in my lap and rocked my legs from side to side, really wanting to sort out once and for all the things that were lying about unspoken about.  “Why do you keep telling me that you’re dangerous?” I interrogated.

A shadow fell across his face as he answered gruffly, “I am dangerous.”

“I don’t understand… I-” I faltered.  “Does it have something to do with the- the group- I mean, the fight- whatever it was that I walked into?”  I peeked at him to find that he was watching me intently.

 He nodded slowly.

 I nodded to myself and continued to swing my legs back and forth.  “Okay,” I said, thinking intently.  “What happened after I…?”  I trailed off.  The idea of saying, “After I punched the man,” seemed bizarre.

 His lips pursed together tightly as he stared forward.  “Things sorted themselves out,” he stated.  A small smile turned up the corner of his lips.  “Nice punch, by the way,” he complimented me, looking at me seriously.