Three: Stupid Boy
There was a knock on the front door. I set my Shakespeare homework down and got up to open the door. Before me stood Taylor.
“You are determined aren’t you…” I mumbled, pulling the screen door open.
“Gabrielle, hey. I wanted to talk to you.”
I rolled my eyes. The conversation seemed all too familiar. I nodded and let him step inside. I noticed before he even made eye contact with me, he looked around the house. His eyes fell on the stained shag carpeting before he said anything else.
“I know things didn’t end so well a couple days ago. So I wanted to come and fix things.”
“What is there to fix?”
“I offended you. You know, I went home and explained to my mom what happened while she was making dinner. I explained that I was trying to explain to you that I wanted to clear up misconceptions about the poor…and in the process of explaining I insulted you. I told her exactly what I said Gabrielle, and she basically told me that I had been a complete ass without meaning to be.” He took a big gasp of air when he finished his statement.
“You’re a stupid boy, Taylor,” I admitted, “What are you thinking? Seriously, you are crazy! Asking me to help you in the first place, taking me out to talk, and now showing up at my house! You’re just lucky I answered the door…”
“Maybe I am stupid. Maybe for the first time in my life, at age 18, I’m allowed to make my first stupid decisions and I’m just exercising that right. There’s no one telling me not to do things for the sake of rationality anymore.”
I studied him for a moment, trying to make sense of his statement to no avail. I watched as he flopped down on my couch and sighed. My mouth parted in surprise as I watched him spread out on the cushions.
“Make yourself at home?”
“Thanks,” he smiled, patting the spot next to him. “Sit down. You intrigue me. I need to talk to you.”
I was shocked by his honestly. Hesitantly, I sat down next to him and placed a pillow in my lap protectively. For some reason, in my territory I felt less safe than I had in his. It didn’t make sense, but then again, at first nothing about Taylor made sense.
“Listen, I feel like you have a story I want to tell to my class. Besides, something has just been gnawing on my heart in the past couple days telling me, go talk to that girl! She has a story to tell you! She’s interesting and colorful and…talk to her! I went to my psychology teacher and I explained my problem and you know what she said? She said a good interviewer doesn’t give up!” He was so animated when he spoke.
“But I’m not just an interviewer, and you’re not just an interviewee anymore. Whether you like it or not, you have me curious about you. You’re stuck with me for the time being,” he said shooting me this charming, irresistible grin.
“Why are you doing this?” I questioned out loud, frowning at his face as if studying him more closely might lead me to an explanation.
I heard footsteps from the kitchen, down the hall, into the living room. I prayed for Brad, which was scary in itself, but was devastated when I heard Bobby’s obnoxious voice from behind me.
“Hey sexy. Is this really your boyfriend?” He said, looking Taylor up and down.
I didn’t know who I was more scared of- Bobby if he found out the truth or Taylor if he found out I had lied about him. The entire situation was humiliating.
“Bobby, didn’t your dad say you’re leaving soon? Leave us alone…”
“Taylor, was it? You’re her boyfriend?”
Taylor looked stunned. He sat there with this panicked look on his face, finally sitting up completely in his spot on the couch. I watched as he processed the whole situation and began to compose his response.
“Yeah. So you’re Bobby…” he mused.
Bobby arched an eyebrow at him, “So you’ve heard about me…what does she say about me? Best fuck she’s ever have?” He grinned.
“Yeah right!” I yelled.
“First of all, I don’t appreciate you calling my girlfriend sexy in front of me. Second of all, you wish asshole,” Taylor said with a confidence I knew he’d been capable of, but I had never truly seen. He lied like a pro and answered questions on the spot so easily.
“Face the music, buddy. I have to wonder how it feels to know your girlfriend is nailing someone else,” Bobby muttered, turning and walking back towards the kitchen, “Dad! Some creep is in our house!”
At first I started to think about his statement. His house? Their house? But before I could further contemplate it, Taylor was on his feet, hurrying after Bobby. He grabbed his arm and whipped the sixteen year old around, glaring at him.
“Excuse me?”’
“You heard me,” He spat in Taylor’s face, then turned to me and added, “You said this guy could beat me up? Funny really, Gabrielle. Your boyfriend’s a pansy.”
I watched Taylor’s eyes narrow on Bobby’s face and his body tense. I swear, he looked like he was going to hit him. Before he could, Brad barged into the room in a pair of jean shorts, and only jean shorts. His hairy chest revealed itself from around the corner and into the living room.
“Who the fuck are you?” He snapped at Taylor.
Taylor stepped away and studied the man for a moment, looking him up and down. He shoved his hands in his back pockets before he said, “I’m Taylor, Gabrielle’s boyfriend. And we were leaving…” He turned and grabbed my arm, pulling me for the door.
“Where are you going?” Brad barked.
“Out! Be home later!” I hollered over my shoulder and hurried out the door with Taylor. I waited until we had slammed the screen door shut to look at him. When I turned to him, he was already looking down at me with serious, concerned eyes.
“There is something seriously wrong…with those people,” he breathed.
I grabbed his sleeve and pulled him down the steps with me, mumbling under my breath, “Tell me about it.”
Taylor ran down the steps after me and attempted to walk backwards at my side so he could look me in the eyes, “Gabrielle! Who the hell are those guys?”
“My mom’s boyfriend and his son. Why do you care?” I paused and waited for him to answer, but I was talking again before he could, “Forget it. Leave the drama behind those doors okay?”
“But that’s-,”
“Leave it!”
He put his hands up defensively and nodded solemnly, stepping away from me slowly and walking over to the drivers side of his car. I noticed he was careful not to take his eyes off of me, as if I was a caged animal that might break out any moment. I sighed and opened his passenger seat door. I had no where else to go. When I sat down, I found him fiddling with CDs in his lap. I watched as he pulled a Rolling Stones one out from the pile and slide it into his CD player. Noticing me, he quickly put them away and started the car.
I suppose I don’t know where exactly he was driving to. I suppose he didn’t know either. But neither of us mentioned a destination as we drove along.
“I don’t know why you showed up at my house and burst your way into my life….” I mumbled, watching out the window at the shacks going by. I looked at the couches that sat in the yards, the dogs chained outside, and the broken toys scattered on the sidewalk.
“The other day or just now?”
“Does it matter?” I snapped, glaring at him.
He stayed calm, keeping his eyes on the road and his hands steady. I watched him wet his lips like he had something to say, but he didn’t speak.
“And then pretending like my boyfriend!”
“What was that about anyway?” He yelled over at me, “Way to almost have me killed by that psychotic…brother….lover of yours.”
“Don’t you dare call him that. You know that’s not true.”
He shrugged and glanced over at me as he pulled onto the main road, “Do I?”
“Of course it’s not true. You are such a…”
“I’ve been nothing but nice to you. I’ve been kind and polite and tried to be respectful…yet, I am such a what? What am I Gabrielle?”
“I don’t appreciate you saying my name like that…” I grumbled under my breath. The truth was it sent chills down my spine. He spoke my name as if we were friends…close friends even.
“Like what?” He challenged me.
“Like…you say my name like you know what I’m about.”
He chuckled and shook his head, reaching over and turning down the music. I noticed his sore cuticles when he turned the dial. I also noticed the chipping black nail polish on a few of his fingers. He was a chronic nail biter like me.
“I have no clue what you’re about, Gabrielle,” I saw him suppress a smile when he said my name, “You won’t let me find out.”
“Why should I? I don’t even know you!”
“Then why’d you get in the car with me, twice now!”
“You’re so rude!” I exasperated, shaking my head in disbelief. The truth was he was just absolutely mind boggling. I racked my mind over and over again for the reason he was so interested in me. Taylor didn’t give up and it was baffling.
“I’ve been nothing but nice. You know that,” he stated confidently, glancing over at me to examine my expression. There was none. I sat there expressionless. I didn’t know how I felt about the whole situation, so I didn’t grimace and I didn’t smile.
We sat there a silence that we thought might be uncomfortable but for some reason felt content. I watched his hands on the wheel as he drove on streets I had never seen before. He pulled onto a gravel road where the dust followed our car in a cloud. Suddenly, it all made sense. Suddenly I saw just how dangerous it really was getting in a car with a young man I hardly even knew. I grabbed the seatbelt and undid it, sitting up abruptly.
“Let me out,” I gasped, glaring at him.
He looked innocently confused when he took his eyes off the road and asked, “What the hell?”
I pulled on the handle on the door lightly and felt a lump rise into my throat. The car ran over the grass on the side of the road as he watched me nervously.
“I don’t know where we’re going, but I’m not coming with you! Let me out! Right now!”
He came to a rolling stop. As soon as the car was going slow enough, I pulled the door open and jumped out into the dusty air. I picked up my speed immediately and started running the way we had came from. I didn’t dare turn around. In my mind I could see visions of him running after me with a knife in his fist. I could see him pulling the gun from the glove compartment of his car and aiming it in my direction.
The truth is I think that’s what I wanted to see. How easy it would have been if Taylor had been some psychotic killer who I could run away from and have an excuse to never talk to again. Of course, at the time, I thought I was really running for my life.
“Gabrielle!” He screamed, getting out of the car and standing there holding the door, “Stop being crazy! I was just taking to you to my family’s house for something to eat!”
I heard him yelling at me and it all sounded so rational- so honest. But I kept running away from him, slipping on the sandy ground every few moments.
“Gabrielle! Stop building me up to be this bad guy! I’m the good guy! I promise, I’m the good guy!” His yelling was so desperate. I couldn’t help but stop and look at him.
I stood there with ruddy cheeks and hair in my face, and I looked at him. His eyes were wide and his pupils were dilated- I could tell from yards away from him. I watched his body tense when I looked him over.
“Where are we?”
“This is my road. We live kind of out in the boonies, but it’s just because we wanted privacy. We have a lot of acres.”
I almost felt like crying. It all hit me so hard. He wasn’t an enraged killer- far from. I felt so silly and juvenile, running away from him like he was a serial killer whose trap I had fallen into. I let my shoulders sink and with my head low began to walk back over to him.
“I swear, I’m a good guy,” he spoke, his words fresh and candid.
“Yeah, I know you are…That’s the problem.” I mumbled after some consideration, standing next to his car and leaning my cheek against the roof of it. I just wanted Taylor to be an asshole. I’d been trying so hard to see him as this intrusive asshole so I would have an excuse to not have him in my life. I knew that much. What I didn’t know is why I didn’t want him around.
I think I even saw him smile. His body relaxed again and he gave me an affirmative nod before getting back into the car. He waited as I sat back down, closed the door, and sighed loudly.
“You’ve got to stop giving me heart attacks you know,” he chuckled, closing his door with a satisfying thud and continuing on down the road.
I had nothing to say. He implied a future I never intended to exist. I just sat there staring at the pebbles that bounced off the hood of the car. I squinted my eyes in interest when he reached above his head and hit a button on the car that swung open a gate. Nestled in between the forest was a driveway.
He smiled reassuringly at me and started down the driveway. The car began to bump even more than I had been, “This is where I live.”
I looked around in bewilderment as the trees disappeared and I was welcomed by a large house with open grass around it. He parked in front of the three car garage and took the keys out of the car.
“I didn’t realize your father was Donald Trump …” I whispered to myself as I got out of the car with him, unable to take my eyes off of the huge house in front of me. I had seen houses that big before on the way to the doctor’s sometimes. Driving through the streets in the upper end of Tulsa they’re all over the place. But to stand before one…it was a surreal feeling. I wondered how this wealth could be only five minutes away from my poverty-stricken neighborhood.
We walked together for the front door. Walking into his house was like walking into Huxible’s house. The house was loud with chatter and the laughing of children. I could hear someone playing the flute in one room and the dinging of the microwave in another. The house smelled of homemade brownies with fudge dripped across the top- the kind I always asked my mother to make for me around the time of my birthday.
“Did I miss dinner?” Taylor called into the room with the beeping microwave. I imitated him when I saw him kick his sneakers off into a corner by the front door where all the shoes lay.
I was convinced I was in the middle of Payless Shoes Store during their half off clearance. Shoes lay everywhere- sneakers, flip flops, and work boots. I began to count quickly in my mind, but I was distracted by a voice calling to us when I got to 11 pairs.
“I’m already cleaning up! There’s left overs!” A mother’s voice. Even if I wasn’t in a house, with a son, with the smell of brownies baking, I could have told you it was a mother’s voice. Rid me of all my senses but hearing and I could tell you that it was a real mother’s voice.
Taylor turned to me and smiled that crooked smile I was becoming so aware of, “Hungry?”
I shook my head furiously, “What are we doing here? You didn’t tell me you were going to bring me to your house when we left mine! This is so…awkward…”
“Oh, and being at your house earlier when I had to pretend to be your boyfriend wasn’t…” he mumbled, walking towards his mother’s voice.
“And both are results of your rash, stupid ideas…” I hissed, but he just waved me off.