Player (3 page)

“Kind of a dog?”

Josh ignored the snide remark and continued. “But have you ever heard me talk about love before? I wouldn’t say it unless I really meant it. You know me well enough to know that.”

“You’re right, Josh. I’m sorry. You just took me by surprise, that’s all. Of course I want to hear all about her. So, who’s the lucky girl? Anyone I know?”

“Yeah, you know her a little,” Josh said reluctantly. “It’s Rosa.  You know, the girl who’s been tutoring me.”

Andrea did a double take, and almost choked on her soda. When she recovered from her coughing fit, she looked at Josh like he had just sprouted a second head. “Rosa?” she asked dubiously. “You’re in love with Rosa? Rosa McBride?”

“Do you now any other Rosas?”

“Well, no. But Josh . . . please tell me you aren’t serious. Rosa is such . . . such a loser.”

“What do you mean by that?”

Josh felt his cheeks flush, but he wasn’t sure if it was anger, annoyance, or embarrassment. If Andrea, his best friend, had this kind of reaction to the news, what were his other friends going to say? How would his buddies on the wrestling team react?

“All right! All right!” Andrea threw her hand up when she saw he was getting upset. “Don’t get into a big huff. I can see you really care about her. And if she could capture your heart, I guess she can’t be that bad. There isn’t really anything wrong with her except for the way she dresses, but I guess that’s just because she’s poor.” Andrea blushed when Josh narrowed his eyes at her lame attempt at an apology. “Now, I’m just going to shut up before I start to sound as awful as Elena.”

“Promise me you’ll be nice to her, Andy,” Josh pleaded. “She’s really sensitive, and I don’t want her to get hurt.”

“I think I can handle that,” Andrea promised. “I mean, I’m not a snob like Elena.”

“I knew I could count on you,” Josh said. “If she starts hanging out with us, I don’t want her to feel out of place.”

“I think I’d like to get to know Rosa better,” Andrea said with honest enthusiasm. “She seems like a nice girl.”

“She’s a great girl,” Josh assured her. “I know you’ll love her.”

“She has to be an improvement over Elena. Jim and I couldn’t stand another double-date with her.”

Andrea had been dating Jim Vasser, one of Josh’s friends from the wrestling team, for almost a year. Josh’s dates tended to change from week to week. He wanted a real relationship with Rosa, but for the first time in his life, Josh was having self-doubts about a girl.

“Andy,” Josh said, a little sheepishly. “Do you think Rosa will want to go out with me?”

Andrea looked slightly taken aback by the question. “Why wouldn’t she? Any girl would be thrilled to go out with you. You’re pretty hot. Or so I’ve been told.”

Not even the half-compliment could get a smile out of him. “But Rosa isn’t like the other girls I’ve gone out with.”

“You’re right,” Andrea said thoughtfully. “Rosa’s not an airhead.”

“I’d like to argue with you but I can’t,” Josh admitted. “Every girl I’ve ever dated has been as beautiful and as stupid as they come.”

“I’m glad to see we actually agree on something.” Andrea snickered. “But don’t worry. I’m sure Rosa is already head over heels in love with you. How could she possibly resist those big brown eyes?”

“But, Andy, I’m a dunce in science!”

Josh heard an unfamiliar note of hysteria in his voice, but Andrea only giggled. “Listen Josh, she’ll love you, okay? She won’t care if you don’t know the atomic number of calcium. Now, I’d better get going. Rosa is coming over to tutor you tonight, right?”

Josh nodded. “She should be here in about an hour.”

“Well, I don’t want to interfere with this blooming love affair, but you better tell me all about it tomorrow!”

Josh agreed, and Andrea picked up her coat. The rain had slowed to a steady splatter. She pulled her hood up over her head, and wasn’t paying much attention to where she was going as she prepared to brave the storm for the second time. When she threw open the door, she practically collided with a girl with shoulder length black hair, gray eyes, and ludicrously large breasts. Josh groaned when he saw the unexpected guest. It was Nadine Morris, one of his three remaining girlfriends.

Nadine was just about to ring the doorbell, but instead she brushed past Andrea with a curt hello before running over to embrace Josh. It was an unabashed effort to stake her claim in front of the other female in her territory. Josh returned the embrace halfheartedly and waved goodbye to Andrea who snickered and shook her head knowingly as she ran back to her house.

“Who was that?” Nadine asked suspiciously once Andrea was out of earshot. Her voice was annoyingly high, almost like a cartoon character. The sound of it was bringing back his migraine with a vengeance. Josh wondered how he had been able to stand having her around for six whole weeks.

“That was Andrea. She’s my neighbor,” Josh explained.

“Oh,” Nadine replied, still with a hint of jealousy. “Well, anyway, wait until you hear my news!” she exclaimed, brightening up. “I was going to surprise you, but I just couldn’t wait! When you didn’t answer your cell, I decided to drive over.”

“What is it, Nadine?” Josh couldn’t even fake any enthusiasm. He cursed himself for not paying more attention to his cell phone. It might have saved him this agony.

“Well, you know that my mom has been driving me crazy, right?  So I decided to move in with my dad.  He lives here in Clearview, just a few blocks away. Do you know what that means?” She didn’t give Josh a chance to guess before charging on. “It means that I’m transferring to Clearview High starting tomorrow!”

Nadine ended her speech with a squeal, and wrapped Josh in a huge bear hug that very nearly knocked him off his feet. Once he recovered from the shock of the announcement, he realized that this could be a problem, a big problem. Josh really didn’t feel like dealing with it, especially when he was hoping to start a new relationship. Having an extra girlfriend showing up in school would certainly put a damper on things with Rosa.

“Josh, you don’t seem happy about this at all.” Nadine whined. “Don’t you want me in your school?”

Josh realized there was no point in delaying the inevitable any longer. Nadine’s visit would serve a purpose after all. He had to break up with her. There was no time like the present. 

“Nadine.” Josh led her over to one of the wooden stools at the kitchenette. “Sit down.” She took a seat and looked up at him adoringly as Josh went on. “Nadine, I don’t know what to tell you except . . . we’re just not connecting. Things aren’t working out. I think it would be best for both of us if we just move on.”

It was cliché, but it got the point across. Josh had never been very good at eloquent break-ups. Normally, he just stopped calling and eventually the girl would get the point. That wouldn’t have worked with Nadine, since it took a few seconds for what Josh had said to really sink in. Once it did, Nadine turned a wide array of colors raging from chalk white to cherry red before jumping up from her seat and overturning her stool. The clatter startled Josh, who hadn’t expected her to upset the furniture. She didn’t speak. She hardly breathed for a few long seconds, but when she finally found her voice, she all but shattered the windows with her ear-piercing shriek.

“I hate you!” Nadine screamed. “I really hate you for this, Josh! I despise you!”

“Nadine, come on,” Josh pleaded. “Don’t be this way. I didn’t—”

“Shut up!” Tears were trickling down her cheeks, and she didn’t bother to wipe them away. “I don’t want to hear anything that you have to say. You’re nothing but a player! You used me, and I . . . I loved you! How could you do this to me? I hate you, Joshua Hanover, and I don’t ever want to see you again! I wish you would just . . . just die!”

Before Josh could try to console her, or even take in the multitude of insults she had flung at him, Nadine vanished through the kitchen, slamming the door behind her. Only seconds later, he heard the screech of tires as her sports car pulled out of his driveway. Josh knew that Nadine was a bit of a drama queen. He hoped she was just being melodramatic and he hadn’t hurt her as much as it seemed.

Once she was gone, Josh jogged up to his room and pulled out the bottle of codeine from his book bag. His headache was getting worse, which wasn’t surprising after the day he had. He swallowed a few of the pills dry. He thought about lying down for a little while, but he realized that Rosa would be arriving any minute. On his way back down to his living room, he stopped at his desk and picked up the two photos of Nadine and Elena. Giving them one last appraising look, he tore the photos in half and tossed them in his wastebasket.

“Two down, two to go.”

He watched the pictures flutter out of sight, and then ran down the stairs to wait for Rosa.

Josh held open the door as Rosa ran into the foyer, holding an umbrella that had been turned inside out by the heavy gusts. She was dripping wet and loose wisps of hair clung to her wind-whipped cheeks in patches. She was a disheveled mess, but to Josh she had never seemed more beautiful.

“Sorry I’m late.” She tossed the useless umbrella back out into the rain and wiped her feet on the welcome mat. “My car broke down again so I had to take the bus. It dropped me off a block away, and this stupid dollar store umbrella was no good for anything.”

“You should have called me! I would have picked you up.”

Rosa shrugged. “I didn’t want to bother you.”

“It wouldn’t have been any trouble,” he insisted. “Besides, you’re doing me a favor by coming at all.”

“It’s okay.” She tried to wipe the rain from her face, but the sleeve of her sweater was practically soaked through so it made little difference. “I don’t mind taking the bus.”

Josh gave her a toothy grin. “I can’t believe you went through all this trouble just to help me with my chemistry.”

“It’s no big deal.”

Rosa blushed slightly, and Josh hoped that meant she had more than science of her mind.  He was tempted to warm her up himself when he noticed that her teeth had started to chatter. He found that he was nervous and tongue-tied around Rosa. He tripped over his own words when he tried to speak again.

“Let me get you some of my mom’s hot chocolate and make you some clothes to help you warm up.” Josh stuttered, and then felt his face turn beat red.  “I mean . . . ummm . . . you know what I meant. You must be freezing.”

Rosa giggled. “Yeah, I know what you mean and both sound great. If your mom won’t mind me borrowing her clothes.”

Josh waved his hand in dismissal. “My mom would never notice one missing shirt. Her walk-in closet is bigger than some people’s houses. Her jeans might be a little big on you, but it’s better than being soaked.”

Josh filled up a teakettle and flipped on the gas before running up to his mother’s room. He picked through the closet until he found a sweater and a pair of jeans that didn’t look too matronly. He checked his reflection four times in the mirror before going back downstairs. He noticed he looked a little pale and drawn. He tried to ignore the incessant pounding in his head. He didn’t want a stupid migraine to ruin his night with Rosa.

“There’s a bathroom over there where you can change,” Josh said when came back into the foyer with his mother’s clothes in hand.

“Thanks.”

They were both blushing now. Rosa cast down he eyes as she retreated behind the closed door of the powder room and Josh smiled to himself. He headed toward the living room, but he had only taken a few steps when he felt the room start to tilt and spin. His head felt like it was going to explode. He stumbled over to the couch, and put his head in hands, trying to will the thumping away. The codeine weren’t helping very much anymore. Maybe he needed to ask his parents for a stronger dose.

“Are you all right, Josh?”

Josh hadn’t heard Rosa coming into the living room. She sure had changed quickly. His mother’s clothes were about two sizes too big for her, but she had managed to keep the pants up with the help of the belt that came with them. She still looked amazing. She was staring at him with honest concern, but again Josh felt embarrassed. The last thing he wanted was for her to think he was some whiny baby. He tried to play it off.

“Sure,” he said, and gave her a weak smile. “I’m fine.” He inadvertently flinched when she sat down beside him and jostled the couch, sending a fresh wave of agony through his temples.

Rosa narrowed her eyes at him suspiciously. “Josh, I do believe I just caught you in an outright lie.”

“What? Did my nose just get bigger?”

He tried to laugh, but it must have looked more like a grimace because Rosa didn’t smile back. Instead, she shifted her weight, and took Josh completely by surprise when she put her hands on his shoulders, and without a word, started to gently knead his tight muscles. Josh closed his eyes, and felt his body almost instantly relax as her hands maneuvered gracefully along his body. She moved her hands down from his neck to his shoulders, pressing all the right spots. Then she worked her way back up to his temples, massaging them lightly, and making gentle circling motions with her fingertips. When Josh finally opened his eyes, she was sitting only centimeters away from him.