Last Round Romance

Before Elliot or any of the other guys could ask him another question, Maria glided on over and slid into the seat that Curtis had pulled up for her. She felt all the guys staring at her as she situated her bag on the ground. She looked up at all of them, “Alright,” she said with a laugh, “I get that I’m a girl and stuff, but you guys can’t honestly say that you’ve never seen one of my kind before. I mean…you’re surrounded by us. I’m nothing new or special. I’m not an alien as far as I know, so you can stop staring at me anytime now haha.”
And it was like just by saying that with confidence, the whole table accepted her and decided that she could stay. They were all joking around the whole period and throwing wrappers and papers at each other across the table. She was slouched back in her chair the same way all the guys were with her arm hanging over the edge of it and her other arm either hanging limp by her side or moving around as she used hand gestures in her stories and arguments. She had just as much to contribute to all of their conversations as any other teenage boy would have. She spoke the same way they did as far as vocabulary went. When she wasn’t around all the girls, she was so much more relaxed and she had no censor on herself as she talked to the guys the same way she would to an older brother.
They were playing the alphabet game, where they would go through each letter of the alphabet and everyone would have to say something sexual that started with that letter. The guys hadn’t played it in a while but they figured that since they had a new person to play it with, and a girl of all people, they should bring it back for the day. They made it so Maria would always end up going last so the most obvious things had already been taken. They were expecting her to have to give up on most of them, but she always came up with something, and most of the time she named things that the guys hadn’t even thought of before. They laughed and shook their heads in admiration as she named things off without missing a beat. When they had finally gotten through all twenty-six letters, one of the guys at the table, Matteo, turned to Maria and asked her, “Where the fuck did you learn all that shit?” Maria laughed, “Dude, where the fuck do you think? I grew up in boxing gyms and bars filled with big tough, and sometimes drunk, guys. You hear some things. They were mentally scaring at the time haha. But now those conversations that I overheard are proving to be useful.” Matteo just shook his head and laughed as he leaned back in his chair.
When the bell rang at the end of the period, everyone started packing up their things and pushing their chairs in. Curtis hung back for a minute to wait for Maria, but she waved him off and said that he could head out if he wanted to and that she’d see him after school if he was still going. Curtis caught up with Elliot and the rest of the guys while Maria was picking up the last of her things that had gotten strewn across the table in the midst of their paper war.
She turned around and saw that Matteo was still standing there waiting for her. She smiled at him, “Hey, what’s up? Hanging around to see if you can get some tips on the alphabet game?” He laughed and shook his head, “Nah, not that. Not this time anyways.” She let out a small laugh, “Alright then, what’d you wanna talk about?” She started walking away but she motioned for him to follow her so they could continue to talk. He caught up with her and looked down at his hands, “Oh umm, I was just gonna give you my number so we could talk and text and stuff,” he paused nervously, “If that’s okay with you that is.” Maria smiled at how nervous he was about this. Even with as confident as Matteo made himself out to be around the guys, he was really shy when it came right down to it. Maria took a pen out of her bag and took Matteo’s hand in hers and flipped it over so it was palm side-up. She wrote her cell phone number down on his palm with a smiley face and looked back up at him, “Text me sometime,” she said with a smile, “But make sure to tell me that it’s you so I don’t think that you’re some random creeper haha.” Matteo gave a nervous smile, “I’ll make sure to do that.” Maria looked down the hallway to her class, “Well, I don’t want to be late, and I don’t want you to be either so I’m gonna go, but I’ll talk to you later?” Matteo gave a nervous but excited nod and it took him a moment to finally force out the words, “Yea, I’ll catch you later.”
Maria smiled as she walked in to the English room. She thought about what had just happened with Matteo and she couldn’t help but to have to fight back a giggle of sorts. She knew that nothing would probably ever happen between her and Matteo, but she had to admit that he was cute and his awkwardness definitely made him more adorable. They could be really good friends she figured, “Just as soon as he gets over the puppy-love thing.” She chuckled to herself as she opened her notebook and started taking down notes on the Shakespeare sonnets that they had been reading and discussing together in class.
The last few periods of the day seemed to drag on and on for Curtis as he waited for the final bell to ring so he could go up to his locker and then meet Maria out in front of the school so they could go back to the gym. He was tapping his feet and his pen was twitching back and forth between his fingers.
When the bell finally went off, he picked his bag up off the floor, flung it onto his back, and skidded out of the room faster than he ever had before. Which was shocking because he usually always rushed out of the room because no one in their right mind wants to hang around in the physics room more than they have to. He was going up the stairs to his locker when Zach and Elliot caught up with him from whatever classes they were coming from. Zach flagged him down, “Hey man, you still chilling with us today?” Curtis shook his head as he dialed his combination, “Nah man, sorry.” Elliot laughed, “Got a date with Kay?” Curtis just silently shook his head and Elliot and Zach traded an awkward glance. They wanted to know what was going on with the two of them but they didn’t want to ask. “So,” Zach said to break the silence, “what are you doing then?” Curtis shut his locker and picked his bag up off the windowsill that he had set it on, “I’m going to the gym with Maria. She’s teaching me how to box.” Zach’s jaw went slack, “You’re learning how to box?” Curtis nodded, “Yea, why?” Zach gave him an excited shove, “Dude, I’ve been doing boxing for a couple years now! We could train together and shit! It’d be epic!” Curtis chuckled, “Yea, we could. But right now, Maria is just teaching me the basics. And I’ve got to go because she’s my ride. I’ll catch you guys later, alright?” Elliot and Zach nodded and waved as Curtis took off down the hallway.
As soon as Curtis had turned the corner the two boys looked at each other. “So,” started Elliot slowly, “you thinking what I’m thinking?” Zach shrugged, “That we need to find Kaylie and figure out what the hell is going on?” Elliot nodded, “Yep, exactly.” The two of them took off in the opposite direction that Curtis had gone in hopes of catching Kaylie before she headed out to the bus.
When they got to her, she was sitting on the bench in the auditorium lobby looking down at the headband that Curtis had returned to her that morning. Elliot sat down next to her and Zach stood next to him leaning against the wall. Elliot had always been better with the emotional kind of stuff so Zach left it mostly up to him. Elliot looked at her and when she didn’t meet his eyes he asked, “Hey, you okay?” Kaylie shrugged but didn’t say anything, “Did Curtis tell you guys what happened today?” Elliot and Zach exchanged a quick glance, “No,” said Zach carefully, “what’s up?” She looked at the two of them and they could both see how stressed out she was about whatever it was that was going on, “Well we hung out and stuff yesterday, right? And things went really well and all. I’m sure he told you guys at least that much. And, I guess he kind of assumed that he and I were dating. And, well, I didn’t know that. I just thought that we were fooling around and stuff. And today he asked me about it and when I told him that, he told me that he couldn’t deal with having an “in-between” kind of relationship and that I needed to figure it out,” she paused and took a breath, “But now I don’t know what to do. ‘Cause I like him and all, but we’ve both changed a lot and everything, and there’s still all that stuff between us, Harrison, and Shawn and I feel like dating would only start all that up again and just, I don’t know. Like, I don’t wanna hurt him but I don’t know if I want a real relationship with him at this point. I’m not sure if it would be good for either of us.” Elliot gently put his hand on her shoulder, “Look, you and Curtis have been through practically everything together. But it’s true, the two of you have changed a lot since you guys drifted apart. But that doesn’t mean that nothing can happen with you two, you know? Change doesn’t always have to separate people or be a bad thing.” Kaylie gave a forced smile; she loved how Elliot always seemed to care so much, “I know. But I just, I feel like he’s given up before we even got the chance to start, you know?” Elliot nodded, “I know what you mean. But you have to think about who we’re talking about here. Curtis has gotten fucked over so many times, he’s just scared is all. He’d never ever admit it, but that’s what it really comes down to.” Kaylie nodded, “I guess you’re right. Do you think that I should give this whole thing a chance?” Elliot shrugged and nodded, “Honestly, yea. I mean, lord knows you two have liked each other forever. I think you guys should at least give it a shot.”
Kaylie looked over a Zach, who had been silent throughout the whole conversation. “What do you think Smith?” she asked him. He looked at her with a conflicted look on his face. While the two of them had been talking, Zach had been thinking about how much she and Curtis really had changed. And now he was wondering if the two of them being together would be a blessing or a curse. Sure, they had understood each other back in middle school, but pretty much everything had changed since then. Zach wanted them to be happy, but he wasn’t sure that being a couple was the surefire way to do that. “Well, I don’t know to be perfectly honest. I mean, I want you guys to be happy and stuff, but I think you to need to get to know each other all over again. ‘Cause like you said, you’ve both changed a lot.” Kaylie nodded and her face showed the deep thoughts running through her head and Elliot looked like he was about ready to rip Zach’s head off. Zach just looked at him and shrugged; he wasn’t going to lie to Kaylie, no matter how much Elliot wanted him to.
After a few minutes of soul-piercing glares and thoughtful silence, Kaylie sighed and picked up her bag, “Thanks for coming and talking to me guys, it means a lot.” Elliot said goodbye and Zach gave her a wave and a goodbye nod. She walked out the door and called someone on her phone to come and pick her up from the school.
Elliot turned to Zach, “What the hell was that?!” Zach sighed, “She wanted my opinion man, so I gave it.” Elliot looked at him, “Yea but you were supposed to give an opinion that would help the two of them get together.” Zach sat down on the bench next to him, “Did it ever cross your mind for a second that maybe that’s not what’s best for the two of them right now?”