Last Round Romance

All of the memories and emotions flooded back when Harrison addressed him like that. Curtis sped up and took longer strides in hopes of getting away from them before either said anything else, but both boys had a good four of five inches on him when it came to height so they could keep up with no problem. “Hey,” Harrison said putting his hand on Curtis’ shoulder, “I was talkin’ to you kid.” When Curtis felt Harrison touch his shoulder, he wanted to turn and swing right then and there. He shrugged the boy’s hand off and turned to him, “Don’t talk to me like that, asshole.” Harrison raised his eyebrows, “Wow, someone took their manly pills today.” Shawn laughed and took a step forward to try and force Curtis to have to step closer to Harrison. Curtis turned back around and walked down the hallway to his locker but the two boys were tagging close behind.
Harrison leaned against the locker next to Curtis’ as he was dialing in his combination. “So,” said Harrison as he looked at Curtis, “Seen much of-” But before he could finish his sentence, Maria popped up next to Curtis, “Hey, what do you have this period?” she asked with a slight nervous edge to her voice. She had seen the two of them walking up the stairs and down the hallway and she was worried about what would happen if she didn’t intervene. She saw how Curtis had his fist and jaw clenched while he was putting his combination in, and she knew that if Harrison and Shawn kept talking to him, Curtis would end up snapping and that it just wasn’t going to end well. Curtis turned to her looking slightly confused, “Sorry, what did you say?” She gave a light laugh, “I was just wondering what you had this period. ‘Cause I have lunch. But, I can’t remember how to get to the cafeteria. ‘Cause I’m just that smart haha.” Curtis gave her a forced smile; he knew what she was trying to do. Part of him was thankful but the other part wanted her to know that he wasn’t some lost puppy that needed protecting. “I have that now too,” he said as he pulled a few folders out of his locker, “I’ll walk with you.” She smiled, “Thanks.”
Maria looked over at Harrison and Shawn as Curtis was closing the door to his own locker. Harrison nodded to her, “Hey there.” Maria gave a small wave but didn’t say anything. Shawn moved closer to her and smiled at her. Maria simply took a step back and waited for Curtis. Curtis slung his bag onto his back and turned to Maria, “You good?” She nodded. They started walking down the hallway and Maria was worried that the two guys were going to follow them, but to her relief she saw them walking in the other direction out of the corner of her eye.
Curtis and Maria made their way down the hallway in silence and when they got to the bottom of the stairs, Curtis took off the same way he had that morning when he walked her to study hall. He walked to the back of the lunchroom and pulled up a chair next to Elliot and tossed his bag on the ground. Elliot looked at him with slight concern, “What’s up with you man? You look like you just saw a ghost.” Curtis shook his head, “Nothing man, just shit with Harrison and Shawn.” Elliot nodded, but said nothing more. He knew the deal between Curtis, Harrison, and Shawn and how the two of them had totally fucked Curtis’ life over. Elliot wanted to say something, but there were two things stopping him. One, he couldn’t think of the right words to say, and two, even if he had thought of something, he was sure that Curtis would beat him if he tried to say anything about it.
They spent the rest of their lunch period joking around with the other guys at their table, but never talking about anything of real importance. They never did though; it was like part of some unspoken code. You didn’t talk about personal issues unless it was something that they could all make fun of you for. It was just how their circle of friends worked. One of the boys tossed a fruit snack at Curtis from across their small circular table and Curtis bobbed his head and caught it in his mouth with a sly smile and laugh. The boy who threw it just shook his head with a chuckle and popped one into his own mouth.
The bell rang and everyone picked up their things and started to head out of the cafeteria to go to their next classes. “Hey,” Curtis called after Elliot, “you shooting hoops with me and Zach after school today?” Elliot nodded, “Yea, sounds good.” Curtis nodded and then turned on his heels to go to his class that was on the other end of the school from where he was.
He silently worked his way through the last few class periods of the day and let out a sigh of relief when the dismissal bell rang. He picked up his backpack from the floor of the Physics room and headed out the door to go to the stairs that led up to his locker. He was taking the steps two at a time when he slipped and nearly face-planted on the last one. He cursed under his breath as he caught himself on the rickety white guard rail that went along the side of the wall. He pulled himself upright and got up the last few steps before fixing his shirt on his shoulders.
He walked down the hall to his locker and rested his head against the door. He was putting his books away when he felt a pair of hands land on his shoulders. He spun around quickly, ready to swing, when he saw that it was just Elliot. “Whoa,” Elliot said as he backed up and held his hands up in surrender, “calm down man. I wasn’t gonna kill ya.” Curtis sighed and ran his fingers through his hair, “Sorry man, I’m just on edge today.” Elliot nodded but said nothing more as Curtis turned back around and finished packing up his things before going to find Zach and head out to the basketball courts.
They walked back down the stairs and wandered through the now desolate and empty hallways until they came to Zach’s locker. Everyone had cleared out pretty quickly since it was nice out and everyone wanted to go home or go out with friends.
Zach took the basketball down from the top shelf of his locker and tossed it to Curtis before turning around and getting his bag off the hook. He looked at everything in his locker one more time before closing and locking the door to it. He turned around to Curtis and Elliot, “You guys ready?” They both nodded, “Yea, let’s go.”
They made their way down the hallway that led to the door that would put them right on the basketball courts. They were joking around and tossing and dribbling the ball back and forth between the three of them. Zach was bouncing it off the walls and lockers as he walked down the hallways and all the janitors were shooting him angry glares, but he just ignored them. “What are they gonna do,” he asked Elliot when he told Zach that the janitors were looking, “mop me to death?” The guys couldn’t help but to laugh. For as smart and athletic as Zach was, he had a serious problem when it came to dealing with authority. He would’ve been a model student if it weren’t for that. Granted, Elliot was really the only one out of the three of them who ever listened to what their parents, teachers, etc., said, but Zach was probably the worst of the three. Curtis would at least listen to his teachers most of the time.
They walked out onto the court and started passing the ball around and taking shots and doing layups. Zach was getting frustrated because he wasn’t tall enough to a layup the right way. He was shorter than Curtis, and Curtis was pretty short. Elliot was the only one out of the three of them that was normal height for their age. But Zach hated how his height prevented him from doing some of the things that he wanted to do. “Dude,” Curtis told him with a laugh as they dribbled the ball back and forth, “it doesn’t matter how tall you are, you’re strong as hell. You could definitely kick some serious ass if you had to.” Zach shrugged, “I guess, but I mean, if I ever had to fight someone normal height, they’d probably just step on me.” Elliot stifled a laugh and Zach chucked the ball at him.
They played for a little while before Curtis walked back over to his backpack to grab his water bottle to get a drink. He looked up from his bag over to the bleachers and saw Maria sitting there with her earphones in, drawing. He wanted to go over and talk to her, but he knew that the guys would never let him live it down. He tossed the bottle back into his bag and jogged back across the blacktop to the basketball court.
They had been playing for about an hour and a half when Elliot said that he had to split. “I’m on dinner-duty tonight,” he said with a laugh. Elliot had three younger siblings and an older brother that might as well have been another younger sibling, so everyone took turns on who did certain chores. It was pretty important that Elliot not screw up his night though, since they usually just ate leftovers for the nights that followed because none of his little brothers and sisters liked their other brother’s cooking. Elliot put his backpack on and took his car keys out of his pocket, “Either of you guys need a ride?” Zach shook his head no and told Elliot that his sister was coming to pick him up in about ten minutes. Curtis looked down at the ground, “Could you give me a lift?” Elliot nodded, “Yea man, definitely. Just let me bring the car back around.” Curtis nodded and Elliot started to walk back around the school to the front parking lot where his car was. Elliot knew how much Curtis hated taking rides or anything from other people. To Curtis, accepting that kind of stuff from people was like accepting charity, and Curtis hated that feeling. He hated feeling like he was being pitied. And, no matter how many times Elliot tried to explain that it wasn’t a problem, and that Curtis’ house was on his way home anyway, Curtis wouldn’t listen to him.
Zach’s phone went off and he checked it. “Hey,” he said to Curtis as he picked up his bags, “my sister’s waiting for me. So, tell Elliot I said bye and stuff. I’ll see you tomorrow?” Curtis shrugged, “Probably.” Zach gave him a nod and a clap on the back before turning and walking to where his sister was parked.
Once he had gone, Curtis walked past the bleachers where Maria was sitting and drawing. Part of him wanted to stop and talk to her, but the other part of him reminded him that all it would do is cause more trouble for her, and that was the last thing that a new person in town needed. He wanted to know why she was so glued to that sketchpad of hers, but he felt like he didn’t know her well enough to ask. As a matter of fact, he really didn’t know her at all. He wanted that to change, but he knew that it probably wouldn’t, not soon anyway. He just forced himself to keep on walking past her and over to where Elliot’s car was parked.
He tossed his bag onto the floor on the passenger side of the car and sat down. He leaned his head back against the seat and let out a sigh of exhaustion as he rubbed his face with his hands. Elliot sat in the driver’s seat and looked over at Curtis as he put the key in the ignition. “You goin’ straight home?” he asked Curtis. He looked over at Elliot and sighed, “Yea…yea just straight home today.” Elliot nodded but didn’t say anything more. He reached forward and turned the radio up to break the insufferable silence.
Elliot’s taste in music was almost like a happy medium between Curtis and Zach. Elliot didn’t listen to a lot of rap, or a lot of metal. He mostly listened to a lot of alternative, which both Curtis and Zach could listen to. That’s why Elliot usually ended up driving everyone everywhere, that way there would be one less thing to argue about. Not that the guys argued over much, but Zach and Curtis were both just so stubborn that even the pettiest argument could end up going on for hours if it wasn’t brought to an end. And Elliot hated listening to them argue, even if it was over something pointless and trivial. He had never been good with dealing with other people’s anger and frustration. He could listen to people vent to him all day, that didn’t bother him, but once people started fighting, it was a whole new ball game. He absolutely hated it. That’s why he was always so worried about Curtis. Elliot knew that pretty much all that went on in Curtis’ house was fighting. He always felt really bad but he wasn’t stupid enough to say that to him. If he did say that to Curtis, Curtis would probably beat him on the spot. Curtis hated people’s pity, and Elliot knew that and kept his mouth shut.
Curtis was looking out the window of the car, watching all the trees and dirt side roads fly by as Elliot sped down Route 7 to Curtis’ house. Elliot looked at him for a second while they were at a stoplight, “So,” he said cautiously, “what’s the deal with the new girl? I mean, I know Zach asked earlier, but I mean the actual deal haha. Not just her relationship status.” Curtis chuckled but didn’t avert his gaze from the window, “I honestly have no idea. I mean, we’ve had a couple short conversations, but I haven’t really learned anything about her. Why?” Elliot shrugged as he put his foot back down on the gas pedal when the light turned green, “Just wondering,” he drummed his hands on the black steering wheel, “a lot of people are saying that she’s hanging around you a lot, so I didn’t know if you two knew each other or something.” Curtis shook his head, “Nope, all I know is that her name’s Maria. But pretty much anyone could tell you that.”
Elliot pulled into Curtis’ driveway and Curtis picked his bag up as he opened the door and got out of the car. He leaned on the frame of the door, “Thanks for the ride man.” Elliot waved his hand to dismiss the comment, “No problem man, any time. I’m like, two seconds down the road haha.” Curtis just smiled and shrugged, “Still, thanks. I’ll see you tomorrow…hopefully.” Elliot tried to hide the concern on his face, “Alright. See ya man.” Curtis shut the door to the car. Elliot rolled down the window quickly and called after him, “Hey, Curtis!” Curtis turned on his heel to face him, “Yea?” Elliot bit his bottom lip for a second, “Text me or whatever if you need me alright?” Curtis nodded but said nothing more. He just turned back around and walked up the walkway that led to his front door.