“Torn between wanting to say something extremely inappropriate about how proud he is of you based on his own thoughts and wanting to say what he thinks your dad would have said at the same time.”
I peeled off my gloves and held them in my lap while I thought about that.
“He thinks Kyle would be concerned,” Bethany said, continuing. “He thinks your dad would have told you to slow down and think about it, make sure this is what you want. On the other hand, Travis wants to high-five you and shout, ‘Go get her!’”
I scowled a bit. I didn’t like the idea of Travis talking about Mayra that way.
“He wasn’t nice to her,” I finally said.
“No, he wasn’t.”
“I don’t want him to be like that to her.”
Bethany cocked her head to one side, and I tried to hold her gaze for a second, hoping she would know I was serious. I didn’t want him to talk like that to Mayra. I wanted him to be nice to her.
“You really like her, huh?” Beth said.
I lowered my eyes and shrugged. Then I thought about it for a minute and remembered what it felt like to be touching her lips with mine and how her body felt underneath me. I started to feel warm inside, and felt myself smile a bit as I licked my lips.
“You do,” Bethany confirmed.
“Yes,” I said quietly.
“Why?”
I narrowed my eyes, but I knew Bethany wasn’t trying to be nasty at all—she just wanted to understand. To make her understand, I was going to have to figure it out for myself.
“She…she’s patient,” I told my aunt. “She doesn’t make me feel stupid.”
“You aren’t stupid.”
“I know,” I said, “but sometimes I feel that way, and sometimes other kids at our school try to make me feel stupid or weird. I know I’m not ‘right.’”
“There is nothing ‘wrong’ with you,” Bethany said vehemently. “You’re just different. It’s not bad; it’s just not the way most people are. Not everyone can deal with that.”
“Mayra can.”
“I could tell by the way she was ripping into your uncle.” Bethany laughed.
I had to smile a bit at that. Mayra certainly hadn’t backed down at all.
“You ready to go upstairs?”
“Okay,” I said.
“Put a shirt on,” Bethany said. “And for the love of God, I hope you’re going to head up and take a shower.”
“I will.” I snickered as I stood up and placed the gloves back on their little holding shelf before turning to my aunt. “She makes me feel normal. She makes me feel like maybe I can have what other people have.”
“You can,” my aunt said. “I always knew you could.”
I couldn’t wait to get back upstairs to Mayra, so I followed my aunt out of the basement.
As I came up the stairs and looked into the living room, I could see Mayra sitting on the far end of the couch with her arms crossed. Travis was sitting all the way on the other side of the room on the far side of the dining room table, scowling at the tabletop.
“Matthew!” Mayra jumped up from the couch and ran over to me. I took a slight step back but didn’t flinch as her arms wrapped around my neck. “I’m so sorry! I wasn’t thinking…again.”
She tucked her head against my chest, and I found my arms going around her as if they were on autopilot. I tilted my head down a little until it was resting against the top of her head. Her hair smelled good, and I closed my eyes and inhaled for a second. I didn’t really know what to say, and hearing her apologize to me made my sto