"They're wrong. You're anything but a void."
"You don't know me. Being a void is a small price to pay for all the bad things I've done."
"What bad things?" he asked, leaning forward on the couch with his hands clasped together in his lap. His whole demeanor suggested interest in every word I uttered. The attention was unlike any I'd ever received and prickles of unease ran up my arms. He was slowly chipping away at the wall that surrounded me. A wall no one had ever bothered to scale before.
"I'm sure you've heard them all," I finally answered, meeting his eyes.
"Why don't you tell me your version."
"I can't," I whispered.
"Why not?"
"Because, I don't talk about my past. Ever."
He sat back slowly on Donna's awful couch and stared at me intently for a moment. "Okay, fair enough. Let's study instead," he said, patting the spot next to him.
"Gah, studying sucks ass," I griped as a ploy while I worked to control the emotions raging a silent battle inside me.
"Nice try. I could tell last week during tutoring that you're a lot smarter than you let on, so no excuses. I need to study anyway."
"So, study at home then," I said.
"I want to study with you, although the quietness of your house is a little unnerving. I'm used to chaos, courtesy of the Terrible Two."
"Terrible Two?" I asked.
"My twin sisters. They're three and holy terrors," he said with obvious affection.
"Twins?" I asked enviously. I would have loved one sibling, but two would have been amazing.
"Yeah, the beauty of fertility drugs, which my parents thought I needed to know at the tender age of thirteen. Believe me, no thirteen-year-old boy wants to hear about fertility drugs, let alone his parents' sex life. They're lucky I didn't need counseling."
The corners of my mouth twitched, pulling up slightly at each side. Dean's open attitude was unlike anybody I'd ever met. I couldn't help responding. Thankfully, he was looking down at his backpack and missed my lapse.
"What time do your parents get home?" he asked conversationally as he pulled out a chemistry textbook.
"Why?" I asked sharply, suddenly aware of how alone we were. Maybe he was hoping to score as payment for paying attention to me. I knew girls put out for a whole lot less, so I wouldn't have been surprised.
"I need to know if my jeep is in the way," he said, looking puzzled at my sharp tone.
"Oh," I said feeling like a complete dip. "My parents are separated, and you'll be long gone by the time Donna gets home."
"Donna? You call your mom by her first name?"
"Uh, yeah, it was a sort of a compromise we made when I was thirteen."
"Does she always work such late hours?"
"She goes right to church from work every day," I said, reaching for my phone. "You want a snack? I can order a pizza," I asked.
"Sure. I'm a guy, I'm always hungry," he said, patting his flat stomach.
I nodded like I knew all about the appetites of the opposite sex, when in actuality I didn't have a clue. My dad had been a stranger before he ever moved out. All my other experiences with the opposite sex hadn't involved food.
Pulling my thought away from the road I didn't want to travel down, I dialed Al's Pizza Palazooa.
"Al's Pizza," a familiar voice answered.