Offside

“I punched him.” Again my shoulders went up and down. “Only once.”

“Is that what you do all the time, beat people up when you don’t like what they say?”

“Not always,” I said. I pulled away from her a bit. I didn’t like this…this having to justify myself. I never justified my own actions. I did what I fucking wanted to do at school.

“Why, Thomas? What did Clint do that was deserving of all that?”

“He was running his mouth,” I said. “I already told you that.”

“What did he say exactly?”

Well, I really didn’t want to tell her the specifics. I promised to protect her from all that bullshit, and that’s exactly what I intended to do.

When I didn’t respond, Nicole grabbed a yogurt and a bagel and slid her tray to the cashier. I dropped a Gatorade on Nicole’s tray and slammed a twenty-dollar bill on the cash register. Nicole turned to glare at me as she put her wallet back in her book bag, shoved the Gatorade back at me, and stalked off with her tray.

She was actually starting to make me a little hard.

I followed her to a table and flopped down next to her. She leaned forward on her arms and turned her head away from me. I leaned forward, too, placing the side of my face on my arms and peeking up at her through her curtain of hair.

“Would it matter if I said I was defending your honor?”

“Not in the least!” she snapped back at me. “You can’t just do that, Thomas! You can’t just attack someone because they say something you don’t like! They had to take the lockers apart to get him out!”

“That was the idea,” I said. “How is he going to learn a lesson if he gets out right away?”

“What?” She turned to me with her eyes full of fire. “That’s your idea of a teaching lesson, is it?”

“You’re cute when you’re mad,” I told her.

“You have been, and continue to be, a total jerk,” she replied. “I don’t think I have ever met anyone who is as self-centered and obnoxiously egotistical as you are.”

I moved closer, raising myself out of the chair a little so I could get close to her ear.

“Teach not thy lip such scorn, for it was made for kissing, lady, not for such contempt.”

She glanced at me quickly, and I heard her breath stop in her throat. Her skin tone darkened for a split second before she scowled.

“Do you think quoting Shakespeare is going to make any difference?”

“A guy can hope, can’t he?”

“You’re incorrigible.”

I had to smile.

“A little,” I admitted with a shrug.

Nicole’s look softened, and she turned toward me a bit. She looked at me quizzically for a moment as she took a bite of her bagel. I stole the spork for her yogurt and started tapping it against the side of her tray.

“Were you?” she suddenly asked.

“Was I what?”

“Defending my honor?”

“Maybe.”

“What did he say?” she asked, and I could see the hurt in her eyes. That’s exactly what I didn’t want to see. I tucked the spork into the pocket of my jeans. I’d put it on the top shelf of my locker with the other one. I reached up to push her hair over her shoulder.