And right after we walked into the tree house, Jase picked a thick black marker from myFantastical Cup O’ Markersand carefully climbed on a stack of my hardcover books to write the wordsRabbit Holeabove the door.
Joey read the phrase with a raised brow. “What’s Rabbit Hole mean?”
Jase’s eyes grazed past Joey and landed on mine. “FromAlice’s Adventures in Wonderland, you know…down the rabbit hole, where there’s a whole different world. And it’s only ours. Our safe place to go from the jerks like Slate.”
He jumped off the books and swept his hand through his hair, throwing the marker back into theFantastical Cup O’ Markers.It landed perfectly inside the cup. “Oh, and tomorrow…the both of you are coming to Sensei Satuo’s dojo with me. You’re going to learn how to defend yourselves.”
“Dowho?” Joey chuckled.
“Dojo,Piss Pants. It means ‘training hall’ in Japanese.”
I shook my head at Jase. “You know my mom doesn’t have any extra money for me to take fighting lessons. She barely has enough money to feed me,” I complained. I may have sounded like a whiny brat, but it was true. Since my dad left us, my mom had to get a job working in an office all day answering phonesand napping.I knew this because I had visited her office a total of nineteen times so far, andeverytime I had to wake her up! The job was okay she said, but it only paid her minimum wage and had no benefits (whatever that was). She couldn’t get anything better, because she never went to college.Her second jobwas going out every night to a singles’ bar, dressed like one of the Jenson sisters, looking for the next guy who could help pay the mortgage. Her second job seemed really important to her, because she was really good at bringing new friends home and keeping me up all night with their loud music and nasty smelling cigarettes. It was so annoying that I just started sleeping in the tree house every night. Her weekends were spent on dates, or I-Need-To-Get-Married-Like-Yesterday.com sites, searching for someone who could give her a sense of stability instead of just finding it in herself.
I tried to help her by getting her a college application from my counselor at school, but she told me that was too much work for her. She wanted to do it the fun way, like my father had.
I didn’t understand.
So, I just left her to do whatever she did and ate lots of SpaghettiOs and ice cream. Ice cream always makes you feel better anyway.
“Sensei takes donations, he’s the real deal. Just come and I’ll handle everything," Jase said.
And the next thing I could remember was wearing a stiff whiteGiand walking barefoot into a large room where I had to bow, submissively, to some oldMr. Miyagilooking character. Joey chuckled next to me and whispered, “Ah, Danielson, you must wax on and wax off.”
Jase stood next to the Sensei in a blackGiand a purple belt. His smile was infectious, and I got really excited about learning lots of ninja moves.
Yeah, excited.
I was giddy with stupid, ignorant anticipation, until I found myself sweating like a fountain and stuck in a headlock under the smelly armpits of another student. Jase was trying to help me, telling me how to bend my knees and fall forward to get myself out of the hold, but I was seriously passing out because of the kid’s armpit stench.
The kid finally let go of me, raising his hands in surrender, and Jase took over. Walking behind me, Jase placed his right hand around the front of my chest, right under my neck, and pulled me close against his body. His left hand gripped tightly onto my hip. It was the same exact headlock that I was just in, but with Jase’s body flushed up behind mine it felt…different.
Why would that make my insides tingle?
“Okay, first you need to bring up your right hand and grip onto the collar of myGi.”
I slid my hand up and accidently mushed him in the nose.
“Holy ninja-crap, I didn’t mean to do that,” I laughed.
“Yeah,sureyou didn’t. Doesn’t matter, try it again, and grab my collar tight. Get a good grip on it.” He pulled me tighter against him, but this time leaning his cheek softly against my ear—so close that all I could hear and feel were the soft, warm sounds of his breaths.
He slowly went over the steps and movements for me, but the only thing I could think about was how warm his body felt up against the back of mine.
How tall he was compared to me.
How softly his fingers slid over my skin.
How hot his breath felt, blowing against my skin.
The smell of his soap and whatever laundry detergent his father used on his clothes.
Turning my head slightly, all I could see were his lipssoclose to me.So close to my lips. The sound of his voice just rumbled against my skin; none of his words made sense to me when all I could see were his lips. They were confusing me. This was Jase; we’d hugged millions of times and wrestled and played. But, in that moment, I felt every inch of his body against mine, and I tingled from head to toe. My scalp even burned.What the heck was that about?
Then, my feet were airborne, and he was slamming me down on the mats that covered the floor. “Charlie, if you don’t try to do the moves, someone will be able to take you down,” he said, hovering over me. All I could think about was him hovering over me.
Okay. I had to focus.
Jase was one of my best friends. Yes. He kissed me.And God, it was the most perfect kiss in the world, like, I couldstillfeel his lips on mine a day AFTER!But, and this is a huge BUT, Jase didn’t like me like that. We were best friends. Best friends; forever. He went into Heaven with me for seven minutes so he wouldn’t have to go with Rachel Jenson…and I wouldn't get mouth massacred by Aaron Henley's braces.
