She was blinking at me through her glasses like she had no idea what I was talking about. “Um, helloooo, earth to Penny. Hot Kissing Machine is sitting on the curb outside, waiting for you. You didn’t know that?”
“He is?”
“Yeah. I asked what he was doing and he said, ‘Waiting for my BFF to finish conditioning.’ ”
“Oh my God.”What is he doing here?“Oh Ling, I totally stink. I can’t go out there. I mean, I smell really bad. I can’t see him right now.”
“I doubt he cares. Look at you.” She waved her hand up and down my body. “Anyway, I thought you didn’t have time for boys?”
“I don’t. I need a way out. What are you doing tonight?”
“Going to a party in my building. You want to go to a stupid party with a bunch of my psych friends instead of hanging out with Hot Kissing Machine?”
“No. I mean yes. I want to go to the stupid party.” I couldn’t be alone with him; I knew that.
“Okay, suit yourself. Come by at eight. I live in those Greenwood Apartments with the red doors. Number twelve on the first floor.”
“I’ll be there.”
“Cool,” she said. “Have fun with your BFF. I can’t wait to hear all about it.”
“I’m not—”
She ignored me and left humming the “K-I-S-S-I-N-G” melody. My heart was racing. I walked out as Gavin was taking one last puff of a cigarette. He had an eye closed against the smoke.
“Hey, PIP,” he said. “I missed you.” He stubbed the cigarette out in the planter and stood with his arms out for a hug.
I stared at him, stock-still, with my bag slung over my shoulder.
“Friendly hug?” he said, still holding his arms out.
“I smell pretty bad.”
“Me too. We’ll be perfect together. What did Doug call it? Alchemy?”
I hesitated and then finally gave in and hugged him, sort of the way I hug my dad: with my face in his chest, one arm slung over his shoulder and the other around his waist. The awkward one-armed hug.
He patted me on the head like a dog. “Okay,” he said, “I’ll take it.”
I didn’t want to lift both my arms and unleash my horrendous body odor. He was holding me when I mumbled into his shirt, “I just worked out for four hours, and I was gonna take a shower at home because the heater is broken in the locker room, and it’s freezing in there, and I didn’t feel like getting hypothermia on a Friday night, so I decided that I would just... you know take a shower later—”
“You’re rambling, Penny Lane.”
I pulled away to take him in. His hand was wrapped up and it looked like there was grease on the bandage. His longish hair was going everywhere and he was wearing black faded jeans, black boots, and a black T-shirt with a hole in the shoulder.
“Did something happen to you. Did you get hit by a car?”
“Ha ha, funny girl. No, I just came from work. I don’t have class on Fridays so I usually work all day Friday. And now I’ve got the whole night free for you.”
Oh God.“What happened to your hand?”
“Oh, nothing. I just had to cover some fresh ink.”
“Huh?”
He grinned. “A new tattoo.”
“Do you have a lot of tattoos?”
