Detective Billy
On his way to Maya’s house…
“Is the same girl you had a crush on in high school?” My mom asked.
She called me last night, but I was asleep on the couch and missed the call. She hated when I didn’t call back quickly, so I figured I would fill the fifteen-minute drive to Maya’s house.
“No, well, maybe.” I sighed, trying to remember if I had ever talked about Maya with my mom. “If I told you about her, you were the only one who knew.” I was a jock who spent a lot of time on a football field. Maya spent a lot of time behind the school smoking cigarettes and doing who knows what. “It doesn’t matter because we were so different; it would never have worked out.”
“Everyone is different.” She laughed. “But opposites attract, remember?”
“Mom, it’s more like we were on opposite ends of the hemisphere.” I rolled my eyes and felt thankful we were talking on the phone. She always hated when I rolled my eyes over something she said.
“Are you sure about that?” My mom pushed a little harder on the subject.
“What do you mean?” I scowled, annoyed at the question.
“Well, did you go on a date with her? Did you talk to her on the phone? Did you take any time at all to get to know her?” Mom loved to play devil’s advocate.
“Um, no.” I thought about her questions.
My teammates would’ve given me so much shit if I had talked to Maya, and I don’t even want to think about their reactions if I had asked her on a date.
Secretly, though, Maya always had my attention. She was, is, beautiful. The way her curly hair would bounce around as she reacted to something, and her full belly laugh could be heard from across the room; it was like music to my ears.
It was easier to keep those thoughts to myself.
Jocks were supposed to only associate with students who were into sports. Well, that was true for my school.
Maya wasn’t part of that clique.
“Okay, wait a minute.” My mom sounded shocked. “You’re trying to tell me you know everything about this girl, but you’ve never had a one-on-one conversation with her?”
“Not everything.” I shook my head. “But, when you ask that way…” I didn’t even bother to finish the sentence. My mom had made a good point. “In my defense, I was a young, impressionable teenager.”
“That’s obviously true.” She laughed. “The sad part is you’re still using all the same excuses, and you haven’t been in high school for years, or talked to anyone from the football team since graduating.”
“I also haven’t seen Maya in fourteen years.” I turned right onto Maya’s street.
“You’re not going to argue that you still believe everything from fourteen years ago. Billy, seriously?” My mom sighed. “Honey, I think you need to take a moment and think about everything you just said. Hopefully you’ll realize how ridiculous you sound.”
“Mom.”
“What? Truth hurt?” She laughed. “Listen, I just called last night to see how you were doing since we hadn’t talked in a few days.” She paused for a beat. “I know you’re busy, so go do whatever it is you need to do to help the girl stay safe.” Mom cleared her throat. “But remember something for me.”
“What’s that?” I could tell she was frustrated by the sound of her voice.
“People change. Times change. What happened in high school does not apply when you go out into the real world.” She stopped talking, but I heard her inhale and then exhale. “If those feelings you had for this girl are still present all these years later, do something about it. There’s no time like the present to make shit happen.”
“Thanks, Mom.” I struggled to separate those thoughts from high school from my life now, but I knew she was right. Mom had always been honest, and nine times out of ten, her wise words helped shape who I am today.
“I love you, Baby.”
We hung up as I pulled into Maya’s driveway.
What if I was wrong about Maya?
The truth was, I knew she had a crush on me throughout high school because she made her feelings clear to anyone who asked.
No one had a clue; I felt the same for her.
Instead, I created this imaginary story about her to reason why I was ignoring my true feelings.
Now, fourteen years later, I had to spend the night at her house. Could I continue to pretend I didn’t care when the truth was, she popped into my mind almost every week since we graduated?
AUTHOR NOTE:
Um, hello, LOL! That’s a fun surprise. We never really truly know what someone is thinking. I’m excited to discover Billy has had a crush on Maya for quite some time. Are you as excited as I am? Will he play it cool for a bit or start flirting because close quarters can make you do crazy things?