Spencer's Face (Buckeye Hawks) (35 page)

Of course, I knew
that if Taylor asked Karen to keep something quiet, she would.

Zane drove us
around town to the other hotels. We didn’t see her car. That didn’t mean she
wasn’t there. It only meant she wasn’t there right now. Zane said we’d check
again tomorrow if we couldn’t find her tonight. We also drove to Sandy’s house.
We even drove to Taylor’s house. She wasn’t at either place. She didn’t have
any other friends that she spent the night with. None that I knew of anyway. Zane
thought of a few and we checked their houses. It was a lost cause.

After I got home
alone, I texted her. I told myself that I wouldn’t, but I did. “Where are you
staying? I’m a little worried about you.”

She texted me
back. “Trailer, like I told you.”

“We checked with
Manny. Why won’t you tell me where you are?” I texted her back.

She texted me
back. “I don’t want you to know where I am. I want to be alone. It hurts to see
you.”

I texted her
again. “I love you still.” I knew it was pathetic. I hated myself for saying
it. A text came back that said she’d blocked my number. I tried to call her,
but it was blocked too. Damn. Now I felt like a stalker. She really wasn’t
being fair about this at all.

The next day,
Taylor didn’t show up for school again. Zane texted her. She said she was still
sick.

The next day, same
thing.

The day after
that, same thing. “What the hell? Viruses don’t last that long. What the hell is
wrong with her? Does she hate me that much for talking to Sally?” I yelled to Zane.
I was so fed up with waiting on her, and wanting her so badly that I ached
inside. I couldn’t eat. I couldn’t sleep. This was the most horrible feeling in
the world.

“She broke up
with you for flirting with
Sally
?” Zane asked as if he couldn’t believe
it.

“I was just
talking to her. I wasn’t flirting with her.” I defended myself quickly.

Zane pushed me
into one of the make out holes.

“Dude. We’re good
friends, but we’re not this close.” I joked with him.

“Sally’s a
lesbian.” He whispered to me.

“What? No she’s
not.” I gave him a funny look. All the guys in school were constantly after Sally.
She had to be straight.

A guy walked by
and looked at Zane and me in the make out hole. He gave us a funny look.

Zane nodded. “Yes
she is. Not too many people know, so keep it tight.”

“So…Taylor didn’t
know.” I said. I hated it that she dumped me over a lesbian. This entire
breakup could have been avoided if Taylor had known that.

“She knew. She
told me.” Zane informed me.

“Holy shit!” I
exclaimed. “What the hell? She made up an excuse to dump me?”  I was so mad
that I could have hit something. How could she do this? And, why?

Zane shrugged his
shoulders. Another guy walked by and gave us a funny look. I stepped out of the
hole. I didn’t want any rumor started about how Taylor dumped me because I was
gay and in love with Zane.

A few minutes
later, we saw Sandy walking toward us in the hallway. I looked at her. Zane
looked at her. We both started walking toward her to catch her. She turned
around quickly and walked the other way, trying to make her escape quickly.

“She knows
something.” I said to Zane.

“She sure does.”
He said, then we ran after her.

She heard us
stomping toward her, then she stopped, giving up on getting away from us. She
turned around toward us with a guilty look. “Hi guys.” she said, looking as if
she’d just committed a felony. She was a horrible liar. We’d get the truth out
of her.

“Where’s she at?”
Zane asked her.

“I don’t know
what you’re talking about. Or who?” she said. She was trying to lie. It wasn’t
working out too well for her.

“You know we’re
asking about Taylor. What’s going on? She’s hasn’t been sick for four days.” I
told her.

“She’s been sick.
Really sick.” Sandy said. She was so obviously lying that it was almost
comical.

“Where is she?” Zane
asked. “We just want to know. We won’t bother her.”

“She switched
schools.” Sandy said finally.

Somehow I knew it
was the truth, but I couldn’t believe it. “Which school?” I asked.

“Phoenix
somewhere.” She answered.

I knew that was
the truth, but I knew she was leaving something out too.

“Where in
Phoenix? Is she living in her car?” I asked her.

“No, she’s
staying with her aunt and uncle until she…” Sandy stopped. “graduates. Then
she’s going to start college in California next year.”

Sandy was really
stuttering for some reason.

“Which aunt and
uncle?” Zane asked. Did he know where they lived? I hoped so.

“Bridget and Pedro.”
She said.

“Where do they
live?” Zane demanded. “And what school is she going to?”

“I don’t know.
She wouldn’t tell me.” Sandy defended herself. “She knew I couldn’t keep it a
secret. So she didn’t tell me. I can always get in touch with her.”

“Until she blocks
your
calls and your texts.” I pointed out.

“She’d never do
that to me.” Sandy said, very sure of herself.

“She did it to
me.” Zane said. She’d blocked his number this morning after too many texts from
him.

I grabbed Sandy’s
phone that was sticking out of her purse. I dialed Taylor’s number quickly.

“No!” Sandy
yelled out grabbing for her cell phone. I dodged her easily.

“Hey, girl!
What’s up?” Taylor said in a really friendly voice. It’d been so long since I’d
heard her voice that I froze for a second, just feeling it.

“It’s me, Taylor.
Tell me what the hell is going on. Why did you break up with me? Sally is a
lesbian. So don’t you dare try to tell me you broke up with me for flirting
with her.” I demanded. She wouldn’t squirm her way out of this one.

She hung up. Zane
looked at me with pity. Sandy looked at me with pity.

“Sally’s a
lesbian?” she asked softly, guilt consuming her voice.

“I hope I didn’t
cause her to block your calls.” I apologized to Sandy as I handed her phone
back to her.

“She’ll never
block my calls.” Sandy said with confidence.

I hoped she was
right. I’d feel guilty if I caused her to lose Taylor as a friend.

“I’m going to the
office to see if they know which school she transferred to.” I told Zane.

“Good idea. I’ll
come with you.” Zane said.

Sandy followed
us. I don’t know why. Maybe she wanted to know too. Or maybe she just wanted to
warn Taylor if we found out. I asked the lady up front if she’d tell us where
Taylor went.

“I’m not supposed
to give out that information. It’s confidential.” she told us.

Zane used his
charms on her. That didn’t work so he practically begged her.

“I couldn’t tell
you even if I wanted to, because we didn’t forward her transcripts anywhere.
She came and picked them up herself the day before yesterday. She took them to
her new school herself. She didn’t tell us where.”

Damn. I felt like
she was within my grasp and I’d missed her. Zane felt the same way. He’d just
lost a friend. I can’t believe she moved. She switched schools. I can’t believe
she broke up with me for a bogus reason, then switched schools. What the hell?

On the way home, Zane
kept telling me how sorry he was. I didn’t talk much. I felt so horrible that I
thought I might be getting sick. I told my aunt about everything, and she was
really upset that Taylor would do that to me. She called her a little bitch in
fact. I didn’t like that at all, but I didn’t say anything. I felt like crying
again.

After auto shop,
the next day in school, I was walking to Senior Pole with Dwayne and Ronnie as
usual. There was a commotion at the pole. Several kids were gathered around
someone. When I got up closer, I found Ryan hugging Taylor. Damn that hurt.
Were they going out now? And, what was she doing here? She released Ryan, then
hugged Sally.

When I was close
enough, I could hear everyone saying they were going to miss her. She was
saying goodbye to everyone. My heart sank. I started to walk away, but I
couldn’t. Dwayne was trying to make his way to Taylor so he could hug her. He
hugged her. She looked up to see me. I simply stared at her. She walked up to
me and hugged me. I pulled her body to me, hard.

I didn’t want to
let her go, but she pulled away. However, she kept her arm around my waist. My
hopes soared. It felt like when we were together. I draped my arm over her
shoulder.

“So, what are you
going to do without her, Spencer?” Ryan asked.

“Phoenix isn’t
that far away.” Taylor shot back quickly.

“Living for the
weekends.” Dwayne added. “Well good luck, Taylor. Come back and see us
sometime.”

“You’d better.” Zane
added. “And call us.”

“Be good!” Taylor
called to everyone as they went to class.

The two of us
stood there alone. I wasn’t sure what was going on. “So…Phoenix?” I asked her.

She nodded. “I
didn’t want to embarrass you in front of our friends. I don’t know who all
knows about us.”

“Everyone knows.”
I told her.

She chuckled. “I
guess I wasted all my acting talent then. Can you walk me to the car? I need to
grab my cheerleading stuff from Sandy’s locker.”

“Sure.” I told
her. I’d take any minute I could get with her right now. “Do you think you
could unblock my calls?”

We walked to
Sandy’s locker. She didn’t answer my question. “Can you ditch Chemistry today?”

I nodded. “Sure.
Why?”

We carried her
things to her car and put everything in the trunk. She drove us to the hotel,
still not answering any of my questions. She opened the hotel door, and we
walked through it. The memories of the two of us together flooded my senses.
She closed and locked the door. I watched her to see what she was doing. Maybe
she wanted to talk.

She pushed up
against me, wrapped her arms around my neck and kissed me. Damn, it felt so
good, like getting a cool drink of water after a heavy workout.

“Oh Taylor.” I
gasped the words to her. It felt so good that she still wanted me.

“Would you make
love to me?” she asked with her face right below mine.

My heart jumped
into my throat. She was asking me back. I felt total relief wash over me. I was
getting hard as I rubbed her back, feeling her close to me.

“One last time.”
she added.

Last time? My
heart fell to the floor. She still wanted to break up with me. Was this a booty
call? I’d heard so many guys in the locker room talk about how this sex was
better than being together. I wasn’t sure I could do it though, knowing that it
would be my last time with the girl I loved more than life.

I nodded to her.
I’d try it. This was my last chance to change her mind. Maybe if I could prove
to her how much I still loved her. I kissed her like there was no tomorrow. I
was begging for more tomorrows with her though. I pulled her clothes off of her
as I kissed her. She pulled my clothes off, then we stepped onto the bed.