Questions
Fall For You“Look how big your head your head was!” I yelled laughing staring at a picture when he was 7. “Oh my gosh, you had such big ears! Monkey ears!” I said, pointing at his huge ears.
“At least my head wasn’t as big as your mouth,” he countered, putting his hand over my mouth. I pushed it away.
“Oh, is that right?” I asked, pushing his head away.
“Okay, you two, dinner is served.” Ma called is at the table in the kitchen.
He pulled me up and pushed me towards the kitchen. One by one, my siblings were coming down and joining us at the table.
“Here, Tita, let me help you.” He grabbed the dishes from my Mom and set them at the table.
I laughed at him, while sitting down at my seat. “Oh Ge. You’re already living here, you don’t have to up.”
“Hey, I like helping others out. And you should start helping your mother, you’d be nothing without her”
He went back and picked some more food to bring back to the table. “Wow, nice you know that you have faith in me.”
“I don’t need to faith in you, you’re not my sister, and you’re very well not my family.” He finally took a seat beside me.
“Ma, can you please tell Gerald that I do not have a big mouth,” everyone took a seat at the table.
“Finally I’m not the only one who thinks that.” My brother said.
“You know JP, I find it really interesting what it is that’s underneath your mattress. What were those magazines called?” I smiled deviously at him.
He kicked me under the table, and I inhaled. Everyone laughed, I always found it weird how family laughs at each other’s misfortunes and pain. “Well, Ge. I wouldn’t necessarily say it was a big mouth; it was just that she never filtered out what she was going to say next. She’s a very opened girl.”
“Thanks Mother, you didn’t make me sound easy at all,” I said smiling fakely.
“Gerald, did you know that our parents wanted you and Kim to get married when you guys were younger?”
I dropped my spoon and almost choked on my food, “Ate!”
He laughed at her comment, “The may have mentioned it once or twice. I was seven when we last saw each other, so it is vaguely in my memory.”
“Kim, sweetheart, don’t be ashamed. Me and your father are still discussing your soulmate. Jake seems like a good boy, but whenever we see you two together, we don’t even remember who Jake is.” Mom said.
“Well good, because me and Jake are over. I ended it.” I said not meeting their eyes.
Everyone gasped. “What? We all like Jake. He was popular, which made you popular and maybe a little more y than expected, but yeah, we all like Jake.”
I laughed, “Than I guess you’ll all like that I caught him cheating on me in the next room at the same party I was at.”
Once again, everyone gasped. “Baby…we had no…we had no idea.”
“Yeah, he’s a real catch,” I said sarcastically.
“Are you okay?”
I smiled, “Perfectly okay.” I probably sounded less convinced, though I truly was okay. “Jake and I weren’t ever a good match anyways.” It was quiet for a little while. “Anyways, Mom, the acting class starts after school tomorrow. Did you sign my registration forms?”
“Yes darling, they’re all ready to go. But Gerald is going to have to drive you again. You don’t mind do you, sweetheart?”
Gerald looked at me and then at my mother, “Anything for Kimmy.”
I nudged him away from me.
Monday morning, I woke up and got ready like usual. The only difference was that it was an hour after I’ve been waking up for the past week. I walked downstairs with a smile on my face and Gerald was there, probably after just reading my mind that he could drive me to school now, I was finished with avoiding him.
“You ready?” He asked tossing me a toasted bagel.
I caught it smiling. “Yeah.”
He walked me to the car like he always did, as a gentleman, and started the car. “So you’re wearing my sweater,” he noticed.
I looked down and smiled, “I was cold. Anyways, I wanted to ask you a couple of questions that I’ve been meaning to ask you about your gift.”
“Okay…” He kept his eyes on the road, but I noticed his grip tightened.
“Don’t worry, I’m just curious. I won’t try to force your secret out, but if you want, you know I want to hear it.” His grip loosened. “Okay, number one--”
“If we’re going to play twenty questions, or with your big mouth, fifty questions, I’d like to know.”
I scowled at him, “Number one: Did you always have it? I mean were you able to read my mind when I was kid?”
“No, it just happened about a year and a half ago.” He answered.
“So, it’s fairly new.” He nodded. “But you’re very in control of it. Turning it off and on like you did.” I stopped immediately. “Unless you didn’t turn it off. I mean can you even do that?”
He chuckled, “It didn’t come with a manual if that’s what you’re thinking. But, when it first happened, you kind of get used to it as time goes on.”
“Okay, question number two--”
“Question number four,” he corrected me.
I chuckled, “Okay, number four: is that what your ex-girlfriend thought was repulsive? And don’t mistaken it for being a way to get to the secret, I just want to know if that was it.”
His face went still like a stone. “No, it was part of it, but if mind-reading was the only thing, I think it would’ve been a bit forgiving, don’t you?”
“So there’s another secret that I need to lose sleep over.” I joked, putting my hand over his arm. “Why are you so scared? I mean I get it if you’re scared I’ll turn my back on you or anyone else turn their back on you, but is that the whole reason? You won’t be honest because you’re afraid of being alone?”
He parked in front of the school, but didn’t turn off the engine. “I’m not leaving until you answer it.”
He nodded, “Have you ever had a secret about yourself that you couldn’t believe it was about you?” I was about to say something, but shut my mouth again. “When I realized what I was, I started laughing, it couldn’t be true; I wanted everything else for it not be true. It defined who I was, but I couldn’t believe it.” He paused, and looked down.
“So you’re not telling someone because you don’t believe it yourself?” He didn’t answer. “Ge, has it ever occurred to you that maybe everyone didn’t accept whatever it was that you apparently are because you didn’t accept it yourself?”
He laughed, “That certainly could be it. Enough talk, you need to get to school. There’ll be more time to ask more of your questions.”
I smiled and undid my seatbelt. “Good, that means I have six hours during school to come up at least a hundred more questions.”
“If I get stopped for speeding later on, that’ll be on you.”
“You’ll pick me up later?” I asked, squinting because I was actually afraid he’d say no. “It’s just Jake always drove me home, and since that’s over I kind of don’t want to walk home like three miles.” I chuckled, trying to give him my charmest smile.
“Stop trying so hard.” He smiled at me. “Don’t be thinking about me today,” he called out to me.
I slammed the door shut and smiled at him shaking my head.
“You look extremely happy for a girl who caught her boyfriend cheating just less than forty-eight hours ago.” Erich ran, and linked her arm through mine.
I chuckled, “Maybe because I finally found out what you guys were talking about. Jake is totally not worth my tears, and I probably ran out of them Saturday night.”
“Could this beaming face be the product of some – I don’t know – maybe some booty-call you didn’t tell me about?”
“Ugh, ew! No booty call. I just realized that when I saw him, I wasn’t crying because I was upset, well, maybe a little, but mostly because I was kind of relieved that I finally got my reason to break it off.”
Erich smiled, “Mmmhmmm, and what about your driver?”
“Gerald is just a good friend who I’m trying to figure out still.” I said.
Erich nodded, “Okay, well, if you’re not into him, can I have him? He is definitely my type of guy.”
“It’s too early to tell, but I think I’m finished with relationships.” I sighed and went through my day figuring out more questions for later. I have to say, I think I got some pretty good questions in six hours and some these even could give me a hint to what else he might be.
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