O.J.

by Penny Hawking

  “Nico he’s coming.” I whispered

  Nico quickly swerved around dramatically. “Who?” He craned his neck, looking over the voice coming towards us.

  I gave him a dumb look. “The guy from our class duh!”

  Nico rolled his eyes. “Who says duh anymore?”

  “Shut-up.” I interjected. I waited for the boy to come closer. This was my chance. He was literally just a couple feet away. A more than familiar excitement coursed through my body as I rolled my shoulders back. Putting the biggest smile on my round face, I cocked my head to the side.

  “Hi.” I said as soon as he was just two feet away.

  There was a slight pause as I watched him walk straight past me. My ears straining to see if I’d heard a response. I blinked several times, staring at the empty space in front of me.

  Nico’s snickers took me out of my state of confusion. “You look so dumb right now.” He said shaking his head.

  “He just didn’t hear me.” I turned around, determined more than ever to interact with the voice.

  “Give it up, let’s get a sub, I’m hungry man!” Nico pointed into FlamingSub. “Food.” He said turning his whole body to the door. “Hungry.” He started doing a cute little dance step to the door.

  “One second.” I said. Oh no, this dude was not going to walk by and ignore me. I quickly followed after the voice. I consider myself to be a shy person on occasion. I know, I know it doesn’t seem like it, but I am. I would never find myself walking up to any guy right out the blue, but this was different. Why? I haven’t the faintest idea, but my mind was telling me it was. That should have been my first clue guys, my mind wasn’t all together there half the time. I walked behind him for a while but he didn’t notice me. Amused I matched his steps from behind. Left, right, left, right, oh look his shoelace are untied. From where I was standing, which was dangerously close, I could hear screams through his headphones.

  “Hey.” I said moving over and walking beside him.

  “Hey!” I yelled louder again without any response. Was this kid deaf? Well no wonder with whatever music he was listening to where people did nothing but scream.

  Sometimes I act before I think. Which was the current case as I reached and pulled down his headphones. “Hey you!”

  The voice seemed to jump in the air as he whirled around. “What the fuck are you yelling at me for?” He asked glaring at me. Yep that was the voice alright. I might have startled him but he looked me over briefly and I wasn’t sure if it was a look of recognition or surprise in those eyes, but he snatched his headphones from my grasp and secured them around his neck.

  Oh my, your eyes are gorgeous. The clearest blue eyes I’ve ever seen. I stared at them for a while. I felt myself drawn to them. They’re beautiful. Oh man can I have you?

  The voice took a cautious step back, his eyebrows narrowing as he looked around to see if anybody else was witnessing our interaction. “What?” He asked in confusion as his hands gripped his book bag strap.

  Shit did I say that aloud? Great now my hero thinks I’m some kind of creep. I shook my head. Stay on the task at hand. Say “Hey.” I said smiling brightly. “I’m Ornelia…I’m in your English class.” Great recovery, perfect.

  The voice didn’t respond but he managed to give me a blank look. His shoulders rolling back as he seemed to straighten up. He was already tall, but that slight movement made him seem taller.

  “You know English 463 with Dr. Mauzzio?” I said slowly. Nodding my head so he would try and remember who I was.

  The voice still didn’t speak. I heavily wondered if that was the right name for him at all. I put my arms across my chest trying to add some sort of movement to this otherwise one way conversation. The voice met my eyes for a split second before giving me a dismissing look. In fact to my utter astonishment he just simply shoved the right side of his hair behind his ear and reached across his neck for his headphones.

  What was going on? “Wait.” I said quickly.

  I watched him look down at my dark brown fingers covering tattooed arm. Wow that was a lot of designs. Is that some sort of flower? Oh look a quill, is that a ------ I felt myself getting distracted and looked up to see he was still staring at my hold on his arm.

  “Sorry.” I apologized as I released his arm, feeling a sort of lost at the lack of contact. In a split second he put his silver headphones back over his ears.

  Standing in front of him I just reached over and slowly pulled them back down to rest on his neck. My hands holding on to his headphones, just in case he wanted to tune me out again before I said what I had to say. Just get this over with, poor kid obviously wants to leave.

  “Actually I just wanted to thank you for sticking up for me in class. That was really nice of you. I had no idea what was going on.” I said shrugging and putting on my innocent everybody smile. That should do it, one of my best features is my smile. Everybody loves it.

  The voice looked at me and blinked several times as though whatever I said had a hard time registering to his brain. Still holding on to his headphones, I looked him over. He was kind of pale, either he was allergic to the sun or he was sick. Unable to control myself I looked back into his beautiful blue eyes. Can you even call it blue? The color deserved its own name. Was this what people meant when they say I got lost in his eyes? I mean seriously because shit, that color was gorgeous. I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that I was displaying creeper qualities but I couldn’t help myself. The voice reached up, his hands wrapping around my wrists. I opened my eyes wider in surprise as he brought my hands down. His hands were so warm. I expected them to be soft, but they were rough, calloused, and stronger than I would have ever guessed. Covering his ears once more with his headphones, he gave me a final look over before turning around and walking away. This time I didn’t stop him. I was too surprised to do so. This guy practically told me to eat his dust without saying a single word.

  How rude…

  Chapter two

  I stopped at the red light and bobbed my head to The band Perry. I really don’t know what people had against country music. It seemed that every time you ask somebody what their favorite type of music is, they say everything under the sun except for country. Personally I love country, it tells a story. I took my foot off the brake and replaced it on the accelerator. Two days guys, can you believe it two days since I last saw the voice, or my hero, or Andrew Perth as he’s known. Yeah how do I know that? Simple, I asked around. But our precious Mr. Perth obviously doesn’t understand the value of an education. I turned left on my street. What guy misses two days of school huh? Granted I only have one class with him, but hey I was getting my creeper status up a couple levels. Don’t worry I was starting to scare myself too.

  I smiled as I waved at my neighbor Samuel. I quickly swallowed back my vomit seeing him watering his lawn with his hairy belly out and his little heart shaped boxers. I shook my head. Seriously we were in the middle of October in the middle of Nowhere Virginia. It wasn’t freezing but the weather warranted some sort of clothing. I pulled into my driveway and sighed. 2 of my 3 roommates were here. I saw the black Honda parked on the side street and knew Nico was also there. I clicked the garage opener. I was the lucky one who got to put my car in the garage. Can you believe it was because I picked the shorter straw? I smiled as I put the car in park and turned off the ignition. I grabbed my bags and opened the side garage door that led into the house.

  “Honey, I’m home.” I yelled, as I kicked the door shut.

  “Oh baby, I missed you.” Nico joked as he cranked his head back over the couch.

  “Shut-up Nico.” I said grinning. “Go home! Why are you even here?” I joked, dropping my bags on the ground and jumping over the couch. I guess I knocked the breath out of him when I landed on him because he cringed hard.

  “Woman what the hell? You ain’t no fucking light fairy?” He groaned while pinching my leg.

  I fluttered my eyes at him. You see, I hate it but I keep doing it. �
��I’m lighter than a fairy junior.” I said pinching his cheek. I knew he hated it, but this kid was so adorable.

  “So Ms. Stalker how’s your search going?” He asked hugging my legs to him.

  “First off I’m not a stalker.” I said climbing off his lap.

  “Did somebody say stalker?” A voice asked down the hallway. “Oh so O.J.’s home.”

  “Shut the fuck up.” I said running down the hallway. I reached her room and swung the door open. “I’m not a stalker.” I said jumping on Brittany’s back.

  “Get off me! What’s wrong with you, you’re such a monkey.” Brittany said as we both tumbled down to the floor.

  “I missed you roomie.” I said teasingly as I kissed her cheek. Brittany was one of my best friends. In fact we went to elementary and middle school together. We separated for high school because she moved but we were right back here in college, 4 years into it and we were both ready to drop out. Don’t underestimate this short little black girl I’ll tell you, she was fiery and had an attitude problem. We were kind of the opposite but I guess that’s what worked for us.

  “Ugghhh grow- up.” She puffed as she pushed me down on her carpet. The carpet rubbed my face. Hummm smells kinda good, must have just put carpet cleaner. I sat up on the carpet and watched as she put on her shirt. Silly me I had tackled her in her bra. Well she deserved it.

  “Hey Jazmine, the stalker is here.” She said knocking on her wall to get Jazmine’s attention.

  “You want to know something, you guys are not funny.” I said standing up.

  Jazmine popped her head into the room and smiled at me. “Hi Mrs. Perth.”

  “Aaahhhhh!” I yelled. Let me explain Jazmine to you guys. She will be what you would call the diva of the household. She was tall, she was sophisticated, and she was beautiful. She had gorgeous curly brown hair hallway down her back. She had the prettiest eyes you’ve ever seen in your life…it sounds like I have a crush on her I know. But hey I love to appreciate beauty. “How’s my favorite roomie.” I said hugging her tight. Oh she smells good. I sniffed her neck.

  “Yes I know don’t tell me.” She said twirling around. “I know I smell good.”

  “Cocky much?” Brittany asked.

  “Sweetheart, it ain’t cocky if it’s the truth.” Jazmine said putting her hands on her hips.

  Sense a little tension? Yeah it was there, miniscule but there all the way. I never knew why Brittany and Jazmine always seemed to have some sort of underlying tension between them. Whenever I brought it up, they always brush it off. So I’ve learned to live with it and bring peace and unity between my two best friends.

  “So ladies where is my love?” Nico asked standing by the doorway, his hands propped against the wall.

  “You get no love.” I said.

  Jazmine looked him over and grinned. Brittany rolled her eyes. Okay that was weird, another awkward moment. Lately they’ve been piling up, I assure you.

  “Then I’ll just have to steal it.” Nico said wickedly as he lunged at me. I gasped and he started planting sloppy kisses all over my neck.

  “Eeeeww down boy.” I said slapping his head away. I proceeded to wipe some of his saliva off my neck. Seriously sometimes I had a hard time differentiating whether he was human or an animal. With Nico you never know.

  “O.J... isn’t the only girl in the room.” Jazmine said flirting as she touched Nico’s arm. That’s how Jazmine is; always flirting. You get used to it after a while.

  “Please have him, take him.” I groaned failing to push Nico off me.

  “Sad that the attention isn’t all on you?” Brittany joked.

  “Are you?” Jazmine countered quickly.

  “Soooo…damn Nico stop.” I said punching him in the stomach. The dude was holding me so tight, I could barely breathe.

  “Damn girl, I told you you have a nasty fist.” Nico doubled over finally letting me go.

  “Sooo…” I started again turning my attention to my friends. “Who wants to know what I did?” I said happily jumping and landing my ass on Brittany’s bed. Man her bed was kind of hard, mine was so much softer than this. As soon as you fell on my bed you seemed to sink in, heaven I tell you.

  “We’re all dying to know?” Jazmine said mockingly. I rolled my eyes at her.

  “Not I.” Brittany said. That was expected, she never said yes.

  “Oh me! Pick me!” Nico shot his hand up. Oh my loyal friend. I smiled at him.

  “First I just want you guys to know that I’m not a stalker or a creeper, it’s just that I feel like I need to be his friend you know.”

  “No you don’t” Jazmine said leaning against the door. “The guy is a creep.”

  “No he’s not.” I said. Well yeah he kind of was, but that’s not the point. “He seems like a nice kid, and he spoke up for me, and…”

  “And he doesn’t want anything to do with you.” Brittany completed casually. “Sorry kiddo.”

  “That’s not true.” I said defensively.

  Nico whistled. “He totally blew her off in the hallway.”

  “Will you drop that already?” I said throwing a pillow at him, which he ducked. “Anyways that day he was in a bad mood.”

  “If it’s the same Andy Perth we’re talking about, he always looks like he’s in a bad mood.” Brittany said. She sat on the bed. “Hun is this one of your, I’m gonna save this person routine?” she asked her hands up in quotation marks.

  I opened my eyes wide. “What? No!” How could she---where did she---

  “Remember Amanda?” Jazmine asked.

  “She’s my friend.” I said. Yeah and I might have helped her get a social life now, though she’s kind of turning into a bitch.

  “What about Gary?” Brittany asked.

  “Gary? He wanted me to help him dress better.” And get a girlfriend and learn how to kiss, and become some sort of playboy, though he wasn’t even that good a kisser I have to say.

  “What about Shannon?” Nico asked.

  “But Shannon was always so sad.” I said. Really she was the most depressing person you ever could have met. She just needed a couple friends and frequent encouragements and people telling her she was beautiful for her to feel better about herself.

  “Let me not even bring up what you told me from high school.” Brittany said. Reminder one, don’t tell Brittany anything. I sighed. Erase reminder one, I’m obviously not going to obey it.

  “What we’re trying to say O.J... is that you always go out and pick people that you feel you can fix.” Jazmine said.

  “I do not.” I replied haughtily.

  “No yes you do.” Brittany said. “But not in a bad way.” She added quickly. “You just feel like it’s your duty to make people happy. You like people too much.”

  My face dropped at what my best friend just said. Like people too much? Was that bad? What did that even mean? “I think everybody should like everybody.” I said stubbornly.

  “Okay Ms. Hippie.” Jazmine said rolling her eyes.

  “I don’t even like this kid.” I said standing up. “And he’s not one of my projects or whatever you want to call them, and besides they were never projects. I was doing that out of the goodness of my heart and they’re happy and they like me so there. You’re just mad because each and every one of you guys are selfish, and only think about yourselves, and-----”

  “Guilty.” Jazmine said unashamedly raising her hand.

  “Finished ranting?” Nico asked.

  “No!” I said stubbornly. “And…and I can’t think of anymore insults right now so get back at me.” I took a deep breath. “So anyways I Facebooked him.” I said changing the subject back to what I had wanted to talk about before.

  “Shit, you really are a stalker.” Brittany said looking at me in surprise.

  I sighed and ignored her. “But he doesn’t have a Facebook.”

  “You see!” Jazmine said pointing at me. “I told you he was weird. Who the hell doesn’t have a Facebook? It’s fuc
king 2010, get with the program.”

  “A lot of people don’t have Facebook.” I sad defending him. I don’t know why I was defending him, but I felt like I had too. Shit he wasn’t here to defend himself.

  “Yeah losers and pedophiles and---”

  ‘”ANYWAYS!” I said cutting Jazmine off. Yeah my friend could be a real bitch sometimes, but she meant well she really did. She had a good heart. “I couldn’t find out any more about him, because he hasn’t been in school. But maybe I should make him a cake or something to thank him?” Wait a minute do I even bake like that…oh yeah I love baking…hummm I want a cake right now.