I turn the corner past the Chinese candy and my eyes skid to a stop
on skinny jeans that outline surprisingly long legs, hair draped over her shoulder in a black, shiny waterfall. Surrounded by glossy packages of Oreos. One stop shop for God’s most beautiful creations.
I talk myself into cool as I stop in front of Mei, meeting her eyes. “Hey.”
She looks up at me but keeps her head tilted at a weird angle and gives me a shaky side smile, her eyes darting away. “This seemed like a good place to run into you.”
Is it the fluorescent lighting or is her face bruised? “Think I’ll hang out on aisle three even more often than I already do.” I smile, then squint, looking at her cheekbone that’s casting a bigger shadow than it should be. Definitely swollen.
I resist the urge to hold her head between my hands to get a closer look. “You’ve got a little somethin’ on your face and…I’d offer to wipe it off, but it doesn’t look like it’s coming off anytime soon.”
She tightens her jacket around her and turns to face the shelves.
“Was it Face Eater?”
She shakes her head. “I ran into my closet door.”
I squeeze between the shelf and her, looking down at her. “Does your closet door have a fist?” She watches her feet, so I press a little harder. “Everything okay at home?”
“Yes. I’d just rather not talk about it.”
Confirmed—Face Eater. “Uh, okay. Well…I’m not really cool with the way your closet treats you and there’s a 95% chance I’ll bring it up again, but I’ll drop it for now.”
“I’m okay, really.”
“Maybe you are, but your eye’s not.” I pull out my phone. “And your closet’s gonna have a close encounter with the cops.”
“No.” She puts her hand on my phone, fingers on mine. I look at them, then her. “Please. It was an accident. Completely my fault. It’s embarrassing.”
I search her eyes, looking for hints. “I don’t believe you.”
“You don’t have to.” She presses her lips together and turns to walk away.
“Fine—okay.” I sidestep and cut in front of her, holding up my hands. “Sorry. Let’s get something for your cheek. Then we can go for a walk and not talk about it.”
“Can we maybe go somewhere not outside?”
“Uh, sure.” But where? We could go to Guo’s but I kinda just wanna talk to Mei without a pair of very old ears listening. I could slowwwwly walk her home through dark alleys, but I’m not ready to say goodnight and Face Eater might be hiding in his ninja clothes. He obviously already practiced on her tonight which makes me wanna bust his ugly face. I swallow anger. I could take her to The Clubhouse. Dad’s working late. He hasn’t gotten home any night this week before 4 AM. But I could lose the motorcycle if she steps through the door. But I won’t. No. Just…ice for her cheek and talking. That’s it. Decision made.