Still Waters

Chapter 28

                                                               ** MATURE CONTENT AHEAD **

I spent the rest of the summer thinking about what Jasmine said. I had actually convinced myself that by the time Collin came back to school and our final year at Hampton began, I would be so over him that I wouldn't even answer the phone if he called.

I should have known better, but I didn't.

Kenney and I also spent a lot of time together that summer, more than Shayna and I after she moved in with Drama and, unfortunately, the more I realized that I wanted to be with Kenney, the more I realized that I couldn't have him.

He had gotten back with the same girl that he had been hanging tight with since the year before and didn't seem to have any plans of letting her go any time soon. She was the same girl, in fact, that he had introduced me to three years before at their $2 daiquiri night freshman year. I'm not even sure when they got back together.

Deidra was already out of school, totally had her stuff together and had never put Kenney through even a tenth of the BS, as his girlfriend, that I had put him through as his friend. Kenney could have a crush on me from here to the end of time, but he was in love with that girl...and I knew from personal experience that made all the difference in the world.

It was fun hanging out with him though, just like old times. I could tell Kenney things that I would never have even dreamed of telling anyone else. I remember once I read him this goofy poem that I had just spur of the moment pulled out of my butt one day. Even the title was silly: Copycat People.

"I've seen it all before/Said the girl as she walked through the door/ It's the same all the time/ Everything that happens is a copycat crime/ A rerun of life/ That's as dull as a knife/ To be different is a trend/ And going to church is really in/ It's so silly, can't you see/ When will you end this stupidity/ Not that it much matters to me/ Every song is a remake, every movie a sequel/ Every personality a replica/ Of the Copycat People."

Of course I tore the page from my notebook and ripped it up as soon as I read it to him.

Kenney shook his head. "Damn Tashi."

After that, he just laughed and laughed. Both of us had tears streaming down our faces by the time we were done. The funny thing was – when the last tear was shed and the last chuckle was out, Kenney taped the poem back together for me and told me to hold on to it.

"Never disregard your own feelings, darlin'. Sorry I laughed at you."

Then we looked at each other and busted out laughing again.

That was the thing about Kenney. He took everyone's feelings and everyone's ideas and opinions so seriously, yet he never missed an opportunity to show people what the heck was truly funny about life.

Which is why I felt like I could tell him anything. Anything that had absolutely nothing to with Collin. Kenney and I had gotten to the point in our relationship where we had known each other long enough to have unspoken rules between us. Rules that neither of us technically came up with, they just somehow were.

My rule for him was to never, under any circumstances, take anyone else's side over mine and, of course, to never, ever make Deidra sound like she was better than me. His rule for me was pretty straightforward: Don't say jack about Collin Stewart, ever...period.

And even though I repeatedly broke his rule for me practically every time we were together, my rule for him was always strictly enforced.

It was Kenney's own fault, though. He was the one that was always bringing Collin up, and every time I would try to change the subject he would somehow bring it right back to Collin. He did this, that is, until I had my talk with Aunt Jasmine. I guess he figured that if she couldn't get through to me, there was just no getting through. By the end of the summer, he had pretty much let the subject drop altogether.