“You might, sir. I got a calculus book back there.”
“What you need that for?”
“I’m in advanced math at school, sir.”
“I think I did hear you were going to college. What about you, young lady? You planning on college, too?”
I didn’t say anything until Baybay spoke my name.
“Um, I guess so . . . sir.”
“Well, isn’t that nice? Both of y’all going to college. Ain’t that something? I bet everybody is real proud.”
“We hope so, sir,” Baybay said.
When the sheriff handed over the license and registration, his smile dropped. It was like a cold wind blowing. Not enough to chill me, but enough to give me goose bumps.
“Boy, don’t let me see you at this liquor store again. You hear me? Not until you turn twenty-one. I see you here again, I’m arresting you and Lonny. And I’d hate for you to have an arrest on your record, especially if you got something in this car besides a math book. Jail don’t agree with college boys.”
Baybay nodded his head. “I understand completely, Sheriff Franklin. Thank you, sir.”
The sheriff straightened. His smile was back, his gray eyes warm and kind. He tipped his hat to me.
“Young lady.”
Baybay didn’t say anything on the drive back out to the country, and he didn’t steer the car onto the road that led to the creek. He stopped in the driveway in front of the house and let the car idle.
“I thought we were going to hang out,” I said.
“I didn’t know if you still want to,” he said. “I thought you might be mad.”
“About what?
“You know. The sheriff and all that. I didn’t want for that to happen. I’m sorry, Ailey.”
“Cops stop Black dudes all the time up in the City. That wasn’t your fault. He’s just an asshole.”
“You sure you’re not mad?”
“No, but I was really scared, though. That guy was creepy.”
“I was scared, too.”
“You were? You seemed so calm.”
“That’s how you gotta be. But my heart was beating real fast. Still is.” He lifted his T-shirt, then took my hand and put it on his bare skin. “See?”
His chest was so warm. I wanted to lay my head there, but then I felt weird for thinking that.
“So we gone hang out or what?” I asked, and he backed out of the driveway again.
At the creek, he laid the blanket on the grass, then told me wait a minute. He would be right back. He’d left something in the trunk. When he returned, he had a small, rectangular box in his hands. He sat down, but with distance between us.
“I was working on your birthday. But I did get you something. I didn’t want to give it to you until we were alone.”
In the box, there was a pen and pencil set.
“Did you buy this yourself?”
“What you mean, Ailey?”
“Like, did somebody pick this out for you? Like, a girl?”
“No, Ailey. I chose it myself. You don’t like it? I can get you something else. Give it here.”
He held out his hand, huffy, but I put the box on the blanket.
“I love it, Baybay. I really do. Thank you.”
I scooted toward him. Tugged on his shirt, telling him, sit closer to me. This time when we kissed, there was plenty tongue. He lay back on the blanket and we kissed some more.
Soon, he asked, was it okay if he touched my breasts? I took off my shirt and he reached behind me, unfastening hooks, but I put my hands over my breasts. He touched one of my hands, tugging at it, then lowered his head to my nipple. Licked and sucked until I thought I would lose my mind.
He looked up. “Ailey, do you love me?”
“Sure, I do. You’re Baybay.”
“No, I mean, do you love me for real?”
I thought about it. “Yes, I do.”
“Call me by my government name, then. Call me David.”
It sounded peculiar, as if he’d gone down to the courthouse and changed it. When he asked, did I want to be his girlfriend? I agreed. It seemed the polite thing to do. Then he asked permission again: could he put his hand in my shorts?
I buried my head in his chest. I thought about Gandee, what he’d done to me in the bathtub. Those nasty things that made me feel dirty. But then again, Gandee had been an old man, and I hadn’t had a say in the matter. And David was only a boy, and so sweet. Maybe it was all right if I did with David what I already wanted to do. Maybe I wouldn’t be dirty.
“I say something wrong, sweetheart?” he asked.