Coda 02 -A to Z

leaving me standing in the doorway staring at Angelo.
    His hair was now only about an inch long all over and stood straight up. “Hey, Zach,” he said happily, smiling at me. “What do you think?”
    I couldn’t help but grin back. I reached out and touched it. It seemed thicker and courser now that it was so short. “What made you do it?”
    He shrugged, still smiling. “Why not? Haven’t cut it in a while.” He looked even younger now, with all that hair out of the way. His eyes seemed so big. They were the deepest shade of brown, ringed with long black lashes. “Do you hate it?” It was a casual question. It had nothing to do with vanity. He wouldn’t have cared if I said yes.
    “No.” It made me want to touch his cheekbones and kiss him and just look into his eyes forever. I was wishing like crazy that we were at home alone, rather than in Matt and Jared’s bathroom. “I like it,” I told him. “I can actually see your face.” That made him laugh.
    Matt came back with the broom, and I had to move out of the bathroom to make room for him. Jared came up behind me, his own wild blond curls hanging loose around his face.
    “You look good,” he said to Angelo.
Ang held the trimmer toward him. “Your turn.”
    Matt moved so fast, I almost wondered if he had super powers. He grabbed the trimmer out of Angelo’s hand and yanked the plug out of the wall all at once. “Don’t even think about it,” he growled, and Jared laughed.
    We were just leaving when Matt suddenly said, “Wait, Angelo!” He went back down the hall and came back out a minute later with a book, which he handed to Angelo. “This is the one I was telling you about. You’ll love it. Trust me.” Angelo didn’t look enthusiastic. In fact he actually looked a little bit green. Matt didn’t seem to notice. “Keep it as long as you want.”
    “Thanks,” Angelo said, but his heart definitely wasn’t in it. He was quiet the whole way home, just staring at that book like it was a snake that might bite him.
    You always hear about those kids who get through high school without learning how to read, but I knew he wasn’t one of them. Yes, he had dropped out at sixteen, but that certainly didn’t make him illiterate. I had seen him read the blurbs on the back of the DVD cases and write an inventory list, and I had read notes he had left for me. His spelling wasn’t great, and he seemed to have no idea what an apostrophe was. But that didn’t mean he couldn’t read.
    “You want to talk about it?” I asked.
“’Bout what?”
“The book.”
“Nothin’ to talk about.”
    “Okay.” I knew it was still bothering him, but I also knew he wouldn’t say anything until he was ready, so I waited. Once we were back at my place, I went in the kitchen and started making dinner—lasagna. I had been cooking dinner a couple of nights each week. I couldn’t believe how good it felt to have a real house, with a real kitchen. And Ang there with me, for tonight at least. I opened a bottle of wine and was just pouring a glass when he came in.
    For a while he just watched me. I waited. I got the noodles out of the water and browned the sausage, and still I waited. Finally he said, “Can’t read it.”
    “Why not?”
    He slumped against the counter, and he looked so young and so dejected, I wasn’t sure whether to laugh or put my arms around him. “Just can’t.”
    I waited again, but nothing else seemed to be forthcoming. I put down the cheese I was grating, turned around so I could face him and leaned against the counter. “If you don’t want to read it, don’t read it. But if you’re choosing not to read it just because you think you can’t, I’m not sure that’s a good reason.” He looked at me skeptically. I racked my brain, drank a little wine, and finally managed to pull something out of my memory. “It’s like when Luke Skywalker is first learning to use the lightsaber. Ben puts that helmet on him, with the visor down, and Luke says he can’t do it. But once he decides to trust Ben, and he tries it, and it works.” I smiled at him triumphantly, and he grudgingly smiled back.
    “Pretty proud of yourself for that one, aren’t you?” I laughed. “I am, actually.”
    But as quickly as it had come, his smile was gone again. “Don’t want Matt to know I can’t read it.”

    “I’m still not sure why you think you can’t.”
    He sighed, walked over, and leaned against me, looking up at me. It was strange to be