Today is my stop on the Just Between Us blog tour. I've heard amazing things about this book and I can't wait to get my hands on a copy.
Title: JUST BETWEEN US
Author: J.H. Trumble
Publication Date: September 24, 2013
Pages: 320 pages
Publisher: Kensington
Genre: Fiction / Romance / Contemporary
Author: J.H. Trumble
Publication Date: September 24, 2013
Pages: 320 pages
Publisher: Kensington
Genre: Fiction / Romance / Contemporary
Synopsis:
Seventeen-year-old Luke Chesser is trying to forget his
spectacular failure of a love life. He practices marching band moves for hours
in the hot Texas sun, deals with his disapproving father, and slyly checks out
the new band field tech, Curtis Cameron. Before long, Luke is falling harder
than he knew he could. And, this time, he intends to play it right.
Since testing positive for HIV, Curtis has careened between
numbness and fear. Too ashamed to tell anyone, Curtis cannot possibly act on
his feelings. And, Luke—impulsive, funny, and more tempting than he
realizes—won’t take a hint. Even when Curtis distances himself it backfires,
leaving him with no idea how to protect Luke from the truth.
Confronting a sensitive topic with candor and aplomb, acclaimed
author J. H. Trumble renders a modern love story as sweet, sharp, and messy as
the real thing, where easy answers are elusive, and sometimes the only
impossible thing is to walk away.
Excerpt
from Just Between Us
Curtis
takes an HIV test
Curtis
By Wednesday morning, there’s no
denying I’m run down. I’m achy, tired. The fever is in its fourth day, and I
promised Dad. I make an appointment at the health center for late morning.
Maybe I can get a vitamin shot or at least some assurance that this fever has
just about run its course.
The health center is located on the
far side of campus from my dorm room, but it’s a short walk from my ten o’clock
class.
A heavy-set woman with graying hair
pinned in an old-fashioned bun calls me back and directs me to a treatment
room. She smiles as she closes the door behind us and asks me to step on the
scale. “We’re seeing a lot of flu right now. Happens every fall.” She notes my
weight—162. I step off the scale and
take a seat on the treatment table as she pulls a cuff from the wall. My hands
tremble. Doctors’ offices always do that to me. Maybe that’s natural, or maybe
it’s a throwback from my head injury when I was a kid.
“Just relax,” the nurse says as she wraps the blood pressure
cuff around my arm. She places a stethoscope on the inside of my elbow and
pumps up the cuff. “You’re warm. How long have you been running a fever?”
“About four days.”
“One twenty-two over eighty-four,” she says, releasing the
air from the cuff. “A little high, but understandable.” She wraps up the cuff
and places it back in the plastic holder on the wall, then takes my
temperature. “Are you taking anything for the fever?”
“Tylenol.”
“When did you last take it?”
“A couple of hours ago.”
She notes everything on the computer, then pats my leg and
tells me the doctor will be in shortly.
I check the time on my phone: 11:32. Luke is probably having lunch right now. I wonder who he’s
sitting with. Jackson? Spencer? Phoebe? I make a mental note to ask him. And
then I think about our second first date. I wonder if he dances. I imagine
holding him close in some dance hall, whispering in his ear, nuzzling his ear,
kissing his ear. Breathing in the great peppermint smell that always wafts from
his skin. Soon, Luke.
I scan the pamphlets tucked in an acrylic display case
hanging on the wall—Alcohol and Substance
Abuse, Depression and Suicide, Eating Disorders, Stress, Prescription
Medication, STDs . . . . I look at my phone again and think about texting
Dad to let him know I’m okay.
A firm, quick knock on the door. “Curtis,” the doctor says,
stepping in. He reaches for my hand. “I'm Dr. Nguyen. So, I understand you’ve
been running a fever,” he says, checking the nurse’s notes. “Let’s have a
look.” He feels the glands around my neck, then checks my throat, my eyes, my
ears. “Cameron. Hmm. I went to UT with a Cameron. Derrick. We called him DC.
Any relation?”
“That’s my dad.”
“No kidding? Small world, huh? How’s he doing? I haven’t
seen him in years. Is he designing skyscrapers?”
“Mostly bridges and roads.”
“Yeah? And what about your mom? How’s she doing?”
“She died when I was a baby.”
He studies my face. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know.” He presses a
stethoscope to my back and chest. “Chills? Body aches?” I nod. “Well, I’d say
you’ve got the flu. Your chest sounds a little rattley, so I’m going to go
ahead and start you on some antibiotics just in case you’re working on a
secondary infection here—we’ve been seeing some cases of pneumonia already—but
I suspect this flu’s about run its course. You should be feeling much better in
a few days in any case.”
“No blood test?” I ask.
He scoots his stool over to the computer. “Any reason why
you think you need one?” He taps out some notes on the keyboard.
I take a deep breath to steady myself. “I thought maybe you
could test for HIV while I’m here. It’s just, I’ve never had one, and I thought
it would be a good idea.”
“Sure. No problem. We generally do that with a mouth swab
though. We can have results in about twenty minutes.”
“Okay. Great.”
“I wish all our students would get tested. It should be part
of everyone’s routine health screening.” He stands and reaches for my hand
again. “Let me get the nurse back in here. Be sure and tell your dad hello for
me.”
“I will.”
He’s not planning to come back in again. I take that as a
good sign. Routine test. Routine results.
I hadn’t actually considered asking for an HIV test until I
did. But I’m relieved to get this out of the way. Twenty minutes. I expected to
have to wait weeks. I breathe a little easier knowing that in twenty minutes, I
can take off that emergency brake and move on with my life. Because I’ve got
some making up to do to a cute, blond, high school kid next weekend.
“All right,” the nurse says, coming through the door with a
small package from which she removes a plastic stick with a pad on one end.
“This will only take a second.”
I open my mouth so she can swab my outer gums on top and on
bottom. “That’s it.” She drops the swab in a vial with some liquid and gives me
a reassuring smile. “Can I bring you some magazines to read while you wait?”
“No, I’m fine. Thanks.”
I check the time again: 11:50.
If I text now, I might catch him before he heads back to class. Still running a fever, but antibiotics
ordered. I intend to collect on that rain check soon. I miss you.
I stare at that last sentence for a moment. It’s funny . . .
telling him I miss him seems like more of a declaration than a kiss or a rain
check. But I know he’ll like that. And it’s true. I’m smiling to myself when I
press Send.
In a moment, he texts back. Spencer just asked what I’m smiling about. J I miss you too. After game Friday?
Can’t. Have
my own game. Drum major coaching on Saturday?
Drum major
coaching—riiight. Ha ha. I appear to have some deficits. Be prepared for some
intense one-on-one instruction.
One-on one-instruction, huh? The flirt. I’m still sitting on
the treatment table, smiling down at the screen, when there’s a knock, and Dr. Nguyen
steps back into the room. Despite the fever, my skin goes cold. He takes the
stool and swivels to face me, then clasps his hands in his lap and studies them
for a moment.
My eyes blur. Please.
No. Tell me I’ve got pneumonia. Tell me I’ve got herpes. Anything. Just—just
not this.
He lifts his eyes to mine. “The HIV test came back
positive, Curtis.”
Author Bio:
J.H. Trumble is a Texas native and graduate of
Sam Houston State University. You can visit the author online at http://www.jhtrumble.com
as well as on Facebook and Twitter.
Find J.H. Trumble:
My Favorite Obsession, by J.H.
Trumble
Yes, I have obsessions! And they often find
their way into my novels.
When I wrote Don’t Let Me Go, for instance, I was completely obsessed with this
blog Gossip Candy. It’s been shut down now, but did anybody follow it back in
the day? She was a huge fan of American Idol during the Adam Lambert and Kris
Allen season. The blog was a hoot! I laughed until I cried. I think that humor
found its way into my writing that summer.
I was kind of obsessed with rap music when
I wrote Where You Are. Could you
tell?
I was obsessed with marching band when I
wrote the first draft of Just Between Us.
But this, this is my newest obsession.
Paint.
His real name is Jon Cozart. He’s a
21-year-old University of Texas student. I stumbled across this video on The
Huffington Post. It’s gone crazy viral (about 18 million views as I write this
post) and I think he may have made an appearance with Hank Green (John Green’s
brother and fellow nerdfighter) somewhere. Australia? Anyway, this video is so
clever! After you watch it, check out his Extreme Cup Song and his Glee
audition. Stalk him on Facebook! His
song is tearing up the charts on iTunes too. Download it. Yes, I’m obsessed.
You can thank me later! BTW, he’d make a great character in one of my novels!
(Note to blogger: You can go to YouTube and
grab the embedded code for your website.)
Speaking of my novels, JUST BETWEEN US is
out September 26! Grab a copy. Fall in love all over again.
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