Local Heroes

Local Heroes

 

Bruce Wang and Carl Kent were in love with the same girl, Louise Lane. The two had met Louise when still in kindergarten and since then failed to fall for any other girl the way they had fallen for her. They fought over her constantly and Louise did not help their situation because she could never choose which one she liked better. So, they both took turns dating her. Because they spent so much time together fighting over Louise, both boys had unexpectedly also become best friends. While they fought over who was better suited for Louise and who deserved her company most, they also found a companion to whom they could gush openly about Louise.

            When the trio entered high school Bruce and Carl’s friendship only became deeper for they realised that they were no longer the only boys Louise would date. Louise made this clear when she turned down a date with both of them to the freshman dance in favour of going with Alex Luther, who had hit puberty in the summer between grades eight and nine and turned out to be quite attractive and a charmer. Alex, whose post-puberty good looks had caught the attention of all the girls in their grade, allowed the attention to get to his head and after the freshman dance dumped Louise in favour of the swinger lifestyle he had always wanted. Louise was crushed and with Louise’s unhappiness came Bruce and Carl’s anger. The boys refused to be civil to him and considered Alex their first enemy in high school. Alex did not care that two misfits wouldn’t give him the time of day. In fact, he didn’t even notice.

            In their junior year a new student transferred into their class who insisted on being called Cruiser. He had managed to even get the faculty to call him Cruiser, though no one knew just how. Many assumed, by looking at his six-foot-four, muscular build that he had bullied the males and with his classic good looks had charmed the females. The faculty weren’t the only ones to be affected by Cruiser, of course. The boys were terrified of him because of his size and confidence. They hated him with a passion because all their girlfriends swooned when he passed by, but they never said anything to him. The girls in the school seemed to be fascinated by him and considered him something of a celebrity. They found him breathtakingly handsome and there wasn’t one girl who didn’t turn an embarrassing shade of red when he glanced in her direction. Louise was the exception.

            When Bruce and Carl learned that Louise did not find anything too spectacular about Cruiser they were ecstatic. They felt they had been dealt a lucky hand. Both boys knew they were a little short of dashing and neither would ever be considered charming at all. They were made outcasts by their intense devotion to Louise and they didn’t mind, so long as they had the opportunity to date her, which they did. When Cruiser arrived on the school front Louise was not impressed. She was even more unimpressed with the way the girls would flock around him and was least impressed with the boys who would try everything including attempting to mimic Cruiser in order to get back their dizzy girlfriends. With all the boys considerably unattainable, Louise devoted most of her time to Bruce and Carl alone.

            However, despite having Louise all to themselves, Bruce and Carl still continued to have their filial squabbles and fist fights over her. Both felt that now that the entire male population of Banner High was out of the picture, the only thing getting in the way of a happy lifetime with Louise was the other. And so their fighting escalated to the point where they constantly showed up with cuts, bruises or black eyes on their dates with Louise.

            Louise had always secretly enjoyed the attention, but despite that, she hated when they fought. She loved and cared for them both and it scared her a little bit every time they recalled one of their battles. She tried getting angry at them and refused to date them, but she was a sucker for their oddball charm. They were something like her best friends and there had to be a reason for it. Louise didn’t know what exactly that reason was, but she knew that she hated when they fought, even if it was over her. One day, though, she had had enough.

            It was when the junior prom was approaching and both Bruce and Carl obviously wanted to be the one to escort Louise that their routinely fight resulted in a fat lip for Carl and a dislocated shoulder for Bruce. Despite the shoulder, it was decided that Bruce had won and when he showed up at Louise’s house with his arm in a sling, she just about passed out. She hadn’t wanted to go after seeing Bruce’s condition but he insisted that he had taken painkillers and was perfectly capable of escorting her. Bruce had taken his painkillers, but he had taken double the dose required thus resulting in the most embarrassing night of Louise’s life.

            The following day in school when she saw them both she told them she never wanted to see them again. Both were outraged and were more outraged when Cruiser, having overheard her decision, strolled up and asked her out and she said yes.

            “Do you know why he’s called the Cruiser?” Bruce asked, once Cruiser had strutted away. “It’s because he cruises from one girl to another! You are just one of those girls!”

            “That may be,” said Louise, “but at least I won’t have to worry about him showing up at my house in a body suit!” With that she spun around and marched off.

            The date was set for a Saturday night and Bruce and Carl, distressed and feeling defeated, made plans to rent some movies that night in order to get their mind off of their problems. That was, until Carl happened to overheard Cruiser talking on his cell phone in the bathroom one day.

            “I can’t this Saturday night,” Cruiser was saying as he walked into the bathroom. Carl was in a stall unzipping his fly but he froze when he heard Cruiser’s voice. “I’ve got a date this Saturday.” Carl stood up climbed onto the toilet and peeked over the top of the door. Cruiser was fixing his hair the mirror while his companion on the other line said something. Carl ducked back behind the door and sat listening.

            “No, it’s this new chick, Lois, or Lou or something like that,” he said. Carl’s blood began boiling. “Nothing too special, but she’s the only one I haven’t pinned yet. Saturday night will be the night.”

            Carl, as if shocked with electricity, fell off the toilet seat he was balanced on and fell through the stall door. Cruiser jumped and looked at him, but before he could say anything, Carl sprinted out the door. He made a beeline to the library where he knew Bruce would be getting some shut eye. He stormed in and shouted, “Bruce!”

            The librarian shushed him with a loud, sever “Shh!” but he ignored her and called Bruce’s name again. Bruce raised his head from his arms and glanced around. He spotted Carl making wild motions for him to follow him as the librarian pushed him out the door. Bruce sat up, stretched and casually started packing his things before getting up and strolling out the door.

            Outside, Carl was a mess. He was pacing wildly with his eyes bright and his forehead glistening with sweat. When Bruce came out Carl raced over to him and grabbed him by the shoulders with surprising strength, making Bruce yelp.

            “Cruiser’s going to pin her!” he exclaimed, throwing spittle into Bruce’s face. Bruce’s face was still recovering from the shock of Carl’s exclamation and it took a few seconds for him to register what he had been told. When the realisation hit him his eyes also widened and he too began to perspire slightly.

            “We have to follow them! To make sure he doesn’t pull anything,” Bruce claimed and Carl only nodded in agreement.

            “Maybe we should tell Louise first. You know, so she can back out before.” Carl suggested.

            “Yeah, maybe we should,” Bruce agreed. “But watch her not listen to us.”

            Bruce was right. Louise didn’t listen to them. She was still clearly sore about the incident at junior prom and refused to even listen to what they had to say. They both unanimously decided then that the only thing left to do was stake out their date on Saturday night.

            Come Saturday Bruce and Carl began their stake out by parking in the shadows outside of Louise’s house where they waited for Cruiser to come pick her up. When he did, Carl had to keep Bruce from leaping out of the car to “destroy that Cruiser” as he claimed he wanted to do. The duo followed Cruiser’s car to an old-fashioned diner where they waited outside while Cruiser and Louise ate. They figured there was a very low risk of her being in danger in a public place like that, though they did consider going in if only to treat themselves to a sundae while they waited. In the end it was decided that that would be too risky and they did not want to risk Louise getting even angrier at them than she already was.

            After the diner Bruce and Carl followed Cruiser’s car to the parking lot of a deserted movie theatre where many of the high school kids would park to make out or have sex. It was as well known by both kids and adults alike as those make out points in TV shows or movies. The only difference was that this parking lot had no cool name like “Inspiration Point.” It was simply called the Lot.

            Cruiser parked in the Lot and Bruce and Carl parked in the row behind them. They ducked down and watched looking like, but not feeling like, peeping Toms. They watched for nearly an hour as Cruiser and Louise first just talked casually then began kissing and then making out. Both boys were uncomfortable and becoming excessively jealous watching her, but both also felt it was their duty to protect her. They were on the verge of considering that maybe Cruiser had just been bragging to his friend on the phone about sleeping with Louise when there was some rapid movement in the car and both Carl and Bruce perked up. They peered through the windshield and noticed that Louise was attempting to fight off Cruiser.

            Carl and Bruce leapt out of the car and raced to Cruiser’s car. Bruce stood on the passenger side and was about to attempt to open the door, when the door flew open and hit him in the nuts. He yelped and fell over moaning as Louise climbed out looking slightly dishevelled and flushed. She noticed Bruce lying on the floor as she slammed the door shut behind her, not caring that it almost got Cruiser’s nose, and frowned.

            “What are you doing here?” she demanded. Having known them since kindergarten she knew that if Bruce was there, then Carl must have to be there as well and scanned the parking lot, finding him on the driver’s side. He was frozen solid with shock at what all had happened and was looking at Louise with a look of amazement.

            “I didn’t know you could hit like that!” he told her, smiling a little.

            Louise was not as amused and she glared at him. Bruce, standing up, asked what he was talking about.

            “She punched Cruiser right in the nose! It looks like it might even be broken!”

            Bruce glanced through the window and noticed Cruiser hunched over applying wads and wads of tissue to his bloody nose. Suddenly Bruce also looked at Louise with the same look of wonderment as Carl had. Louise was still not amused.

            “What are you doing here?” she asked again, her hands on her hips and her brows furrowed.

            “We came in case you needed our help. You know, in fighting off Cruiser.” Carl answered. She spun around to face him.

            “What? Why do you two think I’m some sort of wuss? I can take care of myself, thank you very much!”

            “Clearly!” Bruce exclaimed, still shocked but now laughing as well. “How’d you do it?”

            “He wouldn’t take no for an answer, so I made him!” said Louise through clenched teeth and her hand fisted. The look of amazement stayed glued to both Carl and Bruce’s faces as they stood admiring her. They didn’t move until Cruiser began backing his car out to drive away, shouting and yelling something that couldn’t be heard or comprehended.

            “Well, as much as I hate that you guys followed me, I now at least have a ride home.” Louise looked from Carl to Bruce then started off towards their parked car, the doors of which still hung open from their mad escape. She stopped when she got to the car and saw that Bruce and Carl were still staring at her in awe. She rolled her eyes and snapped, “Let’s go!”

            Carl and Bruce broke out of their trance and quickly obeyed her.

Reviews

[Alexia Gray]

I love the way you have described everything without needing to use much dialogue and yet it still reads fluidly. I would be curious to know what would happen next as you have described the threes relationship since they were young and have left it but that might have been your intention!
Anyway well done on producing such a good piece of writing! keep it up!