First "Date"

 

Chapter Eleven

I shouldn’t have bothered going to school Tuesday. None of the teachers really felt like having us do anything, so the day was a complete waste�"it was more like “daycare for teens” than school. Trying to make the mood a little more “festive,” the cafeteria even served a turkey-and-stuffing lunch that looked to be the best thing MGHS had to offer. Sam didn’t show up, which was a good thing�"Ethan did, and he sat with us at lunch again. Matt had pointedly glared in his direction and only talked to me, since James had gone to sit with the other Goths.

I shook off the awkward lunch memories and went back to staring out of the window, watching the yellowed scenery fly by, dotted here and there with cows and horses. I sighed and leaned my head against the window, staring down at the asphalt, watching the uneven yellow line snake through different shades of gray.

“You awake?” I sat up and looked over to Brandon, nodding.

“I’m awake,” I said. “Just a little tired. And bored. I don’t see why I couldn’t drive.” A black-and-white cop car appeared on the side of the road, obscured by a little hill until just then. I scowled, knowing Brandon would point that out and reason that I could have been pulled over�"I had a bad speeding habit on the highways.

Brandon, predictably, chuckled. “That would be why,” he said, just as I knew he would. I felt the truck slow down a little as Brandon let off the gas, managing to drive past the cop just under the speed limit. I fought the urge to stick my tongue out at the pig peering at us from under the brim of a ridiculous-looking hat and forced myself to look mildly curious.

Back to boring fields of dead grass.

The next thing I knew, Brandon was shaking my shoulder. “Wake up�"we’re here,” he said, chuckling as I yawned and stretched, practically falling out of the truck in my dazed state. I heard the door shut with a soft click, and pushed on it to make sure the latch caught securely before rubbing my eyes vigorously and following Brandon inside. I glared halfheartedly at the whitewashed stones making up the building, feeling resentful all over again.

The inside of the jail was drab and nearly colorless�"everything in here was white , gray, or beige. Nothing spectacular to look at. Brandon chatted quietly with the front desk attendant as I looked around, not really seeing anything but feeling the need to do something.

Finally, an officer led us into a small room with a few tables and chairs in it. We sat down and waited for Mom to arrive, which she did soon after that. I rushed over to her and hugged her�"call me a sissy all you want, she’s Mom.

“Hello, sweetheart,” she said, squeezing me tightly. “I missed you.”

I smiled. “Missed you too, Mom.” I sat back down and let her talk to Brandon�"he assured her Dad was sending enough to cover everything I needed and then some, and they talked about work and other things I thought were too boring to bother listening to. I caught Mom’s goofy smile when Brandon mentioned Alex and grinned wickedly�"she caught my expression and struggled to rearrange her expression into something carefully neutral, but Mom just didn’t have a good poker face.

“I’ll leave you two alone to catch up,” Brandon finally said, grabbing his black jacket off the back of his chair and stepping out. I grinned micheviously again at Mom, who narrowed her eyes and fought to keep a smile off her face.

“He’s twenty-four,” I teased. Mom rolled her eyes and reached across the table for my hand, holding it tightly.

“I love you too!” she said, smiling slightly. “Now tell me about school.”

I told her more about Sam, Jess, and Matt, skirting the issues between Jess and Ethan�"she didn’t need to know that. Her smile got bigger when I told her Sam and I went on “dates” every weekend, and how much fun she was. “I took a picture of her,” I said, digging in my pocket for my cell phone. I found the picture of Sam with a big smile on her face and passed the phone to Mom.

Her eyebrow rose as she scrutinized the picture. “I thought you said you didn’t like blonds�"she’s very pretty, though.” She snapped the phone shut and handed it back to me.

I shrugged slightly, sweeping the phone off to one side with a flattened hand and wincing at the roughness of the old wooden table. “She’s hot,” I said bluntly, making Mom chuckle.

“I always forget I’m dealing with a guy,” she joked, leaning forward cautiously in the spindly chair. She tugged on the neon orange fabric of the jumpsuit I stubbornly ignored, her bone-straight russet hair falling forward and hiding her face momentarily before she brushedit away. “Everything else is okay?” she asked, watching me closely.

I bit my lip. “Well, there is one thing you might be able to help me with�"Sam’s birthday is coming up, and I don’t know what to get her. I don’t even know what to do.” Mom clasped her hands under her chin, her forehead scrunching slightly as she thought. I fiddled with my cell phone, spinning it on the rough surface while I waited.

“Buy her a CD she’s been wanting. Take her out to eat�"don’t give me that look; take her to Greenville or something! I know Meadow Grove doesn’t have anything great!” she added when I rolled my eyes at her.

We tossed idea back and forth and chatted about little things until an officer told me it was time to leave. I fought the sudden irrational urge to punch the guy and hugged Mom instead, leaving quickly so I didn’t lose my self-control.

Brandon and I were quiet the entire way back. He stopped in Greenville to pick up tomorrow’s dinner and still didn’t say a word. It was sort of an awkward silence, but I stayed quiet�"I had the feeling he wasn’t up for conversation… I know I wasn’t. Every time I left Mom, I felt like I was supposed to break her out of there somehow, and even know I knew it was impossible I always found myself scrutinizing the security as we left�"like I could ever pull something like that off.

Eventually we pulled into the driveway, just as Brandon’s phone rang. “Hello? Oh, hey Alex… Yeah, just got home. Again? Isn’t that… what, the fourth time today? Yeah, come over. No, really�"come over. Wait�"bang on the wall for me! Alright, see you.” Brandon snapped the phone shut and chuckled to himself, his keys jingling merrily as he unlocked the front door and let us in.

“Alex is coming over?” I asked, more for confirmation than anything else. Brandon nodded. “He’s here a lot,” I commented.

Brandon laughed. “Yeah, that would be because his neighbors are�"uh, newlyweds�"and can’t… contain their excitement,” he said, struggling to keep a straight look on his face as he threw his jacket over the back of the tatty couch.

I snorted, shaking my head. “No wonder,” I said dryly, stretching my cramped legs as best as I could. “That’s gotta suck when he’s trying to sleep.”

“Those walls are thin�"that sucks all the time,” Brandon snickered. I grimaced and shuddered�"that had to be a mortifying experience.

I helped Brandon straighten up a little bit, swiping old crumpled newspapers off the floors and table and chucking them into the trash can in the kitchen. After a few minutes of that we plodded in front of the TV set. I zoned out while Brandon watched football and nursed a beer, idly flipping my cell phone around in my hands.

About twenty minutes later, I heard a car door slam. Brandon glanced at the door and went back to watching TV. Curious, I looked and saw the door was unlocked�"typical lazy Brandon. I heard a soft crunch of dried grass under heavy feet before the doorknob rattled and Alex let himself in.

“Hey man,” Brandon greeted, turning around to face Alex. “Nice hat.”

Alex reached up and touched his green and black tam, smiling. “Thanks,” he said, just as I noticed he’d shoved his hair up into the hat.

“Bad hair day?” I joked, smirking a little. Brandon turned and scrutinized Alex’s smug smile.

“What did you do this time, Alex?” Brandon asked warily. With a flourish, Alex pulled off his hat and smiled widely.

“Ta-da!” Alex proclaimed proudly as we took in the sight of his new hairstyle.

 Brandon’s jaw dropped. “That is the darkest blue I have ever seen someone’s hair be,” he finally said, shaking his head ruefully.

I stifled a laugh at the smudges of blue on Alex’s forehead and ears as he got closer and plopped onto the couch between Brandon and me. He caught my suppressed smirk and looked at me questioningly.

“Why didn’t you ask for help with that?” I asked, trying and failing to keep from smiling at the sight widely. “You’ve got blue dye all over your forehead and ears�"it looks like you got in a fight with a smurf, and the smurf won!”

Brandon spewed his drink on himself, alternating between laughing and spluttering. I leaned back into the couch cushions, biting my lip to keep from laughing out loud. Alex stood and sauntered into the bathroom, coming out a few minutes later with an old wet washrag and started scrubbing at the spots.

“Sad thing is, I did have someone help me with the color,” Alex murmured as he diligently scrubbed, turning the old yellow rag slightly green as Brandon and I roared in laughter, unable to hold back. Perplexed, Alex sat back and rubbed at the spots slowly, trying to figure out what exactly was so funny. That didn’t help matters�"the utterly confused look on his face ended being that much funnier, making me clutch my aching sides as my laughter finally died.

“Alright, Smurf, let’s find something good to watch,” Brandon wheezed as his laughter finally died down, reaching for the battered remote and flipping through the channels. I bit my lip to keep from laughing again, choosing to sit back and relax while Brandon found something to watch.

“Smurf? That’s worse than Sunshine!” Alex complained, pausing his ministrations to gawk at Brandon.

The older man simply smirked back, his expression cunning. “Don’t pick such ridiculous colors, then!” he shot back jokingly, making Alex roll his eyes and go back to scrubbing.

Brandon settled on a Spanish soap opera, and he and Alex entertained themselves by pretending to be the voice-overs for the characters on the screen.

“Oh, but Carlotta, I love Miguel!” Brandon quipped in a falsetto voice.

“Too bad, Miguel is all mine!” Alex improvised, mimicking Brandon’s voice. The two characters onscreen started catfighting, so Brandon and Alex began making punching noises and goading the other while I chuckled, shaking my head at the stupidity.

I retreated to my room while “Carlotta” and “Isabella” fought over “Miguel” in the living room, hitting the computer’s power button and flopping onto the bed while I waited for the aging machine to boot up.

Just as the logon screen appeared, my phone beeped�"I got a text message. Intrigued, I flipped the phone open and was surprised to see the text message was from Sam, who normally would call instead.

                I’m bored. Entertain me.

I hit the reply button and told her about the Spanish drama unfolding in the living room, hoping that would be enough to make her smile. I might have overexaggerated a few things, but it wasn’t like she’d know I was lying.

                Hilarious! More.

Perplexed, I tried to think of something funny that had recently happened but drew a large blank. Bored?

                You have no idea. I want out of here.

Let’s go to the movies, I suggested. We’ll find something to watch. I noticed with a bit of amusement that I was a bit nervous about her answer�"if she said yes, this would constitute our first actual “date” since I arrived in Meadow Grove.

                Sure. Come pick me up.

I snapped the phone shut and told Brandon what was going on, making sure I had enough money stashed in my wallet before heading out to my car and starting it, feeling a little nervous. I drove to Sam’s just over the limit in my excitement�"call me a pig, but I was looking forward to missing parts of the movie and getting to put my arm around her.

As soon as I pulled into the driveway Sam walked out of her house and got into the car, beaming brightly at me. “Thank you so much,” she said, straightening her clingy black blouse and flashing me another smile. “I really thought I was going to die of boredom!”

I nodded sympathetically. “I was started to get pretty bored at home, too,” I said, driving toward the small town square and dilapidated movie theater. I stopped at a stop sign, and a stroke of genius hit�"why stay in Meadow Grove? The Greenville theater was only twenty-five minutes away…

“Oh, are we going to the Greenville theater? You read my mind,” Sam said, smiling coyly at me as I turned onto highway 224.

“This is a little less boring,” I stated, getting a little nervous about the movie. It irritated me that I’d been with Sam for three months and I still got nervous around her, but I brushed it off�"we didn’t necessarily represent the usual couple that hung out every second of the day, anyway.

She smiled brightly and stared out the window. I took a few deep breaths and tried to calm the few butterflies in my stomach as we sped past the city limit sign, praying I remembered how to get to the movie theater.