The Tribuo - Book II

 

Andrew

            DeeDee stared at me without blinking, Pretty Woman completely forgotten, thank God.

   “Katie,” she said finally. “What’s her last name?”

   “I don’t know,” I said. “She never told me. And I didn’t ask.”

   “So, hold on a minute…” she frowned. “I am confused now. Are you falling for Katie?”

   “No,” I answered immediately, and to my own surprise, I knew I wasn’t lying.    “I don’t know what it is… She is just really cool, you know?”

   “Okay,” DeeDee said slowly. “What about your cock-tease then? I can’t believe you actually told her to get lost tonight…”

   “Well, I didn’t tell her to get lost,” I said pointedly. “I just said that I am busy tonight.”

   “Tomato, tomahto…” DeeDee waved her hand at me. “So what is it, Andrew? I mean, if you didn’t find a new crush, then how come you…”

   “I don’t know,” I said with annoyance. “It’s weird, okay?”

   “Ugh, Frey…” she got up and pulled another tortilla out of the pack. She kept munching on those ever since she got here. “What are you doing on Christmas?”

   I thought about it.

   “No clue,” I said finally. “I was planning on getting plastered, but… Now I am not sure if I will.”

   “Wanna come over?” she asked with hope and I knew why.

   Since Christmas was a family holiday, that meant DeeDee would be stuck with Caleb and her Dad pretty much all day. I imagined myself sitting between DeeDee and her brother, while those two are exchanging mean remarks and maybe throwing mashed potatoes at each other, and I shuddered.

   “No, that’s okay,” I said quickly and she sighed with great disappointment. “Hey, who knows, maybe Ellie planned something special for me this Christmas… You never know!” I added when DeeDee rolled her eyes and made a gagging face.

   “If I were you,” she said gravely. “I would just invite this Katie girl over… You might actually get more enjoyment out of watching your stupid show with her all day than suffering from your cock-tease…”

   She had a point. I did not think of that.

   “Hey,” I said thoughtfully. “What do you think of the whole weird park situation?”

   “I don’t know,” DeeDee finished her tortilla and reached for another one. At the last moment, she stopped and shook her head. “Those things are evil,” she said with regret and sat down. “But I seriously don’t know… It’s probably nothing. I mean, I can totally see why that guy reacted the way he did. I mean,” she shrugged. “If she looks like someone he used to be in love with… It’s totally understandable, right? And she was probably freaked out because of the way he stared at her. I know I would be…”

   “Why was she crying in the bathroom then?” I demanded.

   “Do you know for sure that she was crying?” DeeDee squinted her eyes. “I mean, she probably washed her face or something…”

   “She spent almost fifteen minutes in there,” I said pointedly and she rolled her eyes.

   “Yeah,” she said sarcastically. “And it’s totally unheard of for the girl to spend a lot of time in the bathroom with mirrors, right?”

   “Hmm,” I said doubtfully.

   “Andrew,” DeeDee sighed. “You just making things complicated. It’s clear that the guy had no idea who she was. That means she doesn’t know him either… Come on, Frey, let’s go watch my movie!”

   Ugh, just when I thought that I might be able to avoid Julia Roberts tonight…