The Trouble With Three

Chapter 6 – Meet Me in New Haven

“Why were all those woman looking at you?” Kevin’s seven-year-old stepsister, Kaitlyn, asked, clutching her American Girl doll tightly.

Because they’re depressed, unfulfilled middle-aged housewives who thought I was a good-looking single dad taking his daughter to a freakin’ doll store, Kevin thought. “Because I was one of the only guys in the store, Kaitlyn,” Kevin answered instead.

“Is that bad?”

“Not bad,” Kevin replied. “Just a little unusual. Usually moms take their daughters to stores like this.”

Kaitlyn pouted. “Did you not want to go, Kevin?”

Kevin winced and squatted down so that he was eye-to-eye with his sister. “No way, kid. I get to see you, like, once every full moon. I’d take you anywhere, Kait.”

Kaitlyn’s frown immediately inverted. “Can we go to Zippy’s?”

Zippy’s was an arcade/fun world-type of venue. Kevin had often retreated to the place when he was younger and trying to avoid his old man whenever he visited New Haven. He didn’t mind going back at all.

“You got it, kid.”

****

“I need more quarters, Kevin!” Kaitlyn squealed. She tucked her doll under one arm, while holding her small stash of tickets in her other hand. Kevin dug into his pockets and gave Kaitlyn one quarter at a time, while she sprinted around Zippy’s like some eight-year-old on a sugar high. Well, she was seven…and Kevin had allowed her to scarf down an entire thing of cotton candy.

They played skee ball. They played tot-sized basketball. Kevin won another cheap doll for Kaitlyn from the machine with the claw, and the kid acted like he had just given her a million dollars. Afterward, Kevin and Kaitlyn waited in line to trade in the tickets.

“How many do I have?” Kaitlyn inquired.

Kevin had counted the tickets every few minutes just so that he wouldn’t have to waste time counting in line. “Thirty-nine.”

“What can I get?”

Kevin peered through the glass at the cheap prizes with disdain. “A temporary tattoo and a mini eraser.”

Kaitlyn looked sorely disappointed. “That’s all?”

“Kevin?”

Kevin turned around, and it was like a vision from his dreams. Carly Brooks was standing right in front of him, but…what was she doing in New Haven?

“Carly?”

“What are you doing here, Kev?”

“I’m…uh, visiting my dad.”

“Oh,” she answered. Her eyes fell toward Kaitlyn, and she smiled. “Hello.”

Kaitlyn smiled back but remained shy. Kevin took the hint. “This is my sister, Kaitlyn.”

Carly looked momentarily stunned.

“Kait, this is my old friend, Carly.”

Carly’s eyes eventually fell back on Kaitlyn, whose eyes had already made contact with the huge stack of tickets in Carly’s grasp.

“Did you win all those tickets yourself?”

Carly nodded. “Yep.”

“How many do you have?” Kaitlyn inquired.

“You know what? I actually have no idea.”

“How do you know what you’re gonna get then?”

“I don’t’ know if I’m even going to get anything, Kaitlyn.”

Kaitlyn gulped. Kevin knew exactly what his sister was thinking, but he also knew that she was too shy to ask. As it turned out, he didn’t even have to.

“Would you like my tickets, Kaitlyn?”

Kaitlyn nodded so fervently that Kevin worried her head would fall off. Carly held the tickets out to Kaitlyn, and the latter accepted them with a huge grin on her face.

“Now, what can I get, Kevin?”

“Give me a second to count these, kid!”

Kaitlyn excitedly made her way to the glass and pressed her nose up against it to gauge her options. Kevin’s eyes drifted toward Carly’s and he mouthed a silent ‘thank you’ to her. She smiled, and Kevin wondered if he could hold onto this one moment forever.

Unfortunately, this was the real world, and real happiness tended not to last forever.

“Carly, what’s keeping you so –

Shit.

Eden Halliwell stopped dead in her tracks and seemed to be thinking the same thoughts as Kevin. Then again, this was Eden Halliwell, and it wouldn’t be long before her thoughts eventually became vocalized.

“What are you doing here?”

“I’m sorry, but the last time I checked, the name of this arcade was Zippy’s, not Eden’s Palace.” Kevin answered smugly.

“I meant what are you doing in New Haven?”

“My dad lives here, and consequently…” Kevin gestured toward Kaitlyn, “…so does my sister.”

Eden cocked her head to look past Kevin. Her eyes widened in surprise. “Oh.”

“I want this one!” Kaitlyn shrieked with glee. Kevin spun around to see that Kaitlyn was indicating a particularly ugly ceramic figurine that was available for one thousand tickets. An Edwardian couple held hands in front of a tree. Why in the hell would a seven-year-old want this?

Kevin bent down next to Kaitlyn. “Why this one, Kaity?”

“’Cause Mommy loves these things, and her birthday is on Wednesday.”

“Why don’t you get another doll, Kait? I’ll take you to a special store, and we can shop for something extra special for your mom.”

Kaitlyn frowned. “But I want this to be a present from only me.”

Kevin sighed and looked down to the tickets in Kaitlyn’s grasp. With Carly’s share, they couldn’t have more than about three-fifty anyway.

“Here.”

Kevin looked to his left and had to suppress his shock when he saw Eden casually extending her share of tickets to him. He heard his sister gasp with glee behind him. Kevin humbly accepted the tickets before standing up and handing the tickets over to the counter.

“Seven hundred and eighty-two,” he announced without any enthusiasm.

Dammit! Kevin was two seconds from going over to the basketball game and winning the balance, but his attempt was cut short by a familiar voice.

“Take these.”

Kevin didn’t even have to turn around to know who it was, but curiosity got the better of him. He had to see this to believe it.

Aaron Holt handed his tickets over to the counter. “A thousand twenty-two,” the counter revised.

“I want that one!” Kaitlyn cried out, pointing at the ceramic couple. The Zippy’s employee pulled it out.

“You still have twenty-two tickets left.”

Kaitlyn appeared to be in deep thought before she finally spoke again. “And…I’ll take the temporary tattoo.”

****

“Rock, paper, scissors!”

Kaitlyn bopped Eden’s scissors with her small fist of a rock. “Beat ya again!”

“This is so unfair!” Eden whined, prompting Carly to giggle.

Carly gradually recalled the time that Kevin had announced he was finally getting a sibling, back in the fourth grade. By the fifth grade, little Kaitlyn had finally arrived, and Kevin complained about what he was supposed to do with a little sister. Obviously, Kevin’s initial dislike of his baby sibling had desisted. In fact, Carly could tell that Kevin was a total doormat when it came to Kaitlyn.

The gang had gathered at a local malt shop in downtown New Haven near Zippy’s. Kevin had insisted that he needed to head home, but Kaitlyn begged him to stay. They were seated in a corner booth, which was able to accommodate all five of them. Kaitlyn sat in the very middle, while Eden sat to her right, and Kevin, to her left. When it was time for Carly to sit down, she was a bit concerned. She really would have preferred sitting next to Eden, but if Aaron and Kevin continued acting the way they had been thus far, then little Kaitlyn was sure to start asking questions, and the trio would have to address the five hundred pound gorilla in the room. Carly wasn’t up to that just now, so she took a seat next to Kevin, instead.

Too bad she hadn’t stopped to think how that would make Aaron feel. In classic Aaron fashion, he seemed to take it in stride and slipped in next to Eden without ever taking his eyes off of Carly. Kevin tried to hide his pleasure in having Carly sit next to him, but he didn’t possess Aaron’s poker face.

Everyone placed their orders, and while they all waited for their food to arrive, Kaitlyn’s inevitable line of questioning came to fruition.

“How do all of you know each other?”

“We go to school together,” Kevin answered.

“Are you Kevin’s girlfriend?” she asked Eden.

Eden nearly spit out her soda. “God no – I mean…no.”

Kaitlyn turned to Carly. “Are you Kevin’s girlfriend?”

Carly tried to mask her discomfort but feared she was failing miserably. “Um…no, I’m not.”

Kaitlyn looked disappointed. “That’s too bad. Both of you girls are so pretty.”

Carly smiled, while a huge rosy blush appeared on Eden’s face.

“Are you Kevin’s best friend?” she asked Aaron.

Aaron didn’t answer right away. “Yes,” he lied. Kevin arched his eyebrows in response but didn’t correct Aaron either. “I remember you, you know.”

Kaitlyn took a quick sip of her strawberry milkshake. “Yeah? How?”

“Well,” Aaron began, “you were only two years old, so you probably don’t remember, but I went on a camping trip with your family once. You kept getting sick, so we had to leave a whole day early. We were so mad at you then.”

Kaitlyn’s jaw dropped. “I’m sorry! Forgive me…pretty please?”

Aaron chuckled. “You’re forgiven.”

Carly smiled at the innocent repartee between Aaron and Kaitlyn. Those two seemed as much brother and sister as Kevin and Kaitlyn. Carly noticed that Kevin didn’t seem all that glad that his baby sister was getting along so well with his ex-best friend.

Even as their food arrived and everyone dug in, Kaitlyn continued to go on and on about her parents and Kevin and second grade and her new American Girl doll. Truthfully, Carly was thankful for Kaitlyn’s presence. It allowed the group to bypass the awkward silences and the stifling tension that had permeated their get-togethers of recent.

“Do you guys get to go to dances?” Kaitlyn asked all of a sudden.

“Sometimes,” Eden answered.

“Like prom?” Kaitlyn continued.

“Homecoming is actually our first dance of the year,” Eden replied.

“Isn’t that when you play the important game, Kev?” Kaitlyn inquired.

“Yep,” Kevin answered.

“Who are you going to take to the dance then?”

An uncomfortable silence lingered after Kaitlyn had asked her question. Kevin concentrated on his food before he turned his head to his left and regarded Carly with his deep, green eyes.

“I was hoping I could take Carly.”

“Hey!” Kaitlyn began. “I thought you said she wasn’t your girlfriend!”

“She’s not, Kait. I just want to take her dancing is all.”

Carly couldn’t believe her ears. Kevin Maguire had just asked her in the most backwards way possible to accompany him to homecoming.

“Well…are you going to go with Kevin?” Kaitlyn asked.

It seemed to be the million-dollar question. Everyone was leaning in, waiting to hear Carly’s response. She was definitely going to go to homecoming, but she had planned on flying solo, along with Eden. If she said no to Kevin’s invitation, the only reason that would appease everyone – including little Miss Kaitlyn – would be if Carly said she wouldn’t be able to go at all. However, Carly definitely wanted to go; she wouldn’t miss her last homecoming dance of high school for anything. Then again, if she publicly accepted Kevin’s invitation within this particular context, Aaron would be crushed – she knew it. Still…Carly knew what she had to do.

“Yeah…I-I guess I am,” Carly answered meekly.

Identical grins crossed Kevin and Kaitlyn’s faces. Eden looked ambiguous, while Aaron looked displeased. There really was no way to win in this situation, was there?

****

Bravo, Maguire, Aaron thought to himself. Kevin’s usual stupidity had been absent when he had employed his younger sister to unintentionally guilt Carly into attending homecoming with him. It really was a fail-proof plan the more Aaron thought about it.

The train was traveling back to Davenport at a comfortable speed. Aaron would have liked to sleep, like the two girls sitting across from him, but his mind kept going back to the unexpected encounter with Kevin earlier that day.

There weren’t so much questions as there were regrets for Aaron. He had had all weekend to ask Carly to homecoming, and he hadn’t – probably because he knew that she’d reject him anyway. He suddenly wished that he’d been able to eke a ‘yes’ out of Carly to attend the homecoming dance with him. Aaron didn’t really go to those things, but if Carly was the one at his side…he was willing to alter his plans.

They’d spent a lot of time together over Labor Day weekend, but for the most part, Aaron had spent even more time with Eden. For some reason, he was sure that Carly didn’t mind all that much, and that Eden was very pleased with that.

He stared over at the object of his current thoughts. She was leaning her head on Carly’s shoulder, and her eyes were shut. Aaron noticed the gentle rise and fall of her chest while she slept, and as sweet and peaceful as she looked, the only thought that was crossing his mind was how he was going to break the news to Eden that he was truly, madly, and deeply in love with the girl currently sleeping next to her.

Aaron’s eyes drifted over to Carly. She looked like a sleeping princess, with her golden ringlets of hair framing her delicate features. He supposed, in reality, Carly had looked the same even when she had been eight, but what the hell did an eight-year-old boy know anyway? Now, Aaron was a teenage male with raging hormones who could easily tell that Carly was as attractive as they came.

But Eden had been right also. Aaron wasn’t just drawn to Carly’s prettiness. If anything, that was one of the least important aspects about her. The thing that Aaron loved the most about Carly was that she was still so…Carly – that she was still the same girl who had coaxed Aaron out of his depression after his father had passed away. Carly still had the ability to spread cheer around like confetti, and all the while, she never complained about anything.

This was getting to be too much. Aaron knew that he had to tell Carly about his true feelings before she had an opportunity to completely refuse him. Kevin just could not come out on top this time.

****