“Tell us about this ‘friend’ of yours,” Emma inquired.
“I’m sure you’d have a good time with him. Well ... he just got out of a long-term relationship. He does have a great personality. I guess you could say he’s big-boned.”
“So, he’s an ugly, overweight guy who’s going to be whining about his ex. Do I have that about right?” Maggie asked.
Thank God I never dated her. She was shallower than I had ever imagined. I just ignored her.
“I’ll go with him,” Faith said.
“I’ll have Jim call you to make arrangements.”
“Hang on. Are you talking about Jim Ball?” Maggie asked.
“Yep,” I said with a smirk.
You would have thought Faith had won the lottery. She’d bagged a varsity football player who was a junior. I had heard other girls call him handsome. I guess he’d have to be if he was related to Suzanne, who I thought was drop-dead gorgeous.
I sent Jim a text with Faith’s number. He sent me a smiley-face back. I showed it to Faith, and she did that squealing and bouncing up and down in her chair thing that drives me nuts.
AFTER PRACTICE, I CAME home to find Tracy had parked in my spot in the driveway, which caused me to have to park on the street. I went into the house to see what was up. I walked in the back door and found Mom and Dad drinking wine at the kitchen table. I looked around and no Tracy. Mom saw my look.
“What’s wrong?” she asked.
“Where’s Tracy? Her car’s in the driveway,” I said.
“She must be up in your apartment. We haven’t seen her. Go get her and invite her to dinner. We have Chinese coming in a few minutes,” Dad said.
I grabbed my bag and went up to my apartment. I walked in to find soft music on, and a trail of clothes that led to the bedroom. I don’t know what came over me. That’s wrong because I do know what came over me: Mr. Happy wrenched control from the big head. He thought that if Tracy was losing clothes, so should I.
As I pounced on her, I told her, “We only have a few minutes. Dad ordered Chinese ...”
Thirty minutes later, we appeared in the kitchen. Mom took one look at us and broke out laughing. I knew better than to ask, but Tracy didn’t.
“What?” Tracy asked.
“Dear, your blouse is buttoned wrong, and it’s obvious you lost your bra. David forgot to zip his pants, and his hair’s a mess. Do I need to spell it out?” Mom asked.
Tracy and I both blushed.
I was surprised when Mom just let it go. She used to torment Greg and me. I just chalked it up as she wasn’t upset about the turn of events. Tracy and I ate quickly, and then went back to the apartment. I wanted to talk about what had just happened. Tracy wasn’t passing up this opportunity. She had me naked and back in bed for another round. I honestly don’t remember fighting her on it. When we were both relaxing, I figured that it was now a good time to talk.
“Not that I’m complaining, but why are you in my bed?”
“Suzanne called. She was worried about you. She asked if I was willing to help you out.”
“I take it you were okay with her request,” I said, and she kissed me to shut me up.
We spent an evening in bed, and she reminded me why I used to love her. I got a little emotional after she left. I was really feeling the loss of my friends, especially Tami. I knew her text to me before had said ‘Anonymous,’ but Mom had confirmed that it came from Tami’s new cell phone. I sent her a text.
‘I miss you so much’
It was probably good that she didn’t respond. At that moment, I would have found the next flight to London.
Wednesday October 22
RIGHT BEFORE ENGLISH, my phone rang and it was Kendal. This was getting to be a regular occurrence.
I remembered our last call.
“Oh, can you hear me now?”
“Oh, shut up, whiner. Your SAG membership is now activated, so we can sign the contract. Can we do that tonight at Kyle’s party?”
“I keep forgetting to get him a gift.”
“I figured as much. When I got mine, I got one for you,” Kendal, my lifesaver, said.
“What did I give him?”
“Five babysitting coupons,” she said.
That was perfect. It would give me an excuse to spend more time with Kyle. I missed the little guy, now that Greg and Angie had gone to college.
I PICKED PEGGY UP AT six, and we drove to my brother’s apartment at State. The parking lot was full, so I dropped Peggy off and went hunting for a spot. That’s not as easy as it sounds, in a campus housing area. There was a college girl sitting on her porch two blocks away. I pulled into her driveway.
“Hi, I was wondering if I could park here for a couple of hours. My nephew just turned one, and I’m going to his birthday party.”
She looked me over.
“My roommate and I need to go grocery shopping. If you leave me the keys and let me borrow your Jeep, you can park there.”
I’d already driven around the area a couple of times. If I was back home I wouldn’t hesitate, but I’d been warned that not everyone was trustworthy. Heck, even a ‘stupid boy’ was smart enough to know that.
I’d had, at Dad’s insistence, a tracking system installed on the Jeep. I think it was for Mom’s peace of mind. They could log on to the cloud and find where the Jeep was at any time. I also figured I’d better get some ID.
“I’ll need to see your driver’s license.”
She just shrugged and handed it to me. I took my phone out, snapped a picture of it, then I took one of her, and one of the house, so I could see the street number. I handed her the keys.
“That was pretty smart. I’ll have to remember that.”
“Give me your cell number,” I said.
I put her number into my phone and then dialed it. Her phone rang.
“Now you have my number in case you need me. I should be back no later than eight,” I assured her.
She smiled at me and went inside to get her roommate.
From there, I walked to Kyle’s party. I came into the sound of babies crying. Angie saw me and handed me Kyle. I hadn’t seen him in a couple of weeks, and he quieted down and acted shy. A little girl about his age was crying in her mother’s arms.
“Give her to David. He can get any baby to calm down,” Angie told her.
I soon had both arms full. The little girl wasn’t too sure about me. I turned her so she could still see her mom.
“Who are you, Princess?” I asked the baby.
“She’s Mackenzie, or ‘Mac,’ as we call her,” her mom told me.
“Well, hello, Mac, how come you and Kyle were crying?”
“They both wanted the same toy.”
Both babies had stopped crying, so I gave them back to their mothers. Peggy was talking to Greg. They had once dated and had stayed friends.
I WENT AND FOUND KENDAL who was talking to my parents in Greg’s extra bedroom/office. She was going over the contract.
It had a tentative calendar attached. It showed that I had to be in LA at the beginning of January for an initial read-through. Filming would start in British Columbia at the end of January for one week. I’d fly into Vancouver. At the end of February, I was scheduled to be in the Northwest Territory of Canada for another week. Then it was back to Vancouver for studio work at the end of March. It looked like I was going to miss about three weeks of school.
“Your Uncle John wanted to talk to you before we sign this,” Dad told me. “I also have some concerns. Talk to John, and then we’ll talk.”
I just nodded. This was a big decision, and I would appreciate his guidance. I called him.
“I asked your dad to have you call me. I want to suggest that you pass on this movie deal,” he said, shocking me.
“Why?” I asked.
“You’re young, and you only get one childhood. Something like this will steal that from you. You’ll always have opportunities down the road.”