"Did you dress like this for me ho?" Brett did some kind of hand gesture which I think was meant to represent the West coast, or something. Maria didn't laugh this time though; instead she suddenly looked really self-conscious. She slipped on an old brown cardigan that she was carrying, even though it was hot and buttoned it right up to the top.
"You wish!" She smacked Brett and then I noticed him. Not sure why I hadn't seen him before, I'd just been so focused on Maria.
"You guys remember Jarrod, right?" Maria gestured to him with her hand.
"Hey!" Jarrod gave a halfhearted nod and a smile that looked way too self satisfied for my liking.
Why was he smiling like the cat that got the cream the butter and all the other dairy products from the fridge.
I didn't like it. One little bit. Then something very confusing happened, he sort of took a step closer to Maria. Too close.
What was going on? Where they... but they couldn't.... could they?
"Well, we're gonna go inside," Maria said, barely making eye contact with me before walking off with Jarrod.
Brett turned to me and whispered "Did you know she had such a rack on her?"
"What?... What the fuck?" He'd never spoken about Maria like that before. "Don't be a dick. You can't say that about her. That's not cool... alright?" I started stumbling over my words, and was suddenly overcome with a feeling that I wanted to deck him. And I wanted to deck Jarrod too.
"Don't ever talk about her like that again, you hear me." I was in his face now.
Brett held his hands up in the air looking somewhat amused. As if he was trying to needle me, as if he was waiting for a certain response.
"Why you getting so touchy about it?" He asked.
"Did you know she was bringing Jarrod?"
Brett shrugged. "No. But it's a free world."
"Are they, having a thing....has she said anything to you about him, I mean..."
"Why do you care so much who she dates?" Brett said with a strange tone and still that smile across his face.
But there was nothing funny about this. "What! Are they dating?" I think I almost shouted the words out in shock.
"I don't know. But what if they are? He's a nice guy."
"No he's not. He's a total weirdo, and Maria's far too good for him. Way too good for him."
"So who should Maria date then?" He asked me, the smile gone now.
For some reason the question caught me off guard. I'd never thought about Maria dating before. She never really dated. I scanned my mind and quickly came to the conclusion that there wasn't one guy at school that was good enough for her. And if any of my friends ever tried, I would have to step in.
"She deserves much more than Jarrod." I finally said softly, not sure why this was spinning me out so hectically.
Brett took a step forward and laid a hand on my shoulder and then squeezed. Hard. It must have taken all his strength.
"She does deserve better Mike. She does." He stared at me pointedly, but before I could ask what he meant by statement, someone called out.
"Hey Mike." Brenna greeted me with a tentative hug and Brett shot her a disapproving look. I knew what it meant...strictly off limits.
She turned to her friends and started introducing them. I was struck by how different they all were. For starters, they all had brown hair. All the girls at our school seemed to be blonde, naturally and unnaturally. They were dressed stylishly, their clothes looked expensive and if we were in France, you could probably say 'chic'. They looked like they were ready to walk into a boardroom and start dropping facts and figures about the state of the economy. They were all hot though, but in a totally different way.
"This is Claire, Mich and KC," they all gave me slight waves and hellos.
"Well come in ladies," Brett said formally, leading the way to the downstairs games room.
I walked passed the kitchen and my mom suddenly attacked me with a giant snack platter. I hadn't even seen her there. It was as if she'd just come out of thin air.
"I thought you guys might get hungry." She placed the platter in my hands with an enthusiastic smile, winked at me and then disappeared as quickly as she had appeared.
She'd been acting weird all day. Maybe this was going to be her new thing? Guilty, divorced overcompensating mother. My dad wasn't here tonight. The thought punched me in the stomach and I felt a sudden stab of panic wondering where he was and what he was doing? Was he ever coming home again? I pushed the thought as far out of my mind as I could and walked downstairs.
I'd set the games room up a few years ago with my dad... another stab in my stomach. He was everywhere. It had a couch in it, a beanbag, a pool table that my dad loved, as well as a TV and video games. I looked around for Maria, but she wasn't there. Jarrod was there though, he seemed to have made a bee line for the TV games, I'd heard he was some kind of enthusiastic gamer.
I walked back upstairs calling her name, but nothing. Where the hell was she? I walked upstairs to my bedroom in case she had decided to bail on me and was hiding in my cupboard, but she wasn't there either. And then I looked out the window.
She was standing in the garden under the tree that separated my house from hers. I watched her for a moment or two and wondered what she was thinking. She looked deep in thought.
"Maria." I called out as I climbed out my window and down
