A Pair of Third Wheels

A Reunion on a Hill

Baljeet stared at the setting October sun, letting the evening sunlight bathe over him to wash his troubles away, down the hill, and into the river. Unfortunately, light particles seemed to be quite useless in regards for bathing. Sighing, the high school senior reached into his pocket and pulled out a pack of cigarettes. He lit up with his old lighter and began inhaling the smoke, using it to calm his nerves. Today marked what was perhaps the thousandth time he had set time aside to assist his friends that were all a grade below him in studying. Unfortunately for the young Indian, the four friends he helped were the two most famous couples in Danville High: Phineas and Isabella and Ferb and Gretchen. As the studying wore on, both couples became more, well, couple-like with Phineas and Isabella becoming almost incapable of separating and Ferb and Gretchen becoming completely lost in their own little world. Eventually, Baljeet had called it a night and left. He abandoned his books in his car at home and headed down to the park to smoke and try to relax.

Baljeet took another deep drag on the cigarette as he thought back on the past few years. When the entire group was younger, they had done crazy stunts every day. Over time, some of the members grew closer and began dating while others drifted away. Now, there were seven of them: Phineas, Isabella, Ferb, Gretchen, Buford, Milly, and himself. He didn't resent his friends at all nor did he feel like they should pity him, but sometimes it was hard being the only single person in a group. He had heard that Ginger liked him when they were younger, yet he doubted that she would break up with her girlfriend for someone that she didn't talk to anymore.

"Fuck it," he mumbled as he closed his eyes and began going over math formulas in his head between puffs of smoke. He wasn't bad looking at all, especially since Buford's exercise routine had given him a toned body. His parents still spoke their native language at home, keeping his accent strong even after years in America. Mix this with his dark skin and black hair that reached down to just below his eyes and he was something out of some girl's dream. His problem was he was too smart, often coming across as conceited or overbearing as well as many nerd tendencies. He had all but given up and was hoping for some change in college next year.

"Smoking kills," a female voice sounded above. No sooner did he hear these words than a large, furry mass landed on his stomach. Baljeet's eyes shot open as his cigarette fell from his mouth to see a hairy golden dog on top of him. The dog's tongue found its way to his face, disgusting Baljeet to new levels.

"Off!" he shouted, pushing the dog off of him. The dog initially resisted, but seemed to realize Baljeet didn't want to play and got off. He looked around to see none other than Adyson Sweetwater standing above him. She was holding a dog leash attached to Baljeet's attacker and seemed to be enjoying herself a bit too much for walking a dog.

"Did I mention the smell?" Adyson asked as her dog continued to jump around Baljeet.

"What are you talking about?" Baljeet asked in response, more than a little annoyed.

"Your cancer stick," she replied, pointing at the discarded cigarette.

"Oh," he muttered, looking away. He was a smoker, but he wasn't proud about that. "It's been a while, hasn't it?"

"We see each other every day in Calculus," she retorted, taking a seat next to him and letting go of the leash, allowing the dog to rush down the hill towards the river.

"I mean since we talked," Baljeet explained as he watched to dog play in the water.

"I guess," Adyson said, seemingly to herself as she pulled her legs in, wrapped her arms around them, and rested chin on top of them. Baljeet immediately felt like he had said something wrong. He stared at the usually confident girl that was capable of being the only junior in his AP Calculus class that now seemed vulnerable and depressed. He stared at her for several moments before he snapped himself back to reality and turned away from her.

"Sorry," Baljeet told her on reflex.

"For what?" Adyson answered, turning to face him. Baljeet couldn't say he had just been staring at her, so he desperately racked his brain for anything else he could talk about.

"What's the dog's name?" Baljeet asked, pointing towards the now happy mess of wet fur bounding around the river.

"Daisy, though I usually think fish would've been more appropriate," she answered. "She's four, but she spends more energy in a day than her mom spent in her life."

"You got a lot of dogs?" Baljeet asked, but Adyson shook her head.

"Just Daisy and her mom, Biscuit," she answered. "See, when Biscuit had her litter, she had five puppies but she wasn't producing enough milk. Since Daisy was the weakest of them, she wasn't able to get any. Instead, I had to bottle feed her. I'm pretty sure that's what led her to become so attached to me. When the time came to give the puppies away, I actually begged my mom to let me keep her. She said I could if I took care of her."

"And here you are," Baljeet finished for her.

"Here I am," Adyson mimicked, an almost motherly smile on her lips. "I'm almost certain she actually thinks I'm her mom instead of Biscuit. But enough about me, what about you? Do you have any pets?"

"If you count little brothers, than yes, though he might be messier than Daisy," he said, creating not just his own smile but getting a chuckle out of Adyson. He found himself enjoying her laughter, so he decided to roll with it. "Seriously, you wanna trade? I can get him here in ten minutes and we can switch 'em. I'll even let you keep the leash since you'll probably need it more."

"I'm good," Adyson replied between laughs. Baljeet found her soft laughter infectious as he let loose a few chuckles. When she settled down, she turned back to him. "Still, he can't be that bad."

"Well, he may be loud and obnoxious, but his friends are louder and obnoxiouser," he said, suddenly growing red when he realized that obnoxiouser wasn't a word. Adyson shook slightly with her suppressed laugh, but otherwise didn't pick on him. Baljeet thought she was laughing more at his reaction than to his language. "More obnoxious," he corrected himself slowly, "so I guess he's better by comparison."

"I know the feeling," Adyson replied. "Sometimes Daisy is such a handful, but when I see someone who has no idea how to handle their dog, Daisy seems like a perfect, obedient little dog."

"I hate to criticize," Baljeet interjected, "but I don't see how Daisy could ever be considered little."

"She is," Adyson objected. "Well," she mumbled after glancing at her dog, "she was."

"Emphasis on the was," Baljeet responded. An easy silence fell between them as they watch Daisy play in the water some more. The dog was like little kid, jumping and splashing like she didn't have a care in the world. Baljeet was honestly impressed that Daisy could still move like that with all her fur soaked. However, his eyes were drawn to Adyson. Her hair was longer than when she was ten, though she still kept a similar style with her hair sweeping down to cover her right eye. The rest was tied back into a sloppy ponytail. Her eyes looked so warm when she watched Daisy. The setting sun gave her a golden glow that mesmerized Baljeet. Was she this pretty when we were younger? he asked himself. In order to avoid being embarrassed further, he reached into his pocket and grabbed a cigarette. As he pulled it towards his mouth, a sharp pain stabbed at his hand, causing him to drop the cigarette. He looked up to see Adyson glaring at him with her hand held perfectly straight as if she just preformed a karate chop.

"Dammit," Baljeet grumbled as he held his hand.

"No smoking," Adyson explained as she stood up. "Daisy!" she called, causing the dog to immediately stop splashing and run up to her owner. When she stopped in front of them, Adyson jumped back a little bit. She was just in time to avoid the thousand water droplets that she shook from her coat. Unfortunately for Baljeet, he wasn't prepared for that. While the windbreaker he was wearing was waterproof, his pants, shoes, and hair were now much wetter than they had been a few moments ago.

"That's your punishment," she told him as she laughed at the Indian boy. He pulled himself up as he uselessly and quite ridiculously tried to brush the water off of him.

"'May he without sin cast the first stone,'" Baljeet grumbled to her.

"I'm a she, so it doesn't apply," she jokingly responded as she stuck out her tongue at him. As if in agreement, Daisy happily barked at Baljeet. Despite his annoyance, Baljeet couldn't help but smile at her and her dog. In fact, he couldn't remember the last time he had enjoyed himself so thoroughly.

"Thanks," he said, stopping her laughs. She looked at the boy that had always been so serious when they were younger thanking her for soaking him. She stepped up to him and placed a hand on his forehead.

"Funny. You don't feel like you have a fever," she said, pretending to be serious. Baljeet looked down at her and caught her eye. For a moment, they stared into each other's' eyes before their heads moved slightly forward.

"Baljeet," she whispered so only he could hear. Baljeet felt his heart skip a beat at his name. "Your breath stinks."

"What!" Baljeet stuttered as he stepped back. Adyson laughed at him again as he turned red.

"It's because of those cigarettes. You really should quit," she explained as she picked up Daisy's leash. "I gotta get going."

"Adyson," he said when she began to walk away. She stopped and turned around, her eyes locked onto his. "Can we hang out again?" he asked, hoping his desperation wasn't showing.

"Hmm, I wonder," she said as she cocked her head to one side. She held that position for a few moments, making Baljeet feel infinitely pathetic for asking her. "Sure," she replied, a wide smile breaking across her face. With that, she turned and ran with Daisy at her side. Baljeet watched her run until she turned a corner and was obscured by trees. She was different than he remembered her. Good different he told himself as he walked back towards his home. For once, he was actually feeling good about himself.

He liked it.

Hey everyone, it's Zoakdo. Reviews would be greatly appreciated for this latest story as they help me grow as a writer. I would just like to say that I know it's a strange pairing, but trust me when I say I have my reasons. I hope you liked it and, if you didn't, tell me why. Also, a Public Service Announcement: I neither support nor disapprove of smoking, gambling, or any other vice that has been or will be mentioned in this story. I don't judge people that do or don't do the things mentioned. I am merely trying to make my characters realistic by giving them real problems. So please don't believe that I am encouraging people to smoke or that I am insulting those that do, but just understand these things do happen.