Of Dancing and Doughnuts Part Two
Oliver lugged his large metal case down the hall after him, saying goodbye to the teachers who were still cleaning up after the dance. He had tried calling both Lilly and Miley a few times to make sure they were alright, but neither was answering her cell phone. Even though they had seemed to be okay after landing heads first into the refreshment tables, he wanted to make sure they were not yelling at one another anymore. Not to mention he wanted to know why "fruit cup" and "chocolate pudding" were considered insults.
"Oliver! Finally! What took you so long?" Lilly was sitting on the steps outside of the school when he walked through the front doors. "I've been waiting forever!" she added dramatically.
"Lilly? What are you still doing here?"
"Hello! You're my ride home! We're supposed to be hanging out!" She looked at him as though he was from another planet.
"I thought you'd got a ride with Miley." He shrugged. "I just tried calling you and… did your dad already take away your phone again?" The metal case clunked onto the top step and Oliver sat down next to Lilly.
"Really?" She began checking her pockets, but came up with nothing. "Oh, no, I must have left it at home." She shrugged her shoulders. "So what are we going to do?"
"Wait for my parents to pick us up," Oliver told her, laughing. "Are you and Miley okay? You guys went down pretty hard in the snack food."
"Yeah, we didn't break anything and we worked it all out. We're both over Jake." Lilly nodded.
"Right." Sarcasm laced Oliver's tone.
Lilly sighed and said, "Okay, so maybe I still think he's cute, but I know he doesn't like me." Her eyes were downcast and her fingers were playing with the end of her belt.
Oliver remained silent. This was usually Miley's area of expertise. He tried to avoid talking to either of the girls about which boys they thought were cute or who they were trying to date. They gave each other really weird advice and he usually just ended up confused.
"I'm still the fruit cup," Lilly sighed.
"What does that even mean?" Oliver remembered the insults the girls threw at one another while they were each trying to get a piece of Jake Ryan, Zombie Slayer.
"You know… everyone always wants the chocolate pudding. Miley's the chocolate pudding. The fruit cup is always hidden behind the other desserts. The only time people get the fruit cup is because all of the pudding is gone." Lilly waved her arms around to prove her point.
"That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard." He ignored Lilly's glare to explain, "It depends on what else is on your tray. Like, say I have grapes or something already, do I need the mixed fruit? And if I decide I want to drink chocolate milk, do I want chocolate pudding too?"
"Is that a trick question? I would want as much chocolate as possible, duh."
"Even if Miley's the pudding and you're the fruit?" Oliver asked.
"Oh, right. Keep going." Lilly waved him on.
"Like I was saying, If I already have apple juice, then I'm not going to want more fruit, but if I have a piece of pizza, then my mom's voice is in my head telling me to get the fruit cup instead of the junk food."
"So, you'd only get the fruit cup because that's what your mom wants you to pick? You'd still really want the pudding? Thanks a lot, you doughnut."
"What? No, that's not what I meant. And stop calling me a doughnut!" Oliver looked confused. See, this is why he usually tried to not get involved with these kinds of conversations.
"What did you mean then?" She waited for him to gather his thoughts, trying to reign in her glare.
"I meant that a fruit cup is always better for you. It goes with just about anything, and you don't have to feel guilty when you add it to your tray." Seeing the confused look on Lilly's face, he continued, "Too much pudding just makes you sick. Sometimes you don't want more chocolate or that much sweet stuff, or whatever. And the consistency is weird once you've eaten enough of it. And it's just one kind of taste. If you get a fruit cup, there's all different kinds of fruit in it. Plus, the pudding's going to taste weird after eating something like fish or something…" his voice trailed off as her realized he was making less and less sense.
"What you're saying is that fruit cups are better than pudding, even if not everyone realizes it?"
"Exactly!"
"Thanks, Oliver. If it makes you feel any better, doughnuts are my favorite breakfast food, so even if I'm calling you an idiot, you're still my favorite idiot." She smiled slightly.
"Gee, thanks. I'll be sure to remember that."
Lilly laughed and then went on, "Did you see the way Jake looked at Miley when she came in though? He's got it bad for her."
"Well, she was wearing that dress," Oliver remarked, then cleared his throat when Lilly glared at him. "And she should not have been wearing that to a seventies dance. No." He shook his head.
Lilly groaned and put her head in her hands. "First my mom in a bikini and now Miley in that dress," she mumbled to herself.
"What?" Oliver asked her.
"Let's make a deal. I don't talk to you about boys and you don't talk to me about girls." Lilly raised her head and looked at the boy next to her.
His eyebrows shot up in surprise, but said, "Sure."
"It's just too weird," Lilly explained.
"Yeah, I am getting tired of hearing how dreamy Jake's muscles make him look when we're watching 'Zombie High.' And he's hogging all of the girls in school. Even Amber and Ashley are all over him," Oliver grumbled.
"What did I just say?"
"Oh, you wanted the deal to start now?"
"Duh."
The two of them sat there in silence again for a few minutes. Lilly waved to a couple of girls leaving at the other side of the parking lot before looking at Oliver expectantly.
"I wonder how your mom's cooking class went?" she asked him.
"Ooh, I hope she brings home doughnuts." Oliver said absentmindedly. "By the way, you better hope it's my dad that's picking us up, and not my mom, even if she does bring snacks," he warned Lilly.
"Why would that matter? What are you… oh!" Her eyes widened and her hands flew up to her mouth. "Do I smell that bad? Miley and I tried to get as much of the food off of us as we could!"
"Yeah, you smell like spoiled ice cream. " Oliver patted her on the shoulder reassuringly, and Lilly smacked his hand away.
"Spoiled ice cream? How do you even know what that smells like?" The question of who would be picking them up was temporarily pushed from her mind.
"Haven't you ever left a bowl of ice cream out in the sun for too long?" He asked her.
"Why would I ever leave ice cream out in the sun? Never mind." Lilly waved her hand as though dismissing that part of the conversation. "Your mom wouldn't, I mean, it's not like I'm covered in animal parts, I just got sherbert and fruit punch on me, right?." They were both remembering when Miley spilled essence of frog on Oliver's pants. Mrs. Oken refused to let him even get in the car, let alone ride home in it, smelling like frog. He had been forced to take off his jeans in the school parking lot.
"Look on the bright side, it's not the middle of the day." He smiled at Lilly, but the horrified look stayed on her face.
"Call your dad!" she demanded. When he laughed, she smacked him in the arm and repeated "Call your dad! Oliver!" She pinched him in the side.
"Okay, I'm calling. Stop hurting me." One of his hands was trying to hold her off, the other was busy fishing in his pocket for his phone.
"Make sure he's on his way to come get you, not your mom." She hit him in the arm again.
"I got it," Oliver snapped at her as he dialed. "Just stop hitting me." He continued to try to use one arm to fend her off with the phone to his ear.
"Who's hitting you?" Mr. Oken's voice came over the line.
"Just Lilly. I was checking to see if you were on your way to pick me up. We're waiting outside of the school."
Lilly did not hear what Mr. Oken said, but she did not like the look on Oliver's face when he said good-bye and hung up the phone. "What is that look for?"
"My mom's already on her way. Her class just ended and its on this side of town. She should be here in five minutes." He was struggling not to laugh.
"Eep!"
***
A/N: So, just so everyone does not get too excited, I've decided to leave what happens on the ride home up to your imagination. The next chapter will be different.