When Reggie got home, she went straight to her room, hopping on her bed and wondering how she would explain to people that she and Twister had started dating. Tito had handled the news fine, but it was Tito. How would other people react? Confused? Upset? She needed advice. She picked up the phone and waited while it rang.
"Hello?" a familiar voice said.
"Sammy, hey!"
"Hey Reg, what's up?"
The gang still tried to keep in touch with Sam, but it was hard when he was so far away. His mom had gotten a job offer the summer before his junior year. None of them wanted to split up the group. Usually he'd here from one of them every few weeks. Reggie had to remind Otto and Twister to keep up with him.
"Just got off at the Shack. What about you?"
"Physics homework."
"Oh, I'm sorry," she said, "Am I keeping you?"
"No, no. I'm glad to take a break. It's good to hear from you."
She hadn't called in a few weeks. Between her working all day and him taking summer classes to try to graduate by December, neither of them at been good at keeping in touch lately. She felt guilty knowing she had basically just called for advice.
"Yeah, you too! How have the summer classes been going?"
"Great! Did you know the sun fuses 620 million metric tons of hydrogen per second?" he said excitedly as she wondered how in the world he thought he might know that. "It's astounding! The correspondence between the two hyperfine levels of the ground state- sorry. I'm sure this is probably not as fascinating to you."
"Oh, but that's really cool about the sun though," she said trying to reassure him, although she was thankful he had stopped. "So school's good?"
"Yeah, and I think I'm going to try out for goalie on the hockey team this upcoming semester." He hadn't wanted to try the previous year, having just moved there and trying to get settled in.
"Aw, Sam, that's awesome! I'm so glad!"
"Yeah, so what's new with you?"
"Well, actually..." she started, uncertain of how to bring it up. "We haven't talked in awhile. And..." she opened the window and crawled out to make sure Otto couldn't hear her.
"Out with it Reg, you're being evasive."
"Twister and I are dating," she blurted out.
"What?" he practically screamed through the phone. "I didn't think he'd ever make a move!"
"Sammy, what are you talking about?"
"I mean, it's just that he's liked you for so long, but he didn't seem like he planned to do anything about it."
"What? He told you he liked me? Sam!" Reggie wondered how long Twister had liked her. If Sam had known about it, it had to have been more than a year.
"Please. He didn't have to tell me. It was so obvious. I never knew if you were just trying to ignore it to spare his feelings or if you really didn't see it. Evidently, it was the latter."
"Well, what do I do?"
"What do you mean? You guys are together. What's left to figure out?"
"Well," Reggie started, "no one really knows we're together except you. And Tito. How do I tell them? Isn't it kind of weird?"
"Reggie, they'll be fine. They can take it. The only person I'd worry about it-"
"Otto," they said at the same time.
"Yeah," Sam said, "and as much as it scares me to say this, I really think you should let Twister handle that one."
"Twister? But he's not really that great under pressure. And this is gonna a sensitive subject to tell Otto. Twister-"
"Is his best friend," Sam finished. "Otto needs to hear it from him."
Reggie and Sam continued their conversation. She filled him in on everything that had gone down the past few weeks and he told her more about his life. When she hung up, she went back inside and headed downstairs to see if Raymundo was still up. She found him sitting on the couch with a bag of popcorn.
"Hey Reg," he said as he saw her walk down, "wanna join?" he said offering her some popcorn.
"Um, sure, Dad," she said as she ate a few pieces. "Hey, Dad?" she said hesitantly. "Can I talk to you about something?"
He paused the tv and turned to her. "Of course. What's wrong, sweetheart?"
"Nothing's wrong. It's just..." she wondered how come it wasn't getting easier to explain it. "You know Twister..."
"Yes," he confirmed, "I believe I've met him once or twice."
"Well... Twister and I are kind of together now."
"It's about time! So he finally got the nerve to ask you out?"
"Well, sort of," she said remembering that first kiss before fully processing what he had said. "Wait, what? You knew too?"
"About his crush on you? Well he wasn't very good at hiding it," Raymundo laughed.
"Did everyone know about this except me?" she said slightly annoyed.
"I doubt Otto ever picked up on it. I swear, he's so focused on himself all the time, he misses everything happening around him. How'd he take the news?"
"Well, he doesn't exactly know yet."
"You better tell him quick. He's got a big ego. If he thinks you told anyone else first, I don't think he'll take it well."
"How do you think he'll react when we tell him?"
"My guess is as good as yours. Some days, it seems like he couldn't care less what others do with their lives. Other days, he takes everything as a personal attack to him. You and your brother are close. Even if he takes it badly, he'll come around some time."
That didn't exactly comfort her, especially since Twister would be the one having to deal with it. She wondered if they could tell him together. No way, she thought, that would be much worse. Still, she hated leaving Twister to have to do it on his own. Maybe it would be okay though. Everyone else had reacted fine. More than fine; they all seemed to have seen it coming. Just how long had Twister liked her? And how did everyone seem to pick up on it but her? She went upstairs, throwing on an old t-shirt and some sweatpants. She climbed in bed and wrapped herself up under the blankets as she dialed Twister.
"Hello?" Twister answered, leaving Reggie feeling strangely comforted by the sound of his voice.
"Hey there," she said smiling and leaning back against her pillow. "So I told my dad. And Sam," she added.
"Oh yeah? How'd they take it?"
"They took it great. Apparently, they had both seen it coming for awhile now."
"Oh... really?" Twister asked in a slightly higher tone.
Reggie thought he might be embarrassed if he found out they had known about him liking her. "Yeah, I guess they just thought we'd be a good match. And I can't say that I disagree."
"I agree too. I mean, I don't not agree- disagree," he said, confusing himself. "I told my parents too. They flipped out. My mom was so excited she started hugging me and telling me how she was so glad I had found such a nice girl. She went on about how great you were and how proud she was of me. And as my mom tried to hug me to death, my dad started giving me all these rules I needed to follow about treating you right and respecting you and all this stuff. Then my mom decided you need to come over for dinner. I tried to talk her out of it, but she had made up her mind, so I think we're stuck."
"I'd love to have dinner with your family! We'd have to wait until after this week since I'm still grounded, but that sounds great!"
"You're forgetting that Lars is part of my family," Twister said sourly.
"Oh, right. So he knows too?" she said hoping it wouldn't get around to Otto before Twister could talk to him.
"He will when you come for dinner. He was out with his friends tonight," Twister paused before asking the question he was afraid to hear the answer to. "What did Otto say?"
"I haven't told him. Sam said he thought it would be better if you told him."
"What? Me? Since when does the Squid know anything?" he thought about it, "Ok so he knows like everything, but not about this! Otto's gonna whomp me for sure when I tell him I've been secretly making out with his sister for the past three weeks and we've told everyone but him!"
"Well, I wouldn't exactly phrase it like that," Reggie joked.
"Reggie, come on, this is serious."
"I know. I'm sorry. I think Sam has a point though. I think it'd be better if he heard it from his best friend. Just... try to tell him gently. Maybe think of some ways it would benefit him?"
"Are there any?"
"Not that I can think of at the moment. I'm sorry, Twister."
"It's fine. You're probably right anyway."
