Chapter 10

Duncan walked upstairs with the idea of just heading to his room, but he saw that the bathroom door was open and he heard water running. He peeked in, curious, and saw Quinn sitting on the edge of the bathtub, filling it up with water and running water over her feet.

Duncan leant against the doorframe, "Hey."

Quinn looked up at him. She turned the water off, leaving her feet to soak.

"Okay, I know you're upset about the whole guys knocking each other out thing, but really, it wasn't my fault," Quinn said defensively.

Duncan smirked. "I highly doubt that tonight wasn't your fault, but I'll let it go."

"Really?" Quinn said surprised.

"Yeah. I could use a break from telling you off," Duncan teased.

Quinn rolled her eyes, irritated. "If you'd just leave me alone…" she said grumpily.

"And let you turn into a complete moron? I don't think so," Duncan said seriously.

Quinn smirked slightly. "How about a partial…?"

"Quinn!" Duncan snapped lightly.

Quinn smiled. "All right. Calm down," she said. "So, where did Jane go?"

"Home?" Duncan said bemused.

Quinn gave him a wry expression. "I meant at the party, dummy."

"Oh," Duncan said. "To hook up with a guy," he said matter-of-factly.

Quinn nodded and then gave him a sympathetic expression.

"What?" Duncan said lightly irritated.

Quinn shook her head. "Nothing. So, where did you go when Jane left you?"

Duncan shrugged and said simply, "The backyard."

"Did you meet anyone?" Quinn asked.

Duncan looked at Quinn curiously. "Was I supposed to?"

Quinn groaned exasperatedly. "Yes, Duncan. It was a party and you're supposed meet people at a party."

Duncan smirked lightly. "You and Jane think alike. She said the same thing," he said and then became thoughtful, "Actually, that kind of scares me."

Quinn looked at him dryly. "Well, she was right," she said and then sighed lightly. "Duncan, if you keep writing off everyone, you're not going to have any friends when you graduate."

"Now you sound like mom," Duncan said moodily. "And that's a bit dramatic," he admonished.

"It's not dramatic. It's what you do," Quinn said simply.

Duncan glared at Quinn. "I do not write off everyone," he said seriously.

"Oh, you so do," Quinn said, lightly amused.

"I do not!" Duncan said irritated.

Quinn smirked, "I do believe that Jane is your only friend."

Duncan returned the smirk, "Then I do believe that proves that I don't write off everyone."

Quinn frowned in thought. "Still, Jane is your only friend," she argued.

Duncan rolled his eyes. "So, what? There are just not a lot of people I want to meet. Or at least people that are worth meeting."

"Isn't that writing off people, then?" Quinn asked smugly.

Duncan sighed frustrated. "I do not write off everyone, okay? If I did that, then I wouldn't have Jane as a friend or I wouldn't have kissed--" he said fervently, but faltered at his slip.

Quinn looked at him inquisitively and then grinned. "Or kissed?"

Duncan shook his head and groaned. "God, being a bigmouth must run in the family," he said and then added swiftly, "I'm going to bed."

"Hey! No way! You can't do that. Who'd you kiss?" Quinn demanded.

"None of your business," Duncan said tersely and then headed for his room.

Quinn scrambled after him. "Who'd you kiss? It was Jane wasn't it? She didn't go off to meet a guy. You two went off to make out with each other," she said amused.

Duncan looked at Quinn severely. "Shut up!" he hissed and pulled her into his bedroom, shutting the door. "The last thing I need is for mom to hear that."

Quinn growled impatiently. "Okay. Whatever. So, was it Jane?"

Duncan glared at Quinn, peeved. "No. And will you give it up about Jane? She doesn't like me, all right? And if you noticed, I said or not and. God, you need to pay more attention in English," he said irritated.

"Fine! It wasn't Jane," Quinn conceded, and then looked at him curiously. "How do you know she doesn't like you?"

"She told me," Duncan answered impassively.

"How'd that come up?" Quinn asked intrigued.

Duncan waved his hand dismissingly. "It just did. Just forget it, okay?" he said calmly.

Quinn nodded and sat on his bed. "Okay. You didn't kiss Jane. So, who did you kiss?"

Duncan sat down next to her. "I'm not telling you."

"Why not?" Quinn lightly whined.

Duncan looked at her incredulously. "Because, Queen Bigmouth, I don't need the whole world to know who I kissed, or to narrow it down, I don't need mom or Jane to know," he said seriously.

Quinn frowned thoughtfully. "Why does this kiss need to be kept a secret? It was a girl you kissed, right?"

Duncan glared severely at Quinn. She raised her hands in surrender.

"Sorry. I just had to ask," Quinn said defensively. "So, really, why the secretiveness?"

Duncan didn't answer. Quinn then smirked.

"What if I guess?" Quinn asked.

"I'm not confirming anything," Duncan said simply.

"That's okay. You can't lie to me," Quinn said smugly.

Duncan thought about it and then swore, "Dammit."

Quinn smiled and then became contemplative. "Okay. So, you obviously met this girl at the party."

"Wow, amazing deduction, Sherlock," Duncan said derisively.

Quinn glared at him and slapped his shoulder lightly. "Shut up. I'm thinking."

Duncan rolled his eyes and held a small smile of amusement.

"So, you met this girl at the party and you said you were in the backyard, so…" Quinn said contemplatively and grinned slightly. "No. You couldn't have. She wouldn't have," she whispered to herself thoughtfully, scrutinizing Duncan.

"Care to stop talking to yourself, it's creepy," Duncan said impatiently.

"You did say backyard, right?" Quinn asked intently.

"Um, maybe," Duncan said nervously. "Although, now thinking about it, it might have been the kitchen. You know how I confuse those areas."

"Nice try," Quinn said amused and then smirked. "You kissed Sandi! I can't believe it!"

Duncan looked at her alarmed and tried to think of a way to deny it, but knew it would be pointless with Quinn. She had him.

Duncan put his head in his hands and sighed, defeated, "Neither can I."

Quinn laughed, but quieted quickly at Duncan's glare.

"Okay. So you kissed Sandi. I still don't get why you need to keep that a secret, especially from mom and Jane," Quinn said seriously.

"It's bad enough that mom thinks Jane and I are doing stuff when we hang out. I don't need her to find out about the kiss and then start thinking that I am also doing stuff with Sandi. And since Sandi is here a lot, mom will make me be at her office after school a lot, 'cause you know she won't come home early just to watch over us, and I like my freedom," Duncan said seriously. "And you should know why Jane shouldn't know."

Quinn took a moment and then nodded knowingly. "Right, Jane hates Sandi."

"I wouldn't say hate. Just strongly dislikes her and wouldn't approve of the kiss. She didn't even like it that I said Sandi was pretty," Duncan said.

"You think Sandi is pretty?" Quinn asked smiling.

Duncan rolled his eyes and said grudgingly, "I'd be blind if I didn't, and that's beside the point."

"You thinking Sandi is pretty is hardly beside the point," Quinn said amused.

"Yeah, it is, 'cause I'm not interested in Sandi," Duncan said firmly.

Quinn rolled her eyes and said, dully, "Fine. Whatever. I won't say anything. Besides, Sandi seems to want to keep it a secret too."

Duncan looked at her bemused. "Huh? How do you know? You didn't know about the kiss until now," he said suspiciously.

"Well, Sandi told me that she met a guy in the backyard, which was why she had been gone so long. She just didn't tell me who the guy was," Quinn explained.

"Then how'd you figure out it was me?" Duncan asked confused.

Quinn smirked at him. "You can't lie to me," she said simply.

Duncan looked at her stonily and then asked, "She told you about the kiss?"

"Of course. We tell each other nearly everything," Quinn said and then shrugged, "I just figured the guy was some huge loser and that Sandi was really embarrassed or something, 'cause she usually brags about the guys she meets," she said flippantly.

Duncan glared at Quinn, "Loser?"

"Well, now that I know it's you, she obviously didn't kiss a loser. I was thinking more along the lines of a guy who was in the Chess club or the AV club. I mean, for me, that would be a good reason to keep the guy a secret," Quinn explained.

Duncan bit back his reprimand on Quinn's idea of losers, and said, lightly irritated, "Yeah, but I don't get how she could be embarrassed. She kissed me."

Quinn looked at him curiously and then grinned. "Do you actually care what Sandi thinks about you?"

"No," Duncan said quickly. "I just…I don't know, all right?"

"Well, I really don't know why she didn't tell me. Although, I don't get why she kissed you in the first place," Quinn said thoughtfully.

Duncan scowled at her. "Why does that sound like an insult directed at me?"

"It's not an insult. Sort of. It's just that, Sandi only goes out with rich, popular, hot guys, and well, Dunny….you aren't any of those," Quinn said awkwardly.

Duncan's scowled deepened. "Okay, I'm done with this conversation."

Quinn sighed exasperatedly, "You know I didn't mean it as an insult, but you know that's how Sandi is."

"I know," Duncan answered easily, and then became concerned. "And it frightens me that I do know that. I need to start leaving the house before your Fashion Club shows up."

Quinn rolled her eyes, and then looked at Duncan searchingly. "Are you sure you don't like Sandi?" she asked tentatively.

"Of course I am! I can't stand her when she's here. Just listening to her talk drives me crazy, and the way you all agree," Duncan said, grimacing.

Quinn gave him a wry smile. "Then why'd you kiss her?"

"I don't know. It was a mistake," Duncan said firmly.

"That's not a good enough answer," Quinn complained. "I mean, you had to have kissed her for some reason. Especially, if you dislike her so much."

"I don't know, Quinn," Duncan snapped. "We were just talking and she was being decent…she was different…and she said she kissed me for being nice…I…I don't know why I kissed her or let her kiss me. I don't know what the hell I was thinking," he said frustrated, laying down on his bed and pulling a pillow over his head.

"Duncan, it's not that bad," Quinn reasoned, amused.

"Yes it is. I kissed a girl Jane hates and if she finds out she'll hate me, but that's not the worst part," Duncan said from under the pillow.

Quinn looked at him curiously. "What could be worse than your best friend hating you?"

"I kissed a girl shallower than you," Duncan moaned miserably.

Quinn laughed. "You're right. That is worse. And funny."

Duncan looked out from under his pillow to glare at her. Quinn calmed.

"So, doesn't kissing Sandi make you a hypocrite now?" Quinn asked.

"Yeah," Duncan grumbled reluctantly, sitting up.

Quinn sighed lightly and patted Duncan on the back. "Its okay, Dunny. Being shallow is not so bad," she teased.

Duncan scowled and pushed her hand away. "I am not shallow! I kissed Sandi once. It was a fluke and will never happen again," he said fervently.

Quinn smirked and said, disbelievingly, "If you say so."

"Of course I say so," Duncan said firmly and then said, wearily, "You know, you can be exhausting sometimes?"

"I know. You tell me every day," Quinn said easily and then smiled, "I can't believe your first kiss was with Sandi," she said amused.

"Me neither," Duncan said honestly.

"Well, at least I can't think of you as a geek anymore. Sandi ranks pretty high as far as girls go," Quinn said, approvingly.

Duncan rolled his eyes. "I didn't kiss her because she was popular."

"Then that would make you the first," Quinn said seriously.

Duncan looked at her questioningly. "I think that's kind of sad."

Quinn shrugged. "It's the price you pay for being popular."

Duncan gave her a serious expression. "And that doesn't bother you? That guys could be doing the same thing to you?"

"Dunny, it's late," Quinn dismissed, irritated. "I'm going to bed. Goodnight," she said and left his room.

Duncan sighed wearily and decided that it was time to end the night. He changed into his pajamas and lay on his bed. He looked up at the ceiling, worrying and thinking about the evening's events.

After a while of thinking and not getting anything figured out, he removed his glasses and put them on his beside table.

Duncan sighed heavily. "I am so screwed."