"Hey, loser," Gail greeted her baby brother, tossing her car keys up and down in her palm.
"Hm? Hey," Jared replied absentmindedly, sitting at the kitchen table with an open bag of Double Stuf Oreos. Kim's number in one hand, the cordless phone in the other.
Gail frowned. That was unusual. Jared's go-to response to her 'hey, loser' was always a lazy, 'sup, dorkus.' Gail took a seat at the table and grabbed an Oreo, "what's going on?"
"Nothing," Jared exhaled.
"What's that?" Gail reached out for the paper in Jared's hand. He was too quick. He jerked his hand back preventing Gail from taking the notepaper with Kim's number on it.
"That's a phone number," Gail observed, "and from that reaction, I'm guessing it's a girrrrl's phone number," she teased, pulling apart the Orea with the black manicured nails of her meaty hands.
Gail always had perfect nails. Her hair was consistently styled in elaborate updos and her makeup was bold and colorful. Gail was a beautician by trade. The 22-year-old used glamor as a means to express her inner beauty when she wasn't always feeling her outer beauty.
Gail had been a big girl from a young age. Once she'd reached middle school she had to transition to the women's departments. In the '90s, fashion for women over a size 12 was disappointing to say the least. So Gail would hunt through thrift stores for second-hand clothing that Mrs. Cameron would allow her to make alterations to. Armed with a sewing machine and glue gun, Gail bedazzled the crap out of her thrift store wardrobe with sequins, studs, and plastic jewels.
She learned to do her own acrylic nails and even earned a little pocket money from classmates who wanted to have their hair and nails done for school dances.
Gail always took life in stride, even when people were unnecessarily cruel to her. When she learned that students in high school had been calling her 'Big Fat Gail' — as a means to differentiate her from Gayle Summers — she printed the mean nickname on the back of business cards with her number and email address. A bold move that surprisingly made her fabulously popular for the remainder of her high school career.
Gail graduated by the skin of her teeth and transitioned into a cosmetology program where she succeeded at earning top grades and many awards. Now she worked at a salon in Forks half the week and drove to Port Angeles for the other half where she did makeup for a wedding photographer.
"Well, baby brother. Out with it. You got a girl's number?" Gail smirked.
Jared rolled his eyes at his big sister. She could be so annoying. It was just the two of them for the next two weeks. Mr. and Mrs. Cameron had left town to settle his great aunt's estate. She had been 80 but had no children so she'd left everything to be settled by Jared's dad.
"Well… aren't you going to call her?" Gail asked, licking the creamy side of the Oreo.
Jared pressed his lips together. The only thing he could think about all day was getting home so he could make good with this little piece of paper and call Kim. But he'd failed to come up with anything they could possibly talk about.
"What do I say?" Jared asked his sister, pathetically.
Gail could have taken this opportunity to make fun of him. She'd never seen her brother fretting over a girl before. Jared had never had a real girlfriend. He used to hold hands with the neighbor's little girl when he was a kid but they moved across town. Their relationship didn't survive long-distance despite seeing each other everyday at school. Kids… He's gone out on dates here and there but it never became anything. Unbeknownst to anyone — apart from Sam and Paul who shared his mental space — he'd experienced his first kiss with a girl from Forks just months ago, before changing. She was so far put out of his mind now that he could hardly recall her name.
"You can start by saying 'hello'?," Gail suggested.
"Hello?" Jared glowered at his sister's unimpressive suggestion.
"Sure. Girls like a good 'hello' … get's 'em all in the mood for 'how's it going?'," Gail continued, "before you know it, it's all like 'this weather we've been having…' you know… this, that and the other thing and then before you know it 'goodbye'," Gail teased.
"If I call Kim to chat about the weather she is going to think I am a giant loser," Jared grumbled. "Look, I like this girl. Like really, really like her," he exhaled a heavy breath. "I want her to be my girlfriend."
Gail chuckled, "wow. I've never seen you like this. Well, I dunno, what would the other wolves do? Piss on her house? Hump her leg?" Gail snorted at her own joke.
"You're the least helpful sister in the world," Jared muttered.
Gail knew that Jared was a wolf. His whole family did. There was no use in trying to keep secrets in the Cameron household. The family took it shockingly well. Mrs. Cameron and Emily Young often called one another to discuss how Jared is fairing with the transition.
"Just call her," Gail laughed at Jared's seriousness, "just talk about school. Teachers you hate. People you both know. If the conversation starts to die just tell her you've got something you need to go do," Gail shrugged, standing up from the table and wandered into the living room.
"Why hasn't he called yet?" Kim sighed into the phone, her eyes staring so intensely at the clock on the wall that she wondered if the second hand was actually moving in the wrong direction.
"I'm sure he'll call," Lara replied.
Kim was so nervous about Jared calling that she decided to stay on the line with Lara until her phone beeped to inform her of the call waiting. She was terrified that she'd jump out of her skin if she heard the phone actually ring. That was at 5:30… It was now 7:28. Almost 2hrs had passed and he still hadn't called.
"What if he doesn't?" Kim exhaled a shaky breath, "what if it really is just a big joke and he's out right now laughing with his friends about how stupid Kim Connweller is sitting by her phone all night waiting for Jared-hot-as-hell-Cameron to call her?"
Lara was quiet.
"Lara?" Kim swallowed.
"I don't know," Lara exhaled, "then he's an asshole and you're better off not talking to him."
Bleep, "call waiting," the automated voice calmly announced.
Kim squealed, "oh my god! It's him!"
"Okay, okay! Call me later and tell me everything!" Lara giggled.
"Alright. I will," Kim grinned ear-to-ear.
"Okay, bye!"
"Bye!" Kim inhaled deeply, and then switched to the second line, attempting to compose herself so she didn't sound like a desperate loser waiting around all night for a boy to call… even though that's exactly what has been going on for the past two hours.
"Hey, put Mom on," Troy's familiar voice mumbled through the receiver.
"Oh… it's you," Kim flopped down on her bed, filling up to the brim with disappointment.
"Gee, thanks," Kim's brother muttered.
"Sorry," Kim shook her head, "I'm waiting for someone to call," she mumbled, "... and Mom won't be home until around 10. It's Monday," Kim reminded him.
Mrs. Connweller had PT patients out of town on Monday and always got home late.
"Oh, right… Fuck," Troy grunted, "I think Mom forgot to load my student meal card again."
"Damn, did you make it all the way to the checkout this time?" Kim asked, rolling off her bed and wandered downstairs. She glanced in on Paige to make sure that the 4-year-old was still quietly watching TV and then started to gather the cups and plates from the dinner of fish sticks and macaroni she'd prepared.
"Yeah, a big red insufficient funds notice flashed across the checkout" Troy replied, "but the lunch lady had pity on me and said that I could pay tomorrow so I need to get this sorted out before breakfast."
"I'm leaving a note for Mom," Kim said, loading the dishwasher and then scrolled the message 'load Troy's meal card' on the dry-erase board magnetised to the fridge.
"So what's going on?" Troy asked, casually.
Kim and Troy had hardly been in a room together for over a year. Things at home were so different from how they were before he left for school 4 years ago. The family gained a new addition that year, Paige. Shortly after, Mr. Connweller was deployed. Her father came and went for months at a time. Kim felt like she was living an entirely new life from the one she had before when her brother was home. It was always her, Mom, Dad, and Troy… Then Troy left, Paige was born and Mr. Connweller was called to duty. Just like that, it was only the girls.
"Mom found and tossed out my makeup," Kim replied, giving him the news.
"Hah, good ol' Mom," Troy chuckled at his mother's typical behavior.
"The warden," Kim rolled her eyes, opening the fridge to look for something delicious to eat but shut it again when the only thing remotely good were Paige's strawberry yogurts.
"Mom is Mom. You're never going to change her. Just walk the line until graduation or hide your contraband better," Troy suggested.
"It's so unfair," Kim whined.
"I know. She thinks she's protecting you, though. Don't be so hard on her," Troy reminded her.
Kim rolled her eyes. Protecting her. Mrs. Connweller was way beyond overly cautious to make sure that her kids walked the straight and narrow. She, herself, had become pregnant with Troy when she was only in high school. The young mother had struggled a lot. Troy's real father wasn't in the picture. But Mr. Connweller raised him as his own from age 5. Mrs. Connweller was paranoid that her kids would follow in her footsteps. That's why she forbade them from dating in high school. No boyfriends or girlfriends allowed to either become pregnant or get one of her kids pregnant. The other things — no makeup for Kim, no cologne for Troy — that was just Mrs. Connweller; not taking any chances.
"You still there, Kimmy?" Troy asked.
"Yeah… how'd you handle it? Not dating in high school?" Kim asked, opening the fridge again and retrieved the yogurt she'd just moments ago rejected.
"... uh… haha," Troy cleared his throat.
Kim stopped peeling back the seal halfway, "Troy?!" Kim grinned, "is this a confession?" she asked, delighted.
Troy paused, "...Fuck it. I'm 21, what's the harm," he resolved. What could Mrs. Connweller possibly do now? "Yeah, I had a girlfriend in high school," he admitted.
"Holy shit. Where'd you fucking hide her?" Kim giggled.
"Remember Chess Club?" Troy asked.
"She was a Chess nerd?" Kim asked, peeling the seal from the yogurt the rest of the way and licked the back.
"No," Troy laughed, "I don't know how to play Chess," he admitted, "and if you go to my room and look in my yearbook, you won't see me mentioned on the Chess Club's page or find me in any of the photographs."
"You little bastard," Kim giggled, "that's brilliant."
"Yeah, well… don't get caught!" Troy warned her, "if you do, you didn't hear any of this from me," Troy replied quickly.
"Chicken shit," Kim teased her big brother who was clearly still afraid of disobeying Mother even at the age of 21 and nearly a college graduate.
"Alright, alright. I better go. I can tell already that I've been a bad influence on you, tonight," Troy laughed, "don't tell Mom," Troy reiterated.
"I won't," Kim laughed.
"Okay. I love you, brat," Troy said warmly.
"Love you too, butthead," Kim smiled and hung up the phone.