Chapter Three:
"And for our three-month anniversary he actually set up a picnic dinner at the
beach!" Dawn Schafer, an old friend (and Mary Anne's
step-sister) of mine gushed as we rode down the tree-lined street of
Stoneybrook. "It was soooooo romantic! The waves crashing,
the candlelight flickering in the wind and roses--can you believe it--roses!"
"Yes, lovely." Mary Anne replied listlessly, tiring of the subject at hand for
thirty minutes.
"It's okay." I said. "You seem really serious about this guy."
"I am." Dawn agreed. "Jason's wonderful. I think he may actually be the one."
I looked at her strangely. How was that possible? They had only been going out
for less than a year? And we were only
fourteen, how could a person find their soul mate so early in life?
"You mean, the one you want to MARRY?" I asked incredulously.
"Yeah, I love him." Dawn said dreamily. "He's a junior in high school. He's even
talked about us marrying right after I get out of
school."
Beside me, Mary Anne snorted in disgust. I looked to her but she was staring
down at the road as she pedaled.
"Wow. That must be...exciting." I said (and people say that I don't even try to
be tactful).
"It is." Dawn said sighing. "And you will not BELIEVE where he took me the night
before the flight..."
She began another story, not forgetting any details at all. I pretended to
listen, nodding and mmhmm-ing at all the right places
but honestly, I stopped listening halfway through. I was tired of all of her
Dawn-and-Jason stories. I could tell by the depressed
and bored expression on Mary Anne's face that she was more than exhausted of her
sister's relationship as well.
I looked down at my watch and my eyes widened. "Oh my gosh!" I exclaimed. "I
gotta go!"
"Go where?" both Mary Anne and Dawn asked me.
"I have to baby-sit for Cary's little brothers." I told them as I started to
turn around. "See you later!"
" 'bye, Kristy!" They called before continuing on their way.
As I rode back to McLellan Drive I wondered what it felt like to be in Dawn's
shoes. To be so in love with someone you really
didn't know all that well except for a few wonderful dates and romantic
escapades. I had a boyfriend once I supposed, Bart Taylor,
he wanted to get serious but I just wasn't ready. Now, with Dawn back, I
wondered if I was really missing out on something. I
thought about it as I rode to Cary's house and finally decided that I was better
off without Bart mashing my teeth in during movies
and groping me after softball practice.
Pulling into Cary's driveway, I hopped off my bike and headed to the door. I
rang the little diamond-shaped doorbell and
waited for about five seconds before the door opened. I gasped audibly at the
sight before me. Cary was standing there in neatly
pressed slacks and a clean white shirt with a (gasp) tie, his hair was slicked
back with gel and styled perfectly. He looked... well,
different.
"What?" He asked as I gaped at him for almost a minute.
"Um... you look... interesting." I said.
Cary snorted. "Yeah, well, don't get used to it. I only dress like this for
piano practice. Mr. Greber doesn't like it when his students
show up looking like--as he says it--degenerate and immoral."
"Whoa." I said as I followed him into his house. "Cary, I mean, you're style is
a little grungy but I'd hardly call you degenerate...
immoral."
"Don't worry about that. Mr. Greber says that about everyone. He'd say that
about the president's daughter if he had the chance."
Cary moved towards the den and scooped up a bunch of papers to put into his
backpack. "You've met my brothers before, right?"
"Yes." I replied.
"Good." He said. "But you're going to be stuck with them for two hours and they
can get rambunctious at times."
"I can handle it, I'm sure."
"They play pranks like nobody's business." He continued.
"Sounds like someone I know." I joked. "I think I can handle it."
"And they know all the little hideaways of the house." Cary said.
"Cary," I said firmly enough to make him look up at me. "I can handle it."
Cary nodded slowly before saying, "Of course you can."
With that, he turned to the stairs and gave a loud, piercing whistle. Moments
later doors opened and closed and feet stomped
a staccato rythym before two little boys, of about nine and seven, appeared in
the den doorway.
"Guys," Cary said as he put his backpack on. "You remember Kristy, right?"
The two boys nodded but made no move to come forward.
"I want you to be very good today. I don't want Kristy to be complaining about
how horrid you guys were." Cary told them. "Derek,
you know that itching powder that you have up in your room?"
"Yeah," Derek said, a smile curling up on his lips.
"And that wedge-y master 2000?" Cary continued.
"Yeah," Derek said smiling widely now.
"Don't use them today." Cary said abruptly.
"Oh, okay." Derek said exasperatedly.
Then Cary turned to the youngest one. "Benjamin."
"Cary," Ben replied in his sly, seven-year-old way.
"Why don't you let Kristy have those toy guns in your pocket?"
Ben sighed before pulling a small purple water gun out from his pocket. Then he
reached into his back pocket and pulled out
another one. Unzipping a hidden side pocket on his lower leg, he revealed a Nerf
mini-blaster. All in all he pulled out seven guns
from his size 0 pants.
Cary inspected him closely before sliding a finger into his shoe and felt
around. Ben squirmed and giggled, I guessed he was very
ticklish. Finally, Cary produced a small plastic round of bullets.
"Here ya go." He said, tossing the packet to me.
I stared at Ben for a moment before smiling. "I see we have a little police
officer on our hands!"
"No." Ben said. "Cary's the police man, I'm just--"
"Well, I'd better be going!" Cary said loudly. "Thanks again, Kristy!"
"No problem." I said. Or was it?
"So you guys were on a gymnastics team when you were back in Illinois?" I asked
as Ben bounced up and down on the
trampoline in the Retlins basement.
"Uh-huh." Ben replied, bouncing on his back then landing back on his feet.
"Watch this, Kristy!" Derek said as he ran then executed a roundoff back
handspring back tuck (note: the only reason I knew
what they were doing was because they explained it all to me) then a double
whipback.
"Wow!" I exclaimed, generally impressed. "You are really good."
Derek smiled at my praise before going off to the side and practicing the run
one more time. Ben was still bouncing on the
trampoline, every now and then doing a back tuck or somersault.
"You know, Derek." I told him. "There's this girl, Mariah Perkins, she takes
gymnastics here in Stoneybrook. Would you like
to meet her? She's about your age."
Derek stared at me for a moment as if I were joking. "A GIRL?!"
I hid a smile as Ben stopped jumping and started cracking up. "Derek's got a
girlfriend! Derek's got a girlfriend!" he chanted.
"I do not!" Derek exclaimed in indignation and jumped up on the trampoline to
wrestle with Ben.
"Boys!" I yelled. "Stop it!"
My scream fell upon deaf ears because Derek just continued punching at his
little brother. Ben was no better, he kicked at Derek's
stomach and elbowed him in the face. I took a deep breath, put both my fingers
in my mouth and let out my loudest whistle I had.
Derek stopped in mid-punch and Ben managed in one last kick before I pulled the
two apart.
"That's quite enough of that." I told them both. "Why don't we go up to the rec
room and watch a movie or something?"
"Okay!" Ben exclaimed, pushing his brother away and dashed up the stairs.
I helped Derek down and then as we walked up the stairs I looked down at him.
"Why were you so upset when I mentioned
Mariah?"
"Because I already know her and she's the ugliest, stupidest, most horrible girl
I've ever met!" He said.
I paused a beat before I smiled. "So you like her."
Derek looked down at his feet and frowned. "A little." Then he looked back up at
me, his eyes flashing. "But she doesn't like
me so it doesn't make a difference."
I suppressed a laugh. "Maybe she just doesn't know you that well. Mariah's a
very nice girl, and you're a very nice boy and
I'm sure that if you got to know her then you'd hit it off and can become
friends."
"I don't think so." Derek said softly.
"Cheer up." I told him. "Everything will work out."
We headed for the rec room where Ben had thrown open the entertainment system
and movie collection. After a brief debate
we decided to watch the DVD Waterworld with Kevin Costner. I'd never watched it
before but it looked boring. But the boys
were really enthusiastic about it so I decided to give it a try. As it turned
out, Waterworld was pretty interesting. It took place
in the future when the polar ice caps melted, covering the earth with water and
people adapted and made a living by bartering and
fishing. Kevin Costner played someone called a mariner who helped Enola and
Helen find the mythical 'dry land'.
I got really caught up in the action towards the ending when the mariner boarded
the ship of Deacon (the bad guy) to save little
Enola that I didn't notice Cary sneak up behind me and yell, 'BOO!'
I let out a scream just as Enola was explaining to Deacon's side kick that
mariner was a sneak who could come up behind you
and you wouldn't even know it. Talk about irony.
"Hey Kristy." Cary said laughing loudly.
"Hello." I replied icily. "Is it noon already?"
"Yup." He said, hopping onto the couch beside Ben. "Watching this again?"
"SHHH!" Ben and Derek hushed him without taking their eyes off the screen.
Cary rolled his eyes and laid his head back against the couch. "It never ends."
He mumbled to me.
I smiled before standing up. "Well, I guess if you're back already--"
"Oh no, why don't you just stick around and finish the movie?" He suggested. "I
mean, you seem pretty interested."
I shrugged then sat back until the ending, which by the way, was NOT what I had
in mind and I was slightly disappointed while
Ben put the disk away.
Cary sent the boys into the kitchen and asked if I wanted to stick around for
lunch, I gratiously turned it down, explaining that
I had to help mom shop for groceries for a special dinner we were making for
Charlie that night.
"Oh cool." He replied as he paid me.
"Yeah, only when mom goes all out it usually means I have to wear a dress." I
said rolling my eyes.
"A dress." Cary said, raising an eyebrow. "That should be... interesting. I
can't wait to see that."
I paused and looked at him, puzzled. "What--"
"Sam and your mother invited me yesterday." He said smiling smuggly.
I tensed a little, why was it that Cary let you go on and on talking and
explaining to him when he already knew about it?
"Yeah, well, see you there." I said. "But don't count on me wearing a dress."
"I'd settle for you wearing a top." Cary said slyly.
I didn't skip a beat. "Cary... let it go. Get a hobby, make some friends."
"And for our three-month anniversary he actually set up a picnic dinner at the
beach!" Dawn Schafer, an old friend (and Mary Anne's
step-sister) of mine gushed as we rode down the tree-lined street of
Stoneybrook. "It was soooooo romantic! The waves crashing,
the candlelight flickering in the wind and roses--can you believe it--roses!"
"Yes, lovely." Mary Anne replied listlessly, tiring of the subject at hand for
thirty minutes.
"It's okay." I said. "You seem really serious about this guy."
"I am." Dawn agreed. "Jason's wonderful. I think he may actually be the one."
I looked at her strangely. How was that possible? They had only been going out
for less than a year? And we were only
fourteen, how could a person find their soul mate so early in life?
"You mean, the one you want to MARRY?" I asked incredulously.
"Yeah, I love him." Dawn said dreamily. "He's a junior in high school. He's even
talked about us marrying right after I get out of
school."
Beside me, Mary Anne snorted in disgust. I looked to her but she was staring
down at the road as she pedaled.
"Wow. That must be...exciting." I said (and people say that I don't even try to
be tactful).
"It is." Dawn said sighing. "And you will not BELIEVE where he took me the night
before the flight..."
She began another story, not forgetting any details at all. I pretended to
listen, nodding and mmhmm-ing at all the right places
but honestly, I stopped listening halfway through. I was tired of all of her
Dawn-and-Jason stories. I could tell by the depressed
and bored expression on Mary Anne's face that she was more than exhausted of her
sister's relationship as well.
I looked down at my watch and my eyes widened. "Oh my gosh!" I exclaimed. "I
gotta go!"
"Go where?" both Mary Anne and Dawn asked me.
"I have to baby-sit for Cary's little brothers." I told them as I started to
turn around. "See you later!"
" 'bye, Kristy!" They called before continuing on their way.
As I rode back to McLellan Drive I wondered what it felt like to be in Dawn's
shoes. To be so in love with someone you really
didn't know all that well except for a few wonderful dates and romantic
escapades. I had a boyfriend once I supposed, Bart Taylor,
he wanted to get serious but I just wasn't ready. Now, with Dawn back, I
wondered if I was really missing out on something. I
thought about it as I rode to Cary's house and finally decided that I was better
off without Bart mashing my teeth in during movies
and groping me after softball practice.
Pulling into Cary's driveway, I hopped off my bike and headed to the door. I
rang the little diamond-shaped doorbell and
waited for about five seconds before the door opened. I gasped audibly at the
sight before me. Cary was standing there in neatly
pressed slacks and a clean white shirt with a (gasp) tie, his hair was slicked
back with gel and styled perfectly. He looked... well,
different.
"What?" He asked as I gaped at him for almost a minute.
"Um... you look... interesting." I said.
Cary snorted. "Yeah, well, don't get used to it. I only dress like this for
piano practice. Mr. Greber doesn't like it when his students
show up looking like--as he says it--degenerate and immoral."
"Whoa." I said as I followed him into his house. "Cary, I mean, you're style is
a little grungy but I'd hardly call you degenerate...
immoral."
"Don't worry about that. Mr. Greber says that about everyone. He'd say that
about the president's daughter if he had the chance."
Cary moved towards the den and scooped up a bunch of papers to put into his
backpack. "You've met my brothers before, right?"
"Yes." I replied.
"Good." He said. "But you're going to be stuck with them for two hours and they
can get rambunctious at times."
"I can handle it, I'm sure."
"They play pranks like nobody's business." He continued.
"Sounds like someone I know." I joked. "I think I can handle it."
"And they know all the little hideaways of the house." Cary said.
"Cary," I said firmly enough to make him look up at me. "I can handle it."
Cary nodded slowly before saying, "Of course you can."
With that, he turned to the stairs and gave a loud, piercing whistle. Moments
later doors opened and closed and feet stomped
a staccato rythym before two little boys, of about nine and seven, appeared in
the den doorway.
"Guys," Cary said as he put his backpack on. "You remember Kristy, right?"
The two boys nodded but made no move to come forward.
"I want you to be very good today. I don't want Kristy to be complaining about
how horrid you guys were." Cary told them. "Derek,
you know that itching powder that you have up in your room?"
"Yeah," Derek said, a smile curling up on his lips.
"And that wedge-y master 2000?" Cary continued.
"Yeah," Derek said smiling widely now.
"Don't use them today." Cary said abruptly.
"Oh, okay." Derek said exasperatedly.
Then Cary turned to the youngest one. "Benjamin."
"Cary," Ben replied in his sly, seven-year-old way.
"Why don't you let Kristy have those toy guns in your pocket?"
Ben sighed before pulling a small purple water gun out from his pocket. Then he
reached into his back pocket and pulled out
another one. Unzipping a hidden side pocket on his lower leg, he revealed a Nerf
mini-blaster. All in all he pulled out seven guns
from his size 0 pants.
Cary inspected him closely before sliding a finger into his shoe and felt
around. Ben squirmed and giggled, I guessed he was very
ticklish. Finally, Cary produced a small plastic round of bullets.
"Here ya go." He said, tossing the packet to me.
I stared at Ben for a moment before smiling. "I see we have a little police
officer on our hands!"
"No." Ben said. "Cary's the police man, I'm just--"
"Well, I'd better be going!" Cary said loudly. "Thanks again, Kristy!"
"No problem." I said. Or was it?
"So you guys were on a gymnastics team when you were back in Illinois?" I asked
as Ben bounced up and down on the
trampoline in the Retlins basement.
"Uh-huh." Ben replied, bouncing on his back then landing back on his feet.
"Watch this, Kristy!" Derek said as he ran then executed a roundoff back
handspring back tuck (note: the only reason I knew
what they were doing was because they explained it all to me) then a double
whipback.
"Wow!" I exclaimed, generally impressed. "You are really good."
Derek smiled at my praise before going off to the side and practicing the run
one more time. Ben was still bouncing on the
trampoline, every now and then doing a back tuck or somersault.
"You know, Derek." I told him. "There's this girl, Mariah Perkins, she takes
gymnastics here in Stoneybrook. Would you like
to meet her? She's about your age."
Derek stared at me for a moment as if I were joking. "A GIRL?!"
I hid a smile as Ben stopped jumping and started cracking up. "Derek's got a
girlfriend! Derek's got a girlfriend!" he chanted.
"I do not!" Derek exclaimed in indignation and jumped up on the trampoline to
wrestle with Ben.
"Boys!" I yelled. "Stop it!"
My scream fell upon deaf ears because Derek just continued punching at his
little brother. Ben was no better, he kicked at Derek's
stomach and elbowed him in the face. I took a deep breath, put both my fingers
in my mouth and let out my loudest whistle I had.
Derek stopped in mid-punch and Ben managed in one last kick before I pulled the
two apart.
"That's quite enough of that." I told them both. "Why don't we go up to the rec
room and watch a movie or something?"
"Okay!" Ben exclaimed, pushing his brother away and dashed up the stairs.
I helped Derek down and then as we walked up the stairs I looked down at him.
"Why were you so upset when I mentioned
Mariah?"
"Because I already know her and she's the ugliest, stupidest, most horrible girl
I've ever met!" He said.
I paused a beat before I smiled. "So you like her."
Derek looked down at his feet and frowned. "A little." Then he looked back up at
me, his eyes flashing. "But she doesn't like
me so it doesn't make a difference."
I suppressed a laugh. "Maybe she just doesn't know you that well. Mariah's a
very nice girl, and you're a very nice boy and
I'm sure that if you got to know her then you'd hit it off and can become
friends."
"I don't think so." Derek said softly.
"Cheer up." I told him. "Everything will work out."
We headed for the rec room where Ben had thrown open the entertainment system
and movie collection. After a brief debate
we decided to watch the DVD Waterworld with Kevin Costner. I'd never watched it
before but it looked boring. But the boys
were really enthusiastic about it so I decided to give it a try. As it turned
out, Waterworld was pretty interesting. It took place
in the future when the polar ice caps melted, covering the earth with water and
people adapted and made a living by bartering and
fishing. Kevin Costner played someone called a mariner who helped Enola and
Helen find the mythical 'dry land'.
I got really caught up in the action towards the ending when the mariner boarded
the ship of Deacon (the bad guy) to save little
Enola that I didn't notice Cary sneak up behind me and yell, 'BOO!'
I let out a scream just as Enola was explaining to Deacon's side kick that
mariner was a sneak who could come up behind you
and you wouldn't even know it. Talk about irony.
"Hey Kristy." Cary said laughing loudly.
"Hello." I replied icily. "Is it noon already?"
"Yup." He said, hopping onto the couch beside Ben. "Watching this again?"
"SHHH!" Ben and Derek hushed him without taking their eyes off the screen.
Cary rolled his eyes and laid his head back against the couch. "It never ends."
He mumbled to me.
I smiled before standing up. "Well, I guess if you're back already--"
"Oh no, why don't you just stick around and finish the movie?" He suggested. "I
mean, you seem pretty interested."
I shrugged then sat back until the ending, which by the way, was NOT what I had
in mind and I was slightly disappointed while
Ben put the disk away.
Cary sent the boys into the kitchen and asked if I wanted to stick around for
lunch, I gratiously turned it down, explaining that
I had to help mom shop for groceries for a special dinner we were making for
Charlie that night.
"Oh cool." He replied as he paid me.
"Yeah, only when mom goes all out it usually means I have to wear a dress." I
said rolling my eyes.
"A dress." Cary said, raising an eyebrow. "That should be... interesting. I
can't wait to see that."
I paused and looked at him, puzzled. "What--"
"Sam and your mother invited me yesterday." He said smiling smuggly.
I tensed a little, why was it that Cary let you go on and on talking and
explaining to him when he already knew about it?
"Yeah, well, see you there." I said. "But don't count on me wearing a dress."
"I'd settle for you wearing a top." Cary said slyly.
I didn't skip a beat. "Cary... let it go. Get a hobby, make some friends."