Chapter five:



"Oh, Ben, please open the door!" I pleaded through the closed (and locked)
bedroom door.
"NO!" Ben replied sullenly back at me.
"Why are you so angry?" I asked him.
"Because you don't want to baby-sit for Derek and me no more." Ben exclaimed,
wounded.
"What are you talking about? I love baby-sitting for you two!" I told him. "It's
just that your mommy and daddy are coming
back tomorrow. Don't you want to see them?"
There was no answer and I let out a heavy breath that lifted my bangs away from
my face.
"Did he unlock the door?" Cary asked as he returned from the garage.
"No." I said dismally. "He's stopped talking."
"Great." Cary said rolling his eyes. "Step aside, Watson."
I did what he said and Cary started to fiddle with the lock on Ben's door. After
about seven seconds, the door flew open and
Cary headed in.
"What seems to be the problem here?" He asked.
No answer.
"Ben?" I asked, peeking into the room.
Ben was lying down on his bed, glaring up at the ceiling. "Go away."
I looked at Cary who just shrugged. I motioned for him to give me a few minutes
and Cary left.
"Ben, why are you so angry?" I asked innocently.
"Because..." He replied as if this explained everything.
"Because...why?" I asked him.
"Because you don't like me anymore." He said, hurt.
"Ben, I'm hurt." I told him, sitting down beside him. "I've taken care of you
two times a week for a month. I've played games with
you, watched TV with you and I cleaned up your barf last week when you had the
flu..." I shook my head in mock disappointment. "And
you say that I don't like you?"
Ben looked down at his hands and mumbled, "But you won't babysit for me
anymore."
"Who said that?" I asked, surprised. "I only said that I won't baby-sit for you
REGULARLY anymore. Your parents are coming
back tomorrow and now THEY'LL be able to take care of you. Wouldn't that be
better than just a baby-sitter? Hmm?"
He made a move to shift away from me, but I pulled him into my lap. "Wouldn't
you rather have your own mommy reading you
stories? Your own daddy taking you places?"
He squirmed around a little before he looked up at me. "...I guess so."
"I know I would." I told him. "I'll still be able to take care of you whenever
your parents or brother can't."
"Really?" He asked.
"Sure." I said.
Ben was still for what seemed like ten minutes before he gave me a hug. "I miss
my mommy and daddy."
"I know."
"Great." I looked at the clock. "I have to go now."
"Okay." He said. "Bye Kristy."
"Bye Ben."
I waved good-bye and headed down the stairs. Cary was sitting on the bottom step
and he looked up when I came down.
"So... how is he?" He asked.
"He's okay now." I told him. "I think that he misses your parents."
"Yeah... he's never been separated from them." Cary explained. "I guess you just
made it easier on him by being here."
I nodded. "Well, I guess I'll see you around. I have to be going."
"Hey, Kristy." Cary said, standing up and making a move to follow me.
"Yes?" I asked, turning back to him.
"I... um... I just..." He stammered. "I mean..."
"Yes?" I repeated, trying to get him to spit it out.
"I... I... maybe I'll just come with you really quick... I mean, just to get my
PlayStation back from Sam."
"Oh, yeah, you never got it back from him, did you?" I asked. "Okay... will the
boys be okay?"
Cary nodded confidently, "Of course they can," He said, dismissing my worries
with a carefree wave. "they're Retlins."
On the way out, Cary told Derek that he'd be right back.
"You have such wonderful little brothers." I commented as Cary followed me out.
"You don't stay with them as much as I do." He told me wearily.
"Oh, come on... in a way, they remind me of you." I said.
"Oh?" Cary said, arching an eyebrow. "How so?"
"Well, funny, sarcastic, witty..." I counted off a list on my fingers. "...and
sweeter than they'd care to let on."
Before his head could get bigger, I barged on with my sudden human mode towards
him, "Did Derek ever tell you about this
crush that he had on--"
"Mariah Perkins?" Cary cut in. "Yeah, who is she?"
"She's this little girl--about his age, I should say--that goes to his school.
She lives in my old house on Bradford Court." I said.
"He's mentioned her, once or twice, but it's not like I could help him." Cary
said, looking at me.
The branches and twigs snapped under our feet as we walked on. A squirrel
scurried up a tree and I smiled.
"Hey, um... Kristy?" Cary spoke up.
I turned back to him. "Yes?"
"I... um..." he slipped back into that darned stammering mode again. "I was
wondering..."
"Yes?" I pressed on.
"...Where are you going today?" he asked.
I frowned slightly. "Just to the pool with Mary Anne, Stacey, Claudia and Dawn."
"Oh... is Claudia still with Alan?" He asked.
"Um... yeah. Isn't he a friend of yours?" I asked back.
"Yeah, he is. But he hasn't been around lately. My guess is he was just always
with Claudia." He said. "I guess I was right."
I broke into a run and leapt over the white picket fence that surrounded our
house. I gazed over and shrugged at Cary.
"What are you waiting for, Retlin?" I asked, leaning back on my left leg, my
hands on my hips.
Cary grinned before breaking into a run before executing, what Derek called, a
handspring and then a full-twisting layout that took
him over the fence.
"Thank you, thank you," Cary said, bowing as if in front of an audience of
thousands.
"Don't get such a big head, your landing was no where near properly performed."
I said airily. "So, you were on a gymnastics team
in Illinois, too, huh?"
"No, I just went to all of Derek and Ben's meets." He said, punching my
shoulder. "I'm a quick learner."
I shook my head and headed up to the house. "Sam's not home, he's at a friend's.
That should make it easier to take it back."
"I'll say. Why don't you get your own?" Cary teased.
"Sam would have to--God forbid-- get a job."
"Wow, I'm lucky, dad said that I won't have to get a job until I'm
seventeen--providing that I help dad around the shop."
"You're dad's a locksmith, right?" I asked.
"Yup."
"Well, that explains it." I said. "I mean, the lockers and everything. I see
that you've been teaching Sam some of your tricks."
"Not to insult you, Kristy, but the things you write in your journals about
are... a bit mundane."
"Oh, and I suppose that you'd show me a thing or two about interesting." I said
as I opened the door.
"With my complications, naturally." Cary said, winking at me and started up the
stairs.
I watched him go up before shaking myself out of a daze. I couldn't stop
thinking about that night when he kissed me. Over
the past few weeks, whether he was near or not, I felt my heart flutter like
butterfly wings in my chest whenever I thought about him.
Sometimes I laid in bed for hours just wondering what he was doing and what he
was thinking about, then I hit myself a couple of
times to knock some sense back into me. This was Cary--Cary! The guy who caused
my friends and I so much grief when he
and the Mischief Knights challenged us to a mystery war. Cary, the one who
refused to cooperate when we had to work together
in gym class. I couldn't love a loathed enemy, as Juliet once said in
Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. I couldn't even LIKE one.
Could I?
Oh well, now that the job was over, I wouldn't have to see him as often and I
could let this little phase outgrow itself. Cary
came out of Sam's room, his game in hand.
"Thanks Kristy." he said.
"Okay." I said, hoping he wouldn't see anything unusual in my face.
Cary was halfway to the door, when for the millionth time that day, he turned
back to me after some thought. "Hey, um, Kristy?"
"YES?" I asked, cutting the word into two syllables.
"Well... I was just wondering..." He stalled, noticing the stress in my voice.
"You see... I've been thinking..." He paused, seeming
to search for something as if he forgot. ".......Did you ever watch 'Black Hawk
Down' yet?"
"Yes." I said. I had. My friends and I had gone just last week.
"Oh." Cary said, sounding disappointed.
He started to turn away, when I spoke up.
"But, Cary," I called.
He turned back.
"If you're really into watching war movies lately, I haven't watched 'We Were
Soldiers'." I said.
Cary's expression lifted and he shifted his PS2 under his arm. "Well, um,
great... I hear that's pretty good. Would you... like to
go and see it?"
"Sure. I think Mel Gibson is great in it--but then again, he's always great in
those war movies--isn't he?"
"Definitely." Cary said. "well, we've established that you'd like to see 'We
Were Soldiers'. Now, would you like to see it with...
with... me?"
"With YOU?" I asked, as if the thought had never crossed my mind. It had. About
twice every five seconds since Cary brought
up 'Black Hawk'.
I considered this for a couple of seconds. Go to the movies with Cary? He'd
probably put too much salt in my popcorn. Coat
my Milk Duds with hot sauce. Spill my drink all over the guy in front of me,
complaining loudly that I 'had a drinking problem'. But...
then again... he might make fun comments on the actors. We might have a good
time... I'd have to see for myself.
"Sure... why not?" I asked.
"Really? You'll go?" He asked, surprised.
"Yes. I would. It could be fun."
Cary examined my face, as if I were joking and not taking him seriously, then he
grinned. "Great... great... um, great."
I nodded. "So... when?"
"How... how about tomorrow? I mean, my parents will be back by then and um... I
won't have to bring my brothers. We'll be
able to enjoy the movie."
"Great..." I said, smiling.
I couldn't believe it. I had a date with...


"Cary Retlin?!" Stacey exclaimed later as I told my friends about what happened.
"You're going out with that jerk?"
"He's not a jerk. He's just... different." I said, flippantly. "Besides, it's
not like we're going out. It's just a movie."
"A movie." Dawn repeated. "But a movie can be very romantic. Did I ever tell you
about the time Jason--"
"You haven't told them, but you told me." Mary Anne interrupted. "And it's a
boring story. I don't want to hear it and I'm sure
no one else does either."
We all stopped and turned to look at her. Mary Anne had been touchy lately. But
never that flat out mean. Dawn looked more
shocked than everyone else.
"Mary Anne?" Dawn asked.
"Oh fine, go ahead and tell them. But don't expect so much. We don't all have
wonderful boyfriends like yours."
She stood up and started away to the bathrooms.
"Boy... has she changed." Claudia whispered. "What do you think is wrong with
her?"
"I'm not sure." Dawn said, wounded. "She's been like that a lot lately. I'm not
sure if it's me or... or what."
We were all very quiet until Mary Anne came back. At that time, Stacey spoke up,
"Oh my Lord, what are you going to wear?"