"Ok, so the answer is?" Tina asked Ben, pushing a lock of her hair behind her ear. She had been tutoring him for the past two hours, and she thought FINALLY he would get the problem right.
"Radical two times seventeen over cosine x times three?" Ben asked.
"Yes!" Tina exclaimed. "Finally. I think you are ready for this midterm Ben."
"All thanks to you," he said appreciatively. "You know Tina, I'm really not dumb."
"I know."
"It's just with hockey practice I never have the time to study. And also, I kind of suck at Math. But you should read my poli sci papers. I'm really not an idiot."
"Ben, I know," Tina assured him. "And I have read your poli sci papers. And they're way over my head. Politics and me is something that so doesn't go."
"Yeah," he replied. "You're just saying that to make me feel better. You're amazing Tina. So, you wanna go to BJ's or something? Grab a bite?"
"I would," Tina explained, standing up, "but Danni invited me over her house for a family dinner thing."
"Is Maddy going?" Ben asked. Tina froze.
"No," she replied frostily. 'See you later Ben." She turned and walked out the door of his dorm room. He caught up to her at the end of the hallway.
"Hey, Tina what's wrong?" he asked, utterly confused, as he put his hand on her shoulder. Tina looked down at it, and then gave him an icy stare.
"I am not Maddy's keeper," she replied. "And for the record, Maddy likes Dave. Your friend. So I wouldn't even bother if I were you." She brushed off his hand, and ran down the stairs.
Tina was still angry when she got to Danni's house. Boys could be so stupid. She took a deep breath, and rang the doorbell. A few seconds later it opened.
"Dave," she greeted her friend, with a big smile.
"Hey Tina," he replied, giving her a hug. 'Let me grab your coat." She shrugged out of it, and Dave put it in the hall closet. "Tina you remember my dad right? And Grandpa Joe?" he said, as they walked into the living room. The two men were sitting at the table, playing Operation.
"Yes, nice to see you again," Tina greeted them. They waved their hellos distractedly.
"We're doctors, Jake," Joe muttered. "You'd think we'd be able to beat this thing. Children can do it!"
"Danni's in the kitchen with Grandma Ruth and mom's not home yet," Dave explained. "This is my cousin Jamie and his fiancée Amanda," he told her, as he sat down in the chair facing the two people seated on the couch.
"Hi Tina, it's nice to meet you," Jamie said enthusiastically.
"You too," Tina smiled sitting down on the chair adjacent to them. "What are you looking at?" she asked, pointing towards the album Amanda was holding.
"Just some pictures of us when we were kids," Amanda explained.
"Oh were you guys like, high school sweethearts?" Tina asked gushingly.
"Not exactly," Jamie said.
"We were best friends when we were little, but I moved away. I didn't come back to Pine Valley until after college, so we didn't start dating until we were older. But we've known each other forever," Amanda explained.
"Hey look, Halloween pictures," Jamie exclaimed, laughing. "You look so goofy dressed up as that bunny, babe."
"Shut up!"
"You're wearing a teenage mutant ninja turtles costume," Tina stated dryly, leaning over to look at the picture.
"So?" Jamie asked defensively. "Rafael's cool!"
"Hey, that looks like JR Chandler," Tina said, looking at the boy next to Jamie in the picture.
"That is JR Chandler," Jamie told her.
"You were friends?" she asked.
"Brothers," he said, quietly. He looked down, and his eyes kind of glazed over. "We had a falling out."
"I'm sorry," Tina told him simply.
"Me too." They sat in silence for a second.
"I think I'm gonna go say hey to Danni," Tina decided, standing up. She walked across the room.
"Hey, it's Tad and Dixie!" Amanda exclaimed. Jamie laughed.
"I forgot Dad dressed up like a sheep because Dixie wanted to be Little Bo Peep."
Tina opened the kitchen door, and found herself enveloped by the most wonderful smells.
"Tee, you made it," Danni said, as she stirred a pot on the stove.
"It smells heavenly in here," Tina whispered.
"Grandma Ruth's an amazing cook," Danni agreed. Tina smiled at the old lady chopping carrots at the counter. She noticed a baby fussing in the corner, and smiled.
"Who's that?" she asked kindly.
"Next door neighbor's," Danni explained. "Her mom was rushed to the hospital so we said we'd look after her." The baby took that exact moment to start to cry.
"Oh shoot," Danni said, walking towards her.
"Don't worry, I got it," Tina told her friend, walking towards the baby. "I used to baby sit all the kids in my apartment building. What's her name?"
"Leah," Ruth replied. Tina picked Leah up.
"Hey girl," she gushed. "Hey Leah, baby, shhh." Leah kept on wailing. "You don't need to be changed. Are you hungry?"
"She just ate," Danni told Tina.
"Hmm, maybe you just need to be sung to," Tina decided. She held the baby close to her face, and started singing softly, "You are my sunshine, my only sunshine. You make me happy when skies are gray. You'll never know dear, how much I love you. Please don't take my sunshine away." Leah stopped crying, and looked up at Tina happily. Tina looked up at Ruth and Danni just as glad. "See? Kids love me."
Ruth looked a little odd, but Danni just smiled at her. It was then that Tina noticed the man standing in the doorframe. He looked stricken.
"Tina this is my Uncle Tad," Danni said, introducing him.
"You sound just like her," he whispered.
"Who?" Tina asked, confused.
"No one dear," Ruth replied, patting her son on the arm. "Don't worry about it. Tad, would you be a dear and get the sodas from the garage?"
"Sure mom."
Tina eyed this man quizzically as he walked past her.