Troy went over to the front of the school and found Paris, writing in her binder, wearing reading glasses.
"Hey, Paris," said Troy. Ever since Rachel had confronted him about liking more than one girl, he was nervous and he wasn't feeling too well. "You ready to go?"
"Yeah, I am," said Paris, closing her binder. The two walked to Umberto's. Troy ordered a dulce de leche shake, as always, and Paris ordered a strawberry raspberry caramel fudge brownie shake.
"What kind is that?" asked Troy, puzzled by what Paris had ordered.
"Oh," said Paris, giggling. "Its strawberry, pieces of fudge brownie, chocolate syrup, raspberry, and caramel swirl."
"Ew!" Troy made a funny face. "Sounds disgusting!"
"Trust me!" said Paris. "Once you taste it, Troy, you'll never drink dulce de leche again!"
The two sat down at the small, cozy table Annie and Troy had sat when Troy had broken up with Annie. Paris held up her shake to Troy. He took the cup, held his breath, and took a sip…
"Hey… that's not so bad," said Troy, relieved. "Hey! That's really good!"
"Look Troy… I know you expected to come here to work on the project… but… is this a date?" asked Paris shyly.
"Well," said Troy, and thought for a minute. "I guess."
Paris' eyes lit up. "So, about the English project!"
"Right… about that—"
"Mrs. Myers paired us up together so that you could get a good grade. Troy, I'm gonna get you an A! But we need to find a topic to write the essay on… let's see…"
"Paris, I have to say something, but—"
"Troy, what do you want to do the essay on? It's got to be something we can really examine, something we can really go into in-depth…"
"Paris—"
"I've got it! Let's write about Shakespearean theatre! Oh, it's perfect Troy! We'll flatter her, it's her favorite kind of theater, and we'll go in-depth about wording, vocabulary, the grammar, the punctuation! Oh, it's so perfect!"
"Yeah," mumbled Troy. "Perfect."
The two finished their milkshakes, and Paris put away her binder.
"Look, Paris. I'm not feeling well. I'm gonna go. Thanks for paying for the shakes. And if you want to consider this a date… you can. Bye."
Troy kissed Paris on the cheek and walked home.
"I'm officially confused," Troy said, putting his cell phone on speakerphone so that he could listen to Rachel's reply while eating. "On one hand, there's Paris. Paris is sweet, funny, beautiful, and she would definitely devote her time to me. And then, on the other hand, there's Carol. Carol is gorgeous, nice, caring, and she makes me smile just thinking about her. And when I think about Paris, I get chills. And when I listen to Carol's voice, I feel as if she's the only person in the world who understands—"
"Besides me of course," said Rachel. Troy stopped for a minute. Besides Rachel? He wasn't sure anymore. It seemed now as if Troy was wrestling not only between Carol and Paris, but between Carol, Paris... and Rachel. He couldn't imagine what it would be like to lose any one of them.
"Troy?" said Rachel. "Besides me of course… right?" The line was silent. Rachel hung up, frustrated.
Troy just didn't know anymore. He was so overwhelmed by all these feelings that he just didn't know who he wanted in his life and who he didn't. Troy realized that he couldn't have all three.