Abby entered her house after school and walked into the kitchen to see her older sister making herself a sandwich.

She glanced at it. "I thought you hated bologna."

"It's not so bad as long as you don't put too much mayo on it," Cree replied with a private smile.

"If you say so. Listen--I'm headed out but I should be back for dinner. Let Dad know in case he gets home before me, will you?"

"All right. So what's up, you got a big mission?" she teased.

Abby left without replying, and Cree settled in at the kitchen table to eat her sandwich. She really couldn't explain her change of opinion of bologna sandwiches, but ever since she shared that one with--

"Hi, Cree."

She whipped around to see Maurice entering from the living room, and she felt her cheeks redden guiltily. She swallowed hard and felt a strange impulse to hide the sandwich. But why? she asked herself. It's not as if I'm doing anything wrong...

"Hi, Honey," she said in a voice that she hoped didn't sound strained.

"Your front door was unlocked, so I let myself in. Hope you don't mind. Hey--is that a sandwich? I'm starving." He sat down next to her.

"Oh...yeah. Do you want half?" She reluctantly handed him her untouched portion.

"Thanks." He bit into it.

Cree stared at her half, suddenly feeling uncomfortable eating in front of her boyfriend.

"You know, I never really was a fan of bologna," Maurice commented, peering between the slices of bread.

Cree turned to glower at him. "Well, if you don't like it--" she began angrily before stopping herself. What am I doing? Yelling at my boyfriend because he insulted lunchmeat?

Maurice was looking at her puzzledly.

"I'm sorry," she attempted to laugh. "I don't know where my brain's at. Here," she said, depositing the unfinished half of her sandwich in front of him, "I'm not that hungry after all."

She jumped at the sound of knocking at the kitchen door and looked up to see Chad.

"Oh! Chad! All these people coming to see me all at once!"

"Well, if you think two people--" started Chad as Cree steered him through the kitchen into the living room.

"Maurice is eating, let's not disturb him! Actually, I'm glad you're here, I was hoping you'd look at my computer for me, when I tried to start it today it wouldn't boot up, the apple logo didn't even show, there was just a circle with a line through it like it was saying 'no icon for you!' and then it started making these noises like an airplane taking off…" she prattled as she ushered Chad upstairs.

Once in her room Cree walked over to her computer and turned it on. They stared at it in silence as it started up, Cree wishing that she had talked slower earlier, so she'd have something to say now.

"So…when does it start messing up?" asked Chad.

"Any second now," answered Cree, inwardly praying that her computer wouldn't suddenly fix itself, making her look like a liar. Or worse, like someone who just made up an excuse to get a boy up in her room. She felt her cheeks grow hot. But I didn't make it up, she thought to herself. And Chad's just a friend….

Less than a minute later, the pale gray screen showed a circle with a line through it, as she had reported earlier.

"There! See!" she exclaimed triumphantly.

"I've never seen someone so happy to see their computer crap out."

"Well, it's not that I'm happy, it's just that…. Wait--hear that? Airplane noises!"

"Yeah, I hear it." He looked like he was trying not to laugh at her.

"So what's wrong with it?"

"Not sure. I've got DiskWarrior at home, I'll go get it."

"What? You're going home?"

"I don't carry disk repair utilities on me at all times," he said with an expression that was both amused and questioned her sanity at the same time. "I'll be right back."

Once Chad had left, Cree returned to the kitchen, where Maurice hadn't made much progress on the sandwich.

"Hi, Baby, how are you doing? Are you thirsty? Do you want some water? Or maybe some juice? I think we have grape." She looked into the fridge. "Yes, we do. Here you go, a glass of juice for my Honey." She put down the glass, kissed him on the forehead, and left the room again.

Maurice stared at the juice. "Thanks…?"

---

Chad returned while Maurice was still eating at the table. Of course, Chad had been walking quickly, while Maurice had been eating slowly.

Chad entered the kitchen, glanced at the other then continued on his way. The two of them didn't usually bother with greetings.

"Wait, Chad."

He paused.

"Is Cree acting…strange?"

Yes, thought Chad to himself, but aloud he said, "I haven't noticed anything." Then he pushed through the door to the living room.

---

Chad stared at the computer monitor as Cree peered over his shoulder.

"Everything seems to be fine," he said, ejecting a disc from the machine, "but I'll restart just in case."

"Really? Thanks! So what was wrong with it?"

"Apparently nothing significant. I just zapped the PRAM and then everything worked fine."

Cree snickered a little.

"What?" Chad asked suspiciously.

"Nothing. It's just that sometimes I think you play football just to cover up the fact that you're a giant geek."

"Thanks. Next time your computer won't boot and starts making 'airplane noises' you're on your own." He vacated her chair and headed for the door.

Cree grinned at him, knowing not to take his orneriness too seriously. He's actually strangely endearing when he's grouchy. In a sudden impulse, she grabbed him from behind in a surprise hug. Though from the force and angle of it, it may have seemed more like a wrestling move.

Chad stiffened initially then made an attempt to shake her off, but his struggles against her were surprisingly weak. Cree peered around to look at his face; he seemed to be in some kind of stunned daze.

She laughed at him and loosened her grasp, which seemed to bring him around a little. He looked at her quizzically.

"Cree…?"

"Huh?" She released him and walked around to face him.

"Uh…." He still appeared disorientated. "I was wondering…what if someone…gave you something. A present. Something worth a lot, but you didn't really want it. What would you do?"

It was Cree's turn to be baffled. "I don't know, I guess I'd re-gift it."

He frowned at the answer. "No, you can't do that. It's not a re-giftable gift."

"Well you're going to have to be a little more specific. What kind of gift?"

Chad seemed to cast around for the answer. "I don't know, something…expensive."

"Like a diamond tiara?"

He shook his head, thinking. "No…something…something like an endangered species. What if someone gave you an endangered animal? Like a sea turtle or something. What would you do?"

Cree laughed in an incredulous manner. "As a pet?"

"Uh…sure."

"How about a panda?" she asked, brightening.

"No," he replied irritably. "A turtle."

She considered. "I'm not a huge fan of turtles. I wouldn't know where to keep it."

"You could get a tank or someth--. Wait. We're getting sidetracked. What would you do if someone gave you a turtle?"

"This is a really weird question." She smirked. "You aren't planning on giving me a turtle, are you?"

"No…I was just curious." He looked kind of disappointed.

Cree's smile faded slightly at his expression.

"It's just one of those things, you know? Those 'what if' questions," he added hastily. "I like to wonder about these things. Like, 'what would I do if I had another arm growing out of the top of my head?'"

She laughed. "Well that one's easy, you'd have an excellent future as a circus freak." She watched him bemusedly. "You're weird, you know that?"

He chuckled weakly. "Yeah, that's me, Mr. Weird."

Cree smiled at him and he met her eyes briefly before looking away. He walked out the door of her bedroom and she followed him. "Anyways, what I want to know is how you can jerry-rig a 2x4 tech food processor fuel drive and still not know how to zap the PRAM on your computer."

"2x4 technology is easy. 'When in doubt, add mustard'. It's not exactly rocket science."

"Actually," Chad countered, "in a lot of cases, it is."

They headed down the stairs together.

"Well, sure, if you want to be literal--"

Cree stopped suddenly. In the living room were Abby and Maurice. They were talking in low voices, unaware of the other two.

"Abby! I can't believe…!" Cree's eyes flashed angrily as she stalked towards them.

"Cree." Chad reached forward to touch her shoulder.

"What?" she snarled, turning on him.

He hesitated for a moment before saying, "They're just talking."

"Oh, so now you can read lips?"

"No…it's just…well, you said yourself that whenever you have a fight with Abby…." He trailed off uncomfortably.

Cree's expression softened as he spoke; her anger diffused. She directed her gaze back at her sister and her boyfriend, but when she spoke, it was to Chad. "You're right. I'm sorry I yelled at you."

"Why do you never yell at--. I mean, why do you always blame--" He stopped and was silent.

Cree tore her eyes from Abby and Maurice to look questioningly at Chad. "What?"

"I…. Never mind."

Her eyes returned to the other two as they talked. It was true; they did seem to be just talking. They weren't smiling or laughing or doing any of the other things that might lead one to think they were flirting. But what is it about their expressions that bothers me so much?

"I don't know why I get so jealous whenever I see the two of them together. I mean--Maurice is my boyfriend, not hers."

"Last I checked," Chad said softly.

She turned again to him. "Thank you."

"For what?"

"I don't know. For being there."

The smile on his lips didn't match his eyes. "We're friends, right?"

---
---

author's notes: ah, Cree, so confused.

DiskWarrior (c) Alsoft