"Oh, come on!"
"No, Squib."
"Please?"
"No, Squib."
"Why not?"
"Because," Tanis turned on her heels to face him, the shock from her sudden movement almost knocking him over, "what Cody and Nate did on their date is none of your business."
"I don't want to know what they did! I just want to know if they kissed," Squib whined, resisting the urge to giggle childishly at her unintentional rhyme.
"It's still none of your business," Tanis told him.
"But the suspense is killing me!" Squib exclaimed as Tanis began to walk again.
She sighed, "Fine, Squib. They haven't kissed. Yet. Happy?"
"Well," he said, "not happy, per se, but at least now I know."
"….Why are you smiling?" She glanced back at him.
"Why not?"
"I think you're glad that Cody and Nate haven't kissed," she told him.
"Can't a guy just smile?"
"No."
"Well, I am, okay?"
"Squib," she sighed again, "you've really got to get over this whole Cody thing. She's obviously moved on. Why can't you?" When Squib didn't answer, she turned around to see what she could've sworn was a hurt look on his face. "…I'm sorry," she said at length, "that was harsh. But you've got to stop…pining."
"I am not pining!" Squib defended. Tanis shrugged.
"Whatever you say," and turned around, heading into the school.
"Hey! I am not pining! Come back here, I'm not finished!" Squib chased after her.
"…No chemistry?"
"His words exactly," Adena lamented to Cody as she lay on her bed.
"That's rough, Adena," her friend sympathized.
"Yeah, well," she sighed dramatically, "plenty of other fish in the sea, I guess."
"Hey guys," Tanis entered.
"Hi, Tans," Cody greeted her. "Where've you been."
"Being harassed by Squib."
"Ah," Cody nodded, "welcome to my world."
"How you doing, Adena?" Tanis asked gently.
"Oh, fine, fine," Adena hauled herself into a sitting position. She sighed again, "I'm thinking he was probably right. We're good friends. It's better that way."
Tanis nodded, and turned to Cody, "So. You and Nate."
"Yes?"
"Going out again?"
"Um, I hope so," Cody admitted. "I haven't really talked to him since we went out."
"Sorry, again, by the way," Adena said sheepishly.
Cody shrugged, "It's fine." Tanis glanced at her watch.
"Are we playing cards in the Open? Because we should probably head down there." The other two girls nodded and followed their friend out the door.
"You know," Cody spoke, "we really do need a new hobby…"
This was getting painful, Cody mused. Now instead of angry tension, it was awkward. Very awkward. Cameron and Adena were avoiding eye contact. Tanis looked torn over who to speak to. Squib was attempting to be mature to Nate. Nate was attempting to reciprocate. She let out an amused breath. Rhymes…
"Um," Cameron spoke, "Squib? Any three's?"
"Go fish."
"Tanis," Nate asked, "any two's?" She slid a card across the table to him. "Cody? Any five's?" She shook her head and stuck her tongue out at him. At Squib's glare, however, she quickly retracted it. Maybe he wasn't totally cool yet…
"Cameron," he jumped at Adena's words, "and six's?"
"Uh, no, er, yeah, no, go, um, fish," he kept his gaze on the ground. The group cast him concerned looks as Adena reached for her card.
"So," Tanis spoke up, "what are everyone's plans for next weekend?"
Squib shrugged, "Practice. What else?"
"Yeah, pretty much," Adena mumbled, as Cameron nodded along.
"Cody? Nate? What about you two?"
Now, in Tanis' defense, Cody was almost one hundred percent sure that she had meant the question innocently. And it was innocent, really. It wasn't any different than if she had asked Squib and Adena, or her and Cameron what they were going to do. Except it was her and Nate. Two people who, there was a fair chance, would be spending it together. On a date. But who also had yet to talk about the date. And who were purposely avoiding any mention of their previous dates, or dates to come, for the sake of their blond friend. Well, Cody's blond friend, at least.
Thus, things got awkward.
The room quieted.
Cameron finally lifted his gaze from the ground.
Squib, in turn, suddenly decided his shoes needed immediate attention, and could not look away.
Tanis cringed at her words immediately.
Adena wore an odd, dear-in-the-headlights expression, as if she feared movement would disrupt their delicate, silent balance and the Open would be sent into chaos.
Cody and Nate blushed something awful.
"Um, I really don't know…"
"Yeah, no plans yet…"
"Might take in a few matches…"
"Dad wants some help…"
"Lots of homework…"
Tanis nodded, casting them apologetic looks, "Oh, sounds cool!" She said with a fake cheeriness. That, apparently, snapped everyone out of their trances. Squib looked up, Cam looked down, Adena returned to her cards, Cody and Nate's faces returned to normal colour. The moment had passed. Cody sighed.
Was senior year over yet?
"Hey…" Adena said softly, entering Cameron's room.
"Um….hi…." he looked up from his textbook.
"So, that was…."
"Awkward?" He suggested.
"Kinda," she chuckled. She took a seat on his bed, "Look, Cam. I don't want this to, like ruin our friendship. You're one of my best friends. Us being torn apart over this is just…"
"Silly," he offered.
"Exactly."
"You're right," he conceded, "I mean, we're still friends. This doesn't change anything."
"Exactly," she smiled. She stood up, as did he, "So, no more awkwardness?"
He nodded, "Agreed." They met in an only slightly awkward hug. When they pulled away, she smiled again.
"Okay, well, I just wanted to clear that up…I've gotta practice. So…" she pointed the door, making her way toward it.
"See you," he smiled, nodding slightly.
"Bye," Adena grinned back and left the room. She smiled proudly on her way down the hall. That went well.
"…And so, I don't know what to do! Because, I mean, Adena's my best friend. And it would just be so wrong to go after Cam when he dumped her! But, on the other hand, she seems pretty okay with it…"
"Tanis," Nate sighed, "you have got to stop doing this. Please. I'm not built for this! I don't to girl talk!"
"You talk to Cody all the time!" Tanis pointed out.
"Not about boy drama! About music, and books, and the stupid things you guys do," he told her, a playful gleam in his eyes.
Tanis gasped mockingly, "Did you just make a joke? Well, you know what this means, don't you? This means we're friends. You're never getting rid of me now, Nate Bates."
Nate sighed and rolled his eyes, "Whatever. Look, I don't know what you should do about Cameron. I really don't. I suggest asking Cody."
"Speaking of Cody," Tanis changed gears smoothly, "do you two have a date for next weekend?"
Nate sighed, not facing Tanis as he placed a stack of files into a box, and hesitantly admitted, "We…may be going to a movie…"
"Yay!" Tanis shrieked in a very un-Tanis moment. "That's awesome. Maybe you two can finally kiss! And-,"
"Okay!" Nate cut her off, "Now this I am definitely not discussing with you!"
"Come on! Friends talk to friends about this kind of stuff," she said, nodding solemnly.
"Why don't you go make friends with Squib, then? He looks lonely," Nate suggested.
"Fine," Tanis huffed, "I'll go talk to Cody about this," she exited the room, but yelled back loud enough that he heard, "But you really should kiss her!"
"Yeah, Yeah, I know…" Nate called back, moving on to another box of files.
That was crap. No two ways about it. But I couldn't get it right. And I hate where it ended, but any ending scene I tried ended up being horrible. So, sorry.
And, before anyone asks, yes, I AM going to point it out every time Nate's name rhymes with something. Because that just cracks me up.
The chapter title, btw, makes no sense. I was about to upload this when I realized that I had no song picked. So I chose whatever I was listening to. It's a good song, though.
Nova-Janna: Lol, even though I actually kinda like the idea of Adena/Rick, and have since ep 12, there will be none in this story. And I did kinda mean the 'no chemistry' thing as a throw-back. Not so much 'hey! I'll make him say what Seb said!' but 'CRAP! That's exactly was SEB already said! Oh well, I can't think of anything else...
Candy: Hope the you-know-what-ness was okay.