Friday Night

After Wednesday, Alvin stopped paying attention to whether or not Brittany was smiling at him. It drove Alvin crazy! What could she possibly be doing? She wasn't flirting with him—at least Alvin couldn't pick up any winks or blown kisses. And she had yet to talk to him! So he was left clueless.

Even if he wanted to ask her what was going on, he couldn't. At school, the tormenting he would receive from approaching a dragon fruit would be extreme. And at home, he didn't dare go to the chipettes' house. The result: he was prevented from getting to the bottom of the situation.

It was a Friday night, which meant Simon and Theodore were out of the house, watching the school football game. Dave always stayed home, so someone else drove them, but Alvin didn't know who. He never knew who.

He played some games on his computer in bed, having nothing else to do. He and his friends made plans to hang out at a local arcade on Sunday, so that was something to look forward to. But for tonight, he was just going to take it easy after a long week of school.

The first knock was very faint, so Alvin assumed it was from something downstairs. He ignored it, and continued to play with his computer.

The second knock was still faint, but two knocks in quick succession warranted a reply out of Alvin, calling out if anyone was there. After all, Dave could be knocking on his door. But, as got no response, he continued on.

The third knock got a little louder, and Alvin became a little irritated. He placed his computer aside and hopped off the bed. Yet when he got to the door, no one was there.

"Dave?" he called downstairs. "Have you been knocking on my door?"

"No, I haven't," Dave replied. "How come?"

"Nothing, just thought I heard a noise."

Alvin went back into his room, but not to play with the computer. Instead, he sat on his bed, waiting for the knock to come again. And a few moments later, it did.

He jumped out of his bed and quickly examined where it came from. It could have come from no place other than the window, he determined, so he lightly jogged over to it and opened it.

"If there's a bird out here," Alvin shouted, his head sticking outside the window, "can you please stop pecking at my window? Thank you!"

"You idiot," the bird replied. "I'm no bird!"

Alvin immediately realized that it was impossible for a bird to talk back to him. That meant it must have been another person. He felt chills go up his spine, until he recognized the voice.

"Brittany?"

She stepped underneath the streetlight, where Alvin could see her. He immediately noticed she wasn't wearing pink—she was wearing black. Alvin thought she wore black pretty nicely; then again, he would say that about any color with her. And the light shining on her from the streetlight...wow.

"What gave it away?"

"What are you doing out here?" Alvin asked, ignoring her question.

"Uh, to rob your house," Brittany replied sarcastically. "To see you, idiot."

"Can you stop calling me idiot, please?" Alvin shouted. "C'mon inside."

"And how would I do that?"

She had a point—he was on the second floor, and Alvin really didn't want Dave to be caught up in whatever was happening, so he didn't want to let her in through the downstairs.

"Alright then," Alvin replied. "I'll come down there."

Before Brittany could respond, he hopped out his window, walked slowly down the roof, grabbed onto the gutters, placed his feet on the porch railing, and—quietly—hopped onto the porch. He took the steps down the porch, and signaled for Brittany to come to the side of the house, where no window could see them. She understood his signals, and followed him.

"How did you do that?" Brittany asked, astonished.

"The same way I always had to sneak over to your house," Alvin shrugged. "But tell me: What the heck is going on?"

"What do you mean?" Brittany commented as though everything that had been going on was completely normal.

"Well, first we break-up and then you ghost me! And when I did try talking to you, you had clear disgust in your eyes. But then you start smiling at me from across the cafeteria, and now you're here!" Alvin half screamed. "So clearly something is going on!"

"Quiet Alvin!" Brittany admonished. "Dave might be able to hear us."

"Stop trying to ignore the question!"

The gods must have really been on Brittany's side, because they started to get attacked by a cannon of water from all angles. They were getting wetter by the second.

"Crap! The sprinklers are on!"

"C'mon, we can go to my house. That way neither Dave or the sprinklers will be a problem," Brittany offered.

Alvin nodded his head, but a thought came to mind. "Wait, isn't Miss Miller home?"

Brittany shook her head. "No, she went shopping. She thinks I'm at the game."

"Wait, why aren't you at the game?"

"I wanted to talk with you instead," Brittany replied, as though they weren't broken-up. "There's a lot to talk about."

"Yeah, you don't say," Alvin lightly chuckled.

The silence became a little profound. It was hard talking to someone with whom you haven't spoken in a long while.

"But I just told my sisters that I wasn't feeling good, and I wanted to head home. I came here, though," Brittany mentioned, wanting to start some conversation.

"Oh, okay."

However, Alvin couldn't think of anything else to reply with, and so were extinguished any hopes of a conversation by Brittany.

They quickly made the short walk over to Brittany's house, and Alvin balked a little after realizing the circumstances. Here he was, walking under the moonlight with his ex-girlfriend, who's sending all kinds of mixed messages to him.

"Brittany?" Alvin asked, ceasing the silence between them. "I'm sorry, but are you and Albert dating?"

Even though they were broken-up and Brittany ghosted him, Alvin knew he still felt something in his heart for her. So despite it being something an ex should never ask, he did anyway.

He also wouldn't have felt right if she was dating Albert. Even though Alvin didn't care for Albert at all, he still wouldn't have felt right walking with his girlfriend alone at night. He wouldn't steal someone's girl, even if Albert would.

"Me and Albert? Aw, heck no!" Brittany refuted.

Alvin's heart jumped a little: so the rumors weren't true. It gave Alvin a little more hope, and with it, a little more confidence.

"But...you guys always seem to be talking and smiling and laughing and–"

"You jealous?" Brittany smirked.

"No! I mean, it's just–"

"I know, I know. But we do have a lot to talk about."

They made it to Brittany's house and entered her room. It was the same as Alvin remembered it. The pink walls, the posters, the bed...everything was the same.

Alvin, not feeling cocky, but also not feeling passive asked Brittany a question. Maybe he shouldn't have, but he was genuinely curious to know the answer.

"Hey Brittany?"

"Yes, Alvin?"

"Do you still, uh, have that pillow from the school fundraiser?" Alvin asked, a little hushed and red, if he had to admit. "You know, the one that we won in the trivia contest?"

"Of course I do!"

The pillow that Alvin was talking about had quite a bit of history. It was no more than a year ago, and the school was doing a fundraiser event on a Friday night for kids with leukemia. He had been convinced by his brothers to go, and Alvin wouldn't say it then, but he had a lot of fun.

He supposed it was one of the closest things to a date he and Brittany had ever experienced, but Alvin doubted that it counted as a date, because his brothers and her sisters were there too.

They had been selected to take part in a duo-trivia event. At first, they weren't going to participate, but they knew they had to once the category of "pop culture" was revealed.

They dominated in that event. Alvin was able to answer all the questions about sports and more masculine movies, while Brittany was able to answer all the questions about fashion and more feminine movies. The music...well, they both got that.

They both won a cheesy-looking teddy bear, but Alvin was able to convince the guy to give them a cool-looking pillow instead of the teddy bears. The man said he could give them only one pillow for the two teddy bears, but that was alright with Alvin: he gave it to Brittany anyway.

The pillow said "no one can beat da master," and Alvin knew that their night would be more memorable with a pillow they might actually keep, instead of a 10¢ teddy bear. And it was true, no one could beat them that night.

Once again, Alvin acted more like a boyfriend on that night than any other.

Back in the present time, Brittany went to her closet and retrieved the pillow. She handed it over to Alvin, with it still being in great condition.

"And the best part," Brittany smiled, "is that it's still fluffy."

He looked at the pillow and also smiled. For some, it may just be a pillow. To others, it may just be a really comfortable pillow.

But to Alvin, it was a sign that not everything was lost. There was still a chance to make things right with her.

With them.