Disclaimer: All characters, etc., belong to their owners...yep...just wrote this story here.
Chapter 3: The Calm Before the Storm
"Hey, Rob," said Matt. "Come on, if we're late, the guys will take off without us, and I have no idea how to get to the campground."
"I'm coming," Rob responded. He hurried down the hall of the school.
"Hi, Rob," said a sweet, female voice. He turned and watched Lucy Kramer walk past him.
"H-hey," Rob replied.
"Hey, Rob!" yelled Matt.
But it was too late. Rob walked into the door of the calculus room.
"Oh, my God!" Christine said. One of the calculus students stood there looking sheepish. He'd just opened the door and hadn't expected Rob to come down the hall at that moment.
"Ouch," said Rob. The guy who slammed the door into him helped him to his feet.
"I'm so sorry, man," the guy said.
"No problem, really," said Rob.
Matt came down the hall.
"Dude! I tried to tell you. Guess you were a little preoccupied with what was going in the other direction, huh?"
Christine glanced down the hall and saw Lucy walking around the corner. So that's what this was about.
"Are you all right?" she asked Rob.
"Yes," Rob said. "I'm fine. We're going to go now. I'll be back sometime on Sunday."
"Okay," Christine replied. "If you're sure."
"I am."
"Then I'll see you Sunday."
"Bye," Rob said.
"See ya, Mrs. Parker," said Matt. The two boys hurried down the hall to catch up with the rest of their friends.
Christine sighed. At least she knew why Rob was acting strange. Drake would feel better about things anyway. Of course, she wasn't going to tell Drake what she knew. Rob didn't want Drake to know, apparently. She had no idea how Drake would react to his brother not telling a girl how he felt about her. Rob probably felt that way too. No, she'd keep this to herself. If Rob wanted to talk to Drake about "how to get the girl," he'd ask him eventually.
So, Christine left the school and picked up her daughter from the day care program at the school. She had to take her to Walter and Audrey's. Megan was in her dorm room at San Diego State, she was working on a graduate study, so basically all of the kids were gone. Walter and Audrey were more than happy to take Angela for the weekend.
"Christine," said Audrey. "Did you want to come in for a minute?"
"No, I have to take care of something else, and I don't have much time now." They'd been held up at the day care center because one of the parents was arguing with one of the teachers. Christine still had to pick up a couple things from the dry cleaners. This second shift really irritated her at times. However, the cleaners closed at five o'clock, and she really didn't have much of a choice.
"All right," said Audrey. "I think we've got this okay, then. Bedtime is at 8:30, like normal."
"Yep," Christine said. "She brought a few of her books and toys with her. She should have plenty to keep her occupied this weekend."
"I'm sure we'll be able to keep her happy," said Walter.
"I know," Christine smiled. She got down next to Angela. "I'm going to go now, okay? Are you going to be good for Grandma and Grandpa?"
"Yes," said Angela.
"Okay. I'll see you Sunday. Mommy loves you, honey," she said, giving her a hug.
"Bye, Mommy," said Angela as Christine left. She always hated leaving her daughter. She trusted Audrey and Walter with her life, though. They'd take good care of Angela.
Christine arrived back at the house at six o'clock. She sighed. Drake's car was in the garage already. Dinner was going to be an issue now. It was at that point where it was too late to go out unless they wanted to wait two hours for a table. She got out of the car and walked into the house. She smelled something cooking. Drake didn't cook, so what was that? She walked into the kitchen to find Drake sitting at the table. He was flipping through a guitar magazine when he noticed her walk into the room.
"Hello," he said.
"Um...I'm just wondering...you don't cook."
"Oh, that. I asked Josh if he could make an emergency run over to the house. I knew you'd be home a bit later today since you had to drop off Angela and run a couple errands. I would have done it myself, but then your kitchen would have exploded."
Christine smiled. She wrapped her arms around Drake and kissed him.
"Thank you," she said.
"I just made a phone call."
"When is that supposed to come off of the stove?" Christine asked.
"Oh, Josh left a note about when everything comes off the stove and out of the oven. He doesn't trust me to remember."
"No offense, Drake, but you burn microwave popcorn."
"Thanks a lot."
"Hey, Rob," said Matt, dropping the tent stakes next to him. "What is with you? You've been phased out ever since we left the school. Did that door hit you harder than you thought?"
"No," Rob replied. "I've just had my mind on other things."
"Like what?"
"Not much."
"Does this have anything to do with Lucy Kramer?" Matt knew about Rob's crush. He'd had it since they were in seventh grade. Matt just wished he'd ask her out already. Everyone in the entire school probably knew about Rob liking her except Lucy herself.
"Why would you think that?" Rob asked.
"She's the reason you walked into the door. I don't know about you, but I wouldn't walk into a door for just any woman. She'd have to be very special to me for me to even consider giving myself a head trauma."
"You're not helping. Can we just drop this right now?"
"Okay," Matt said. He and Rob set up their tent. It took a couple of tries to get it set up but they finally did. Rob recalled how much trouble Drake had setting up the tent when they went camping with Josh and Lana once. After Drake and Josh's bickering for about forty minutes Christine and Lana finally put the tents up leaving the men looking a bit sheepish.
"Hey, guys," said their friend Kyle, walking up to them. "Got everything set up?"
"Yeah, I think so," said Rob.
"Great. We were going to attempt to start a fire up soon. Emphasis on the word 'attempt.'"
"Oh, yes," said Matt. "I will laugh my ass off watching you try to start one, I'm sure."
"You're such a great friend, Matt," said Kyle sarcastically.
"Aw, thanks. I love you too, man."
"Oh, geez, don't say that."
"Only a man comfortable in his sexuality can say he loves another man," said Rob.
"Okay, stop, please," said Kyle.
"Well..."
Christine sat on the sofa in the living room. She was reading a book while Drake was loading the dishwasher. He claimed it was because she did an awful lot of the housework, and she deserved to sit and relax. Christine knew he was thinking about later, but she wasn't going to argue a good thing.
Drake walked into the living room. He sat down next to her and let out a sigh.
"Something wrong?" she asked.
"Rob's been acting strange. He acted the same way this morning that he did last night."
"Oh, that," Christine responded. "Don't worry about it. It's nothing...well, something to him, anyway, but it's not going to do him any harm."
"How do you know it's nothing? He could have found that letter."
"I know it's not the letter."
"How do you know it's not the letter?"
"Oh, something happened today, and let's just say, it cleared up a lot."
"What happened?" Drake asked.
"I'd tell you," Christine said, "but I don't think he wants us to know about it."
"Why not?"
"Because I'm sure if he wanted us to know about it, he would have told us about it."
"How do you know, then?"
"Something just happened after school today. I promise you, it's nothing more than any other teenage boy would think about. Trust me."
"Okay," said Drake. He sat quietly for a moment. "...so, what are we going to do tonight?"
Rob stared into the flames that were creeping up into the night air. It was nine o'clock, and the guys were running out of things to talk about already.
"So," said Tyler, the fourth member of their group. "How's the search for Homecoming dates?"
"I'm asking Jill Meadows," said Kyle.
"Nice. She's been looking at you since you took your shirt off at the track meet last year."
"I know. What about you, Tyler?"
"I'll probably ask Jessica Miles. Man, did she look hot at the Kramer's summer barbeque."
"Speaking of the Kramers," said Kyle. "I think the daughter is the one Rob wants to ask to Homecoming."
"Huh?" asked Rob.
"Lucy Kramer," said Tyler. "The object of your affection ever since you first laid eyes on her when we were in seventh grade. I remember our freshman year of high school. You were a wreck because you didn't get to see her at all that year."
"Yeah, thanks," said Rob.
"Now, now," said Matt. "I'm sure that year was hard for him. Let's not make fun. However, you better ask her before someone else does."
"I know," said Rob. "I just need to figure out if she likes me at all or not."
"How?" asked Tyler.
"Caitlyn's talking to her this weekend. She's going to try and get some information out of her."
"Nice," said Kyle. "Hey, Matt, your date's helping Rob get his date."
"Wait...what?" asked Rob.
"I asked Caitlyn to Homecoming," said Matt.
"Oh," said Rob.
"Does that bother you?" Matt questioned.
"No, of course not. Why would you think it would bother me?"
"Because she's like a sister to you."
"Not a sister," Rob said.
"Whatever you say," Matt replied.