TITLE: Online Confessions of a Teenager
AUTHOR: Dream Catcher
DISCLAIMERS: Blah blah…don't own Sailor Moon or anything else trademarked…blah blah.
CHAPTER SEVEN…
ONLINE DIARIEZ . ORG
(where freedom of thought rulez)
Diary: Online Confessions of a Teenager
User: JuneBunny
4/22/04
7:42 PM eastern
Mercury was already eating her Subway sandwich at our usual table when I sat down beside her at lunch today. "How are you doing?" she asked me.
Before I answered her, though, I twisted the top off my bottle of Pepsi and chugged. I would have preferred a Redbull energy drink but my school, unfortunately, doesn't supply those.
"Tired," I replied after some of the caffeine had entered my system.
Last night, instead of peacefully drifting off to sleep, I stayed up until the early morning hours running through all my memories of Blue Eyes, and each time I replayed our conversation during which I agreed to be Blue Eye's fake girlfriend I punched my pillow while muttering "stupid, stupid" into my mattress.
"Stay up studying?"
I gave Mercury a look that asked, "Since when do I stay up late studying?"
"Oh, that's right," she said with a smile, "I forgot whom I was talking to."
"Oh man!" Jupiter complained as she sat her lunch tray on the table in the vacant spot across from me. "I think I pulled my butt muscle somehow last night during the game. My ass is so sore it hurts to sit."
"Thanks, Jupiter, I will sleep better tonight knowing that," I deadpanned.
Jupiter grinned, "It's nice to know I will be in someone's dreams."
"More like nightmares," I mumbled.
Pretending she didn't hear, Jupiter asked, "What was that? I could have sworn someone weaker than me just made fun of me. Be careful or I'm going to make your ass match mine, and I don't think your new boyfriend would want a girl with a bruised bottom."
"New boyfriend?" Mercury asked, glancing up from her sub, "You have a boyfriend?"
Mercury looked hurt that I hadn't told her about my new "boyfriend," and I grimaced.
"You haven't told her yet?" Jupiter asked. She didn't let me answer her question, though. Instead she continued jabbering. "Well, it's probably better that I tell her anyway. You suck at telling stories—verbally, that is," she amended after I sent a glare her way to remind her about my planned future career.
Then Jupiter went on to tell Mercury about seeing Blue Eyes and me together at the soccer game in exaggerated and inaccurate words.
Once Jupiter was finished, I apologized, "Sorry I didn't tell you sooner, Mercury, but it takes some getting used to, and I kind of forgot."
Which is bullshit, of course. If Blue Eyes had been my real boyfriend and I hadn't been so embarrassed, the whole school would have known by now.
"It's all right," she told me, and I sighed in relief. I sighed too soon, however, because the next words out of her mouth were: "Now you have to tell me all the details."
Jupiter then made the situation more uncomfortable by adding, "Yeah, Bunny, how did you two go from butt-pinching to lip-smacking? Huh, huh? Come on, Bunny, how did yah?" Just to annoy me, Jupiter added eyebrow wiggles and a goofy grin that made her look like a doped up version of Bugs Bunny.
Knowing that I had to tell them something, I thought back to the night Blue Eyes had dinner over at my house.
"Well, uhm," I started nervously, "That night he came over with Arcade Dude, he was really nice even though he teased me—"
"Teasing is a sign that he found you attractive," Jupiter interrupted.
"—and I started to notice that he was kind of cute—"
"Duh."
"—and so when he came into the bookstore Tuesday, I think I might have kind of subconsciously flirted—"
"That's my girl!"
"—with him. I think he picked up on that, and he then asked what I was doing Wednesday night. I didn't want to miss your game Jupiter, so I told him about it. He asked to come, and at the time I really did think he was only looking to be friends."
I felt bad for lying, but then Jupiter got that superior look and her eyes and with a cocky tone she began, "First, I would have forgiven you for missing my game. Hell—sorry, Mercury—heck, I would have missed my own game just to spy on the both of you.
"And two, guys are never looking to be friends with girls. It is a common fact. That I-just-wanna-be-your-friend crap is just their way of wheedling their way into your life. You know, like a stray puppy. You see the puppy and think 'I can't afford to keep a dog, but I'll keep him just tonight and take him to the pound in the morning.' Well, you feed him and give him a bath, and then next thing you know he's sleeping in your bed."
Jupiter had never been more wrong.
"What a crude analogy," Mercury told Jupiter, after she wiped a bit of bread crumb from the corner of her mouth with her napkin. Turning to me, she then stated, "I think this guy sounds really nice. When do I get to meet him, Bunny?"
"Uhm, I don't know. Whenever, I guess."
"So, he goes to the same college as Venus's boyfriend. What's his major?"
For some reason, I never expected Mercury to be the one to give me the Third Degree, but there she was, staring at me with her big curious blue eyes. Maybe she really was just curious. Maybe she wanted to hear a little gossip. Whatever the reason, it unnerved me slightly. I mean, Mercury is so reserved, and, as far as I know, she doesn't have any interest in boys at the moment.
Not that I blame her, of course. If I was as smart as her, I'd have a hard time finding a suitable boy, too. Seriously, she's like a genius, or something. I bet she just hasn't found a man who isn't intimidated by her.
"He's majoring in architecture, but he's thinking about changing to landscape design."
"Interesting. Have you met his parents?"
"No, we just started dating." I almost choked on the last word. I continued, though, knowing Mercury would want me to elaborate. She is a stickler for details. "His mom is dead, and from what I hear, his dad is kind of overbearing."
"Oh, how sad. How old was he when his mother passed away?"
"Not quite sure, but I know he was old enough to read to her while she was in chemotherapy."
I realized then that I knew a lot about Blue Eyes, which wasn't all that disturbing. What was disturbing, however, was the knowledge that I knew more about Blue Eyes—who I'd only known for three days—than Arcade Dude.
Once I realized this, I felt a little strange. I felt guilty, almost like I had betrayed Arcade Dude by knowing so much about Blue Eyes. Silly, I know, but that was how I felt.
"Wow," Jupiter sighed, "he sounds like such a nice guy. Hot is good, but nice is a definite plus. Some people just get all the luck."
Mercury nodded in agreement, and I smiled weakly.
"Luck" wasn't exactly a term I would use in association with my current position. I couldn't tell them that, though.
From now on, I must be Miss Lovey-Dovey.
I must admit, however, that having a boyfriend—even a fake one—does have its perks.
Today after work, for example, Blue Eyes picked me up. I thought it was a sweet and completely unnecessary gesture, but he then informed me that it was time for us to start acting like a couple and really get our plan rolling.
So, instead of taking me directly home after work, we made a stop at the arcade where—you guessed it—Arcade Dude works. I was, of course, a little nervous, but Blue Eyes smiled and said, "Relax and just ignore him. Show him that your attention is no longer directed at him but at me instead."
"Is it that obvious that I like him?" I wanted to know.
"No, not really, but I think he will now notice that something is different. I mean, if you used to speak to him every chance you got he's going to will notice that you are no longer giving him the same amount of attention. He might even get extremely jealous."
I smiled at that. I have never been the cause of someone's jealousy, and I liked the idea that it would be Arcade Dude seeing the color green, a color—I am somewhat ashamed to admit—that I have seen a lot of over the past four months that my sister has been dating Arcade Dude.
Then as Blue Eyes parked his truck in the arcade parking lot, I suddenly had a disturbing thought. "Oh God, what if Venus is here?"
I desperately searched the parking lot for her car, hoping I wouldn't see it. I didn't spot her small Toyota, but that didn't mean she wouldn't show up later.
"So what if she's here?" Blue Eyes asked rhetorically as he removed the keys from the ignition. "It's actually better if she's here. Then, both of them get a chance to see us together and later speculate with each other the depth of our relationship."
I blinked. He seemed to have a point, but I was still worried. I mean, I was able to fake being in a relationship last night, but that was when Blue Eyes hadn't been around. Now, she would see how I interact with him, and I know what she's going to see: a sister who's up to something. Not a smitten girlfriend.
"I don't know if she will believe it. She knows me too well. I mean, the few guys that have asked me out I have turned down with the excuse that I didn't know them well enough."—Why the hell did I tell him that?— "I have known you for, like, three days!"
"Calm down, OK? We aren't going to be making out or anything drastic like that. We'll just hold hands and look like we're having a good time. Jeeze, get a grip and relax."
I had been fine until that moment—albeit somewhat panic stricken—but then Blue Eyes just had to push my buttons. "Get a grip? You knew I was a bad actress coming into this thing! You were, after all, the one who was able to tell I liked Arcade Dude!"
I then tensed, preparing to reflect any insult he hurled my way. He surprised me, however, by smiling and saying, "See, our first fight. Already we are acting like a real couple."
Stupefied, I allowed him to open the glass door for me, something only my Dad and random nice men had done for me until then, and as I crossed the threshold, he placed his hand in my lower back and steered me into the store.
The touch of his hand on my back immediately returned my mind to the present, and I quickly turned my face up so that I could look at his face, expecting to find a smirk that would suggest that the gesture had been another one of his tricks to take me off guard.
He wasn't looking at me, though, and I began to frown as I looked up at his profile. When he still didn't glance in my direction, I chose to continue being mad at him because being mad suddenly felt good.
I decided I was mad at the situation. I was mad at Venus for dating Arcade Dude. I was mad at Arcade Dude for not noticing me. I was mad at Jupiter for making a bigger deal out of my having a boyfriend than necessary. Hell, I decided to be mad at the world simply because it sounded cool. But most of all, I decided, I was mad at Blue Eyes for making fun of me.
The jerk.
Then, of course, just as I was in the middle sticking pushpins into the flesh of my mental Blue Eye's voodoo doll, he leaned close and whispered in my ear, "You keep frowning like that and you'll have wrinkles by the time you graduate."
Miffed, I ignored the shiver that went through me when his warm breath hit my ear and heatedly whispered back to him, "I thought you said there wouldn't be any physical contact other than hand holding."
"What?" he innocently asked. "I'm just whispering to you."
Yeah, I thought, whispering way too close to my ear.
"Cut it out," I said instead. "You know what it looks like."
"And what does it look like?" He asked.
It was then that I noticed that we had stopped moving and were standing in the middle of the arcade. Subconsciously, I had shifted my position so that I was standing in front of him, our chests almost touching so that I could hear his whispered words and so that he could see me glare at him.
"Jerk," I muttered to him, and he laughed.
Loudly.
And for a very long time.
The jerk.
"Shhh," I tried to get him to stop. "People are looking."
He quickly sobered up and asked, "What about Arcade Dude? Is he looking?"
Nonchalantly, I turned my head slightly and saw that Arcade Dude was, indeed, staring in our direction. He was behind the counter in the diner section of the arcade, a perplexed look on his face.
"Yeah," I trailed off somewhat confused.
"Good, then it worked."
It was then that I realized that everything he had done up until that point was with the explicit intention of getting Arcade Dude to notice us together, and his plan had apparently worked.
Begrudgingly, I had to give him credit, but I was still annoyed enough with him that I continued to poke pins into my mental voodoo doll of him. Admittedly, I had lost enough of my anger that I was no longer aiming the pins at his groin area.
"Jerk," I mumbled again for good measure. I couldn't let him think he was off the hook entirely.
He just smiled, though, and led me to a table that was in prime viewing range of Arcade Dude. "Wait here. I'll go get something to eat from Arcade Dude and fuel the fire. What would you like?"
I thought it was nice that he offered to get me something to eat, but I suspected that it was just him settling into the role of "fake boyfriend." Feeling wicked, however, I smiled and gave him a long list of items.
He gave me a pained look (probably thinking about his bank account), and I finally took pity on him and asked for a cookies & cream milkshake. He left me sitting in the booth to, pretty much, twiddle my thumbs.
Looking around, I noticed the claw machine sitting innocently in the corner and decided it would be more entertaining than drawing fingerprint pictures on the table. As I approached the claw machine I dug around in my purse, looking for my wallet. I put two quarters in the machine and maneuvered the claw around, trying to get it in the proper position for scooping up the stuffed Garfield toy that I've had my eye on for the past week.
My cell phone rang, and I went ahead and pressed the button to release the claw. I watched the claw's slow decent as I retrieved my phone and cut off the Scooby Doo theme.
"Y'ello?" I asked into the receiver as I fed the machine two more quarters.
"Hey. What are you doing?" It was Jupiter.
"Trying to save Garfield from suffocation at the hand of a claw machine."
"Well, you keep doing that, and I'll tell you what happened after seventh."
I was on my third set fifty cents and in the middle of listening to Jupiter tell me about some girl I don't really know who hit on Jupiter's current crush, when Blue Eyes joined me at the claw machine.
"Having trouble?" He asked.
"So then she laughed some freaking helium laugh and—Who the heck is that?" Jupiter asked in my ear.
I blinked at Blue Eyes, and answered Jupiter, "Its, uh…um…"
"Oh, I didn't know you were on the phone," He apologized.
"Oh, man! Is that Blue Eyes? Are you guys on a date?" Jupiter demanded over the airwaves.
"I'll call you back," I told her and ended the call.
"You didn't need to hang up because of me," Blue Eyes said, looking sincere.
"We were about to hang up anyway," I lied, thinking it would be rather awkward if I told him he had become the subject of our conversation.
"Oh, well," he looked through the glass of the claw machine. "Which one are you after?"
"Garfield."
I looked in the machine at all the stuffed animals and realized that the timer had run out on my last fifty cents, and the claw had dropped and retracted without picking anything up.
"Cat person, are yah?"
"Yeah," I smiled. "Dogs are too jointy."
"Never heard that one before. 'Course, cats do seem to have a flexibility that dogs just don't have. Hold these, will yah?"
He handed me the milkshakes before reaching into his pocket and pulling out some change, which he then slipped into the machine. Since he hadn't been looking at me while getting the quarters, I watched the movement of his hand from his pocket, to the change slot, to the joystick. Then as he continued talking, I watched the movement of the claw at the top of the machine.
"I'm more of a dog person myself, but I guess that's because they're all my family has ever owned. Besides, you can train a dog to do more than a cat, which is hard enough to train to go to the litter pan." He pressed the button, and the claw began to drop. "You can get a dog to walk on a leash and retrieve a tennis ball. A cat can't get its mouth around a tennis ball."
The claw grabbed a hold of Garfield and hefted him through the air to the shoot. Blue Eyes opened the door and retrieved the toy. Dumbfounded, I stared at the orange cat in his hand and reached for it.
"Thanks," I smiled tentatively.
"No problem. My mom used to make me go with my dad for his weekly bowling game with his friends. You know, boys night out. My dad and his friends, though, liked to play competitively against another group that always played the same night. Bets were made, and he didn't want a beginner to mess up his team's score." Blue Eyes leaned against the claw machine, and I wrapped my arms around my new toy. "So, I would go to the game room and blow a week's worth of allowance on the claw machine retrieving stuffed animals for cute girls."
He winked and straightened away from the machine.
I then opened my mouth to say something. I don't know what. Probably something light hearted to break the short silence and banish the rueful tone that had been in his voice.
I couldn't be mad at him after that. It just wouldn't be fair. I mean, the guy got me a blasted Garfield toy and a milkshake.
I hope Arcade Dude will act the same way when we are going out. What am I saying? Of course he will. He's a perfect gentleman. After all, Venus wouldn't date a jerk.
Oh! Speaking of Venus, she says Jupiter is on the phone. Guess she couldn't wait until tomorrow to finish our previous phone conversation.
So, long story short: I don't really know if our play at the arcade today worked or not, but I think we progressed some, especially after Venus showed up at the arcade. Now, I have to tell my parents that I'm "dating" Blue Eyes, and I have no idea about how I'm supposed to do that. They know I'm not the kind of daughter to date a guy after knowing him a few days.
What do I do, World?
Bunny
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RESPONSES TO ENTRY: JuneBunny-4/22/04-7:42 PMeastern
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Response: LastBREATH
Wow. I wish I went to school with you. You and your friends all sound like a lot of fun. Is your friend Jupiter really that goofy?
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Response: JoshIsMINE
Aww. One of my fantasy dates involves going to a fair and having a guy (preferably my Joshie-poo) winning me a stuffed animal. You know, one of those really big ones that have to be carried around over your shoulder because if you hold them in your arms they drag the ground? Anyway, you may not have been at the fair but it was still very cute. You're so lucky.
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Response: OoInstantCOFFEEoO
Do you realize that the title of your diary is a total rip-off of that book that became a movie?
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Response: SeXyZbAbaE
It's nice to know you've got a backbone, girl. You say that you've never really been good at relationships, but you are obviously a fast learner when it comes to handling your man. You gotta keep him on his toes, and you did that today by doing the whole "I'm-mad-at-you-so-what-are-you-going-to-do-to-get-me-to-like-you-again" bit. Keep up the good work!
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Response: AniIZmyLeADer
Yes, he is a jerk. All men are jerks.
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Response: IH8Dis
You know, I bet Arcade Dude would notice you if you became a slut. It's worth a try.
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ONLINE DIARIEZ . ORG
(where freedom of thought rulez)
Diary: Useless Information
User: GreenThumbs
4/22/04
11:04 PM eastern
I decided to move ahead with Operation Expose Andrew today. So, at six o'clock this afternoon I went to the bookstore and picked Serena up. Then I took her to the arcade where Andrew works. I told her it was time to kick our plan into high gear.
As soon as we pulled into the parking lot of the arcade, though, she got cold feet. She didn't have a lot of confidence in her acting skills and she shouldn't. She's a horrible actress, but I didn't tell her that, of course.
Instead I lied through my teeth when she asked me whether or not it was obvious that she liked Andrew. She might as well have burst out into song every time he entered the room it was so plainly written on her face, but I couldn't tell her that. In order for my plan to work she had to believe that I needed her to pretend to be my girlfriend, and she wouldn't do that unless she thought she was a great actress.
So I lied to her.
I feel bad about it, but I'll feel better once I have enlightened her to the reality of Andrew's personality.
Just when I thought I had her calmed down, though, she freaked out again, worried that her sister might be at the arcade. Apparently, even though her relationship with her sister is distant enough that Serena is willing to steal Mina's boyfriend, they are still close enough that Mina could—according to Serena—tell when Serena is faking a kiss.
Then, she started to panic over the prospect of kissing me. I tried not to take offence. I know she wasn't repulsed by the idea of kissing me as much as she was afraid our kiss would be unbelievable, but I still felt a tiny bit perturbed.
Some of my annoyance leaked through to my words when I told Serena, "Calm down, OK? We aren't going to be making out or anything drastic like that. We'll just hold hands and look like we're having a good time. Jeeze, get a grip and relax."
After that, I got to see Serena when she was mad. It was actually a rather interesting experience. Up until that point, I had somewhat idealized Serena as Mina's cute and happy younger sister. It was also disconcerting because I realized that, even though our relationship was a fake one, we had moved ahead. It meant we'd moved past our ingrained Southern hospitality designated for strangers and that we were now comfortable around each other to the extent that we could openly be mad at each other instead of silently cursing each other behind our backs.
We're friends now.
After that that epiphany, I couldn't quite take her anger seriously. So, instead of lashing back at her, which is what I think she wanted me to do, I grinned and told her, "See, our first fight. Already we are acting like a real couple."
She glared and me and didn't say anything. I think she was trying to look menacing, but it didn't work. Instead, she looked kind of adorable with her eyes exaggeratedly squinted and her lips puckered in a frown.
Since she looked so cute mad, I hoped to prod her a little and see what she would do if I continued to wheedle her. So I informed her, leaning close her ear, that she would get wrinkles if she continued to frown.
"I thought you said there wouldn't be any physical contact other than hand holding," she said in reply.
It took me a moment to think of a response. She uses a nice smelling shampoo and it was quite distracting.
"What?" I asked. "I'm just whispering to you."
She shifted her position so that she was facing me. "Cut it out. You know what it looks like," she said through pursed lips.
Enjoying the banter, I pressed on. "And what does it look like?"
I knew exactly what it looked like, of course. It had been unintentional, but we had both moved so it looked as though we were having an intimate conversation. In reality we may have been exchanging insults, but to everyone else in the room it looked as though we were confessing our love to each other or something.
I must admit, though, that I enjoyed the moment. Serena is short, maybe five-three, and next to her I felt very masculine, something I found to be quite pleasant. A part of me wanted to put my arm around her waist just see how it would feel, but I restrained myself. She was looking for a fight and touching her at that particular moment would have sent her over the edge, thus blowing our cover.
Eventually, Serena realized how intimate our position looked and put the blame entirely on me. I didn't bother to correct her, even after she called me a jerk.
Out of the corner of my eye I could see Andrew behind the counter of the arcade, and I could tell that he was looking in our approximate location. I realized then that our situation was very reminiscent to romantic comedies. Normally, this would be the part of the movie where the male lead would kiss the leading female, knowing it would make the on-looking male character jealous.
I knew that if I had suddenly locked lips with Serena in her current mood she'd likely deck me in the face. So I laughed instead, realizing that our current pose could work to our advantage the same way a kiss might.
Sometimes a shared joke is just as intimate as a kiss.
It wasn't hard to fake a laugh, considering I found our whole predicament amusing. Once I started laughing, however, I couldn't seem to stop. Looking back on everything, I'm afraid I may have sounded a bit hysterical. For some reason, as soon as I started to laugh, the image of Serena blushing and running away after she pinched my ass entered my mind. Then I thought of the time she fell down the stairs at her house.
Suddenly, I found everything about Serena amusing, even the panicked look on her face when she whispered, "People are looking."
Realizing that I had been laughing for perhaps a bit too long, I bit my tongue to suppress the chuckles.
I remembered my original reason for laughing and asked Serena, "What about Andrew? Is he looking?"
She glanced around and spotted Andrew.
"Yeah," she said in tone that suggested she had no idea where our conversation was leading.
"Good, then it worked."
She looked confused for a few moments before I saw enlightenment in her expressive eyes. Then they narrowed. "Jerk," she muttered.
After that we migrated to the diner area of the arcade, and I offered to buy her something to eat. Still peeved about what I had just done, Serena gave me a long grocery list of items. She even had the gumption to ask for a puppy and botox surgery to fix the new wrinkles that I had apparently given her.
At first I thought she was serious. I was afraid I was really going to have to go out and buy her a puppy in order to get her to continue with my plan, but then smiled and asked for a milkshake.
Boy was I relieved.
When I reached the counter, Andrew appeared to be waiting.
"What the hell are you doing here with her, man? You only had to distract her for one night. Don't think I'm paying you or anything."
That's Andrew. The world always revolves around his ass.
Instead, I raised my eyebrows and calmly explained, "I'm not distracting her."
"Of course you're not," he said sarcastically, "If you were doing a decent job of it you wouldn't have brought her here."
"Look, Andrew, can I have a cookies-and-cream milkshake and a chocolate milkshake?"
I have no idea why Mina is dating this guy.
"Sure, whatever," he replied before going to make the shakes.
As I waited for him to return, I leaned my back against the high countertop and turned my head so that I could see the booth where Serena and I had decided to sit. She wasn't seated where I had left her, however, and after a quick scan of the arcade I spotted her at the claw machine. I smiled slightly.
Somehow, I wasn't surprised to find her going after some stuffed animal. In fact, I bet she has a ton of them piled on her bed and every night she has to remove them as a part of her nightly bedtime ritual. It'd be a bitch to have to sleep on all of them.
As I was imagining the mound of plushies and stuffed animals, a voice from behind me asked, "So you're here with Mina's little sister?"
I turned around to find Jamie, one of the other arcade workers talking to me. I don't really know much about Jamie other than his name and the fact that he is still in high school. I think we once had a brief conversation about band that had been playing over the arcade's stereo system.
"Yup."
"Oh. I go to school with her and her sister. Mina and I are in the same grade."
I nodded my head, wondering what his hidden motive was for talking to me. Guys just don't go up to other guys they aren't friends with just for the sole purpose of striking up a conversation unless they are bored and happen to be the only two people in the room, and considering Jamie was at work, I doubt he was bored. Whatever this guy wanted to know, I realized, he would get around to asking me about it if he really wanted the information.
"So, how do you know Serena?"
Does this guy like Serena? I wondered, feeling suddenly bad. If this guy had a crush on her I was in his way, and I didn't truthfully or fairly have claim on her. I had to suppress my guilt, though, because Andrew was approaching, and I couldn't very well tell Jamie the truth with Andrew in earshot.
"We're dating," I said casually but loud enough so that Andrew could hear.
He heard.
"What?" he asked, disbelief etched in every one of his facial features. "Your dating Mina's annoying sister? No fucking way!"
Oddly enough, Jamie didn't appear disappointed. He looked relieved, if anything. Then, of course, he directed an annoyed look towards Andrew. Apparently, Jamie doesn't approve of his co-worker.
So, Serena's dating status wasn't what Jamie was fishing for. Briefly, I wondered what he had wanted to ask me, but dismissed it once I realized I was never going to find out. Not with Andrew around, at least.
"Yeah, we're dating."
"Since when? Why didn't I know about it?"
"Since a few a days ago, and it's not like I've seen a whole lot of you between then and now because—you know..." I shrugged, letting the sentence trail off. The "you know" of course being the fact that he has spent the past few nights in the dorm room of a girl on campus.
He didn't seem the least bit guilty, however, and he continued to discuss Serena. "Dude, I asked you to get her off my back for one night. I didn't say date her!"
Speaking the truth, I told him, "She's not as annoying as you make her out to be."
"That's easy for you to say. She doesn't follow you around like a sick puppy dog."
"Well, you won't have to worry about that now, will you?"
"You really think she's gonna stop being in love with me just like that—" he snapped his fingers, "—just because she's been going out with you for two days? Get real. What makes you think she's gonna stick around?"
God's infinite creations: the Universe and Andrew's ego.
I wanted to tell him about how nice Serena is. How intelligent she is. Explain to him that she only idolized him, not loved him, but I realized that Andrew would only laugh. He would just view me as being some pathetic freshman with some equally pathetic girlfriend. In the end, Andrew would get burned by my plan, but at that moment as I watched him gloat, thinking that I was stupid for dating a girl who he believed was in love with him, I couldn't resist getting the last word.
So, hopping he would understand the unspoken insult, I gave him a small smile and said, "She's devoted, unlike some people I know."
Then, before Andrew could retaliate, I put some money on the counter and raised my milkshakes towards Jamie as I said, "Nice talking you." I wonder if Jamie figured out that Andrew was cheating on Mina after eavesdropping on our conversation.
I like to think so.
Inwardly euphoric, I approached Serena, who was still at the claw machines, trying unsuccessfully to win a stuffed toy.
"Having trouble?" I teasingly asked. Then I realized she was on the phone and immediately felt stupid.
I told her I was sorry, but she hung up anyway. Apparently, she was talking to her friend from last night, and I could tell that she was immediately reminded of our first meeting because she began to blush.
Hoping to put her at ease, I asked her to point out the toy she had been going for. Then, after handing her the milkshakes, I inserted money into the machine and won her the Garfield toy.
Claw machines have been a specialty of mine ever since I was a kid and my dad used to take weekly trips to the bowling alley. Dad would rarely let me bowl with him on his team, so I usually went to the small game room and blew my allowance on stuffed animals that I would eventually give away to anyone who wanted one. I'd save a few for my mom, though, and she would display them in one of our guest rooms like soft, cuddly trophies. Later, when mom went through chemotherapy, she'd take her favorite one (a soft pink bunny) with her to hold on to during the procedure.
For some reason, I'd never like the fact that she'd brought the rabbit with her. Looking back on it, I think I'd hated how she had looked like an innocent little child holding it in her arms. She was supposed to be the adult, but during those sessions, I'd been forced to realize that I was growing up.
There is always a point in time when a child takes on the role of parent for his mom and dad, but I had to fill that position long before I was ready, long before my mom was gray and wrinkled.
After I retrieved the toy for her, Serena gave me a beatific smile, and the cloud over my head dissipated. I was relieved that she was no longer pissed at me.
We then returned to our booth to finish our shakes. Serena sat the Garfield toy on the table, and periodically she would reach out to touch it, pose it differently. During a lull in our conversation about college life versus high school life the Macarena song started to play over the arcade stereo system. Smiling, Serena grabbed Garfield and began moving his short, stubby arms in a barely recognizable reenactment of the Macarena dance. We laughed, and our conversation quickly switched to music that was popular back when we were in elementary school and middle school.
Neither of us could sing, so I'm sure we got strange looks whenever we simultaneously burst out singing the lyrics of songs like "Scrubs," the "Chumba Wumba Song," "Mmmbop," and "I Believe I Can Fly." I don't care if people were looking at us as though we were crazy. I was having fun, and that's all that mattered.
We were so deep into our conversation that neither of us noticed Mina walk through the doors of the arcade and approach us.
"Hey guys," she said when she reached us, and Serena and I both jumped slightly at her intrusion.
Serena quickly lost her smile, and I could tell she was on the verge of panicking. Under the table I gave her foot a nudge, trying to remind her that it was no big deal.
"Hey, Mina, what are you doing here?" Serena asked with an obviously forced smile. Mina, hopefully, just thought her sister was pissed that her "date" was interrupted.
Mina nodded her head at the counter where Andrew was still serving customers. "Andrew's shift ends in a few minutes, and I wanted to see if he would like to go see a movie. If we go, you're welcome to join us. Aww, we could double date!"
From across the table, I watched Serena's face drain of color. Luckily, I had a legitimate excuse to give Mina and save Serena.
"I'd love to go," I lied before adding a bit of truth, "but I have to work tonight at seven-thirty."
Relieved that she didn't have to go on a double date with her sister and Andrew, Serena regained some of her confidence. She gave an exaggerated pout and said, "Oh, poo. And we were having so much fun."
"Well, tomorrow night I have to work again, but I'm free Saturday and Sunday night. Why don't we do something then?"
I meant just Serena and me, but Mina grew excited. "Oh, yes! Andrew and I were planning to go to this poetry thing Saturday. You and Serena are welcome to come with us."
Serena blinked. "Poetry? You hate poetry."
Mina smiled. "Mr. Frost, my English teacher, is going to be there. He said he'd give us extra credit on our exam if he sees us there."
Mr. Frost? An English teacher? I paused to absorb the irony before focusing on the conversation again.
"Oh." Serena looked at me, and I shrugged. "I guess we'll see when Saturday arrives," she said diplomatically.
"Kay, but Darien, you'll come for Sunday dinner at our house again, won't you?"
"Sure," I said, knowing I couldn't be as evasive with my answer that time.
"See you then," Mina said and left Serena and I alone to stare at each other.
"I haven't told my parent's yet that I'm dating you," she commented, bending her fingers in the universal sign of quotation marks as she said the word dating.
Laughing, I told her that she better tell them tonight.
"The thing is, my parents might find it uncharacteristic for me to start dating a guy after only knowing him for four days."
I shrugged, "We can put on a cute act that will have them believing we were meant to be together."
"My dad might kill you."
"Your dad seemed nice to me the other night."
"That's when you weren't dating me."
"He seemed fine with Andrew dating Mina."
"Mina's different. She's had boyfriends since she was in middle school. I, however, am Daddy's Baby Girl, who is too naïve and inexperienced to know how to defend herself from evil boys only out to break my fragile heart."
"You must be exaggerating."
"I'm not," she protested.
"Then why are you smiling?" I asked, feeling afraid for the first time.
"I'm picturing Dad sitting on the couch, polishing his favorite gun as the light from the TV reflects off his glasses so that you can't see his eyes."
"Vivid imagination you've got there. No wonder you want to be a writer. So where am I in this vision?"
Serena smiled, both at my praise and at her next words. "You're cowering in the corner, of course."
After that, I took her home because I had to go to work, which sucked. Not only was business extremely busy tonight, but I also got stuck training the new girl who was a PMSing bitch to me and the customers.
Raye, who also worked tonight, kept shooting me sympathetic glances, which did not help my situation any. The girl won't last long. Our boss is an overly cheerful person who loves people and loves talking to people. He's like Santa Claus on crack, and as soon as he catches wind of this girl being a bitch to customers, she'll be looking for a new job.
When I arrived back at the dorm, Andrew was in the room, which was kind of surprising. I guess his date with Mina didn't last too long. He was on his computer when I came in, and he pretty much ignored me the rest of the night.
I guess he was still pissed at me after what I said at the arcade. I feel all warm inside knowing I was the cause of his anger.
You know the little angle and devil often shown in cartoons as representing a character's conscience? Well, right now my little devil is brake dancing in celebration on my right shoulder while my little angel is loafing on the couch, playing his X BOX360 because he secretly believes there is no reason to stop me from my plan since he, too, thinks Andrew is an asshole.
Asshole Andrew. Hmm… It has a nice ring to it.
I never realized before now how deviant I can be at times.
Feels good.
Today's Useless Information: There are at least two golf balls sitting on the moon.
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RESPONSES TO ENTRY: GreenThumbs-4/22/04-11:04 PMeastern
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Response: SPEWyou
Ok, you've got to tell me. What is so fascinating about blondes? I mean, this Serena girl is blonde and so is his sister. You've said that both are pretty, cute, etc., but what about Serena's friend, huh? What about Raye? Why don't you call them pretty? Uhg, sorry. My boyfriend dumped me for a blonde. I'm still pissed.
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xtreamSK8ERdude responded to SPEWyou:
Blondes and red heads are exotic, but blondes can actually get a tan. And you can't say that girls don't do the same thing, because I know for a fact that girls prefer taller guys. What about the short guys, huh?
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Response: xtreamSK8ERdude
A stuffed animal? Dude, that's lame.
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Response: NYsubwayMan
You know, your roommate seemed to act a little too weird after hearing about you dating his girlfriend's sister. I think he's jealous because Serena's not going to shower him with attention anymore. Better watch your back, bud.
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Response: oOcoffeeaddictOo
You know, I really do think you have a crush on this Serena girl. Maybe, after you expose Andrew, you will hook up with her. Heck, you're already her friend. Next step: more than friends.
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Response: IH8Dis
Welcome to the Darkside. You can join Satan and Bart Simpson on the couch, but be careful not to step on any weapons of mass destruction that may or may not be lying around.
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