Chapter Thirteen: She's Right Here
Vanessa had only moved half a foot during his conversation with Tyler so he had a pretty good feeling she wasn't going to be done anytime soon.
Speaking of road trips, Reid's phone rang and he checked the incoming message.
Just peed in East Cornfield IN
Yep, that's right. Pogue Parry was now Tweeting. About everything.
Mrs. Parry was not happy about Pogue's decision to 'travel' instead of attend college. After his accident she became more than a little paranoid that something might happen to him. Armed with the latest technology, she reluctantly gave her blessing provided Pogue keep up his end of the deal, which included the aforementioned Twitter.
"So how is East Cornfield?" Reid asked his fellow Son.
"The same as West, North and South Cornfield," Pogue replied. "And if I were you I wouldn't eat corn for awhile."
"Why not?"
"Trust me, you do not want to know," Pogue answered.
There was a second of static, and Reid thought he'd dropped the call. But then the reception cleared and he heard Pogue talking to someone.
"…Give me the keys… I'm driving...I know I'm on the phone…No, I can't steer with my feet…"
There was a brief moment of laughter from Pogue, before he got back on the phone.
"This girl is insane," he told Reid.
"What girl?" Reid asked.
"I picked up a hitchhiker…,"
"You did what?" the blonde gasped in disbelief. "That's crazy, man."
"Yeah, I know," Pogue admitted. "Do you want to talk to her?"
Before Reid could answer he heard the phone clunk as it changed hands.
"Howdy, Reid!" a strange female voice came across the line.
She said "Howdy" Reid thought to himself, picturing the girl as a kind of farmer's daughter type. A little portly, with ripped jeans and a flannel shirt. Long hair pulled back into a ponytail, maybe missing a few teeth.
"Howdy!" he replied back with a laugh resulting mostly from his mental image.
The girl then proceeded to tell Reid that she was trying to teach Pogue how to pee in a cup while driving, so they didn't have to pull over so much.
"I'm not peeing in a cup!" Pogue shouted, so loud Reid heard him quite clearly.
Reid chatted with the girl a few more minutes until they went into a bad area and lost the signal.
He looked over at Vanessa, who was now talking to one of the employees about something. Reid gave her a short wave and pointed to the door. He figured he'd get some coffee instead of waiting around doing nothing.
She waved back and smiled.
Reid went out the door and down the block to look for a coffee shop. The only one he could find was very crowded. The line was at least thirty people long and extended out the door and around the side of the building. Dutifully he took his place at the end, checking out the girls in line around him. Most were paired off with guys, or looked a little out of his age bracket. With a tired sigh, he took out his phone again and sent a text to Tyler.
The line moved slowly. Reid groaned and shifted from side to side. He thought about all the things he could be doing right now. He hoped Sarah appreciated the sacrifice he was making.
There were only two people left in front of him when his phone rang.
"Where the hell are you?" his roommate demanded.
"Java Junction," Reid answered wondering what Caleb's problem was.
"How close is that to The Bead-ery?" was the next question.
"Less than a …. Hey, how did you know I was at…"
"Vanessa just sent Sarah a text that you ditched her…"
"I didn't…."
"Reid…"
Before Reid could begin to explain the misunderstanding, Sarah somehow intercepted the phone and began a full out "Tunney" on him. "Tunney" was the little term of endearment Pogue used to describe his ex's frequent PMS/hormonal rants about the tiniest of things, blowing them way out of proportion. Apparently Sarah had taken excellent notes while she and Kate roomed together. She continued on and on, getting so loud that when Reid pulled the phone away from his ear, the other patrons turned to stare.
"It's my sister."
He didn't know why he said that, except maybe as a futile attempt to let the cute girl behind the counter he was single.
"She had a fight with her boyfriend…"
"REID! REID! ARE YOU LISTENI…?"
"Call you back, sis."
Reid then shut his phone off, stopping Sarah mid-sentence and smiled at the girl in front of him.
"What can I get you?" the girl smiled at him.
He knew it was probably one of the worst if not THE worst way to pick up a girl. But, since he was alone and would probably never see this girl again he figured – Why the hell not?
"Well, Erica," Reid read her nametag. "How about you get me your number?"
Slight hints of pink grew on Erica's pale cheeks. Reid's ego pumped up a bit. It was nice to get such an adorable reaction from a not-so-bad-looking girl.
The employee standing next to her laughed so hard she spilled a bit of latte on the floor.
"I, uh…" Erica stammered. "Don't have a pen."
"No problem," Reid took out his phone. "I'll add you to my contacts, right now."
"Uhhh," Erica stood there looking to and from her co-worker uncertainly.
"Just give him your number, honey." A woman's voice called from somewhere in line.
"Please!" someone else seconded. "Or else we'll be here all night!"
Erica took the phone from his hands and quickly typed into it then handed it back to him as it began exploding with texts.
"You better call your sister back, Reid," Erica said, the flush still evident on her face. Her eyes caught his, but then she looked away at her co-worker.
Reid winked at her and then left his place in line.
Erica blushed again and then turned away to fill an order.
Reid walked slowly down the block, not in a hurry to get back to Vanessa and beads. Staring down at his phone and reading texts, Reid would have walked by her if she hadn't bumped into him.
"Hey!" she snapped looking up from her phone as she and Reid had been guilty of the same texting offense. "Oh," her voice softened just a little.
"Hi Reid."
"Hi Kate."
"So how have you been?"
"Good. You?"
"Good. Yeah. Things are good," she nodded, adding emphasis to her words. "So what's it like rooming with Caleb?"
"Uhhh, it's… different," Reid answered. Somewhere in the back of his mind a little red light was flashing. Kate hadn't said more than two sentences to him since the demise of her relationship with Pogue. This sudden attempt at friendship couldn't be a good sign.
"You roomed with Tyler for four years. It must be hard to get used to someone new, even if it is Caleb." Kate said with what seemed to be a sad smile. "How are they doing? Caleb and Tyler and… Pogue."
There. She said it. That's what this was all about. Pogue.
"We're all good, Kate," Reid purposefully glanced down at his phone. "But I'm late meeting someone, so I'll see ya around, okay?"
"Yeah. See ya around."
Reid continued down the block debating whether or not to call Pogue. He decided not to leave it alone. Gossip was for girls.
Official OC Counter:
1. Vanessa Gardella - Sarah's roommate
2. Sara - From Calculus
3. Stacey – Women's Swim Team Captain
4. Ashley - cheerleader
5. Adam Abbot – Aaron's older brother
6. Kim Wilkinson – From English class
7. Emily Hawke – Kim Wilkinson's roommate
8. Erica – Java Junction barista
