Chapter 2

Somehow, Lindsay managed to survive the next few hours. In an effort to compete, her dad had decided to extend closing time into later into the evening (particularly now that he had recently acquired good cheap labor that he could at least somewhat trust). What that meant was that they often closed the store together. Though it was better than sitting at home and studying at a time like this, she supposed. Both were fairly torturous, but at least staying busy would pass the rest of the night a little more quickly until she could get home and call Kim.

The time until her parents were asleep felt like forever, but Lindsay couldn't afford to get caught, so she chewed her fingernails and waited it out. Finally, when she could hear her father's snores emanating from the next room, she sneaked into the kitchen and picked up the phone. After dialing, she slid down to the bottom of the walk-in pantry and shut the door behind her. Kim answered on the first ring.

"Like I said, I thought you might be interested," Kim said knowingly. Kim didn't question who was calling her. Lindsay guessed she had already spoken to Daniel for the night, and no one else likely would have called her quite this late.

"Yeah, so," Lindsay murmured, wanting her friend to stop playing games and just tell her what was going on. "What did he say?"

"Not that much, really," Kim replied, not so smug now that she had gotten her initial news out of the way. "He just asked how you were doing. I said okay but grounded. He asked why and I told him all about the Dead. He laughed. I think he thought it was funny that you would get grounded over going to some concerts."

Lindsay half-grinned. Once again, she wished she could talk to him. "And what happened with him and Sara? Who broke up with who? When did it happen?"

Kim hesitated. "He said it was mutual. I couldn't tell if he was lying or not. But apparently it happened at the beginning of the summer. So he's been single for a few weeks now."

Interesting, Lindsay thought. She wondered what prompted the breakup, but she didn't ask. If it had something to do with Lindsay, and Nick told Kim, she's sure Kim would have told her. So either Kim didn't know, or there was a different reason entirely.

Kim switched the subject to Daniel; apparently the two of them were off again. As Kim rambled on about Daniel and how her time away put a huge wedge in their relationship, about how she couldn't trust him anymore, and how he seemed to always want to play the field, Lindsay's mind wandered. To Nick. Again. She couldn't help it. Nick stayed in her mind long after she got off the phone, remained there while she was trying to sleep. She wondered what he looked like now, how she would feel if she got to talk to him.

He couldn't stay there too long, though- her calculus class was four times a week at 11am, and since she couldn't concentrate enough to work after she got home last night, she had to finish her problem set in the morning before she left. After class, her mom picked her up and drove her straight to A1 for her typical 1pm shift (she hadn't been completely banned from driving, in case for some reason her mom was too busy to take her to class, but her parents pretty much chauffeured her everywhere, claiming that there was no need for her to drive anyway). Lindsay sat in the back of the store and ate her packed lunch in the few minutes she had in-between.

Her shift passed without incident- it went agonizingly slow in the afternoon when there were so few customers- but thankfully she didn't have to close tonight. Her dad did have an employee that he trusted to close the store a couple of nights a week, so the two of them came home together so that they could have dinner with the rest of their family.

While watching Magnum PI and eating ice cream with her parents (they occasionally let the TV rule slide and let her watch as long as it was with them), Lindsay was psyching herself up to attack the particularly complicated homework set she had been given in calculus that morning when the phone rang.

Lindsay watched as her mom answered it, looked confused for a few moments, and then called Sam to the phone. Sam grabbed the phone receiver and started to head off to the kitchen. Judging by her mom's face, it wasn't Bill or Neal, the only two people that regularly called Sam (Cindy Sanders had stopped calling even though Sam insisted that they could still be friends). But her mom's expression quickly seemed to change into one of relief when she heard Sam start to talk into the receiver about Dungeons and Dragons, and she returned to the family room.

A few minutes later, Lindsay got up to head to her bedroom to start her homework. She was passing by the kitchen when Sam frantically waved her over, still talking to whoever it was on the phone. Lindsay looked at Sam quizzically but stepped into the kitchen, quickly glancing behind her. Her parents were absorbed in the TV show.

Sam handed her the receiver. "Here," he whispered.

She shot Sam a puzzled look but whispered into the receiver, "Hello?" making sure to be quiet enough so that her parents wouldn't turn around.

"Hey, Lindsay," came a smooth voice on the other end of the line. For a second, she couldn't quite place it.

"Um, who's this?" Lindsay asked politely, but directly.

"You don't recognize my voice after all we hung out this year?" As soon as the words were out of his mouth, Lindsay knew she was speaking to Daniel Desario. Of course- Dungeons and Dragons, he had played a few times with Sam and his friends recently.

At that moment it struck Lindsay that Daniel might have been using Dungeons and Dragons as an excuse to ask for Sam, to stay on the line. Perhaps he wanted her on the phone instead of her brother but was trying not to get her in trouble.

"Oh, um, yeah, hey Daniel," Lindsay replied softly. "I'm really not supposed to be on the phone with anyone- I'm grounded. What's up?" Her parents loved Magnum PI, but her time was running out. Surely they would check on her soon.

"Yeah, I know," Daniel replied. "I've only called here asking for you about a hundred times."

Lindsay rolled her eyes. Of course, Daniel, one of the biggest jokers she knew, was getting a kick out of the whole situation.

"Oh, yeah?" she teased. "Find this amusing, do you?"

"Maybe," she could almost hear him smiling, "but I wanted to talk to you, too. It's kinda weird going out without you now."

Lindsay wasn't sure of what to say. It was the first time anyone other than Kim seemed to express that they even noticed that she wasn't around. It felt nice. On the other hand, Lindsay and Daniel rarely hung out alone. And they never talked on the phone. This conversation was beginning to feel awkward.

"Oh, um," Lindsay stammered, stalling for time, "thanks, I guess."

"Kim and I broke up, too, I'm sure she told you," Daniel said suddenly.

"Yeah, she did."

"And?"

"And what?" Lindsay whispered, glancing out into the living room. Still okay, for the moment.

"And, I guess I was wondering what you thought," Daniel said.

"Well," Lindsay began quietly, a little confused by the question, "Um, I'm sorry? You guys will work it out though." Lindsay didn't exactly want to come out and say she expected them to be back together within the week, but that's certainly what she thought.

"I don't know if we will. And I guess- what I'm really asking, is, do you think we made a good couple?"

Lindsay hesitated. Kim and Daniel yelled each other's heads off, fought constantly. She was jealous and possessive; he was aloof and flirted with other girls. But deep down, Lindsay knew that they loved each other, faults and all. She smiled. "Yeah, I think so," she said. "You guys are good for each other. And I know how much Kim cares about you, even when she won't admit it."

Daniel sighed, exasperated. "Yeah, but I think you're biased. You're best friends with her now. Did you always think that we were good together? Like, when you first met us? Before you knew Kim?"

Before she knew Kim, Lindsay was insanely attracted to Daniel, hoping beyond hope that he would ask her out, having a keg party in her house just to try to impress him. The thought made her blush a little. But that had been a long time ago.

She answered Daniel honestly. "No, but that doesn't matter. I'm glad I got to know Kim, and now that I did, I know how good of a person she truly is. You were lucky to have her."

Daniel hesitated a moment, and then said, "Well, thanks, Lindsay. You answered my question. I guess I'd better let you go. See you around."

Sensing she didn't have another moment, Lindsay hung up without replying. When she whirled around, the credits were rolling on TV and her mom was on the way to the kitchen with the empty ice cream bowls. Just in the nick of time.