Chapter 4

Lindsay stood there, a little shell-shocked. She was surprised that Nick seemed to leave so abruptly when she told him she'd be cooped up all summer. But she couldn't blame him for wanting to get the hell out of there. She and her punishment were such a drag, and she could feel the boringness emanating into her very being. Work and studying, work and studying. Of course she'd be dull to talk to- what could she expect?

The rest of the evening passed without incident, but what happened earlier today was enough. Lindsay could barely concentrate as she attempted to do her problem set. She knew she couldn't ask her professor for another extension, but these integrals were excruciating and her mind just wasn't in the right place. For the first time, Lindsay knowingly did the problems incorrectly just so she would have something to write down to give her professor, and stashed her notes away as quickly as possible. It was starting to get late, and she wanted to call Kim tonight. She had to tell her what had happened. Kim giggled gleefully when Lindsay told her how good she thought Nick looked ("See- I knew you'd think he looks hotter!" was her retort). When she told Kim about Nick's sudden exit from the store, Kim just laughed and told her to stop being a downer.

The next few days were pretty uneventful. Work picked up, as it usually did towards the weekend. Lindsay spent Friday night closing the store and her ten-hour shift on Saturday amidst a flurry of parents trying to get gear for their children before the start of summer sports practices the next week. On Saturday night, sitting at home with her parents doing calculus, Lindsay cursed Kim, who was going to a big party. Kim and Daniel still hadn't reconciled, and as a result Kim wasn't really hanging out with Ken or Nick either. But apparently she and Karen Scarfolli had made up, managing to both agree on how much of a jerk Daniel was. Karen's parents were out of town, so she was having a big bash at her house (sounded familiar). Even though Lindsay was somewhat terrified of Karen, it would have been fun just to get out of the house.

On Sunday, it was more calculus- Lindsay had her exam the next day. The weather was gorgeous, as it often was this time of year- 70's and brilliantly sunny; she would have killed to spend some time outside. Now that she was grounded, for the life of her she could not understand how Sam and Neal could choose to spend today in this weather playing Atari in Sam's bedroom (worse, she had to chew them out a couple of times to turn it down as the loud sounds made it harder for her to study). But at least she could finally be productive- she opened her bedroom window to let the breeze blow in while she did problems at her desk. Hours ticked by, and finally, finally, Lindsay was able to get some work done and feel more confident about her exam. But by that point the smell of the tacos that her mom was preparing for dinner were starting to waft into Lindsay's bedroom.

Lindsay was just putting the finishing touches on her review problem set (thankfully, she had finally figured out what plagued her with those pesky integrals and was able to work through what she couldn't before) when the doorbell rang.

"Harold, can you get that?" Lindsay could hear her mom shout from the kitchen, no doubt elbow-deep in dinner preparations. Lindsay cracked her bedroom door open to hear who it was.

When she heard the deep, raspy voice of the person just outside her house, at first she thought her mind was playing tricks on her. But then she thought she heard the name 'Neal' and Lindsay realized that despite her shock, she had to be right after all.

Barry Schweiber was there.

Lindsay closed her book with a thump and jumped to her feet, eagerly following the sound of the voice to her front door, where her dad and Barry casually stood chatting. The polite thing to do would have been to let them finish whatever they were saying, but she couldn't help herself.

"Barry!" she exclaimed in surprise.

Barry looked at her, giving her a subtle once-over and flashing her a megawatt smile. "Lindsay," he said, leaning in to give her a hug, briefly pulling her tight against him before letting her go. "How are you?"

"Good…" Lindsay began, but didn't elaborate. Her father was still there, watching the two of them observantly. Lindsay looked at him with pleading eyes.

"I guess I'd better go get Neal; I'll be back in a minute," her dad said gruffly, giving her a break and a very knowing half-grin this time. Lindsay breathed a sigh of relief as her dad walked away.

"So- what are you doing here?" she asked Barry in wonder once her dad was out of earshot. The sound of tortillas frying in oil made the kitchen quite loud, so she doubted her mother could hear them. From what Sam had told her, Barry was supposed to have an internship in Madison this summer, working for a law firm.

"Do you mean here, at your house, or here, in Chippewa?" he asked, still grinning at her. He lowered his voice. "You still look so hot, by the way."

Lindsay blushed. Barry had a way of keeping her off guard. "Both," she stammered. She lowered her head, embarrassed at the attention. "And thanks," she whispered.

Barry laughed and reached his hand over to gently touch Lindsay's chin, pulling it up so that she was looking into his eyes. The last time he had his hands on her face, they were kissing. His touch was more than a little distracting and with her parents in the house, Lindsay was unnerved. She quickly moved her head back so that she was out of his reach. Barry seemed to understand her nervousness and wasn't particularly offended.

"Yeah, both," she said again.

"Well, I'm here in town because my internship fell through- the firm found out they were getting audited by the IRS so all of a sudden showing interns around wasn't so much of a priority."

"Whoa, really?" Lindsay asked him.

Barry nodded. "Yeah. After talking with those guys, I'm not all that surprised. They were sleazy. So it probably worked out for the best." He flashed his grin again. "And I'm here at your house to get Neal."

Lindsay looked past Barry into her front yard, where Neal's bike was lying on the grass. She looked up. There wasn't a cloud in the sky. It was dinnertime at the beginning of July, so it wasn't even close to dark yet. She arched an eyebrow at him.

"And because I wanted to see you, of course," he finished honestly, voice cracking just a little, giving him away. Barry's vulnerability finally showed through his confident exterior, just a bit. "Neal told me about your prison sentence. I tried to call a couple of times, but your parents didn't even ask who was calling or whether or not they could take a message, so I didn't have the chance to work my magic." He winked and grinned at her again, continuing in a low voice, "But I thought of a way we could talk. I can have Neal call Sam, and then we can just switch places with them." He stepped a bit closer, looking right into her eyes, "or you can always call me," he told her emphatically. "I don't care what time it is, or if I get into trouble. Call me whenever you can get away with it, whenever you want. I'd love to talk to you," he murmured. He raised his hand again, began to run it through Lindsay's hair.

This time, she didn't shy away from the contact- it felt too good. She closed her eyes instead.

Just as suddenly, though, Barry yanked his hand out of her hair and raised his voice again. "So, yeah, the school said that they were going to try to arrange my internship at a different firm this fall. It would only be after class, so it's not as many hours, but that's okay," he said loudly, as Lindsay turned around to see her dad, Neal, and Sam sauntering towards them. Panicked that they had seen, she looked back at Barry, but he didn't appear fazed, so they must have gotten away with it. "C'mon, little brother, help load your bike onto the rack," Barry said good-naturedly as Neal approached, "and let's let the Weirs eat their dinner."

Neal looked at Barry questioningly, seeming to wonder, like Lindsay, what in the hell Barry was doing there. But Barry just shook it off, patting Neal on the shoulder and gently pushing him towards the driveway, then extending his hand to Lindsay's dad.

"It was good to see you again, Mr. Weir. Though you don't seem like you're having as much fun as the last time that I saw you," Barry kidded.

The last time Barry had seen him, Lindsay's dad was drunk off of his ass from the annual Schweiber party, having drank too much in an effort to be able to tolerate all the dentist jokes that he knew would be the inevitable result of hanging out with a bunch of dentists. Lindsay cringed, hoping her dad would let Barry live for his little dig.

But Lindsay's father laughed amicably. "Well, just tell your parents they need to throw another soirée and provide plenty of anesthesia," Harold joked as he shook Barry's hand, "And I'll have a grand old time."

Lindsay should have known her father wouldn't be offended. Her parents had always liked Barry.

So had she.

"Will do," Barry said, laughing. "It was really great seeing you, Lindsay. Good luck." With one last look in Lindsay's direction, Barry turned back around to finish strapping the bike into the rack, and after everyone shouted their goodbyes, within a minute or two he and Neal were gone.

Lindsay let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. She could forget going back to study more calculus- her mind was shot to hell now. She couldn't wait for her parents to go to sleep so that she could call Kim. She needed advice.

Several hours later, after zoning out in front of the TV with her parents (Lindsay couldn't do anything that required any more concentration than that), she was able to slip into the kitchen pantry after dialing Kim's number.

"So, you'll never guess who crashed Karen's party," Kim said the instant that she picked up the phone.

"Um, Daniel?" It was the only logical name that Lindsay could think of.

"Um, Daniel, Ken, and Nick," Kim said.

Lindsay's news would have to wait. Lindsay wasn't sure which one of them Kim wanted to talk about but it seemed pressing. She took the safe route. "So, what did Daniel say?"

"Oh, that creep didn't say anything to me, and they didn't even stay long," Kim retorted, "But I talked to Ken and Nick for a minute while Karen was chewing Daniel out, since I couldn't stand to look at his pathetic face the whole time. Ken was telling me about the party he was having next weekend- not that I'm going, of course, because I don't want to see Daniel again- but then Nick asked about you. He told me to tell you that he was sorry for walking out of the store so quickly. He didn't say this, but I think he was just really bummed out when he found out how long you were grounded. But he said to say that he really enjoyed seeing you."

She really enjoyed seeing Nick, too. But she also just really enjoyed seeing Barry.

Kim interrupted her train of thought, adding, "And he wants you to call him sometime. You know, late at night, like you call me."

Now this was getting a little overwhelming. Lindsay wanted to call Nick, but she wanted to call Barry, too. She couldn't call them both.

Could she?