Chapter 5

Lindsay didn't pick up the phone for another couple of days. First of all, after taking her first calculus exam that next morning, she left the classroom with a renewed determination and focus on the course. She didn't bomb the exam; she was guessing she scored somewhere in the 'B' range. But Lindsay Weir was not used to getting Bs- she needed to do better than that. And thinking about it realistically, she probably put significantly more work in the first part of the course than she did in the last week, so she couldn't continue to put in the same level of effort without her grade plummeting. She needed a few days to ignore the boys, get her head on straight, and get ahead of (or at least caught up on) her homework.

But the other reason was that she just couldn't figure out who she wanted to call first. It didn't take her long to realize that she wanted to talk to them both eventually, but for some reason this first phone call felt really pivotal. On Wednesday night, she stared at the rotary on the family phone, trying to will herself to dial a number, either number- she knew them both by heart. She'd learned Nick's from when they were dating, of course, but she'd also called the Schweiber's house enough times over the years trying to track Sam down at Neal's (and maybe hoping to catch Barry on the phone) to commit Barry's number to memory, too.

Coin flip? Eenie-meenie-miney-moe? Lindsay stared at the receiver and debated using something arbitrary to decide, but not wanting to hinge this first phone call on something so random, instead hung up the phone in frustration and went to bed. She'd wait until class was over for the week to decide.

On one hand, Barry was the one that had asked her directly (and pleadingly) to call him- Nick had passed along the message secondhand, quite after-the-fact, so perhaps it wasn't as important to him. On the other hand, Lindsay couldn't help but think past the next two months or so, until when she was finally 'ungrounded' and starting her senior year. It was no secret that Barry would be heading back to U of W by then, and that he'd be attending the school for the next two years. It's not exactly as though Wisconsin was a hop, skip, and a jump away- it was more like a half a day's drive- at least. What was Barry was looking for exactly- just someone to mess around with for the summer? Lindsay wasn't sure how she felt about that. She didn't quite know what the future held for Nick- she doubted Nick knew either- but she did know that as long as he wasn't sent away with the army, he would most likely stay in Chippewa, be around. And if he was going into the army, Lindsay likely would have found out by now.

What ended up being the deciding factor was the simple fact that Barry had asked for her number first. It was as good a reason as any.

On Thursday night, Lindsay decided that she would call Barry as early as she could, and see how the conversation went. She would either call Nick later that night, or the next night. One of the things that she quickly realized was in her favor was the amount of control she had in this whole process. Working a lot and not being able to take phone calls completely eliminated the notion that she should sit around and wait for them. So she could do as she wished and the guys would just have to deal with it. It was empowering.

Lindsay dialed Barry's number apprehensively- her parents had taken a little longer to go to sleep than usual, so it was just after 11:30, and the Schweibers were pretty typical with schoolwork / bedtimes, etc. so she worried that Barry's parents would not be happy with a phone call so late. But Barry answered the phone on the second ring, and Lindsay was relieved that Barry had prevented her from being too much of a disruption.

"Hello?" he asked, sounding a little out-of-breath.

Maybe she was crazy, but she thought she could detect a hopeful tone in his voice. "Hi, Barry," Lindsay said, a little nervously. She hadn't exactly planned what she wanted to say to him.

As it turns out, she didn't have to. Barry seemed really excited to hear from her and the conversation flowed easily. They talked about everything- her calculus class, his previous year in Madison, his dropped internship, her grounding, the time she spend on the road with the Dead, Sam, Neal, and other random topics, like politics and the attack on the Pope. Barry was easy to talk to- he always had been; that was one of the things that Lindsay liked most about him. She recalled telling Barry at the Schweiber party that she didn't have any friends that challenged her- but he did. He listened well and was receptive to everything she said, but wasn't afraid to give her his opinion, either, and over the years they had had some pretty heated debates (which Lindsay thought was really hot, actually).

She couldn't help but think while they were talking how she wished Barry would have just made his move sooner- asked her out before he left for college. If they had already been dating for a while, it might have made this situation a whole lot less complicated. They would have been together, and either chosen to stay together while he was in Madison, or broken up and been done with it.

But instead- what was this exactly? Why did he have to wait until last year's Schweiber party to kiss her? She'd had a bit of a crush on him since elementary school. Though she had to admit that college had made him all the more attractive.

"Lindsay?" Her name on Barry's lips instantly pulled her out of her reverie. She frantically tried to remember what they had just been talking about, whether or not she had missed anything crucial.

"Um, yeah?" All of a sudden her heartbeat had risen and her palms were sweaty. She had no idea what he was going to say to her.

"What time did you say you had class?" She hadn't, and Barry knew it. She wondered where he was going with this.

"Um, I didn't. It's at 11. But I don't have class on Fridays. Of course, my dad loves this and uses the opportunity to have me work an extra-long shift, 10-close. Why?" she wondered if Barry was subtly trying to kick her off the phone. She wiped her sweaty palm on her pajama pants, still curled up on the floor of the kitchen pantry in the dark. She switched the receiver to her other hand, then repeated.

Barry laughed. "Do you have any idea what time it is? I'll talk to you forever, but I don't want you to be exhausted for your shift."

Lindsay had no idea, she only knew that her butt had fallen asleep, more than once. "One?" she guessed.

Barry laughed again. "More like three-thirty."

"What?" she exclaimed, and for a second was worried that she had spoken too loudly. They had been on the phone for four hours? Wow. It literally felt like no time had gone by.

"I'm guessing by that tone you should probably get going," Barry said, laughing. "Too bad- I could stay on the phone with you all night. I guess that's the advantage of me being a lazy bum over the summer."

"Not your fault," Lindsay interjected.

"Yeah, well," he continued. He lowered his voice a little. "Listen, I'm so glad you called. Tonight was a blast. Call me anytime you want to talk again. But I don't want to be the reason you fail calculus or get in trouble, either, just so you know."

She laughed. "Haha, dually noted. I'll call you soon. Good-night."

"Goodnight, Lindsay."

Lindsay loved the way that Barry said her name. She hung up the phone on Cloud 9. What a perfect first conversation, she thought, as she drifted off to sleep minutes later.

It wasn't until the next day at work that it occurred to her that she hadn't called Nick (not that she would have called him at 3:30 in the morning, of course). But it took her a little bit of time to care. She could not stop thinking about her conversation with Barry the previous night, how well it went. She thought about it as she was stocking inventory that morning and during her lunch break and ringing up customers that afternoon and sweeping the floor that evening.

After she got home that night and eaten a late dinner, after she had gotten her stuff ready for work the next day, after she had killed another hour reading, when it was getting to be time to decide whether to call Nick or just go to sleep, she once again thought of Nick coming into the store, how good he looked and how well their conversation seemed to go, and decided it wouldn't be fair not to call him. If she didn't call him, if she spoke with Barry again, then she knew she wouldn't make the effort to talk to Nick at all, not unless he somehow reached out. So before she could second-guess herself, Lindsay crept to the kitchen, picked up the phone, and dialed his number.

The phone rang, and it rang, and it rang again. Lindsay began to panic. It was 10:45. Should she hang up?! Let it keep ringing? Lindsay wasn't sure.

Before she had time to decide, a sleepy-sounding male voice picked up the phone. "Hello?" it said groggily.

It definitely didn't sound like Nick. It must have been his dad.

Lindsay immediately switched modes. "Colonel Andopolis, this is Lindsay. I'm so sorry for calling so late," she said politely. "I was just wondering if Nick happened to be home; I was hoping to talk to him."

All she could hear was breathing for a few seconds. "Uhhh, I think he's out with his friends, Lindsay," Nick's dad replied. He sounded utterly disoriented, not at all like his usual rigid self. She must have woken him up from a pretty sound sleep. "I can take a message; have him call you."

"No!" Lindsay exclaimed. "Um, I'm sorry, that won't be necessary, please don't bother," she corrected herself. "I can talk to him some other time. Thanks again, Colonel Andopolis. So sorry to wake you." She heard some mumbling but no coherent reply as she slowly hung up the phone.

Lindsay wasn't able to surmise much from the few words that she exchanged with Nick's dad, but there was something that got her thinking. Nick's dad didn't seem even remotely upset that Nick was out with his friends late on a Friday night. That might have been the norm for a long time, but that was before the drum set incident that caused Nick to move out for a while. Their relationship must have improved pretty dramatically for that not to bother him, given how strained things had been (either that, or Colonel Andopolis was too tired to realize that he should have been mad). Lindsay wondered if maybe Sara had somehow managed to get Nick to bring up his grades towards the end of the semester, which could explain it. Maybe that was also why Lindsay had not heard of Nick having imminent plans to leave for the army.

On Saturday, Lindsay worked another long shift. She wanted to daydream more about Barry, or wonder more about Nick, but unfortunately it was just too busy in the store. Her dad had cut employee hours to save money, and for some reason it seemed like everyone and their brother were out shopping today; she didn't get a break from ringing at the register (which put her father in an unusually good mood). Exhausted at the end of the day, and having ignored thus far another huge problem set she had been assigned to tackle over the weekend, Lindsay went straight to her room after she got back from work. She worked on her problems for an hour or two, but realized she wasn't getting a lot done because she was too tired, so she gave it up and lay down on her bed.

She wondered if Colonel Andopolis had told Nick she called, whether she should call Nick back tonight- looking at the clock, a safe time would still be an hour or two away. She wondered what they would say when they did talk on the phone- Nick wasn't the best phone conversationalist (unless he was high, of course, but those days appeared to be over)- so she was a little nervous about getting him on the line. Exhausted anyway, she decided to take a little nap. If she woke up in time to call Nick, then she would.

All of a sudden, Lindsay was roused from sleep by a sporadic rapping sound at her window. It sounded eerily familiar, and as it continued, Lindsay was struck with a feeling that she knew what it was. Sleepily opening an eye, Lindsay rose to her feet and fumbled through her room until she reached her curtains, which she always kept closed now. When she pulled the curtains away, sure enough, she was staring at Nick Andopolis's face.

Unlike the last time he did this, Lindsay had to smile. Nick had always been more of a face-to-face kind of guy.