Chapter 8

Lindsay crept back into her house as quietly as possible, being sure to lock the front door. Thankfully, nothing seemed amiss. She tiptoed back to her room -how stealthily she did it was anybody's guess as she'd had a couple of beers by that point- but when she reached her room and shut the door behind her she let out a big sigh of relief. Her pillow-girl was exactly as she'd left her; it hadn't been disturbed by her parents, so hopefully that meant that they were none the wiser.

Lindsay frowned as she sat on her bed. As excited as she had started out in anticipation of tonight, now she was just relieved that it was over. She just hoped that Daniel was sufficiently drunk enough to forget everything that she said to him. She was excited about her date with Nick, but it was still a week away, and the thought of him spending time with Daniel in the next six days was now slightly terrifying.

But she pushed the thought out of her mind. It wasn't that difficult. She had worked a ridiculous shift today and it was almost three; her nap this evening had done little to refresh her. Plus, she was still buzzed from the beer. She passed out cold within a few minutes.

The next day, as Lindsay usually felt on Sundays, she was antsy. At least on the weekdays, with class and work to keep her occupied, she didn't feel quite so grounded. But today, there was nowhere to go and nothing to do except think about what had happened last night. She slept in, of course, and she studied calculus for a while, but she'd done a better job of keeping ahead of things this week, so it didn't take her very long to finish her homework. She was allowed to watch TV with her parents. But by the time evening rolled around, Lindsay was chomping at the bit.

She was anxious over who to call, whether she should call anyone. She wondered if she should call Nick, try to explain to him what happened with Daniel. Or call Kim with the same objective in mind. It wouldn't be a big deal, she kept trying to assure herself, it was just a little crush, and it was forever ago. But somehow, the words didn't resonate. At the very least, Kim would want to know why Lindsay never told her. Both of those phone calls sounded too stressful to deal with at the moment.

So on a whim, Lindsay chose secret option #3. At the normal 11 pm time, when Lindsay was confident that her parents were not only in bed but fast asleep, she picked up the phone and called Barry. It had been a few days, after all, and he had told her in their last conversation to call again. Plus, talking to him actually sounded fun, not anxiety-provoking.

When he answered the phone (which was thankfully right away again), it was almost as though they were still at the tail end of their previous call- they jumped right into conversation without missing a beat. They talked and talked and talked, with Lindsay's side cramping from laughing so hard at Barry's jokes and once again having no concept of time as she sat there in the kitchen pantry in the dark. She even felt comfortable enough to tell Barry what happened last night, though she knowingly downplayed any romantic overtones between her and Nick.

"So wait, you're saying you actually stopped a guy that you used to like from making out with someone else, and then told him that you used to like him, all while he was drunk?" Barry asked her. "Yikes, that boy's a goner, Lindsay. You're definitely going to need to do some damage control if you don't want this Daniel guy following you around with puppy-dog eyes."

"But I told him that I don't like him anymore and that he should be dating my friend," Lindsay countered. "Doesn't that count for anything?"

"I'm afraid not," Barry replied, "Us guys only hear what we want to hear sometimes. As far as Daniel is concerned, you've had a huge crush on him forever, and you'd be willing to jeopardize any other relationship you've ever had to pursue it."

"Damn," Lindsay said. "Even though I haven't liked him in a long time?" she went on to explain to Barry about her and Daniel's cheating; their whole algebra disaster. She had pretty much written Daniel off as any type of romantic prospect at that point, regardless of his relationship with Kim.

"Yeah, even then," Barry said. He added, a little hastily, "Don't worry. You can always tell him that you're already taken. I'd be happy to help you create an elaborate ruse." He chuckled, but it was an anxious chuckle. "I'm kidding, kind of," he said a few moments later when she hadn't replied. She still wasn't sure how to respond.

An awkward silence ensued. There weren't many of those in the several hours that Lindsay had been on the phone with Barry in the last week. She loved talking to him, but up until that point had tried to avoid thinking about what it meant, though now she felt forced to confront it. Lindsay licked her lips and waited, heart accelerating. She had no idea what to say. Was he really joking just then? What did he want? What did she want?

"Um, Lindsay?" Barry said a few moments later, his tone rising about an octave at the end. He suddenly sounded nervous, and Lindsay's heart sped up even more. Why did he say her name like that?

"Yeah?" she whispered back silently. She didn't trust her voice.

"Remember how I said that I could stay on the phone with you all night? That I could talk to you forever?"

Lindsay remembered the words fondly from their last talk, but all the while her heart was sinking. All of a sudden she didn't like where this was going. At all. "Yeah," she whispered again, cautiously.

"Um- it's not exactly true."

For a second, Lindsay's heart dropped further, felt like it was stuck to the bottom of her shoe. Had Barry just decided that she was too wishy-washy with guys? Was he that put off by her helping Daniel on his algebra test? Was it a mistake, thinking that she could talk to him about last night? Did Barry not want to talk to her at all anymore? Lindsay felt like she couldn't breathe.

"I mean, it's not exactly enough," he clarified, and those few words were enough to send waves of relief coursing through Lindsay's body. "I mean, I- , I want to see you. I want to spend time with you, not just talk on the phone."

Lindsay thought about seeing Barry on the porch a week ago, his hand on her face, how wonderfully distracting it was. How excited she had been to see him.

"I want to see you, too," she whispered.

Barry laughed, a hearty laugh, and he sounded as relieved as she was. "Good. Sorry to make things all nerve-wracking between us for a minute there," he said. "I don't know, for some reason that was kind of hard for me to say. So can I see you sometime? Like right now?" he asked jokingly.

"Well," Lindsay replied, thinking fast, "It's hard, because I'm not allowed to go out at all, so I can really only sneak out of my parents' place. They go to bed at 10 every night, and they read in bed for a while, so I can't really leave until around 11. And with classes-"

"Oh, we don't have to go out on a night where you have class the next day," Barry quickly interrupted, "I don't have much going on this summer anymore. I'm doing some random yard work and landscaping for my dad's practice, but that's pretty much it- I'm free, so as you've already probably figured out, it's completely up to you. We could wait until you're finished with class for the week."

Lindsay debated. She didn't work on Wednesday this week- since her dad liked to schedule her on Fridays and Saturdays when business picked up, she sometimes had a weekday off. But with calculus in the morning, she wasn't sure going out on Tuesday would be the best idea. And of course, Saturday wouldn't work. That left Thursday and Friday. She worked long hours both Friday and Saturday, so she supposed it didn't really matter. "How about Friday?" Lindsay suggested. At least on Friday more stuff would be open later.

"Sounds perfect," Barry said happily. "Friday night it is. It will probably be easier for me to stay out late that night anyway. Not that I really have a curfew, but I'd rather not wake my dad up late if he's working the next day- assuming he comes home."

Lindsay had been wondering whether the incident with Neal had changed Dr. Schweiber's adulterous behavior. Apparently it hadn't. But Lindsay forced the thought out of her head. "Friday," she repeated. Grateful that Barry couldn't see her, because she could already feel herself starting to blush, she added, "Around eleven. You know where my bedroom is, right? Just tap on my window when you get here."

Barry's voice sounded a little strained as he replied. "Trust me, I know where it is, Lindsay. I'll see you on Friday. Can't wait." They said good-night and hung up the phone.

It took Lindsay a few seconds for the realization to sink in, but when it did, she almost laughed at its ridiculousness. I have two dates on two consecutive nights with two different guys, and all while I'm grounded. As she thought about it more and more, she began to wonder if accepting both dates was a mistake.

Lindsay Weir wasn't a slut. She didn't try to be a mean person, she wasn't a liar (except to her parents sometimes, but that didn't really count, most teenagers she knew lied to their parents, at least a little), and she considered herself a pretty good friend (except, perhaps, to Millie, but that was another story). She didn't think she was the type of person to not be upfront, tell the whole story. And she certainly wasn't the type of girl to double-book two dates for a single weekend.

But here was the problem: she didn't want to call either date off. She wanted to go out on a date with Nick. She wanted to go out on a date with Barry.

Of course, she realized that she was going to have to choose one of them eventually. Or who knows, maybe the choice would be made for her. What if Nick couldn't get over how she was towards him the last time they went out? Or went back to daily pot smoking? What if Barry decided that he would forget about her when he went back to school? Or turned into a cheater like his dad? The situation would resolve itself soon enough. Lindsay had no intentions of dragging out having two guys want to date her just for the sheer thrill of it. But at the same time- she liked both of them, in very different ways. And to dismiss either of them before she spent any time dating them seemed- well, foolish, in her opinion. She just had to figure out the right way to navigate it.

Since she was supposed to go out with Barry first, and she and Barry seemed like they could talk about anything, she vowed to find out a little more about his intentions. She also promised herself that she would tell him a little bit more about Nick. Barry deserved her honesty, and Nick deserved at least a mention, since he was on her mind, too. She had to figure out how to tell Nick about Barry on Saturday, but she decided to think about that later. Trying to think about it now would make her head explode.

Lindsay's mind wandered to the upcoming weekend all the next day- in the back of her calculus class, behind the register at A1. She rang up customers automatically, without paying any attention to them whatsoever. But midway through her shift, while her father was taking some returns to the back, Lindsay was suddenly snapped out of her daydreams.

Kim had burst into the store, ringing the bell in front almost violently, and was starting to descend on Lindsay.

"What the hell, Lindsay? WHAT THE HELL? Why the hell are you after my boyfriend?!"

The commotion had brought Mr. Weir back to the front of the store in a rush. Seeing that it was Kim, he gave Lindsay a dirty look, since having such a disruptive presence in the store clearly had to be her fault. Lindsay quickly tried to control the situation.

"Dad, can I take my break now? Kim's really upset and I'd like to be able to talk to her. Kim, can I talk to you outside? Just let me explain." She put her hand on Kim's shoulders and started to gently push her towards the door. Kim jerked her arm away to avoid Lindsay's touch.

Her dad looked from Kim to Lindsay, Lindsay to Kim. Kim had started crying. Mr. Weir had a suspicious look in his eyes, clearly wondering how Kim could have gotten so upset if Lindsay had been following all the rules of her grounding. But he didn't like to see Kim cry, either, Lindsay knew that much.

"Fifteen-minute break," he eventually conceded sternly. "And take your sandwich with you, because you'll have a lot to do when you get back."

Kim, who was crying too hard to continue screaming, slowly started walking towards the front door. As Lindsay rushed into the back to grab her early dinner, a feeling of dread filled the pit of her stomach. She might have just gained two dates for the weekend, but right now she felt perilously close to losing a friend.