Chapter 13

"Just WHAT are you doing, young lady?" Lindsay's mom bellowed.

"Oh, um, nothing," Lindsay mumbled. On the other end of the line, Kim was being her usual direct self.

"Whoa, you just got busted, didn't you?" she asked bluntly. Lindsay could barely hear her however as her mom had already started in on her tirade.

"Your father and I were wondering why you were so exhausted on Sunday," her mom began. "This is it, isn't it? This is why?" She asked accusingly, snatching the receiver from Lindsay's grasp.

Before Lindsay could answer, her mom got on the phone and told Kim in no uncertain terms not to expect any late-night phone calls from Lindsay for the rest of the summer. Then she turned and slammed the receiver onto the base of the phone to end the call. Lindsay could hear the vague buzz of the dial tone as her mom picked the receiver back up.

Lindsay quickly realized that she needed to give an answer, and while things were bad, she knew that they could have been much worse. Yes, she was busted, but she got busted talking on the phone with a girl, not sneaking out with or coming home with a boy. So maybe she should cop a plea, plead guilty to a lesser charge.

"Um, yeah, that's it," Lindsay lied, staring at the floor. She felt awful for lying, but surely not as awful as she would feel if she told the truth. Actually, mom, I was exhausted because I went out on two dates in the middle of the night this past weekend. Oh, and I kissed both of them…

Lindsay's mom sighed audibly. "I just don't know what we're going to do with you, young lady," her mom said, again with the 'young lady' part. "I do know this though," and with her words she spun around to grab the phone cord towards the phone's base. "This," she emphasized, as she expertly detached the cord from the rest of the phone, "is coming to bed with me every night." And with that, Lindsay's mom took the phone receiver back with her down the hallway.

Her mom's last move shocked Lindsay more than anything, who still sat there on the pantry floor. Well, she definitely wouldn't be able to make calls from home now. This was the only phone they had in the house.

In some weird way, though, she felt a little bit relieved. The decision between Nick and Barry was out of her hands, quite literally- at least to a degree. It would be up to them now. Being grounded to this level now provided an obstacle to date Lindsay that would test the guys' resilience and perseverance. Fate would decide. If she was too much of a pain in the ass to get a hold of, and one of them gave up, then it had to be a sign that she was supposed to be with the other one anyway.

That said, she had to find a way to let them both know somehow what had happened- she didn't want either of them to think that she wasn't interested. She just had to think of a safe way to reach out.

The idea came to her the next day, in calculus class.

Her teacher had begun the next unit and had assigned the whole class a set of definite integrals to work on. Since they had reached a good stopping point with the lecture, her professor had given them the last few minutes to get started with their assignment in class. A quick glance at the wall clock told Lindsay that her mom would be there to pick her up soon, but she knew exactly where the pay phones were in the lobby of the math building, and she had change in her purse. She quickly raised her hand and asked to be excused a little early to go to the bathroom.

When the teacher let her go, Lindsay raced to the pay phone and dug two dimes out of her wallet. She dialed the Schweiber's number first. It rang and rang and rang. No one was picking up. She figured that Barry and Dr. Schweiber wouldn't be home, but she was hoping to at least get a hold of Neal to give Barry a message. Crap. She'd have to get in touch with Barry another way. At least when she hung up the phone, the change slot spit her money back out at her.

Well, the good news was that she probably wouldn't have had time to talk to them both anyway. Her mom would be here any minute- she was never late to pick up Lindsay from calculus. Lindsay thought it was because her mom didn't want her "loitering"- but her mom had it all wrong, really. This was no big University like the one Barry attended, but even coming here made her want to experience college for real. Her mom should want to encourage that as much as possible.

She dialed Nick next. It also rang, and rang, and rang.

But just as Lindsay was about to give up and hang up the phone, she could faintly hear the voice of Nick Andopolis as he picked up and cheerfully said, "Hello?"

"Nick?"

"Lindsay," he replied. "I was hoping you'd call. How are you doing?"

Nick sounded like he was ready for a lengthy chat- she wondered what time he worked today. She had to cut him off before he got the wrong idea. She checked her watch. Any minute.

"Not so well. Listen, Nick, I got busted on the phone last night talking to Kim. My mom's going to take the phone to bed with her every night for the rest of the summer. I'm calling you from the community college- but my mom's going to be here to get me in a sec. I just wanted to say that, um, I wish that I could call you- but I probably won't be able to for a while. But I had a really good time on our date." She did, too. Lindsay closed her eyes for a second, thinking about basketball and the sunrise on the lake and her kiss with Nick.

"Can we go out again?" Nick immediately asked.

"Yeah, um, sure," Lindsay replied. "When were you thinking?" Not that it really mattered. With her being grounded, there was really no "good" time. And yet, she wanted to see him again, so she would figure it out.

"How about tomorrow?" he said. "I can't wait to see you."

Lindsay hesitated. She wanted to, and she had off tomorrow, so she could rest up before their date. But it was such a slippery slope. Once her class was over, she'd have a few weeks at the end of the summer to bum around, see as much of Nick and Barry as she could get away with. Until then, however, going out on nights when she had class the next day would get her on the fast track to a lower grade. She knew she should say no. But her heart was racing at the thought of seeing Nick again so soon, picking up where their last date left off.

Her hesitation lasted so long that she could see students beginning to file into the lobby. One she recognized from calculus – their class was over. Her mom had probably already pulled up to the other side of the building. She needed to get outside. Now, before her mom came in to find her on the phone. "Ummm…." Lindsay said, knowing that she couldn't afford to stall but at the same time not wanting to have to make this kind of decision on the spot. Could she really wait until Saturday to see Nick again? It was only Tuesday.

But thankfully, Nick picked up on her indecision.

"Hey, it's no rush, I know you're busy. Will you be too tired to go out on Saturday again?" Nick asked her gently.

Lindsay didn't hesitate this time- she said yes. It's what she should do if she wanted a decent calculus grade anyway. Truthfully, it didn't matter to her if she ended up being exhausted. She only vowed that she would get enough sleep beforehand so that she wouldn't accidentally be so late again. They quickly said their goodbyes and hung up.

By the time Lindsay walked out the other side of the math building, her mother was starting to get out of the car.

"Oh, no need to get out, mom, I just wanted to ask Professor Shearer a question," Lindsay lied smoothly, opening the passenger door to swing her bookbag towards the floor and climb in, "I'm here now."

That night passed uneventfully at work, but when Lindsay came home, she fretted about the fact that she hadn't called Barry yet; surely he would be wondering why she hadn't reached out to him after their amazing date. She debated actually sending him a letter by mail, but realized that by the time he received it, it would probably be too late for them to set something up for the weekend. If only there was a way that she could send him a message that he could get right away! Without the phone she felt paralyzed.

But Lindsay fell asleep a short time later; she had managed to come up with the next best thing.

It was a good thing she had spoken to Sam just a few days ago, because when she barged into his room the next day, he didn't seem remotely surprised.

"Sam, are you going to Neal's tonight?" she asked him. No small talk this time.

Sam shrugged. "Yeah, probably. Why?"

Lindsay handed Sam a folded sheet of paper. "Give this to Barry, would you? Or give it to Neal to give to Barry," she whispered, lowering her voice in case her mom was nearby. Her dad was still at work.

Sam took the sheet, but after a minute of hesitation, he nodded. "All right, I guess. But you owe me," he added.

Lindsay nodded. "I know. Thank you." She didn't have to explain any more to him. Sam was all right.

All evening, Lindsay wondered if Barry had gotten her note, whether Sam and/or Neal had read it, whether it had been intercepted by the Schweiber parents. There wasn't much on it- she basically said the same thing she told Nick on the phone- but it still had the potential to get both of them into trouble. And unfortunately, Barry couldn't call her. Briefly, she wondered if he might actually tap on her window tonight, but quickly dismissed it.

The next day, Thursday, Lindsay continued to think about whether Barry had received the note that she wrote. If he hadn't, she worried it was going to be hard to see him tomorrow night, which she had sort of etched out in her mind as the time that they would spend together based on their date from last week. As she was ringing up customers, she also worried that perhaps he had received her letter and had already dismissed it as juvenile. Surely another girl, like one in college, could think of a better way to get in touch with him than passing notes.

But she wasn't worrying long when her fears seemed to be laid to rest- Barry strolled into A1 with a huge grin on his face. Since her dad was inventorying baseball bats not five feet from them, Lindsay had no idea how to react. She smiled awkwardly.

"Hi, Lindsay. Hello, Mr. Weir," Barry said brightly. "How's it going?"

"Okay, Barry," Lindsay's dad said, cheerfully enough. This time, however, Mr. Weir made absolutely no move to go into the back, or to otherwise leave them alone.

"Can, I, um, help you find anything?" Lindsay asked him after an uncomfortable silence. Despite his pleasant demeanor, Lindsay's mind was racing. What was he doing here? This was good news, right? Right?

"Um, yeah, actually. I was hoping to get some ping-pong balls. My roommate Jake asked me to pick some up before school- he's in a fraternity. They have ping-pong tables at his frat house."

Lindsay suppressed a laugh. You mean beer-pong balls, Barry. Thankfully, her father didn't react, indicating he was still completely clueless about the distinction.

Lindsay escorted Barry to the nearby wall where they kept the few table tennis items displayed. Lindsay noticed that her father had moved so that he was waiting to ring Barry up, preventing her from being able to have any extended conversation with Barry at the cash register. How was she going to talk to him? Her dad was watching their every move.

As Barry selected a package of ping-pong balls and made a move like he was about to step towards the register, he gave Lindsay a look that she interpreted as goodbye. Lindsay began to panic. She wanted to see him, and to tell him that she wanted to see him, and to ask him if he got her note. How were they going to ditch her father and spend a few precious seconds alone? Lindsay briefly flirted with the idea of pretending to slip and hurt her ankle. Maybe her dad would be distracted calling someone, like the hospital or an ambulance. And she and Barry would have a little bit of time to exchange some necessary information about their second date.

But before Barry walked away, he leaned in to give her a quick hug. It was similar to the one he gave her when they talked on her front porch with her dad there. Lindsay was facing her dad and caught a glimpse of him as Barry had leaned in; her dad looked wary but not necessarily angry. Lindsay expected Barry to whisper in her ear, but he never got quite close enough. What she did not expect, however, was for him to move one of his hands a little further south than he had in their previous embraces, and hover it there for just a moment before releasing Lindsay and pulling away.

Did he just touch my butt?

As Lindsay watched Barry approach the register, confusion and panic overtook her. This interaction wasn't enough! It was bad enough that she couldn't go out on a date with him at a normal time, and now she couldn't talk to him on the phone. But now she couldn't even talk to him for a minute at work? This was so unfair.

As Barry paid for the ping-pong balls and turned around to call out and wave his goodbye to Lindsay, she couldn't understand why he still had a slight smile on his lips.

It wasn't until later that night, after she had gotten home from work and was changing out of her work clothes, that she found the note in the back pocket of her work pants.

Dear Lindsay,

I can't tell you how bright a smile I had on my face when Sam handed me your note. Thank you for making the effort to reach out. I'm only sorry that we can't talk on the phone anymore! Hopefully, we will be able to talk in-person instead. Speaking of which, I can't wait to take you out again. Would tomorrow be all right? I'm asking since last Friday seemed to work out- really, really, really well I might add. Same time? If not, just send another note with Sam. Or when I tap on your window, yell at me to go away.

Did I mention I can't wait to see you?

Barry

Lindsay smiled and cringed at the same time. Uh-oh. Round two of two dates with two different guys in two days was on. Lindsay was only digging herself in deeper, and at some point she knew that she wouldn't be able to claw her way out.