“Oh ummm, yeah, I guess she just figures, um that, yeah whatever. She’s totally embarrassing.”
“Guess we’re even on embarrassing moms, right?” Sean asks, then continues, “Well, the reason my mom said that stuff about Prom was because, well …”
My phone interrupts. Kallie’s ringtone. My heart jumps. The fire engine ringtone gets louder as I rummage for my phone. Ridiculous. My purse is big but not that big. I look like a moron, not being able to find a loud blaring vibrating phone. Sean’s half smiling with his eyebrows raised. My phone stops singing the exact second I pull it out of my purse.
“Got it!”
One Missed Call
KALLIE VATE.
“Missed it,” I say. “I’ll call her later.”
“It’s okay,” Sean says. “I don’t care if you want to call her back now. Go ahead.”
“I don’t know. I kind of need to—want to—well, it’d be best if I heard what she has to say first.”
Sean’s mouth crinkles. “That makes sense. But not.”
The urge to get his opinion on the whole Kallie stuff overrides my whole “wait until you tell Kallie first” plan. “I’m going to tell you something but you can’t tell anyone, okay?”
Sean’s mouth stays crinkled. “Um, okay.”
“Do you want something to drink first?” I ask.
“Sure.”
“Well,” I say rummaging through the fridge, “I got Diet Coke, organic green tea, almond milk, or OJ? Or water?”
“Coke is fine.”
I grab two Cokes and give him the whole story of Todd and Jane, omitting the visual of my ear suctioned to the wall for every detail. I let him know that Todd trying to call me was most likely him trying to save his ass.
Sean pauses for a minute. “Interesting, and kind of gross. I guess that’s why Todd called me asking if we wanted to hang with him and Kallie tonight. I didn’t think Todd was like that. And Jane. I knew she was obnoxious and had some issues, but not like that. If any of the guys were ever messing with my girlfriend … shit. Molly would go crazy if she found out.”
“Molly?” I ask. “That’s nothing. Kallie’s gonna snap. If it weren’t for Molly still being so hung up on Todd, Jane would’ve told everyone. She’d love to throw that in Kal’s face. Jane was so pissed that night—from the sounds of it, Todd’s been sort of leading her on. So, yeah, you’re right. Gross.”
Sean and I try to come up with a crazy scheme to have it all come out without me having to be the bad news bearer. We come up with a couple of ideas that, when examined further, would never work unless we were in a movie. Like, what if we send an anonymous note to Kallie and Molly. Or somehow get Jane, Molly, and Kallie into an elevator together; lock them in, until Jane tells everything. After realizing that I’m pretty much forced to tell Kallie, we decide to watch a movie. As we look through the shelved movies, I punch Sean lightly in the shoulder.
“Thanks for trying to help me out with the Kallie drama. Sorry you’re kinda in the middle with your friends.”
“No worries,” Sean laughs. “It’s my fault. I was the one who wanted to go to that party. But I guess that’s the way it is. Sometimes you go to a Belmont High party and it’s fun and sometimes you go and find out that the idiots you hang out with are actual idiots. And then they puke on you.”
We decide on an old movie, Stand By Me, when Sean says he’s never seen it. We sit on the couch leaving enough space for two people to sit in-between us. As the movie starts I alternate between ideas on how to scoot closer to Sean and ideas on how to talk to Kallie. After laughing at a few of the spots where I usually laugh (I’ve seen this movie about fourteen times) I ask Sean if he wants popcorn. I’m sure we’d have to sit closer if we’re sharing a bowl of popcorn.
“No, that’s okay. I’m fine, unless you want some.”
“No, it’s fine. I just didn’t want to be a crappy movie host.” My shoulders slump in defeat as I pull my legs up on the couch to cross them. Might as well get comfortable. Way over here. My lips twitch as I force myself not to frown.
“Total change of subject here,” Sean says, “but what kind of cat do you have?”
“Cat?” I ask. “I don’t have a—ohhhh yeah, that cat. Yeah, ummm …”
“––Because I’m allergic to cats but my eyes aren’t itchy or anything. I just realized that I’m not sneezing either.”
The only lies I can come up with would be that my cat died and we had the carpets deep cleaned or I have one of those scary looking hairless cats. I run my palms, already sweating, along the sides of my jeans.
“Well,” I start, “actually, maybe you’ll find this funny.” I meet his eyes for a second before taking special interest in the seam of the pillow I’ve stuffed into my lap. “I don’t even have a cat. I was trying to leave a … I wanted to change my message and can we just say that I’m horrible with leaving voicemails?” Clamping my mouth shut, I lift my head for his reaction.
He laughs. “Sure. I should confess something too. If I do we’ll call it even?” He thrusts his hand forward for a handshake.