The Girl With The Dice Necklace

Chapter 12- Giovanni's

 "What's this?" Amber perked up, snatching the note from hand and inspecting it.

"It's nothing." I said, pulling it back.

"It's a phone number." Amber's eyebrows went up with half skepticism and half approval. I sighed in response, wanting to drop the conversation.

     Amber and I were at Giovanni's, the neighborhood pizza place and usual hangout after school. We sat at our usual table by the window and waited for Ronnie to meet us. She had to stop home first before meeting us.

"So who's Pete?" Amber asked, swinging and turning the note around, struggling to read my writing.

"He's-- um, I don't really know yet." I told Amber, realizing how little I knew about him but how much more I wanted to know.

     Amber gave me a questioning look at my response.

"I've only met him...thrice now and all those times it was by accident." I answered, trying to prove it wasn't a big deal.

"When have you met him?"

"Well, that one time at the dance, and then he sav--" I was about to say he saved me from bullies until I realized how heroic and romantic that would sound. Maybe Amber was righ-- no, this wasn't romance! I barely knew him!

"He savvvv...?" Amber helped.

"He saw me when I was playing tag."

"That's still going on?! You haven't told anyone but me and Ronnie?!" Oh no...

     To my luck, Ronnie walked in to shop, carrying her beat up backpack and her iPod.

"Hey!" I greeted, "Long time no see." I joked, having seen Ronnie less than an hour ago at school. We greeted each other and I hoped maybe Amber wouldn't bring up our last conversation but she didn't forget and was persistent.

"So you've got this guy Pete--"

"R."

"What?"

"PeteR."

"Oh yeah, right-- Peter talked to you at the dance-- DURING THE SLOW SONG, he rescued you from bullies--"

"I prefer 'he helped me kick ass'..." I corrected and shared a laugh with Ronnie; Amber however was too caught up in trying to convince me Peter was some prince charming.

"AND you met him a third time and got his number! That's not just him being friendly and nice! That's not just coincidence!"

"Amber, I know you want me to have a boyfriend and you want me to be happy but I can't handle anyone else in my life and I can't handle the embarrassment of a boyfriend. I can't rush anything either. I barely even know him." I said calmly, pulling out math homework and a pencil.

      Amber sighed and pulled out her homework as well. It was quiet for a bit until Ronnie asked me about Peter. Normally, I would've exploded in anger that she would want me to talk about a boy she and Amber thought liked me, but I sort of didn't mind talking about Peter, nor did I want to put up with any persistent pestering.

"What do you mean?"

"Well just like, what's he like? What's he look like or what sorta things does he like?"

"Oh, well I don't know him that well but I know he's tall, with dark brown hair. And he's a junior to Clearview. And he likes the same music as you and me. And I guess he works at that wicked music store over there."

     To this Ronnie gaped, she loved that music store. And now she and Amber would probably go there and check out Peter and decide he needs to be my boyfriend or something crazy like that. Great, my friends were gonna be my embarrassment this time.

     After a while the conversation moved onto stuff about school and then to other things like plans for the weekend and then wonders of what would be for dinner from Ronnie. We finished most of our homework at Giovanni's so I didn't have to do any at home. Amber, Ronnie, and I said our end greetings and walked home in the brisk evening air of November