My Partner In Crime

Chapter 7

(From today (It is June 29, but I don't think the day quite counts because it's only 12:49 AM) until Friday updates will be less frequent. I have church camp until Wednesday, which starts in the morning and ends at midnight each day (I'm a hyperactive insomniac, I think I'm doing fine), and then I have a flight from Phoenix to Atlanta on Thursday.)

The next morning, I woke up, got dressed, and headed down to the diner. I expected Dodge to be inside like he usually was, but instead, he was outside washing paint off of the diner windows.

"Is this that invitation?" Dodge asked without turning to look at me.

"Yeah." I nodded, picking up the other washcloth.

"They could have chosen a simpler way." He said. 

"It's more exciting this way," I pointed out. 

"Exciting?" He glanced at me.

"I mean, which is more enticing? This, or some letter on your doorstep that reads 'Sir Andrew Dodge Mason, you are cordially invited—"

"Okay, I get it." He smiled. He then handed me the his other earbud, which was previously dangling from his pocket. The other was in his ear. I put it in and we scrubbed the paint off of the windows together. We finished after awhile and went inside. 

"Your brother seems cool." He said, handing me a glass of water and sitting across from me with his own glass.

"He's not." I laughed. "Jesse's an idiot." 

"Aren't all little brothers?" Dodge asked.

I waited a moment before speaking again. "Why did you tell me about the game?"

"You seemed so blindly reckless that you would make a good partner." Dodge shrugged.

"Reckless?!" I gaped, grinning.

"Not reckless, per se." He shook his head. "Stupidly brave?"

"Stupidly brave." I laughed. "Why's that?"

"You walked in and started telling me about your financial problems." He reminded me pointedly. "Who starts telling a total stranger about their money issues?"

"Me, apparently." I smiled. "But that worked out."

"Yep." He nodded. "So far, your blind recklessness has paid off. I only had to punch Ray once."

"Give it time, you'll probably have to do it again." I grinned.

"Oh, by the way, I saw him this morning and he looked gnarly." Dodge told me, beaming. He then turned his face and pointed at his jaw, right where I had hit Ray. "Right here was purple."

"No way." I said, a wide smile across my face.

"Yes way." He nodded excitedly. "You'll probably see him at the party tonight."

"Yeah, and when I do, I'll take that laser pointer and shove it up his—" I started, being jokingly violent.

"Nose." Dodge cut me off, visibly stifling a grin. "You'd shove it up his nose, right?"

"Yes. That is, in fact, what I was going to say." I said, smiling. There was some quiet for half an instant before I started talking again. "You don't have friends either, do you?"

"I have a friend." He shrugged. "Non-plural."

"Who?" I had never seen him with anyone. 

"Who do you think?" Dodge looked up at me with an eyebrow raised, though in a light manner.

"Oh. Me?" 

"Obviously." He said with the smallest smile on his face. "Of course, I have friends, but none of them would agree to play as fast as you did."

"Well, like you said, I'm blindly reckless." I shrugged, grinning. He slipped a grin and turned his head away. 

"I am never gonna live that down, huh?" He asked, the corners of his eyes crinkly with a smile.

"Oh, absolutely not." I shook my head.

"What's the dress-code for the party, do you know?" He asked, drying clean glasses.

"Semi-formal." I said. "I'm just going to wear a a nice shirt and shorts."

"Got it," he nodded, probably mulling around his options.

"Do you own any color?" I asked, changing the subject yet again.

"Black's a color." He said.

"Bet me." I grinned challengingly, holding my hand out for him to shake if he did want to bet. 

"Dude, on what?" He gaped.

"You said that black's a color." I said without having broken eye-contact with him. His smile dropped and he seemed to be considering his situation.

"Yeah, it is." He said after a moment.

"Let's bet on it." I said again. 

"No." He shook his head, breaking the incredibly drawn out eye-contact. "Absolutely not."

"Why?" I asked, grinning.

"You're too sure of yourself." He shook his head again.

"Black is the absence of color." I informed him.

"There you go." He said.

Later, I changed into a pair of black shorts and a tied red T-Shirt. I had an actually swim-suit underneath since I knew that the "venue" had a pool. I texted Dodge a heads-up about it so he'd be aware. I braided my hair just so it would be out of my face. Dodge came by within an hour of me being ready to go. Neither my dad nor my brother were home (Dad was at work and Jesse was out with his friends), so I didn't have to worry about any sort of awkward interaction between Dodge and one of them.

"Hey," he said after I opened my door. We walked together back down to his car and got in. "We're going to have to stop by my place before the party."

"Sweet." I nodded. "You forget something?"

"Yeah." He said, pulling out of my driveway.