A Love Triangle Most Unusual (Season 1)

God Damn It, Dave

Just then, a pretty girl walked over and tapped Dean on the shoulder. He turned over and faced her.

"Does this look good?" the girl asked. She looked over at me and we made eye contact. She was very pretty. I looked back down at my feet and stuck a hand into my pocket, forgetting I was still holding a wet Clorox wipe in it.

"Oh hey," Dean smiled. "Nana, this is Dave. He's my girlfriend's best friend."

"Hey, nice to meet you," Nana reached out her hand as if she meant to shake mine, then changed her mind and waved awkwardly. "Sorry, you know, gotta be careful."

"Oh yeah, no worries," I told her. "I'm David, but you can call me Dave."

"Oh, okay. My name's actually Nanyamka, but everyone just uses Nana instead."

"Ohh I see. Is that...Ghanaian?" I asked.

"It is!" she said, and for a moment, she smiled warmly. I felt my face heat up a bit.

She's not...dating Dean, is she? There's no way he could break up with Marie and start dating someone new in the span of one week...right?

"So, uh...are you guys roommates?"

"Yes," Dean said excitedly. "We met in freshman year in Calc 124."

Oh. So he's known her longer than Marie. "Oh neat," I said, trying to play it cool. "Are you from around here, or?" I suddenly realized that probably sounded like a microaggression. "Or, I mean, I'm actually from Tumwater," I tried to explain, embarrassed. "I wasn't born around the Seattle area."

"Oh, yeah, I'm from Renton," Nana replied.

"Wait, really? Which high school did you go to?"

I knew next to nothing about Renton high schools. I wasn't even sure why I'd asked this question.

"My family moved to Bellevue, actually. I went to Bridgeport."

"Wow, no kidding! I always wanted to go to Bridgeport," I lied. "That's so cool."

Nana smiled politely. "Yeah, I guess so," she said. She then turned back to Dean. "Just got a call from Ella. She said she already bought some soap, so we should be good."

Ah, so they're also here for hand soap, I realized. Hey, so that means we have something in common, right?

"That's great," Dean replied. He then turned back to me. "Well, we're gonna checkout now, I think. But it was nice running into you! Hey, we're still on for Thanksgiving, right?"

I looked at Nana. I half wanted to ask if she would also be there. "Yeah, of course," I replied.

"Great! Well, see you around, Dave!" Dean waved, his smile aggressively friendly as always. I waved back and turned my back on them so I could check out the poultry aisle.

After that, it was just a matter of getting the paper towels, eggs, milk, fruit juice, coffee and other essentials that popped into my head as I browsed each section. By the time I checked out, I had filled three separate grocery bags full of necessities that had been accumulating but we had been just too lazy to replace.

"You gonna need a hand, young man?" the cashier, an older man with pepper-and-salt hair asked, watching me struggle to carry all three bags.

"No, I'm good," I replied, huffing and puffing as I stumbled towards the car. I was thankful that I did not decide to walk. Panting, I loaded the bags into the trunk.

As I drove back, I thought more about Dean and Nana. So he lives with two girls, huh? Pretty sure that's some kind of red flag. Or maybe a sign he really respects women. Dammit. Can't win against him.

"Whoa, what's all this?" Leo asked as he opened the door to me panting heavily after having carried all three bags upstairs in one trip.

"Paper towels, fruits, vegetables, household cleaner, etc..." I listed off each item, short of breath. Leo raised an eyebrow.

"Well, have you got any soap in that pile?"

I turned around

"Fuck!"

Leo sighed.

I'm gonna find some way to pin this on Dean, I swear, I grunted.

"Welp, I guess we'll just have to go without for another day," Leo shrugged. "My hands are already begging for mercy after washing them with Dawn."

"Please, Dawn's not that bad," I scoffed. "You'll survive."

"Hm. Not like you to forget something this important. Were you distracted by something? Exams, homework? Is there a new guy or girl in your life that I'm not aware of?"

I smirked. "What if it's both?"

"You ho," Leo reached out towards me and I laughed and dodged. He smiled. "Glad to see you smiling again." I stopped moving and he ruffled my hair hard.

"Wait...So, was the handsoap thing just a white lie to get me out of the house?"

"No, we really are out of soap," he replied, turning around and walking away.