What Do I Deserve?

8

  "So," he starts as we walk towards his car, "how have you been?"

  "Wonderful!" I lie. "Absolutely amazing." Bigger lie. "Couldn't be better." Worst lie of all. 

 My lies sound so fake that I know he doesn't believe me, even without me looking up at him. I keep my head down towards the ground and my heels, praying I can keep it together until he drops me off. 

  "Tell me about it then."

  "Well, dad is retiring this year. I'd be happy for him but I personally think he's going to be bored within the first three months. Mom has taken up a pottery class which I'm sure you already know since your mom is in the same class with her. Millie is getting married, which again, you already know,"  I rattle off. Well aware that not a single bit of that information included anything about myself.

  Chris reaches for my arm, stopping his steps as he turns me towards him. "I didn't ask about your parents or your sister. If you hadn't noticed I spent quite a bit of time catching up with them tonight." He dips his head down a little, trying to catch my eyes with his own. "Now, I want to catch up with you. So, again Ophelia, what have you been up to?"

  'Getting beaten by a man that claims to love me,' I think to myself.

*Flashback

    "How'd your early morning tutoring session go with Ophelia?" Chris asks his friend as they sit in their Pre Calculus class. 

  Jon looks back at him as though he's grown three heads. "Who?"

  "Oh, right," Chris mutters to himself. "Constance, I mean." He starts to explain that Ophelia is her middle name but stops himself, wanting to keep that secret for his own until she chooses to share it. 

  "It was fine. I'm still gonna fail the test though."

  "Quite a load of confidence you've got in either her or yourself," Chris mentions. His friend laughs as Chris chews the inside corner of his mouth, debating on asking what's actually been on his mind. Screw it. "Did you ask her to the dance tomorrow night?"

  Jon drops his pencil onto his book, resting his head in his hands. "Yep."

  "And?"  Chris really begins to believe she turned him down like she said he would.

  Jon cocks his head to the side, a smug grin prominent. "She said yes."

  The admittance takes Chris back. He does his best to hide it, putting on a stage face and congratulates Jon on scoring the date. "Good deal. I'm sure you'll have a great time."

  "Put in a good word for me?"

  Chris bites his tongue, hard and gives a nod of assurance as he gets back to work on his math. His brain however is no where near the problem in front of him, but on the fact that she'd told him she wasn't even going to go. What changed her mind?

  I sit in the back corner of the auditorium, waiting for Chris so that we can practice our lines again before the auditions this evening. I hadn't really heard of the play before, and even now only have an excerpt from the full script. But I do know Thornton Wilder is an incredible author. 

  While I could kick his teeth in for signing me up, I know Chris is really just trying to help me feel more involved, giving me that Senior year that I thought I'd have surrounded by my friends back home. Truly it's sweet of him to take me under his wing I suppose, but I don't want him to feel obligated.