The Entirely Fabricated Story of Lizzie Nickerson

Chapter 63

Sitting across the table from him, Lizzie watched Scooter dip his Tater Tots into a small container of barbecue sauce in between bites of his cheeseburger. He ate like a guy who had been locked in a vault for a month.

"You don't like your Tots?" he asked, his cheek bulging with burger.

"Yeah." She took a small bite. "I like them."

"You gotta dip 'em," he said, offering his sauce.

"I like mine plain," she said. She wasn't accustomed to deep-fried foods but admittedly the texture of the Tot was appealing. Like so many things in life, when people kept building them up and building them up they couldn't possibly live up to all the hype. And that's how it was with Tater Tots. Not bad but not the best things in the world.

She had another nibble and smiled at him.

A loud conversation at the counter drew her attention. A red-cheeked girl at the register refused eye contact with a skinny tattooed guy with a head of frizzy white hair and white eyebrows. "You got another order wrong," he grumbled. "Another one."

"Then have Emilio take the orders," she said.

"Emilio works the stockroom. You're a girl, you take the orders and wait tables."

The girl muttered something and then pushed her way through the door into the kitchen.

Immediately, Indigo sprang into Lizzie's mind. She could just imagine what her mother would say to the white-haired, white-eyebrowed guy.

Indigo was at war with the patriarchy. She was a staunch feminist who lived her unconventional life with a firm belief that women could do anything a man could do and resented the suggestion that she and any other female need bow to the whims of a man simply because he was endowed with a penis. Lizzie remembered her mother saying, "I will not be a baby-making slave for any man, keeping his house, cooking, cleaning, and washing his dirty underwear while he makes his way in the world. I will take responsibility for my own choices, my own life, my own orgasms, and my own happiness. I don't need permission from any man."

Maribeth found Indigo's speech inspiring (though she was far too young to understand orgasm responsibility) and never once saw her mother betray her feminist convictions.

When Scooter got to the bottom of his beverage, he said, "Hey, you want another water? Or maybe wanna try a Coke or something?"

"I'm good," she said, though her mouth felt the sting of the salty food. Hers was a palate accustomed to raw fruits and vegetables, unsullied by the ravages of fast food.

He wiped a blob of barbecue sauce from the corner of his mouth. "You ever hear of a school called the Cincinnati Academy of Science and Technology?"

Lizzie wasn't sure if he really said the Cincinnati Academy of Science and Technology or if her mind just made that up, so she said nothing.

"When I first heard about it and it had the word 'academy' in it," Scooter said, "I thought maybe it was a military school or something like that. But it turns out it's not."

"Oh, geez. Why are you talking about that school or academy?"

"My mom and I are gonna check it out on Monday. It's supposed to be one of the best engineering and tech prep schools in the country. Right here in Cincinnati."

"Actually, Cincinnati is on the other side of the bridge. This is Covington."

He nodded. "Right."

"I'm going there on Monday, too," she said.

"What?"

"The Cincinnati Academy of Science and Technology. Me and Aunt Sonya already have an appointment."

He dropped his Tater Tot. "Wait. What?"

"The Principal and Counselor at my school said I should go there. I took some assessments and they want me to come."

His eyes went wide. "Mind totally blown."

"What do I say when you say that?"

"Nothing. You don't need to say anything. I mean, I'm just like, what?"

He looked happy. In fact, he looked very happy so what he said about his mind totally blown must have been a good thing.

"This can't even be happening." He rocked back in his chair. "Wow! I thought it would be totally amazing if I was going to school in the same city as you. But if we end up going to the same school!"

"What?"

"That would be like the best thing ever."

"Better than Tater Tots?"

He laughed.

"See?" said Lizzie. "I can be fun. I just need to work on it."

He reached across the table and clasped her hand, with a thousand-watt smile. "I have never met anyone like you. Not ever."

"I can believe that."

"Would it be okay if I kissed you?"

"Right here in this store?"

"If it makes you too stressed I won't."

"Oh, geez," she said, looking around at the other patrons and the white-haired guy behind the counter.

"No. Okay. Bad idea," he said.

"Do it."

He was out of his chair and around the table before she could blink. He slid his arm around her shoulders and kissed her. It was a harder and longer kiss than Lizzie was prepared for but it was better than she expected, even with the tang of spicy barbecue sauce.

"Sorry," he said when he let go and returned to his seat. "I never do stuff like that."

She almost said, "That doesn't even make sense" but it had nothing to do with sense and that's what made it so good.