-Annie-
-The same day … seven o’clock.-
The sweet sounds of Michael Bublé’s dreamy voice filled my ears as I sit down on Clark’s couch, ear-buds enthralling my head. I was watching Clark kill innocent aliens while yelling at his friend who was a neighborhood-and-a-half away from here. I turned up the music more.
“..nie...nie...” I faintly hear. My right ear gets pulled out. “Annie! My friend Flynn Norton had to eat dinner with his sister so we only have seven players.”
I look at him dimly. “...And?”
“We need eight for the game we’re playing.”
I nod vaguely. “Uh-huh. Well, good luck finding another player!” I put the ear-bud back in.
He takes it out again. “Listen, I agreed to let you come over, but you can’t just sit here the entire time. You need to play.”
“I don’t know crap about playing Halo.”
“Tough luck,” he gives me a playful grin. “You’ll learn.”
He soft hands pull reluctant me off of the couch and he hands me a controller. I have no idea what all of the buttons mean. He slams a bulky headphone thing on my head, messing up my hair. “Hey!” I yell, taking it off. “I spent all morning on this!”
“Just wear the headphones,” he sighs. He flicks something on the headphones - mine and his - and he begins to talk. “Hey, Dallas. I’m back.”
“Finnnnnnnnally,” I hear from the headphones. Obviously Dallas. “who do you have over? Technically the entire Comicon group is playing.”
He smiles. “Annie Stanon.”
A chorus of boy hoots and hollers comes into my ears.
“Haaaaaanie Staaaaaanon! Nice, my friend, nice!” This guy’s name was Luis Gordan. He always looked at my breasts whenever I walked past him in the hallway.
“Hola, boys. How’s science?” I call, turning on a controller.
“Oh, just great!” I chipper voice comes from the other end. Tim Boomer. “I have all of these things planned out for my project. I just can’t choose.” If I asked him anything about school he would just go on and on, and he wouldn’t care if I ever rolled my eyes. He was proud of what he did, and what he was going to do. Plus, he was a total sweetheart.
I hear a girl scoff. “Please, Tim, no one wants to hear about your whereabouts with science.”
That must’ve been Denise Allen. I’m not really friends with her - she hangs out with the boys so much. Even though she’s kind of a nerd, she’s the prettiest nerd I’ve seen, maybe one of the prettiest girls in school. But, she’s stuck being who she is, she can’t help that.
“Can we just stop fighting for one round?”
I would recognize that deep, hunky voice anywhere. That would be the handsome Roger Walters. He is the biggest music fanatic I have met. He spends all of his money collecting vintage records and learning Beethoven and Bach on the piano. He is also an amazing guitar player and singer. When I first saw him, I thought he was the hottest guy ever. It makes me laugh to see the people he hangs out with. Dallas Ollie was his first friend in kindergarten and he stuck with him the entire time. I hear he’s quite the dungeons and dragons player. I was talking to Clark about him once and he told me he’s seen Wicked about fifteen times and evidently he’s been in over ten community theater productions. He could talk about music and theater all day.
“Where’s the eighth guy?” I ask, turning up my headphones.
Dallas sneezes. “Oh, Kyle? He’s in the can.”
“Nice,” I say, shaking my head.
I don’t see Kyle very much, but when I do see him, he’s never around these guys. I know he’s the linebacker for the football team, and I also know that he’s dating Mallory Beth, my cheer captain. He always says that he doesn’t hang out with those guys, but I know that he does.
“Hey guys, I’m back!” Kyle’s ring screams through the headphones.
“Hey, Kyle!”
“Oh, Annie!” Sudden worry comes into his voice. “Don’t tell anyone about this, okay?”
“Don’t worry, I won’t,” Dallas’s high pitched impersonation of me rang. “I’ll be too busy making out with the entire football team, anyways.”
“Dallas, seriously. I know that’s you,” you could almost hear Kyle rolling his eyes on the other end. “And I know that she doesn’t make out with the entire football team. She’s never kissed me before.”
A mumble of agreement goes through the headphones.
“Guys, cut her some slack,” Clark says, clicking the A button violently over and over again. He was biting his lower lip.
“Why should we?” Luis asks.
“Because, Rick just broke up with her.”
“I’m so sorry. That really stinks,” Tim sighs. “How did it happen?”
I look intently at the screen and I shoot Dallas. I was angry at him. “Well, he dumped me for Valarie Richards.”
I hear Denise. “Isn’t she dating Bowen? Is she cheating on him?”
“No,” I say, “she has no idea that Rick is going to pursue her.”
“Ouch,” Kyle scoffs. “I know I’ll probably hear the whole story from Mallory on Monday.”
“I haven’t told her.”
Roger kills me and says, “My parents are getting weird, guys. I gotta get out of the house. I mean, right now.”
Clark looks at his watch. “Meet me at Red Robin at eight. All of us,” he looks over at me.
All of them agree, but Denise says, “Sorry guys, I got a date tonight. I can’t go.”
“With who?” I ask, shutting off my controller.
“Ben Albert. He goes to a different school and he’s really nice. I can’t wait.”
“Blah, blah, blah,” I hear Luis. “Nobody wants to hear about your boyfriend. Signing off.” He exits the game.
“Us too,” Clark says, and he turns the Xbox off. “Well, aren’t they fun?”
“They seem just delightful.” I roll my eyes. “So, we’re headed off to Red Robin?”
I nods casually. “I guess so.”
My cell phone rings and I get a text message.
Hey babe. I’m sorry for what I did. Forgive me? If you do, meet me at the movies.
“Hey, Clark. I’m sorry but I won’t be able to go to Red Robin. My friend wants me to go somewhere with her and I just can’t say no.”
“Ah, I see.” I frowns. “That’s understandable. Go on. I’ll have a great time with my friends.”
I give Clark a hug and go through his front door. I slam it and slide open my cell phone.
Of course I forgive you. I still want to be with you. You are my other half.
I reluctantly send the text message and begin to walk to the movie theater.
I hope I don’t regret what I just did.
