Dibs! (Lesbian, GxG)

Chapter 7

I completely expect Jules to freak out and do something drastic when she first sees me and Dominic. Instead, she waves at us. A little ecstatically, too.

     Dominic awkwardly waves back, reminding me that I didn't tell him about Jules. That would've been a little helpful now, I think. Tilting to a side, he asks without looking at me, "Do you know that person?"

     "Um, yeah," I drawl, feeling more awkward than his waving. "She goes to the, um, same school as me. Same grade and all."

     Dominic slowly lowers his hand and turns his head to me. "Are the two of you friends or . . . ?" He trails off when I do the so-so gesture. 

     "We're definitely in the 'or' category," I say. "Let's just say she knows me, and I don't really much want to know about her."

     "Hi Callie!" Jules calls from the distance. She's not far from the tree, and yet she sounds like she's at the top of a mountain, calling down to me. I try my best not to look at her, something I learned from my sister when I was the one bugging her. When she ignored me long enough, I'd grow bored enough to reconsider throwing something at her for her attention and instead play with my collection of Cabbage Patch dolls.

     I was six. I had poor judgement towards their scary appearances.

     "Callie!" Jules tries again.

     "Don't you think you should go over there and talk to her?" Dominic suggests. From the way he spoke it's out of concern instead of annoyance. "I doubt she's the type to wait patiently for someone to focus on her."

     Normally I'd take the advice, but silly me, I decide to keep ignoring her. "Hopefully, she has short attention-span," I say. Changing the subject, I ask Dominic, "You have any problems if I think we should hang out again? You know, without a third wheel."

     He laughs a little. "Like a date?" he answers.

     "Shush you," I shoot, smiling a little myself for his attempt to lighten up the situation. 

     "Callie!" This time, Jules sounds a little persistent. 

     I try not to groan too loudly. "Fine, I'll talk to her," I say in defeat. "Can you help me get down from the tree?"

     "No prob." 

     I twist my body around so I can easily climb down the tree. About halfway down, Dominic offers his hand to stabilize me. I plant my feet on the earth and thank him for the help. I brush off anything I might have caught on my clothes before I turn to face the music.

     Said music looks a lot happier with me out of the tree than with me in it. I take a tentative step forward, and try not to think of the possible ways it can go wrong with Jules. Before I know it, I've walked across the street and stopped in front of Jules. 

     "Hi, Callie!" she says, sounding oh so happy at my closer presence. "How are you?"

     I take a step back to restrain myself from strangling her. "You had me come down from the tree to ask me how I am?" I ask, strained.

     She laughs. "Nope! That's just one of the questions I want to know the answer to," she answers. "Who's the boy you're with?"

      I debate the options on whether I should throw him under the bus or warn him to run away from Jules' sight. I do, neither, which should please Dominic later. If I decide to tell him about our exchange later. "Cousin," I lie. "He's over for the weekend. We're catching up on, um, stuff." 

     When the hell did I start becoming a babbling idiot? I think. Maybe it's from the lying. 

     Quickly changing the subject, I ask Jules, "Do you come around here often?" I can never know with Jules on whether the meet-up is coincidental or she somehow knew I was going to be here. It's a possibility she overheard the conversation between Dominic and me. . . 

     Okay fine. Call me paranoid. 

     She nods enthusiastically. "Yep! I live allllll the way down there!" Jules points at a direction behind her. I can see what looks to be a neighborhood, and one of the nicer ones. Oddly enough, I don't recognize it, and I've lived here all my life. "Wanna come with me so you can see?" she asks me.

     Hmm, how to say no without giving her an implication I'm playing hard to get? Well, I'm not going to find much luck here, especially with Jules giving me an expectant look. 

     The phrase 'saved by the bell' comes into play when my phone rings. I hold up a finger (yeah, I went with the sassy route) and take my phone out to answer it. "Hi," I say.

     "Callie, where are you?" May asks. She's whispering on the other line, so I assume she's with Logan and doesn't want him to hear the conversation. "I just received a call from your sister, asking me to get you home."

     "What?" I ask. "Did she even call me first?"

     "Yeah, like a couple times," she answers.

     Stepping away a couple of feet from Jules, I say to May, "Give me a second." Before my friend can say anything, I hang up and look at the missed calls section. Yeah, Nancy called me eleven times, definitely a 'couple times'. I call May back.

     "What was that for?" she demands. "You hang up, and then you call back?"

     "What else did Nan say?" I ask patiently. 

     Logan's voice starts up in the background, and May tells him something I can't hear. "All she said is it's getting late, and you need to get home before your mom does." I growl a little, and she exclaims, "Don't shoot the messenger here!"

     "Not you," I say. "It's one in the afternoon. I doubt it's getting late."

     "Like I said," May states, "I'm just the messenger here."

     I hang up without saying good-bye, and I turn to see Jules in the same spot. Frankly, I'm both a little surprised and happy she's given me space. "I have to go," I say, pointing at my phone. "Family calls and all that."

     "Okay!" Jules doesn't seem affected by it. "I'll see you at school tomorrow!" As I walk away towards Dominic and the tree, she calls out, "Say hi to your cousin for me!"

     "Who's she talking about?" Dominic asks as I get closer.

     "It's not important," I say quietly. "Is it cool we hang out again?"

     Dominic nods once. "Sure, trade numbers?"

     "Yeah," I say as I hesitantly grab for his phone just as he grabs mine. After putting in our numbers in the contacts app, we switch phones again. "Thanks," I say. "For the um, first time meeting?"

     He laughs a little. "Yeah, no big deal," he says. "Let me know about the hangout later."

     I nod, and we wave as I leave the place. I feel the need to turn around and see if Jules is still there, but I decide not to. It might give her some weird invitation to come along with me. 

     Then again, she might be following me right now. I wait until I've walked two blocks before turning around. Jules isn't there, thank God. I'm pretty sure she isn't that crazy, but like I said, I can never know with her.

     Hopefully, Nancy saved me from getting any further in the conversation for a good reason.