Dibs! (Lesbian, GxG)

Chapter 23

I ring the doorbell, after much hesitation. May's dad almost never responds to door knocks, which was a lesson I learned the hard way, after being outside in the cold for a half hour when May asked me to come over that day.

     Nearly five minutes later, the door opens to reveal a man getting to his forties, still wearing his work uniform with the name "Dan" stitched onto his right pocket. "Hello, Callie," May's dad grumbles. Even after knowing him for years, his voice still makes me feel uneasy. "Here for May, I assume?"

     When I nod, Dan steps aside and lets me in the house. I go up the stairs, wondering if May's lucky to be free of any bratty siblings, or received the misfortune to be constantly lonely in the house. Like in the past times, I open my best friend's door without permission. May's lying on the bed, clutching a bottle of painkillers in her hands and keeping them on her chest.

     "Hey," I say softly. "What's up?" I stand by the doorway, unsure of what to do, now that May isn't all chirpy or talkative. Gripey, yes.

     "I'm waiting for Death to arrive," she moans. She lolls her head to face me. "Did he send you to get me instead?"

     I try my best not to laugh. "It can't be that bad," I say.

     While May doesn't have enough energy to sit up, she does have enough to glare at me. "Are you kidding me?" she complains. "I have to digest liquids, and only liquids, until the pain goes away. Not to mention a long list of things I can't eat while the stupid things are on." 

     "I stand by my statement," I say.

     "Great. You can have the braces for the two years, and I can have my freedom back."

     "I said I stand by it, not that I've gone insane."

     Rolling her eyes, May says, "Tell me something interesting. Current events, funny jokes--hell, even a children's story that you can read aloud to me as if I'm incapable of reading more than three-letter words. I need something to think about other than pain." She groans in emphasis. 

     I point at the bottle. "Aren't you on painkillers?" I ask.

     "And your point is?"

     Sighing, I gesture May to move a little. When she only budges an inch, I simply sit down on the floor right next to her head. "That party you told me about?" She makes an "uh-huh" noise. "I completely forgot that you wouldn't be there, and Nancy was driving me up the wall--"

     "You went to a party by yourself?" my friend interrupts. "If this was in any normal circumstance, I would give you a gold star right now." She adds when I stick my tongue out, "That's an actual compliment. Just take it like a normal person."

     "Oh yeah, as if anyone's normal," I say. 

     I fill her in on the party. It was something I completely expected to see out of a typical high school movie, there were couples making out, music and beer, et. cetra. When I get to the part about Logan, May asks, "How was he acting over there? I didn't get the chance to talk to him about his party."

     I twiddle my thumbs. "Besides offering me a beer and being laid back while some guy was telling me the rumors he heard about Jules and me, he was okay," I say.

     I'd say May freezes at my answer, but she wasn't moving much to begin with. "What the hell happened?" she asks. She gasps a little when she accidentally swats her bottom lip with the bottle. I lean over and gently take it from her grasp. 

     "You'd think you've learned to never handle anything potentially harmful," I tease.

     "Shut up. There's something I need. I'll be back."

     May sits up and gets off the bed, leaving me alone in the room. While I'm waiting for God-knows-what, I hear some whirring sound. Later, my friend comes back into her bedroom, a tall glass of something pink in her hand. "What's that?" I ask.

     "Something my dentist recommended," she says, taking a long sip through a straw. "Like I said earlier, what happened with what rumors?"

     Reluctantly, I tell her of trading drugs for sex, and how the guy telling me that was saying that he has better options. With the talk like that, I doubt he'd get anyone to sleep with him. ". . . and while Logan was watching this happen like a reality TV show, Dominic tried to help," I say. "I ended up punching the guy, though."

     If May was interested before, she's fascinated now. "How'd you react?" she asks.

     To save you the details, I basically tell her the rest of the story, and she doesn't take any opportunity to interrupt. However, when I finish, May only has one thing in her mind. "Is it possible that you're, well, not at all straight? I mean, in a parallel universe, Dominic would be the person you'd want to date. Here, you're just friends."

     With a snort, I say, "It's called a parallel universe for a reason."

     "You know what I mean!"

     "Do I, really?"

     "I'm close to grabbing the painkillers and hitting you with the container," my friend grumbles.

     I waggle my finger at her. "You do, and I'll ground you."

     "You do, and I'll bite you."

     The both of us start snickering at each other's threat. "But really, is there any indication that you could be attracted to Jules?" May asks, when she's finished laughing.

     "At this rate, I'm just trying to survive." I file the possibility in my mind for later, though.

     We slowly start changing subjects, going from Jules to something that only May understands. I just nod at appropriate places and make a little comment or two. At some point, Dan knocks on the door and tells me that it's getting late, and that I can see May at school tomorrow. 

     As I'm walking back outside and heading towards home, I hear a ding from my phone. I fish it out and notice a new message from Jules on Facebook.

     I'm coming back to school on Wednesday! Can you come over then and we can celebrate the one week anniversary of me punching a guy because he deserved it?

     "Fighting for no reason, huh?" I mutter, remembering what Jules told me at the nurse's office. Like before, I shut my phone off and put it back in my pocket. I take the route home, each step forcing each little thing out of my mind, so when I get home, all that's left to think about is homework and the violin.