The Exchange

Chapter 3

Six hours of listening to anyone talk would have been enough to make me slightly homicidal, but Matt and Viktor chatted away like two little girls on the playground. It was strange that after almost nine years of being separated by an entire ocean, they still never ran out of conversation topics, but at the same time, it was kind of sweet. Viktor was always Matt's go-to when I irritated the shit out of him, which was a common occurrence when we were younger.

I learned a few things about the new guy. He had a sister and pet cat back in Sweden. He failed calculus. He liked meatballs and many other foods.

As we pulled into the driveway, my two best friends, Arti and Blaine, scurried out on to the front porch. Of course, they still hadn't left like I nicely asked, because they were just as much of pains as I was. It was part of the reason why we clicked.

"Hey guys. I promise we didn't steal anything," Arti exclaimed.

Blaine stood beside her with a couple cookies in his hands. Those were 100% stolen property as far as I was concerned.

I climbed out of the van and stretched out my legs, which had cramped up from the long car ride.

"Oh my god, is that him?" Arti asked, her eyes on Viktor. "Excuse me. I have to introduce myself to that fine specimen."

No, no, no.

I took in a breath. "His nose is crooked if you look at it closely."

She walked up to him, smiling, and extended her hand. "Hi, I'm Arti, Amanda's best friend and proud maker of the cookies inside."

"No, you're not," I said.

"I'm pretty sure I'm definitely Arti," she replied, but she didn't look away from Viktor.

I bit down on my cheek. "That's not what I meant."

But Arti wasn't listening to me. Instead, she listened to Viktor reply as he smiled with a faint blush on his cheeks.

"I'm Viktor. It's really nice to meet you."

"That's Blaine, our loyal idiot. He's pretty cool," Arti continued, gesturing at him with her hand, but not taking her eyes off of Viktor.

Blaine took a bite from one of his cookies and nodded his head once. "What's up?"

Viktor smiled. "Hi."

"Oh, shit, wait. These are actually yours," Blaine said, and he handed Viktor the other cookie.

They were actually mine, but who was keeping track?

"So have you been here before? Like, here in Bloomington?" Arti asked.

"Yeah, I was actually in Minneapolis for a hockey camp, like, eight years ago. That's where I met Matt," Viktor said.

"But you've never been to Bloomington?" Arti asked.

"Nope. This is my first time here. It seems really nice, though," Viktor replied.

"Oh no. Oh no, no, no. Amanda, Matt, Blaine. We've gotta take this man on a tour. He's never even been to the Mall," Arti said, her hand on her chest.

"You're right. We have to take a field trip to the Mall," Matt said.

"If I hear the words field trip or adventure one more time today, I'm going to throw up," I said and crossed my arms.

"Don't be so negative, Amanda. Unless you want a repeat of the events of last Easter, you're gonna drive us there," Matt said.

He and his friend David decided to go on an Easter egg hunt, took my car because he didn't have any money for gas, then ran it into a pole because they were going to be late, and they wouldn't be able to find any cheap, plastic eggs filled with candy. I almost killed him for that.