Imperfect

Chapter 11

"Hey, do you want to play?" Toby asks.

They've finished all the levels of some video game that I wasn't paying attention to.

"Sure." I say.

I switch places with Toby and he starts talking to Max, a lot better than I did.

"So, what exactly is cats about?" Oscar asks after a few moments later.

"It's about a bunch of cats that meat up to decide who gets to go to cat heaven, or be reborn. It doesn't make much sense." I explain.

"Wow. That's weird." Oscar mutters.

"I am well aware." I reply.

"So, who do you play?" He questions.

"Grizabella." I tell him.

"What?! Griz-bella!" He exclaims.

"Yeah, I know! Terrible name." I agree.

"So, let me get this straight: You're all going to dress up in cat costumes on stage, singing, dancing and pretending to go to cat heaven?" Simon sums up.

"Yeah pretty much." I tell them.

Oscar snorts and we all start laughing at the absurdity of it.

"Okay, let's all agree that that's just weird." Brian suggests.

"Yeah. Even I have to agree with that." I say.

The rest of the evening goes by with video games and discussions about theman. But when we've got to leave, I am stuck.

"Max, you can give Charlie a lift right?" Brian asks.

"Yeah sure." He agrees without looking at me.

"Oh, it's fine I'll walk." I say.

"You don't have to. I can give you a ride." He mumbles.

"You'd be going miles out of your way, you don't have to."

"It's fine." He says, smiling at me slightly.

Though Brian suddenly pulls me aside and says to me: "Hey, Charlie. How is Jenifer? Like, is she okay? Maria said something about her being really upset, and I'm just slightly worried about her."

"Well, you did break up with her-" I begin.

"Yeah, but still. It's not like it would last forever." He interrupts.

"Brian...Not everyone is as used to breakups like you are. You might not think of relationships as permanent, but maybe Jenifer does. And maybe she loved you. Sometimes you just need to try and look from a different perspective." I explain.

"Oh. But she's had other boyfriends." He points out.

"Yeah, but she might have really cared. Like she might've loved you, rather than just liking you a bit. Sometimes you have to put your brain into someone else's head." I tell him.

"So, she's not okay?" He asks.

"She'll live but she's really sad."

"Oh... Thanks Noel." He says.

"Davis."

He walks off, back into the house and I head to the cars.

"So, where do you live? I mean so I can drive you there." He laughs.

"Err, head to highway for now and I'll tell you where to turn off." I instruct.

I have a feeling that this car journey won't be any better than the last trip.