I agree to meet Kendra and Julia at
Café Café. Our favorite couch in the back has been taken by
a group of vampire wanna-be college students with dyed black hair and
black lipstick so I find the two of them perched awkwardly on the
tall stools by the front window and looking mighty put out by the
whole thing.
“Stupid bastards,” I hear Julia
mutter as I drag another stool over to them. But then her sour
expression changes to a sugary smile as she catches sight of me.
“Why, Penelope, we’re so glad you could make it. We hardly ever
see you any more.”
“I’m not that busy. You
guys don’t call me that much.”
“I know why she’s not busy.”
Kendra is hunched over her plastic cup of diet coke, staring morosely
into it like it’s a whiskey shot at a saloon.
“Yea, and I know why you’re so
down in the dumps.”
“Because Sven is out of town,”
Julia pronounces in a monotone, rolling her eyes. “I’ve had to
listen to her,” she jerks her thumb at Kendra, “moon about it for
the last fifteen minutes.”
“He’s on a cruise. It’s so
romantic.”
“It’s a family reunion and he’s
going under duress,” I point out dryly. “And who the hell has
enough money to afford having a family reunion on a cruise ship
anyway?”
“Really rich people, that’s who,”
sighs Kendra dreamily.
“Well, it sounds like Penelope knows
more about what’s Sven’s doing and thinking than you do,” warns
Julia. We both glare at her and she ignores us as she throws back
her head and downs the remains of her drink in one gulp. “Let’s
blow this joint. I want to go check out the new deals at The
Carcass.”
The Carcass is our local used
clothing store, with a sign that features a vulture ripping apart an
old dress like carrion. I hate the place, even though it has a
lovely smell like books in people's basements, because it's full of
used prom dresses which, of course, Kendra immediately goes over to.
With a cry of admiration, she pulls a shimmering, sea blue gown off
the rack. It has a slanted neckline so that it's held up by a thick
band on on shoulder and the other is strapless. To offset this, the
skirt cascades to the floor on one side and is slit high on the
other. She clasps the gown to her, as if it's her dancing partner.
The iridescent blue looks fabulous against her skin and I feel sick.
“Oh, I can just imagine dancing in
this,” she sighs.
“With Sven,” Julia sneers. Kendra
sighs even more deeply at the though. “I don't know that Sven
would even like that dress. I don't think you're showing enough
leg.” Kendra makes a face at her. “Don't be so upset. There's
an easy way to solve this.” Julia grins evilly. “Just ask
Penelope. I'm sure she knows all about Sven's preferences
now.” When Kendra shows no sign whatsoever of doing this, Julia
asks me directly.
I keep my face turned away and sulk in
wounded righteousness. “The day I can wear a dress like that, I'll
comment on it. Until then, I won't even look at it.”
“Penelope, we know you're aggrieved
but...”
“Nope, not listening. Here's what
I'll be wearing that night.” I wave an old Iron Maiden
concert T-shirt that I pulled out of the discount bin at them. Julia
throws up her hands and turns her back on me. I check out my single
purchase and then continue to pick through the discount bin, not
because I expect to find anything else I want, but just to pretend
like I'm doing something. It provides my mind with a very minimal
distraction from my depression over the fact that I'll never get to
wear a formal dress. Needless to say, my back has completely gone
out by the time they get tired and decide to leave. Thankfully, they
don't end up buying anything. The woman at the counter is kind of
clueless and always takes forever to check people out.
Kendra suggests
we go to the park and I certainly have no objections. Once there, I
stare dreamily at the leaves above my head as we lie in the grass and
my thoughts wander back to the day I fell for Robert. It was a
bitterly cold day in the middle of February. My parents had insisted
I leave for class way earlier than normal because they were
convinced, with the snow and ice, it would take more than an hour to
go half a mile. Of course, they grossly overestimated the amount of
time and I arrived at school quite a while before classes were to
start.
Sighing, I turn
onto my side as I sink deeper into the memory. In my mind's eye, I
make my way to my first class (geometry) to kill time until it
starts. When I arrive, I discover that several other people are in
the same boat. Robert, Sven, and Timothy Kroke, our resident
socially clueless savant, are also hanging around outside the class
room.
“This is
getting boring,” cries Sven in exasperation as I walk up.
“How long have
you been here?” I ask.
“Oh, hours.
This is so stupid.”
“We could play
chess.” Timothy pulls his mini portable chess set out of his back
pack. Chess is one of the things Timothy is a genius about. He can
also solve math problems just by looking at them though, sometimes,
he doesn't actually do very well in class because, even though he
always puts down the right answer, he can never explain how he
got it. He also stutters when he speaks, only wears ratty sweat
shirts, and always smells of urine. Because of his chess abilities,
I'm reluctant to expose myself to the humiliation of losing (and
because of his odor I'm reluctant to expose myself to the smell by
sitting close to him). Sven, however, has no qualms and immediately
sits down across from him. He doesn't last long so I have to step up
and sacrifice myself to fill more time. If possible, I loose even
more quickly.
Robert lounges
back against the wall and mocks us the whole time. My face flushes
with shame. Even though chess isn't my thing, I'm still embarrassed
about losing, especially in front of people I know but not very well.
Sven looks put out but tries another game. What makes it worse is
that every time Timothy wins, he feels the need to give a stammering
lecture about why we lost and exactly which wrong move (usually about
two turns into the game) made the loss inevitable. Robert keeps
laughing. When Sven loses a second time, he also loses patience.
Grabbing Robert by the shoulders, he pushes him to the table and
forces him to sit in the chair across from Timothy.
“Rob, sit in
this chair, play chess...”
“And lose,”
we both finish simultaneously. Admittedly, Robert is a much better
chess player than either of us. He takes his time with his moves,
pausing to examine the board and think each one through before making
it. This, I think, is when I start to become interested in him.
He's intelligent and not afraid to show it.
But he's no match
for Timothy who, according to popular rumor, plays chess in his
sleep. After loosing a few pieces, Robert appears to become agitated
and starts muttering to himself. I can't quite catch what he says
but it involves kung fu and cheese whiz. After he repeats it a high
speed several times, the words run together and become kung fu
cheese. This makes me laugh and I fall a little more. I can tell
because I start tucking my legs under me when I sit and get a cramp.
“Is your
strategy to be so annoying that the other person can't concentrate on
what they're doing?” I ask. My budding attraction is making me
start to feel antsy and I can't keep quiet.
“Yes, and it
actually works.” Sven comes up behind Robert and hits him in the
head (he also showed his true colors early). “Sven, don't do that
again.”
“Hit him
again,” I say and Sven promptly does.
“I'm warning
you, if you do that again I will break your arm.” He doesn't let
himself be trifled with, another point in his favor. Sven keeps
trying to sneak up from behind and hit him. Robert is trying to keep
an eye on him so he has his back to me and I hit him in the head.
Obviously, I'm in deep at this point because that was basically just
an excuse to make contact. Robert turns back around slowly and gives
me a strange look then resumes the game, which takes a very long time
to finish because, every few minutes, Sven hits Robert in the head
and the two of them fight for a while.
Finally, Timothy
gets Robert in check mate and announces the game is over. He looks
like he's about to go into another lecture about Robert's failings
but Robert quickly holds up his hand to stop him. “Wait,” he
says. “I'm going to make some chess god moves.” He begins
switching pieces on the board and putting back pieces that had
already been captured, all the while keeping up a running commentary
about what he is doing that he is clearly completely making up on the
spur of the moment. So, he's also incredibly creative. This is the
last piece of the puzzle and, from that moment on, I love Robert.
******
After they finally
manage to escape the ancient temple, very worn down and battered
indeed, the party decides to limp back to the nearest town to rest
and buy supplies. They're lucky to be alive at all because the final
battle with the the giant “what?” magical lizard spirit who
guarded the temple was a total disaster. All three of the various
warrior class characters committed one of the cardinal blunders of
D&D by buying only slashing weapons, which had very little effect
on the creature's tough hide. They all seemed to think it was someone
else's fault. The others should have taken the hit for the team by
using a crushing weapon while they got to look cool swinging a
big sword around. But the real problem was that Sven forgot to
memorize his spells the night before the battle, which made him
completely useless.
When they finally
reach the town, I tell them there's a market going on to make things
more interesting...also because Jeff broke his sword trying to use it
like a club on the lizard and the town's too small for him to find a
decent replacement if there isn't a market. I enjoy
describing all the different stalls in the market (though they don't
seem to appreciate my effort). In addition to the typical bread,
cheese, soap, and wine vendors (and the required sword seller) I add
a fortune teller, a potion dealer, a man who sells exotic birds, and
a very violent puppet show, which they do enjoy.
Sven decides to visit the potion
dealer. I didn’t really intend for anyone to buy stuff from him.
I just put him there to look interesting. Trust Sven to be a pain.
To try to discourage him, I describe the potion dealer as being
filthy, ragged, and slightly insane to show how unreliable he is. It
doesn’t work. He buys a sleep potion, a love potion, and a
confusion potion, which are the only “standard” potions the
dealer offers. I figure they seem pretty harmless.
“This sucks,” Sven complains.
“That can’t be all he has. You said he had bags and bags of
potions under his table.”
“Yes. But those are the only
potions he knows what they do. The rest are all random, unidentified
potions.”
“So? I use my identify potion
skill.” He rolls a die. “And I make it.” I panic. I don’t
want him getting tons of powerful items and, since they have multiple
copies of the Dungeon Master’s Guide, I can’t even make
them wonder about what the potion does. They’ll just look it up
the second I say the name. What’s a DM to do? Make up a totally
new potion of course. But what? My Monstrous Manual is lying
next to me on the couch and it happens to be open to the “bat”
entry.
“It’s a potion of bat creation,”
I say smugly. Doesn’t sound terribly threatening, does it?
“A what?” cries Sven in
frustration. “What the hell does that do?”
“That’s for you to find out.”
“Fine. I identify another.” And
another…and another…and another. I get pretty good at making up
elusive sounding names like “fertility of fields,” “colorful
mystery,” and “silence of silver.” But I make most of his
successes potions of bat creation, hoping he’ll get bored and give
up. No luck.
“How many potions are you planning
on identifying?” I ask impatiently.
“All of them.”
“But there are over 200 potions
here.”
“Sven, stop
being stupid. There’s nothing useful here,” scolds Robert. “We
don’t need any more stupid potions of bat creation.” Sven
ignores him and keeps trying to identify potions so Robert has his
character come up and hit him in the back of the head, then drag him
away while he’s stunned. After this incident, everyone makes fun
of Sven about the potions he bought so every time there’s a debate
on what to do, he suggests using the potions to prove it was actually
a good idea for him to get them. And when he sees that this pisses
people off, he does it all the more.
Oh my god. Sven is an idiot as well as an asshole and now Kendra thinks I like him. This is obviously because she does and will no longer admit it. It's been about a week now since she called Julia and I in a rage and started ranting that "I'm through with him. I quit. I wash my hands. Etc. etc." Julia immediately began celebrating. I kept quiet but, personally, thought the rant sounded kind of phony. I expected her to be back drooling over him in a couple of days, like has happened in the past, but she stuck to her story. However, she now always acts majorly paranoid about me being around Sven, like I was just waiting for her to get out of my way or some stupid shit like that. Well, sorry, Kendra, but he's not the catch you think he is. Some of the rest of us don't get turned on by people who are rude and stupid. And…if you were really over him you wouldn't care if I was, not that I would be. I see right through her but I still feel insulted that she would suspect me of such a thing.
*******
Kendra, Julia and I decide to catch
the bus out to the mall and Julia insists we all sit in the very
back. This does not please me because the back seat of the bus is
right on top of the engine so the seat is hot and it stinks of
exhaust. Plus the motor underneath shakes the seat, making my teeth
rattle and giving me a head ache. But this is exactly why Julia
likes it. She declares the vibrations are soothing to her PMS cramps
and possibly sexually stimulating as well. This conversation itself
doesn't disturb me. I'm not squeamish like most people imagine,
though I have to completely disagree with her on both counts.
However, it does make me rather uncomfortable to notice that two
fortyish women a couple of seats up, in cakey make-up and flower
print dresses, keep turning around to give us bad looks.
After about fifteen minutes, Julia
notices the women too. “You don't think they're looking at us, do
you?” she asks, suddenly nervous. Kendra and I give each other
sidelong glances. We both know 100% they are but neither of us wants
to piss off Julia by pointing this out.
“Well...they might be...” I offer
tentatively.
“How could they even hear us? I'm
not being loud am I?” she cries at top volume. As her voice
reaches a particularly shrill pitch, the women turn around and stare
at us.
Kendra looks at the ground in
embarrassment. “Uh...yea, you are,” she mutters. Fortunately,
the women get off at the next stop, possibly because of us. Despite
our earlier embarrassment, Kendra and I find this idea hilarious and
can't help needling Julia about it
We arrive at the mall without further
incident but, when we try to exit the bus, the bus driver demands I
pay a full dollar, instead of the fifty cents we're accustomed to
(Kendra and Julia both have monthly passes so it's not a problem for
them). She doesn't just ask me for the money. “Hay,” she snaps,
making a face at me. “I need to see fifty cents more from you,”
like I'm trying to sneak off without paying or something.
“Sorry, does this help?” I ask
contritely, pulling out my student ID. We're supposed to get some
kind of discount for it.
“No,” she barks. “Just pay up.”
I'm so embarrassed I want to die. She's treating me like I'm stupid
and dishonest, two of the very biggest insults to me. But, if I
protest, she could try to have me arrested or something. I'm so
upset that I feel a burning behind my eyes. I bite my lip and steel
myself to keep from crying in front of my friends.
But I don't have to suffer for very
long. Julia disdainfully snaps open her change purse and pulls out
fifty cents for me which she drops in to the fare box. “God,
you're a stupid bitch,”she yells over her shoulder as we exit.
“You ought to be ashamed of ripping us off like that.” I feel
warm and tingly all over. Julia may be annoying but she sure has
balls. It's not often that my friends stand up for me so I feel
extra privileged now.
“That was really nice of you,” I
say hesitantly as we move inside.
“No problem,”
Julia all but yells back. “You guys are like sisters to me.”
And throwing wide her arms, she hugs one of us to each side of her.
“So,” Julia continues as we make
our way towards the food court and buy slushies to drink, “how have
you guys been?” She's been out of town on a family vacation for
the past week or so, not that anything really happened while she was
gone.
“Nothing much,
just lots of D and D here.”
“Having any luck
with Robert?” She must be in an exceptionally good mood to
actually let me talk about this.
“Not so much.
It's okay though. I've never had a guy I like at my house before.
It's great so I'm not in a hurry.” Neither Kendra or Julia has had
someone they like at their house. Period. Ever. End of story. So,
they don't really have anything to say about this.
“How about you,
Kendra?”
“Still looking.”
“So you're still
on your not liking Sven kick?”
I roll my eyes.
“Is she ever. Every time I call her, she tells me how much she
doesn't like him. It seems almost like she talks about him even more
now.”
“That's not
true,” Kendra objects.
“Of
course not,” Julia agrees. “It would be completely impossible
for you to talk about him more.”
We both snicker. “We should go check out the clothes at Wet
Seal. I heard they have some
good sales.”
“Can't.” I
hold up my half finished slushy. “We're not allowed to take this
in.”
“Oh, just hide
it behind your back.”
“At least we can
start walking in that direction,” Kendra offers, not wanting us to
argue about it. We make our way to the other end of the mall as I
race to finish my drink by the time we get there, giving myself a
side cramp and an ice-cream headache in the process.
“So, seriously,
you're not going to be worried about Sven going over to Penelope's
house anymore?” asks Julia as we walk. That would be a relief.
Kendra looks over
at her sharply and doesn't answer right away. “I wouldn't mind if
he went over to her house and slept with her,” she says at last,
tossing her head carelessly.
I
feel queasy. “Maybe not, but I would
mind,” I snap. “Very, very much.”
“It might be a
good way to make Robert jealous,” Julia teases.
“I
don't think I want him quite that
badly,” I say, holding my stomach. I decide against finishing
what's left of my slushy and toss it in the nearest garbage can.
“Penelope,
you're blushing,” Julia says as I rejoin them. I put my hand to my
cheek and, to my horror, it is indeed burning hot.
“Why are you
blushing?” Kendra giggles. “Does the thought of being with him
really effect you that much?”
I
round on her and they can both see in my face that it's my pissed off
insane side they have to deal with now. “Yes, it does,” I snarl.
“The very idea makes me want to die of shame. I will never
degrade myself by having feelings for someone so utterly lacking in
intelligence. Never,
do you understand?” Julia silently shapes Robert's name with her
mouth but I refuse to be distracted by the bait. “I am offended
that my friends think so little of me.”
“We were just
joking around,” Julia mutters defensively and Kendra nods hurriedly
in agreement but says nothing and there's a stiff, frozen look about
her face.
“Well, let's say
I don't think it's funny at all. As for you,” I glare at Kendra.
“You better hope your change of heart is for real this time
because, if you ever do start liking him again, I will have no mercy
for you.”
Several minutes of
uncomfortable silence follow and then Kendra and Julia begin to talk
to each other about something completely different, essentially
trying to pretend that none of this ever happened. I find this
offensive and cowardly of them but know that, if they've both decided
to avoid the topic, it's a waste of my effort to try to force it. So
I spend the rest of our outing sulking resentfully. Since I'm not
talking to them, my mind is left free for unpleasant thoughts. The
very idea of me liking Sven is so horrifying that it makes me break
out in a sweat. Many times, while I watch Kendra and Julia try on
shoes, I put my hand on my sternum and can feel my heart race...with
anger, with embarrassment, something like that. Whatever it is, I
know it's something bad.
**********
The party has
successfully retrieved the golden idol, the key to breaking
Garenmoth’s power and (amazingly) lived to tell the tale. So, now
they’re looking for the huge ruby that must be fitted into its eye
to fully unlock its ability. They have received a dire prediction
that something terrible will happen if they don’t find the ruby
soon. Robert has the idea that, if everyone in the party had two
horses, they could keep switching horses so they wouldn’t get tired
and travel more quickly that way. It’s pretty obvious that’s
what he means. But, what he says is, “If we had two horses
we could ride them back and forth really fast.” I’m still being
amused by this statement when Linus points out that they don’t have
any horses.
“We’ll have
to get some then,” says Robert matter-of-factly.
“And how are we
going to afford them?” asks Sven. “We don’t have very much
money.”
“Well, you
shouldn’t have spent so much money on those rare flower oils for
your spell components,” sneers Jeff. Yes, I took great delight in
forcing him to, in essence, buy perfume.
“We’ll have
to steal them then,” says Mike
“How do we do
that?” asks Sven.
“We need a
plan,” says Robert and immediately starts devising one. The first
step is to find a place that sells horses. Robert insists that they
go to the nearest town as fast as possible. The other players are
not so happy about this and complain about how long it takes to get
there. Then someone makes a crack about how they could get there
much faster if they each had two horses they could ride back and
forth and Robert gives us all the finger. I decide to throw him a
bone (and let him impress me with his great intelligence) by deciding
that there is, in fact, a fair in town which includes a horse seller.
His booth is set up at the edge of the town square and all the
horses are in an open area behind him. "So, here's the plan,"
says Robert importantly, once they've scouted out the situation.
"I'll distract the man by pretending I want to buy a horse,
while the rest of you enter from the other end of the lot and take
what we need."
"I don't
think we all need to go," says Mike. "They're more
likely to see us."
"If we want
five horses we do," says Linus. "One or two people will
never be able to manage that many."
"We don't
need five," says Jeff. "We can double up."
Mike makes a
face. "I don't want to ride with you," he says.
"Five
horses?" I say mockingly. "I thought you wanted at least
ten so you could ride them back and forth." Everyone laughs.
"Oh, shut
up," mutters Robert.
"We'd never
get away with that," says Mike, "and it would be hard for
even four of us to manage ten horses."
"I would
like to point out that not all of you have the riding proficiency,"
I say.
"What idiot
didn't take that?" cries Robert. Turns out neither Jeff nor
Linus did.
"I don't
just have land based riding," says Sven smugly. "I have
airborne riding."
"That's
almost as stupid as having no riding skill at all. It's a useless
ability because no DM in their right mind will ever give you a flying
mount."
"So, we're
down to three horses," Mike cuts in. "That means we only
need two people to steal them."
"I'm going,"
Sven yells immediately.
"Oh god,
why?"
"Because I
want to."
"Fine."
Robert glares at him. "But don't do anything stupid, and keep
your rats under control." I'm not happy about this
development at all. Sven looks mighty pleased with himself and he
only looks like that when he's found a way to cause trouble.
When Sven and
Mike are in position behind the horses, Robert says, "Now I make
my approach." He actually gets up and struts around the room to
show how he does it, making flourishes with his hands as he goes.
"Now, my good man, I have an interest in buying some of these
truly fine specimens you have here. Show me your best wares."
"The sales
man eyes your dirty clothes and backpack skeptically. Clearly, he
doesn't think you look like the kind of person who can afford
expensive horses."
Robert looks down
at his crisply pressed button-down shirt and makes a great show of
brushing himself off. "I beg your pardon, my good man, for
appearing before you in this undignified fashion. You see, a few
days ago, my coach was attacked by bandits and they stole everything.
That is why I am in such need of new horses." While we're
having this conversation, I keep making stealth checks for Sven and
Mike. Now Mike fails a check. "You step on a dry branch and it
snaps loudly, startling the horses. One of them kicks you. Take
four damage."
"Be careful,
you morons," snaps Robert. "I become more forceful with
the man to distract him."
"He gives
you a narrow look and says, 'But, if you were robbed, how do you have
money to buy a horse?'"
"Well, you
see, I had a secret bag inside..."
I roll another
check. "You guys have about reached the middle of the field by
now."
Sven breaks into
a huge grin. "I cast fear."
"Okay. Mike
what are you...Wait! What?" It takes me a moment to actually
process what he's saying. "You're really not serious."
"Oh yes I
am." I knew he was going to do something stupid. I knew it!
"Come on. I really don't want to have to make saving
throws for a couple hundred horses."
"Don't
worry. You won't have to." He opens the Player's Handbook
and reads, “All targets of at least five levels below the
caster or of natural zero level, which includes normal humans and all
non-intelligent, non-magical, animals, do not make a saving
throw."
"But...but..that
means..." I'm not the only one who's upset. Robert and Mike
look fairly petrified and even Jeff seems to have grasped that
something bad is happening.
"Mass
stampede," Sven yells, shrieking with laughter.
"You idiot,
I will kill you," cries Robert in a rage.
"No need.
The horses may have done so already," I say grimly. Everyone
gets trampled. Robert, Jeff, and Linus, because they're on the
outskirts, only get run over a few times. But Mike and (to my
sadistic glee) Sven are right in the middle of the lot and get kicked
or trampled by almost every horse there. They're not quite dead but
they are down to a couple of hit points apiece and Mike is actually
knocked unconscious. The one good thing is that the horse seller has
also been trampled so he's in no position to bother them. At first,
everyone screams at Sven. But soon they give up because it just
seems to make him even more pleased with himself. I hate him, I hate
him, I hate him. I need to go mock Kendra about this. That's the
best way to make myself feel better. I'm going to call her as soon
as this gaming session is over.
Kendra, however,
is in no mood to be mocked. "I told you, I don't like him
anymore," she snaps.
"Maybe not."
I'm still not convinced of this. "But you did. And he
was just as stupid and annoying back then."
"You should
be careful with Sven," says Kendra in a warning tone.
"Careful of
what? That I'll get too pissed off and kill him?"
"No, that
you'll end up like me." I knew it! I knew it!
"I do not
like him. I like Robert. He was very clever today."
"And
arrogant."
"Yes, that
too. He made a big deal about his clothes."
The phone
crackles as Kendra snickers on the other end of the line. "I
bet he did."
"Anyway, he
came up with this genius idea." In my infatuation, I've already
forgotten how dumb I thought it was at the time. "And that
loser, Sven, had to go ruin it for no good reason."
"See, there
you go, talking about Sven again."
"Complaining
about how dumb he is."
"Yea, that's
what you tell yourself. But it means you're thinking about him all
the time and he's affecting you emotionally. That's how he gets his
claws into you."
I roll over onto
my stomach and punch my pillow in frustration as I wad it under my
chest. "You sound almost like you want me to like him.
What is this, the ferryman's pole or something?"
"See, you
must have sex on the brain since you randomly start talking about
guys' poles."
"Not that
kind of pole," I snap angrily. My face turns bright red and,
even though she can't see me through the phone, I clap my hands over
it in embarrassment. "It's a common plot in myths and fairy
tales," I mutter sourly. "An old man ferries a boat back
and forth across a magical river for all eternity. He can never
leave the boat or die. The only way he can be free of his curse is
if he tricks someone into taking the pole from him. Then the curse
transfers to them."
"I fail to
see how this matters beyond proving that you have weirdo interests
and hobbies. But I already knew that." Sometimes Kendra seems
almost as dense as Sven. No wonder she liked/s him. And no wonder I
don't in the slightest.
"It means,"
I say slowly and deliberately, "that you want to be free of him
but you can't quite do it unless someone else takes your place.
You're trying to trick me into taking over your curse for you."
"That's not a very nice thing to
say about a friend. I'm only trying to help you." She sounds
offended but also a tiny bit frightened, like my analysis has come
too close for comfort. I tartly inform her that Julia would make a
much better candidate as a love interest for Sven. They're both
loud, rude, and out of control. Besides, she complains about how she
hates him so much that, if Kendra's theory is correct, she must
totally want him. “Yea, but she doesn't do nerd things with
him, like you do.” I find that comment offensive and tell her so
before cutting the connection. At this moment, I don't blame Sven
for not being interested in Kendra. Who would be interested in
someone who despises all their hobbies? It would serve her right if
he did get with me, not that I want that at all, of course.
But, furious as I am, fighting with Kendra does not please me and I
spend the rest of the evening in a deep depression.
©Amanda Hamlin 2024
