“My uncle told me of an old Polish proverb: ‘Not my circus, not my monkey.’ I don’t think I want to dig into Lexi’s psyche for two reasons. First, it’s none of my business, and the second is I’m not sure I want to take that on,” I explained.
“Refer to my previous comment about you being an ass sometimes,” Halle said.
“That may be, but Lexi’s a big girl. She doesn’t need or want us digging up something painful. If she wanted us to do something, she would have said so,” I said.
“Well, look who’s growing up. I would have guessed you would climb onto your charger and save the day,” she teased.
I ignored the immediate thought of climbing into the Demon and seeing how fast I could drive it to California. It wasn’t a Dodge Charger, but it was still a Dodge muscle car, which was close enough.
I still hurt too much to do it, though. Nevertheless …
“For you, I would.”
“Brook has no idea how lucky she is.”
“Speaking of which, she’s going with someone else to Homecoming,” I complained.
“I can be there in time for the dance,” Halle blurted.
“No need. I have three dates. Gina, Tracy, and Pam all volunteered.”
“Ass,” she hissed.
“I know my butt’s nice, but wait until I get back to LA. Then you can see it every day.”
“I miss you,” Halle said.
“I miss you, too. If your movie gets suspended, come and visit,” I suggested.
“I’d like that. Warn Brook that I’ll be staying with you.”
“That might not be a good idea for my butt. She might take a chunk out of it,” I complained.
“I’ll get Cassidy to protect you.”
That made us both laugh. It was about even odds that Cassidy would help her best friend, and I would be in serious trouble.
We talked for another forty-five minutes. It was nice to reconnect with my friend.
◊◊◊
Chapter 24 – Does That Include Sex? Friday October 14
I woke to my hound licking my face. It seemed someone had to go out …
When I made it back upstairs, Precious was on my bed. She’d taken over my pillow and, from the look she gave me, dared me to make her get off. I decided I would rather take a shower than get scratched. Once I was finally dressed, I told Brit’s cat to come with me. I was in shock when she jumped off the bed and waddled to the door. I would have to make a note of the miracle that had occurred.
Duke had patrolled the backyard, so he was ready to go wake up my parents. I got busy and made my version of a French toast casserole. If I kept this up without getting some running in, I was going to start packing on the pounds.
◊◊◊
“What did you and Cassidy do last night?” I asked when Brook got into the car.
“Drove your Demon. Chuck had us drive through town and taught us what to watch for to be safe. He’s surprisingly a good teacher. I don’t know about Cassidy, but I learned a lot.”
If they’d told me they had been out stress-testing my car, I would have been mad. One of Cassidy’s life goals was to learn the personal protection business. Fritz, or one of his guys, was good about taking time each week to teach her stuff. He reasoned that if she could get up to speed on driving, he could send Paul back to LA, where his company had picked up more clients.
I decided I didn’t want to know if they’d had any fun and changed the topic.
“What does Dare have planned for your date tonight?” I asked.
“You’re going to make me go through with that, aren’t you?”
“You were the one who wanted to play games. All you had to do was remind me to ask you, and I would have. Once Dare blurted it out, I wasn’t going to tell him to pound sand. I can only imagine what he went through to ask. The poor boy will hardly even look at me.”
“Plus, you weaseled dates with three girls,” she said and gave me a half-smile.
“Halle offered to fly in today, too,” I said to rub it in.
“That little hussy’d better watch herself. I can kick her butt.”
“Dial it back, Speed Racer. She knows full well that you’re my girlfriend, and I don’t plan to stray. I just wanted to remind you what a catch I am,” I said, and tried to flex.
That didn’t come out too well because I winced from the pain.
“You seem to have it backward,” she smirked. “I’m the catch in this relationship. And besides that, you’re a gimp and your butt’s too big.”
Her smartassed comment was echoed by a similar smartassed comment from the front seat. Maybe it would be good to send Paul back to LA when Cassidy was qualified to drive me. It didn’t help that my ‘girlfriend’—who had a date for Homecoming that wasn’t me—grinned in apparent agreement.
“I bet Tracy, Pam, and Gina think that it’s a ‘real date.’ With all the benefits,” Brook complained.
