The Tribuo - 14. part II, chapter 7

December 20th

I slept until noon, and I kept dreaming of Julia Roberts in her red dress. I woke up and winced when I remembered last night. DeeDee made me watch the damn movie twice in a row. I was about to murder her. And she cried at the end. Both times!

By the time I was done with my shower and breakfast -- well, technically lunch -- it was almost two o’clock. My phone rang, and I was so sure that it was Katie, that I almost spilled my coffee when I heard Ellie’s voice.

“Are you busy today as well?” she asked icily.

“Ellie…” I sighed. “Sorry about last night, okay? Something really came up.”

“What about today?”

“Today is good,” I said in defeat.

“You wanna hang out?” now she sounded almost cheerful.

“Sure,” I muttered.

“Cool,” I could hear her smile. “So do you want me to come over or do you want to meet somewhere?”

“Let’s…” my phone beeped at me, letting me know that I had another call. “Oh hey, hold on. I think my Mom is calling.”

“Okay,” she said.

I put her on hold and answered the second line.

“Yeah?”

“Hey, it’s me.”

Oh, dear God… That wasn’t my mother. That was Katie.

“Hey, Katie,” I couldn’t help but smile.

“So you still wanna watch those episodes?”

She sounded as indifferent as ever, but I could hear impatient notes in her voice. I closed my eyes. I knew that if I told Ellie that I was busy again right after I told her otherwise, she’d probably set my house on fire.

“You there?” Katie asked.

“Yeah, I am here…”

“Hey, if you have plans or something, it’s fine,” she said. “We can always do it some other time.”

“I…” I hesitated for just a second, and then I finally made up my mind. Pissing Ellie off was not a good idea. “I don’t have any plans.” But I couldn't care less about good or bad ideas.

“Oh, cool,” she sounded almost uplifted.

“Let me tell you where I live,” I said, and she coughed.

“Umm… Yeah, about that… My Uncle can’t drive me right now, and I don’t have a car… But I guess I can walk or something…”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” I grimaced. “Have you looked outside? It’s a damn blizzard out there! Tell me your address, I’ll come and get you.”

She did and I wrote it down, and then we said our goodbyes, and I hung up the phone. I completely forgot that Ellie was waiting on the other line. I remembered about it when I was almost by Katie’s house, and I swore loudly and with great imagination. I parked by the curb and pulled out my phone.

“Hello?” she answered after a few seconds.

“Ellie!” I breathed. “Hey! Sorry about earlier, I… Ellie? Hello? Ellie!”

Crap, she hung up. I stared at the phone in my hand and bit my lip. Okay, Andrew… Now would be a very good time to make up your mind. If you want to stay with Ellie, then tell Katie that something urgent came up, and get your ass over to Ellie’s place. I closed my eyes for several very long seconds. Finally, I threw my phone into the back seat and turned off the car. I am going to ask Katie if it’s all right if we watch those episodes tomorrow or something.

I rang the doorbell and waited. Finally, the door opened.

“Hey, Andrew,” Katie smiled at me. “Come in for a second, will you? I need to find my scarf.”

I stepped inside.

“Katie,” I said, thinking that now I would say something like, “I am sorry, something really urgent came up. Let’s do it another time, okay?”

“What?” she asked and looked at me with her light-green eyes.

“I am afraid that…” I closed my eyes. “I don’t have any ice-cream at my house,” I finished and she laughed.

“I am cutting back on that stuff, remember?” she said lightly.

“Right…” I muttered, thinking that my brain and my tongue were not connected at all. Apparently, those were two completely different functions that had nothing in common with each other.

December 21st

I woke up because I could've sworn I heard someone slamming my front door. I didn’t want to wake up because I was having this awesome dream -- something about summer, honey, and lakes. Then I heard the door slam, and the lakes were gone, and so was summer, but not the sweet smell of honey. It was still right here, playing around my face.

I peeled my eyes open and blinked in confusion. What the hell? Then I realized that the smell of honey was coming from the wave of strawberry-blonde hair that spilled all over my face. I also realized that hair belonged to Katie who was snoring softly on top of me, one of her arms somewhere behind the pillow, while the other was resting on my shoulder. I turned my head very carefully and saw the BSG logo on the TV. Then I realized that both of us were still lying on my couch, and we were fully dressed. I almost got confused, but then I remembered.

We watched a hell of a lot of BSG last night. I think it was around 3:30 in the morning, when I felt Katie’s head on my shoulder. At first, I thought she was trying to make out or something -- yeah, me and my ego, I know -- but when I looked at her, I saw that she was simply asleep. So, I muted the TV and turned on the subtitles. Apparently, soon after that, I passed out myself.

I lay still, enjoying her warm breath on my neck, and I was amazed that I didn’t feel a slightest desire to kiss her or anything. It was like falling asleep with my little sister if I had one. She stirred slightly in her sleep and muttered something that suspiciously sounded like, “Matt.” But then she was silent again and I just shrugged it off. I am complicating things, I thought. DeeDee was right.

Then my phone started to ring very shrilly and I gritted my teeth. Katie murmured something, and then she was awake.

“What…” she muttered with confusion, and then inhaled very sharply and sat up. Well, tried to. Since she was lying on top of me, she ended up losing her balance, and she just got caught between my leg and the blanket. I started to laugh. She stared at me with huge eyes, but then blinked when she saw that I was still wearing my jeans and sweater. My phone kept shrieking.

“I need to get that,” I sighed and slid off the couch.

Katie brushed her hair off her face, looked at the TV, and then her eyes weren’t panicky anymore. Good, I thought, grabbing my phone, she wasn't going to try and kill me or something.

“Hello,” I said and winced when I heard a very shrill, hateful voice.

“You, bastard!!”

I carefully moved the phone slightly away from my ear. Good God, that was loud…

“You lying, cheating son of a bitch!!” she kept raging. “You are a pig! I can’t believe you!! You are…”

“Ellie, stop screaming,” I said patiently, but I don’t think she even heard me.

She kept screeching into the phone, and finally, I sighed and walked into the kitchen where I started making coffee. I got water, a clean filter, the coffee bag out of one of the cabinets -- she kept screaming. Finally, after I pushed the Start button, she paused for air, and I quickly asked her:

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“I saw you!!” she screamed with fresh energy. “I saw you this morning, Andrew! You were sleeping with some little slut!”

Ah, okay, so I didn’t dream the door slam. Apparently, I never locked the front door last night; Ellie walked in this morning, and saw Katie and me on the couch. I sighed when I remembered that both my arms were wrapped firmly around Katie. Yeah, it probably did not look good. I guess the fact that we were dressed, didn’t matter much.

“Ellie,” I said patiently, and she ignored me completely. I thought about letting her scream, but then decided no way, screw this.

“Ellie, shut up!” I barked.

To my utter amusement, it worked and she stopped screaming immediately. Thank God.

“Ellie,” I said in a softer voice. “I am sorry about yesterday and the day before, okay? I am also sorry that you came to the wrong conclusion this morning…”

“Wrong conclusion my ass!” she hissed. “Look, I know that you are a sex-crazed maniac… But to go ahead and…”

Okay, now I was pissed off.

“I am a sex-crazed maniac?!” I interrupted her. “So, I am the one who can’t keep my hands to myself, is that it? I am the one who is constantly driving you up the wall, getting into your pants, and then stopping in the middle? Oh, wait! No… It’s you!!”

She started to say something, but I interrupted her again.

“Ellie, shut up! I told you that you got everything wrong, and I am not going to apologize for something that never happened… I am not going to…”

“Screw you!!” she screamed and hung up the phone.

Well, I hemmed to myself, if you would, then we wouldn’t have this conversation, would we? For some weird reason, I felt energized and quite amused. I wondered if all I needed to do was to spend time with a girl, watching a sci-fi TV show all night. Could this be? Am I actually free of Ellie? Wow… I need to call DeeDee; she will probably throw a party or something.

“Is everything all right?” Katie asked me, walking into the kitchen.

Her hair was brushed and braided. I smiled at her.

“Everything is great,” I nodded and she smiled back.

…That whole day felt like a holiday to me, for some reason. We walked to Dairy Queen, got into a snowball fight -- for someone who hated snow, Katie was surprisingly good with snowballs -- and watched TV. I couldn’t remember the last time I felt so carefree and genuinely happy. It was great.

December 22nd

My mother called me around two in the afternoon the following day. She sounded as if she expected me to tell her that I burned down the house and got arrested. After I assured her that everything was just fine, and I didn’t even smoke inside the house, she finally sounded convinced and relieved. I wished her and Paul happy upcoming holidays, and she wished me the same. She tried to apologize for the fact that she was not going to spend Christmas and New Year with me, but I cut her off.

“As long as I am getting decent presents, I am okay,” I said and she laughed. “By the way,” I added. “Cash would not be a great insult… Just so you know.”

She snorted at that and called me a blackmailing greedy little bastard, and I solemnly agreed with her. After I hung up the phone, I called DeeDee. To my surprise, she wouldn’t come to the phone. Instead, I got Caleb who sounded very strained. He told me that DeeDee was sick or something; and when I asked if it would be okay if I came over, he quickly listed a whole list of reasons why I shouldn’t. After I finished talking to him, I just stared at my phone in great confusion. What the hell is going on? I wondered if DeeDee’s family came to the same conclusion as me -- about the whole drug thing -- and if they were doing an intervention of some kind. Finally, I shrugged it off and dialed Katie’s number. Yup, she finally gave it to me yesterday. Some guy answered it, and at first, I thought that I got the wrong number or something. But then he told me to hold on, and a minute later, I heard Katie’s voice.

“Who was that?” I asked.

“Oh,” she sighed. “That was my Uncle.”

“Oh, right…” I almost slapped my forehead. Duh. “Hey, are you busy today? I could pick you up, and we…”

“Ugh,” she sighed again, and I immediately realized that I was going to spend today all alone.

“Andrew,” she said. “I can’t today. My Aunt trapped me in her bedroom… We are sorting through all of her makeup and nail polish. She wants to pick the best ones to take with her on the trip to Minnesota, and she also wants to throw away the stuff that is too old.”

I frowned.

“Wouldn’t that take, like, an hour at the most?”

She snorted at my naiveté.

“Right,” she said in a low voice. “Andrew, that woman still has nail polish that she got in the seventies. Two drawers-and-a-half full… And don’t get me started on mascara and eyeshadow!”

Oh, boy… I sighed.

“Well, call me if anything changes,” I said, and she assured me that she probably would be sorting through all that junk until midnight.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, okay?” she sounded apologetic.

“Yeah,” I sighed again. “Sure, no problem.”

…I spent all day cleaning the house and even -- gasp! -- doing laundry. By ten in the evening, the whole place all but sparkled, and there was not a single unfolded piece of laundry in sight. I shook my head when I realized how sad this picture was. And then I was watching TV and eating enormous amounts of peanuts until probably two in the morning.

December 23rd

Katie kept her word and indeed saw me the following day. We didn’t spend too much time together, because she said that she needed to help her Aunt with something else to get ready for that stupid trip to Minnesota. I drove her home around five in the evening, and then I decided to pay DeeDee a visit.

I got to her place at six or so, and was surprised to see her smoking solemnly on her front porch. She saw me get out of my car and smiled weakly.

“Hey,” I said. “Are you suicidal or something?”

She frowned at that.

“Why?”

“You are smoking at home now?” Now it was my turn to frown. “Okay, Lawrence… What the hell is going on?!”

She shrugged weakly.

“Nobody’s here right now,” she said absent-mindedly. “They won’t be back 'till eleven or so.”

I sat next to her.

“DeeDee,” I sighed. “Okay… I don’t know how to say it the best possible way, so I’ll just say it the way I can.”

“Say what?” she looked at me with puzzlement.

“Look… I think I have a pretty good idea what’s going on here,” I started saying, and she immediately interrupted me.

“Caleb told you, didn’t he?!”

I was startled when I saw her narrowed eyes. And her voice was beyond hostile.

“Caleb,” I repeated. “No. He never said anything. Why would I even talk to him?”

She relaxed slightly.

“But I don’t need to get stuff out of Caleb,” I continued. “DeeDee, I am not stupid… Well, let me rephrase that,” I rolled my eyes when she started making snorting noises. “I am not that stupid, okay? Look… You are my best friend, Dee… I tell you everything. I even told you about that one time when my mother walked in on me in the bathroom, for Christ sake!”

“Yes,” she agreed gravely. “Thanks for putting another visual in my head…”

“You are welcome,” I hemmed. “But my point is… You are my best friend, okay? I’ll love you no matter what! Dee, are you doing drugs?”

She stared at me in disbelief.

“What?” she said incredulously. “Drugs?! God, Frey! No, I am not doing drugs! Why the hell would you think that?!”

“Well…” I stuttered. “You are beyond edgy the last couple of months… You are losing weight like no other… You know…”

“God, Andrew,” she sighed. “Okay, I can see why you would think that… But no. I am not doing drugs, I swear!”

“Then what is it?” I looked at her and she turned away. “Dee, this is beyond bizarre… I want to help you if I can, I want to… Crap, I just want to be your friend again!”

She looked at me sadly and flicked her cigarette away.

“You are my friend,” she said softly. “Andrew, you are my best friend… Yes, something is bothering the hell out of me… And yes, I want to talk to you about it, but I can’t…”

“Why?” I was getting more and more confused by the minute.

“Because I am afraid,” she said in a small voice.

“Afraid of what?” I frowned, and then it hit me. “Oh my God…” I whispered and she looked at me, blinking rapidly. “Oh my God…”

I grabbed both of her hands.

“DeeDee, it’s your brother, isn’t it?!”

I did not think she could blink even more rapidly, but there she was, doing exactly that.

“Wha…” she muttered but I interrupted her.

“Your brother!!” I repeated in a furious whisper. “Oh my God, Dee… He is raping you, isn’t he?! Goddammit!! I will kill that bas…”

I stopped talking immediately because she was howling with laughter. Well, that is understandable, I thought. She is hysterical, it’s just a reaction to…

“Are you crazy?!” she howled.

Okay, I thought, she is not hysterical. So laughter is a normal reaction to what I just said, which apparently, was something completely idiotic and hilarious. I patiently waited until she calmed down. When that finally happened, I asked:

“So what are you afraid of then?”

She became gravely serious in a matter of seconds.

“Nothing,” she said finally. “Andrew, it’s nothing, okay?”

Now I had another theory.

“You are pregnant,” I said, and she narrowed her eyes at me.

“Did you just call me fat?” she demanded, and I sighed in despair.

“DeeDee…”

“Andrew, it’s nothing,” she said firmly. “Don’t worry about it, okay?”

I sat there with her for maybe another hour, but she never said anything else, and it seemed that she turned into her usual cheerful self. Finally, I gave up. At least, she wasn't doing drugs, so that’s good.