The Tribuo - 12. part II, chapter 5

- V -

DECEMBER

December 18th

It was December eighteenth, it was a Saturday, and I just got a phone call from Ellie. She wanted 'to hang out' tonight. I knew exactly what she meant by 'hang out.' I almost told her to stick it. Of course, I never did. I guess DeeDee was right when she said that I might be a masochist. I was trying to figure out what the hell was wrong with me, and why on earth would I put up with all that crap from Ellie. Was I madly in love with her? Or was she just an addiction? Oh hey, speaking of addictions… I was very suspicious of DeeDee lately. After I thought a lot about her bizarre behavior, I realized that the only possible answer was some sort of drug addiction. It made perfect sense -- the weight loss, nervousness, everything else.

I was trying to figure out how to talk to her about this whole thing, and when I could come up with only “Umm, DeeDee… We need to talk,” I decided to go for a walk. I was hoping that fresh air would do something magical to my brain. I told my mother that I’d be gone for a little bit, and she just nodded without saying anything. She was trying to shove her entire wardrobe full of clothes into one tiny suitcase. At first, I thought of staying and watching her do that -- it was hilarious, really! -- but then I decided to stick to my original plan and went outside.

I went to the park and was actually enjoying myself. I even managed to forget about Ellie and her tortures for a little while, can you believe that? I walked slowly, hands in my pockets, and I was reciting one of the SG-1 dialogues in my head, when I tripped on something and ended up on my butt on the cold ground.

“Dammit!” I said loudly.

“Well, frak,” someone muttered, and I blinked and looked up.

It was some girl who looked really annoyed. I realized that I tripped on her foot, since she was sitting on the bench with her headphones on, her legs stretched out. I bet you anything -- she had her eyes closed the whole time. Well, not now of course. Oh, no… Now they were open and she was pissed.

“Frakking A!” she said louder and pulled off her headphones.

Huh, is she so upset about me falling down like an idiot? She looked at me and I understood immediately that wasn’t the case.

“Watch where the hell you are going!” she hissed and looked at her foot. “See that? Thanks a lot!”

I looked at her foot as well. There was a brown spot on her white sneaker. Is that why she is so pissed? Good Lord, that spot will come off in a heartbeat, what is her malfunction?

“That was a new pair,” she said very bitterly.

I got up from the ground and sat next to her on the bench.

“It’s not like it’s ruined,” I said reasonably. “Just a spot…”

“Oh, shut up!” she grimaced and started to wipe it off with her hand.

“I am fine by the way,” I said poisonously. “Thanks for asking!”

“Do I look like I care?” she didn’t even look at me. “Seriously, watch where you going! It’s not that hard; try it one of those days!”

“Yeah,” I nodded. “And you should try and keep your legs under the bench next time. Especially, if you have no idea what’s going on around you!”

“Frak you,” she muttered, and this time I cracked up.

She finally straightened up and looked at me with puzzlement. I realized that she was kinda cute with her ridiculous fluffy hat and light-green eyes.

“What’s funny?” she demanded.

I shook my head. Hmm, so she knows 'frak,' big deal. Let’s see if she is an actual fan of BSG or just some pathetic wanna-be-cool kid…

“I don’t know why I have to keep telling you this,” I said in a low voice. “...but the war is over.”

She blinked and stared at me silently. Oh, well. A wanna-be after all. Too bad. I got up and almost walked away, when she said:

“It hasn’t begun yet.”

Now she had my full, undivided attention. I sat back down on that bench and grinned at her. This was a first one. A girl who likes BSG… Huh, didn’t think it was possible. She rolled her eyes.

“You are probably one of those guys who jerk off to Number Six poster every night,” she said indifferently, and I coughed.

Well, yeah. But to just say it like that? Good God, what happened to decency?

“Thought so,” she nodded.

She didn’t seem very interested, but I noticed that she didn’t pull her headphones back on.

“You are weird,” I said finally.

“Eh,” she shrugged indifferently.

“I am Andrew,” I said, thinking that maybe she’d go as far as telling me her name without being sarcastic.

“I am sixteen,” she said coldly and I blinked.

Huh? Okay, she is weird.

“Okay,” I said carefully. “Is that a nickname or is it actually in your birth certificate? Your parents hate you or something?”

Well, finally! That got her smile.

“I am Katie,” she said. “And I am sixteen. So don’t bother with pick-up lines and whatnot. I am not legal.”

“Okay,” I said again. “I wasn’t going to bother with pick-up lines… It’s just strange to meet a girl who actually knows BSG, that’s all.”

She shrugged, and once again, she seemed like she couldn't care less about my very existence. I narrowed my eyes at her. There was something about this girl. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but she certainly was intriguing. Too bad, she is only sixteen, I thought and my mouth fell open. Oh dear God… Could it be? Could I actually get interested in someone besides Ellie? Oh, that would be the best Christmas present ever!

“Hey,” I said cheerfully, and she looked at me with a silent question. “Let me buy you coffee or something. Since I stepped on your sneaker and all…”

She pressed her lips tight. I rolled my eyes.

“You are a BSG fan. I feel almost obligated, okay? I swear, I won’t do anything illegal.”

She looked at me silently for almost a full minute, and finally, she smiled.

“Okay,” she said. “Except, I don’t care much for coffee.”

“Tea?”

“Ice-cream,” she said defiantly, and I couldn’t help but laugh at that.

“Deal,” I nodded. “Ice-cream it is.”

She pulled her headphones off her neck and shoved them into her backpack with a little X-Files keychain on the zipper. I thought of quoting something from that show as well, but then realized that I didn't know it very well. There was a very good chance that she knew it way better, and I’d just end up looking like an idiot. So I kept my mouth shut.

We started walking towards Dairy Queen, and I was saying something, I don’t even remember what it was, when Katie tripped on some root and waved her arms around, trying to keep balance. I was about to catch her, when she smacked into some guy who was walking towards us. I winced when both of them almost butted heads.

“Oh, God!!” she exclaimed. “I am sorry!”

The guy blinked and took a step backwards. I snorted and was about to say something about her walking skills, when all of a sudden, both of them -- Katie and this random guy -- just froze and stared at each other. The guy looked like he just saw a ghost, and Katie sure looked like one. She became so pale that I was afraid she was having a heart attack or something.

“You okay?” I asked carefully when she just stood there, her eyes huge. “Katie!”

She blinked and looked at me.

“Yeah,” she muttered. “Let’s go…”

And she walked forward so fast, she was almost running. What the hell? I looked at the guy. He was almost as pale as Katie was a second ago. Is it her ex or something?

“You okay?” I asked him tentatively, but he didn’t even seem to hear me. He just stared at Katie who was racing away.

Finally, I shrugged and ran after her. I mean, I promised her ice-cream after all.

I watched her dig into her cherry ice-cream with great gusto. Now she looked totally different -- she was smiling and seemed almost happy. Nothing like she looked like back in the park.

“So what was that all about?” I asked her finally, and she looked up at me, her light-green eyes full of genuine puzzlement.

“What?” she asked and licked her spoon.

“With that guy in the park?”

She didn’t even flinch, but something flashed in her eyes. It was gone so quick that I couldn’t understand what it was.

“Yeah, yeah,” she waved her spoon at me. “Go ahead, make fun… I am a big oaf, ha-ha!”

“No,” I squinted my eyes at her. “Did you know that guy or something? I mean, you both looked like you just saw devil incarnate…”

She snorted.

“He was probably pissed at me… I mean, I smacked into him pretty bad.”

“What about you?” I was not the one to give up so easily.

Now she looked annoyed again.

“I was startled, you moron,” she said.

“Uh huh,” I said, not buying it.

She looked at me and narrowed her eyes.

“What is it to you?” she asked.

I shrugged. I really didn’t know. Clearly, it was none of my business. I mean, I would probably never run into Katie again after she was done with her ice-cream… That thought made me angry for some reason. Katie rolled her eyes and sighed. She carefully put her spoon on the napkin and got up.

“Hey…” I stuttered. “Are you leaving because I said something? I am sorry…”

“I am not leaving,” she said slowly, her forehead wrinkling with puzzlement. “I would never leave so much ice-cream behind! I am going to the bathroom. Be right back…”

“Oh…” Yup, this is what it feels like to be a complete idiot. Great feeling.

Katie snorted and walked away. I sighed and got myself another cup of coffee. I was almost done with it when she finally came back. Every single snide remark that was dancing on the tip of my tongue, rolled back down my throat. She seemed fine, but her eyes were so shiny that I immediately knew that she was crying in that bathroom. I knew better than asking her any questions, so I just said:

“Your ice-cream is all melted. Want another one?”

“I don’t mind melted ice-cream,” she grinned. “Let me finish it and we’ll see.”

…We stayed in that Dairy Queen for almost two hours, and I couldn’t believe how free I felt around her. She was funny, smart, and actually quite pretty now that she took off her ridiculous hat. I liked her a lot. I couldn’t imagine myself dating her or anything like that, no, but being with her reminded me of good old days that I used to spend with DeeDee before she became all weird.

Right before we were about to leave, I asked her for her phone number and she pursed her lips again. I sighed.

“Look,” I said very patiently. “I am not hitting on you, okay? In fact, I have a girlfriend. It’s just…” I shrugged. “I like you, and I guess I just wanna hang out with you sometimes… Nothing illegal.”

She laughed at that and said that she was not going to give me her number, but she would get mine instead. I snorted at that.

“I will call you,” she said with laughter. “I just don’t know when. Might be in a couple of days or so… Or maybe even tomorrow!”

Don’t know why, but I believed her.

December 19th

I was walking home from the gas station that I went to after I ran out of smokes, when someone said behind me:

“Excuse me! Hold on! Crap, I don’t know your name…”

I stopped and turned around. Was whoever the hell was saying that, talking to me? Yup, he sure was. Some guy ran after me and came to a screeching halt when he realized that I stopped.

“Were you talking to me?” I asked, and he gulped some air and immediately coughed.

“Yeah,” he said finally. “Sorry for bugging you…”

I squinted my eyes at him. He looked familiar. Hold on a minute…

“Are you the guy from the park?” I asked incredulously, and he coughed again.

“Yeah,” he admitted finally. “The guy from the park… That’s me.”

“Huh,” was all I said.

He scratched his head. He looked beyond embarrassed right now.

“Look… I know it’s a moronic question, but… The girl that you were with… In the park…”

“Katie?” I asked.

“Is that her name?” he blinked. “The one that bumped into me…”

“You don’t know her?” I frowned.

“Umm, no,” he said.

“Yeah, Katie,” I said slowly. Okay, this whole thing was beyond bizarre. What the hell is going on? I felt like I was in the Twilight Zone.

“Is she…” he closed his eyes for a second. “Umm… Is she… Oh, to hell with it,” he said suddenly, and I just stared at him. “Never mind. Sorry to bother you.”

He started to walk away, and now I was the one who chased him.

“Wow,” I said. “Hold on a second! What did you want with Katie?”

He blinked in confusion.

“Oh,” he said finally. “Jesus… I am not a stalker or anything, I am sorry. It’s just…” he hesitated. “She looked like someone I…” he closed his eyes briefly again. “Someone I used to know,” he finished finally. “And I knew there was no way that it was actually…” he stopped talking, and I winced when his eyes became so haunted that it seemed unreal.

“Well,” I said carefully. “You know what they say… Everyone has a twin somewhere…”

“Yeah,” he grinned bitterly. “Sorry to bug you.”

“It’s not a problem,” I answered automatically.

He was walking away when I loudly asked him:

“What’s your name?”

He slowed down a bit and half-turned his head.

“Matt,” he said and walked away for real.

I watched him disappear around the corner and thought if I should mention this to Katie in case if she actually called me. But then I remembered her shiny eyes and her reaction to that guy, and decided to keep my mouth shut.

****

My phone rang a little after five that evening, and I didn’t even look at the caller I.D. I knew it was Ellie. Who else would be calling me?

“Hello,” I sighed into the phone, thinking that I was a gutless, backless idiot.

“Andrew?”

“Yeah,” I frowned. What do you know, it wasn’t Ellie after all. I had no clue who it was.

“It’s Katie,” she said tentatively, and I slowly sat down.

She actually called? Good God…

“Hey, Katie!” I said with a wide smile. Somehow, her calling made me feel a hell of a lot better. “What’s up?”

“Are you busy?”

“Nope,” I said immediately.

I wasn’t lying. My mother, Paul, and both dogs left an hour ago, and I was trying to figure out what to do before my inevitable Ellie Torture since then.

“You wanna…” she coughed. “Wanna hang out or something?”

“Sure,” I said with a slight frown. She sounded weird. Like she was really upset by something. I wondered if it had anything to do with that guy. What was his name? Max or something like that… Ah, yeah! Matt, that’s it.

“Cool,” she said.

“Where do you wanna meet?”

“How about…” she said slowly.

“Dairy Queen?” I offered and she laughed.

“Yeah, sure. Dairy Queen.”

“Half an hour sounds good?”

“Yeah,” she sounded better now. “See you!”

****

Forty-five or so minutes later, we were walking in the same park as yesterday, and Katie carefully worked her way through a very decent-sized ice-cream cone.

“Ice-cream junkie,” I said and she grinned.

“Yeah,” she agreed. “This is my weakness.”

“So what’s up?” I asked finally, after she fell silent again. “You sounded… Upset.”

She glanced at me and sighed.

“I don’t know,” she admitted. “I guess it’s just because I hate holidays.”

“Really?” She hates holidays? I can understand when someone in their fifties says that, but to say it when you are sixteen?

Katie shrugged indifferently. She was really good at that sort of shrugging.

“Yeah,” she said. “My Aunt and Uncle are going to Minnesota… They wanted me to come along, but I hate Minnesota. All that snow… Plus, they will be staying with my grandma and…” Another shrug. “That lady always gave me the creeps.”

“Aunt and Uncle?” I asked. “What about your parents?”

I immediately bit my tongue. God, what is wrong with me? Ugh, now she’ll say that they died in some dreadful accident, and I will have to say something, and it will get all weird, and…

“They are in Egypt,” she said, and all I could come up with was:

“Huh?”

“They are archaeologists,” she explained. “They go to digs ten months out of the year.”

Okay, I did not expect that.

“I used to go with them,” she continued. “But then they decided that it’s not good for me to switch schools so often…” Shrug. “So now I live here.”

“That explains why I’ve never seen you before,” I said with enlightened intonation in my voice, and she snorted.

“Well, aren’t you the bright one!”

I laughed at that. She was bitter, sarcastic, quick-witted, and somehow, really charming.

“So yeah,” she sighed. “Since I don’t know anybody around here, it gets… Lonely, I guess.”

She was half-way through her cone. I noticed that she kept glancing around, and the moron that I always was, I immediately asked:

“Looking for that guy?”

She immediately tensed up, and I was ready to staple my mouth shut.

“No,” she said finally. Yeah, I knew that she was lying.

“I saw him today.”

Oh, what the hell is wrong with me?! I should just go and join the circus before I do any more harm, really.

“Oh, yeah?” she asked indifferently. “So today was your turn to bump into him?”

I sighed. Go ahead now, Andrew. Might as well tell her the rest of the story, since apparently, you are suffering from a very serious medical condition called Verborum Deiectio, also known as Verbal Diarrhea.

“Umm,” I said uncomfortably.

“Oh, sure,” someone smirked in my head. “Now you have troubles speaking…”

“Umm,” I repeated, and she looked up at me with a frown.

“What?” she asked with suspicion.

“Well,” I sighed. “He asked me who you were… He said that you reminded him of someone…”

“I see,” she said thoughtfully and licked her ice cream. “Did he say who?”

Okay, this wasn’t too bad. I was somewhat relieved. She didn’t freak out or anything. She didn’t even seem upset.

“Nope,” I said lightly. “He said it was someone he used to know. Did you know his name was Matt, by the way?”

The quiet wet sound came from the rest of her ice-cream cone falling on the ground, and I stopped.

“You okay?” I asked when she just stared at the melting puddle of chocolate cherry with a waffle cone on top of it.

“Yeah,” she breathed finally. “I am okay. And no, I didn’t know that.”

“Want another ice-cream?” I asked, and she just looked at me blindly.

“No,” she grinned after a few seconds. “I should seriously slow down on ice-cream… I would like to be able to fit into my jeans after the holidays.”

I couldn’t figure out if she was upset or not. I mean, people drop ice-cream cones from time to time, right? And she seemed to be completely fine. She was smiling the same sarcastic smile as before, when she told me how bright I was; and right now, she was a hell of lot more relaxed than forty-five minutes ago. Hmm, maybe I was seeing things? Shit happens, right? I was trying to figure out what to do since it was getting late and pretty cold already, when all of a sudden, Katie looked at me thoughtfully and said:

“How many seasons of BSG do you have?”

“How many…” I stared at her in mock horror. “Good God, lady… I have them all, of course!”

She laughed at my dignified expression, and then I cracked up as well.

“Seriously,” I said after we stopped laughing. “All of them. Why?”

“It’s getting cold,” she shivered slightly. “Let’s go watch some episodes if that’s okay?”

“Of course, it’s okay!” I couldn’t figure out why her words made me so happy.

She grinned at me, shoved her hands into her coat pockets, and we started walking towards my house. We almost made it, when our phones rang at the same time. I sighed. I knew that this time it was Ellie. I was wondering who called Katie though. I flipped my phone open and casually said:

“Hey!”

“Andrew, hey…” Yup, it was Ellie. “Let’s meet in twenty minutes or so, okay?”

I was watching Katie pull out her phone.

“Hello?” she muttered after a few seconds. “Oh, hey, Uncle Seth…”

Ah, her Uncle. Okay. I concentrated on what Ellie was saying.

“Right?” she finished and laughed.

Umm, 'right' what?

“Right,” I said finally. “Ellie, listen…”

“Now?” Katie frowned at something she heard on the phone.

“I can’t do anything tonight…” I continued, and Ellie laughed in disbelief. “No, seriously. Something came up… I’ll call you tomorrow, okay?”

“Wait a minute…” Now Ellie sounded almost stricken. I never said no before.

“But I have plans…” Katie said, and then she stopped talking and bit her lip. “Yes, I understand. Okay. Yeah, I got it. Be right there.”

She shut her phone and looked at it very thoughtfully.

“Ellie, I gotta go,” I said and turned off my phone, ignoring her angry exclamation.

Katie put her phone into her pocket, looked up at me, and sighed.

“I need to get home,” she said apologetically. “My Uncle needs something… I guess he wants me to help him with packing and whatnot.”

“I see,” I said, trying not to sound too disappointed. “What about tomorrow? Wanna do it tomorrow instead?”

She nodded slowly.

“Yeah, I don’t see why not.”

“All right,” I sighed. “Let me walk you home or something. It’s pretty dark…”

She shrugged.

“He is meeting me by the pond over there,” she said and nodded towards the duck pond that now was just a frozen puddle of water.

“Okay, let me walk you to the pond then,” I rolled my eyes.

She smiled and nodded. We got to the pond in ten minutes or so, and I saw a blond guy in a black leather jacket who was sitting on one of the benches, his back towards us. Katie sighed and looked at me.

“That’s your Uncle?” I asked.

“Yup,” she nodded. “Well, thanks Andrew! I’ll call you tomorrow…”

“You know,” I said thoughtfully. “If you give me your phone number…”

She laughed.

“I’ll call you,” she said. “Good night!”

“Night,” I said, watching her walking towards the guy.

…When I got home, it was almost seven. I thought for a second, sighed, and pulled out my phone.

“Hey,” I said after I dialed her number. “You wanna come over…? Umm, yeah, now… Uh huh… Well, I figured we could watch a movie or something… Ugh, fine, bring Pretty Woman, I don’t care! Yeah, I will… Okay, see you in a few.”

I closed my phone and went into the kitchen to make coffee. Ten or so minutes later, someone rang the doorbell.

“Hey,” I said when I opened the door.

“Hey,” she said casually and shoved a DVD case in my hands. “Here, make sure there are no scratches or anything…”

I looked at the case. Pretty Woman, great…

“Why would there be scratches?” I asked.

“Because Caleb could’ve been a jerk,” DeeDee sighed and pulled her coat off. “He could’ve done it on purpose. Hey, how come you are not with your cock-tease?”

Uh huh. The last time DeeDee called Ellie 'Miss Righteous,' was back in October. I shrugged indifferently, which immediately reminded me of Katie. DeeDee threw her coat on the chair and frowned at me.

“Huh,” she said finally. “I sense something… Spill, Frey!”

And I did.