18 Weeks of Twoey - 58. Week Nine Tuesday, October 28, 2014: Dance Plans

“You must bear with me

Pray you now, forget and forgive”

KL -WS

***

As I approached his house, before our run, Gary was in his front yard.

He walked right up to me, like two inches away. We stared into each other’s eyes.

“I’m sorry.” He looked sorry.

I was still angry. “Me too.”

I stood there, not moving an inch, my stare not wavering from his brown eyes.

At that exact moment, I did not know what I was going to do. I did not know if I could accept his apology.

Then he put his arms around me and squeezed into me. I stayed unmoved. I was still angry.

It’s when I felt his body moving. Gary was crying.

Slowly, glacially slowly, I raised my arms and encompassed him, drawing him yet closer to me.

He sobbed. “Will you every forgive me?”

I was moved, but didn’t know what to say. Finally, I decided.

“I don’t have to. We’re best friends, remember?”

We broke the embrace and began our run.

The run was eerily quiet.

At the end, as we stopped at his house, Gary tried to break the dark mood.

“You know Friday is Halloween and there's a dance.”

I think ...it was the wrong thing to say. I bristled.

I snapped out my answer. “Who do you want me to take this time?”

He seemed shocked.

“David ...I said I was sorry.”

We stood, breathing hard and staring at each other again.

I began to remember Mike and Twoey. Realizing this was the critical moment in our friendship, I finally relented.

I let it go, forever.

“OK.”

It’s all I needed to say on the Kathy topic.

I decided to respond to his peace offering. “Do you think Lanni would go with me? I'd be sorta filling in for Twoey.”

I’d been dying to connect with Lanni for weeks anyway. Maybe I could use this dance to help it along.

Gary said, “Ask her. It's a good idea. Better clear it with Twoey first though.”

I thought ...yeah, like Twoey's gonna mind.

So after my shower I got my naked call again, as usual, but I used it as an opportunity to mention the dance to Twoey. After he gave me the shit I was expecting, he said it was a great idea. So I'll ask her fifth period. Now I have to decide whether to dress as something unusual or just go as a zombie, like everyone else.

On the way to school I walked next to Sam. “Hey, what should I wear for a Halloween costume this year? I don’t want to be a zombie.” Sam’s finger is on the pulse of the school.

“Go as a pirate cuz you’ll look weird with a black moustache.”

Ha! But I never would have thought of a pirate. I'll have to hit the Party Shop after school. Glad I asked Sam!

Some kind of weird feeling came over me in bio. Martin and I were partners on the frog dissection lab. I don’t think it was the splayed and gutted frog getting to me. Maybe the shit they soaked it in, but I had to turn away and bend over. I almost got sick. Martin rubbed my back and it sort of calmed me down. The poor guy made me sit down away from the table while he did today’s lab. Only near the end of the period could I take a quick look, holding my breath. Then back at our desks I helped him write the report. I hope I don’t go crazy for all our dissecting labs. Martin will be asking for a new partner. I’ll have to think of some way to repay him.

I waved at Kathy when I got to math class but she sorta looked at the girl next to her. Could she be ashamed too? I wondered if maybe Greg bludgeoned it out of her. How did Mel find out anyway? Well, I don’t really give a fuck anymore ...about either of them!

As I was about to sit down, the irritating kid pushed past me on the way to his seat. I almost tripped the fucker, but I spotted Terri who was all smiles again. I just had to ask her, so I ignored the little asshole.

“Ron giving you more attention now?”

She blushed and said, “Oh Yeah!” I think I knew what that meant.

Just before lunch I shot Twoey a quick text so he knows I'm thinking about him. I told him I might be a few minutes late cuz I needed to find a pirate costume. Finishing the text, I was walking into the cafeteria where there was almost a fight in the hall, but it didn't involve me ...honest! They didn't actually come to blows but Cal Jacobs and some other kid were pushing each other around until his teacher came out and broke them up shoving Cal into the music room. Maybe the poor kid was Kathy’s next target. I think Cal must have a music class there during my lunch.

Speaking of lunch, I noticed Gary was already sitting by the time I entered the cafeteria. Before I got in the food line, I went over and squeezed his shoulder, just to reinforce we were still best friends. The lunch table has settled into the following configuration:

Wall side - Empty, Empty, Nels, Gary.

Room side - Erik, Matty, Me, Sam.

I guess nobody wants to take Danny’s place opposite Matty. I wonder where Twoey will sit when he returns. He was usually to my right but I took his chair now, to get away from Erik (I think).

Matty was wiggling in his seat. “What’s up Matty? You look excited or something.”

“It finally hit me! Wrestling practice starts Monday! I just know I’m gonna make varsity!”

“Hey, I’ll go to your matches! Well, the home ones anyway.”

I asked Erik if he thought he would too, but Matty interrupted. “Jeez, that’s a given! He’d have made it last year except he was a freshman.”

“Well that’ll give me twice the reasons to watch!” I don’t know why I included Erik, maybe because we were going to be tutoring Twoey. Wait! WTF. How can he tutor if he has practice and matches after school? What’s he up to?

Jeez I’ve got to stop suspecting everything the guy does! I’m starting to obsess about stuff that’s none of my business. Don’t I have enough on my fucking plate already? I better start calming down.

I intercepted Lanni outside her English class. She seemed shocked when I asked her to the dance, but she accepted! In fact, she accepted pretty damn fast. Maybe I have a shot with her? Anyway, I asked her to go with me to the Party Shop after classes. I'll meet her at the front of the school.

Because I talked to Lanni a little too long, I was a few seconds late to social. OK, maybe almost a minute. Anyway, I’m getting fed up with Burch. Maybe I’ll start ditching some of his classes. Sooo back to today. Burch raised his eyebrows as I entered and calmly walked to my seat.

“I’m glad you could fit us in, Mr. Megal.”

I was about to ask if I missed the sermon. Something held me back. Common sense? I’m not sure, but I opted for deference.

“I’m sorry sir. It won’t happen again.”

I wasn’t sure if the answer was wise or not. Would Putin have considered it a sign of weakness or strength? I’ll have to ask him next time. In any event, class continued. I pretended to take notes.

In the weight room I reminded Biggy about the Halloween dance. I shouldn’t have bothered. I guess I was the only guy in the whole damn school with so much other stuff going on he needed to be reminded. It’ll be interesting to see Biggy and Wendy in a dance setting. I feel like fucking cupid. I guess that didn’t sound the way I meant it ...hehe.

I'm getting to like the rings of the gymnastics unit in PhysEd. This is fun. I hated the parallel bars! Matty’s wrestling exercises must be paying off too. We are, without a doubt, the best two in class. Erik surprised me. I guess he must not work out as much as I thought. Maybe cuz he’s over a year older, his body looks more developed. But Matty is seriously ripped, and it’s paying off on the rings. In fact, we’re like the two musketeers in gym class now. But honestly, it’s Biggy who deserves most of the credit for shaping me up!

Of course, with XCountry finished, I’m back to showering with the class. I wonder how I’m going to handle it when Twoey returns? Maybe I can keep Matty between us as a buffer. He always seems to be next to me anyway, so it won’t be too difficult.

I met Lanni and we walked over to the Party Shop. “My friend Sam thinks I should dress as a pirate.”

“YES! I think you’d make a cute pirate! Let’s look for your stuff first.”

We found a decent pirate costume and a big hat with a feather. I even found a fake moustache. Then we tried to find something for her. She didn’t seem motivated until we spotted this Devil Girl costume. She held it up to her body and showed me.

“That’ll look really good on you!”

With her long hair and slim body, it really looked sexy as hell …hehe.

“You’ll hafta change your lip blush from orange to red for the dance though. There aren’t too many devils in orange around here ...Syracuse maybe, but not here ...hehe.” Man, talking with Lanni is just so natural and easy. I’ve gotta work on this relationship.

Ave Zeus! Don’t let any shit enter my life to distract me while I’m trying to connect with this girl!

We got all our stuff and stopped at Dunkin’ for a cup of somethin’ awful before I walked her home. We chose there, because it’s close to her house. It’s certainly no Timmy’s though. No wonder I never go there.

Finally I arrived at Twoey’s. After our hello kiss, he and I got a lot accomplished.

“You know, I understand this math much better with you teaching me than with Elcher. You should become a teacher!”

“OMG Twoey! Could you imagine me sharing the teacher’s lounge with Burch? I’d better not think of teaching as a career.” I even shuddered a little.

Ginny worked with me making salmon and rice tonight. Twoey watched and made ‘helpful’ comments ...it kept the whole thing really light and funny. This cooking class is gonna be fun with a studio audience! The meal was seriously good. We never have fish of any kind from Tommy’s mother. She must not be able to use the crockpot. In fact, cooking fish is really fast and delicate. Ginny even walked me through hollandaise sauce. She did most of the work though. I tried to digest all the steps she was following. It wasn’t too complicated, except separating the yolk from the white. Timing is big with this sauce, but shit, does it ever pay off when poured over the asparagus we had. It was a fantastic meal. Don’t worry Nurse, I can just feel those pounds coming back on me!

I meditated a little when I got home. I want a nice connection to develop between Mike and Gary. That'll help make the 'Y' image stable. I'll try to find some common ground between them. I touched base with Putin and he seemed to be pleased with yesterday morning's encounter, telling me that her trying to create an argument was a sign of weakness on her part. “We are strong and getting stronger!”

Remind me to always keep that guy on my side!

I also asked about my response to Burch. He thought it was also a sign of strength because it was not what Burch expected. I need to always keep them off balance, I guess. That’s what Putin is trying to pound into my head. He’s sort of like Basuba was, except he’s coaching me for this campaign Enos has against me.

Still only pictures of me on the computer. I finished my homework and slipped into bed and was about to call Twoey when it chirped.

Of course, it was Twoey.

Then we talked for over an hour while we were each in bed!

Mike

I started thinking ...what if this meeting with David is a trap? What if he's bringing this Gary kid along to help beat me up, the two of them against just me? I know David's a brawler.

Nah ...I think too much!