Better Off Friends (10 page)

She smiled at me. “And you have, like, the best hair.” She started fiddling with her own long honey-brown hair.

“You’ve got great hair, too.”

She shrugged her shoulders. “My color is so boring.”

Levi turned around. “Seriously, hair and clothing? Way to shatter stereotypes, Macallan.”

I shot him my patented death stare. “What were you guys going to talk about, sports?”

“Well, we’re clearly manly.”

“Seriously? You want me to get in this with you right now in front of Carrie.” I raised my eyebrow, daring him.

He turned back around. “I knew this was a bad idea.”

While I was pretty sure he was saying it in a joking manner, I agreed with him one hundred percent.

I tried to adjust my attitude as we sat down at Curran’s Tavern. We made small talk before the waiter came over and took our orders.

Levi gave me a crooked smile. “Shall I order or do you want to?”

“We always get the same thing,” I explained to our confused companions. “Yes, I’ll have the fried cod with baked potato, but can I please have extra sour cream with that? And blue cheese dressing on the salad. Thanks.”

“I’ll have what she’s having,” Levi announced. “Although you forgot one thing.”

“Oh! Cheese curds!” I practically screamed. “Um, can we start with an order of fried cheese curds as well? Thanks.”

The waiter nodded and turned toward Carrie, who asked for a grilled chicken Caesar salad.

“And I’ll have the cheeseburger, medium rare,” Ian ordered.

I didn’t have to say anything, because I knew Levi would.

“Seriously? Who goes to a fish fry and doesn’t get fish?” He shook his head. “First of all, I will not be sharing my corn fritters with either of you, and I know for a fact that Macallan won’t, either.”

“Preach it,” I encouraged.

Levi leaned in, his face so serious it was almost solemn. “Listen, guys, I never heard of a Friday night fish fry until Macallan’s family took my family. You have no idea how spoiled you are in Wisconsin: fried fish, corn fritters with honey butter, baked beans, bread and butter, coleslaw, potatoes — you get your choice of potato! And did I mention the butter? So much butter! I mean, what more could you want on a Friday night? Ordering something else … It’s madness, madness, I say!”

While Carrie and Ian didn’t look as amused as I was, a strange sense of pride overwhelmed me. If only seventh-grade Levi could see himself now. He was even starting to get a little Midwestern accent.

“What are you smiling at?” Levi inquired.

“Nothing,” I responded a little too quickly.

“Like I would ever fall for that.” He leaned forward and gazed in my eyes as if he was trying to read my mind. I looked away. At that point, I wouldn’t have doubted that he could. “Ah, see, I know you’re up to something.”

“Who, me?” I said in my most innocent voice.

“Please.” He leaned back and put his arm around the back of Carrie’s chair. “Let me tell you a little something about this one, Carrie. Do not fall for the good-girl, straight-A-student façade. Beneath her sweet exterior is a snarky center with quick wit and even quicker rebounds.”

“Which is exactly why you’re best friends with me.”

“Obviously,” Levi agreed.

Ian cleared his voice loudly. “So, Carrie, I think we need to intervene before the
Levi and Macallan Show
takes over. Once they get started, they don’t stop. Ever.”

Carrie maneuvered uncomfortably in her chair and played with her straw wrapper.

I mouthed
sorry
to Ian. This wasn’t the first time, nor did I think it would be the last, he’d had to intervene when Levi and I got into one of our epic conversations.

I ended up playing twenty get-to-know-you questions with Carrie until our food arrived. Besides being really sweet, she was running for student council and volunteering at the animal shelter on the weekends. I felt like a total slacker in comparison.

Although I was having a good time, I had to fight every instinct I had to talk to Levi whenever a thought came up that I knew he’d enjoy or have a comeback for. I needed to be on my best behavior. We had our dates to consider. After all, it was a pretty big miracle we could find members of the opposite sex who enjoyed our company as much as we did.

We arrived at Keith’s house when the party was in full swing. Everybody from the football team, cheerleading squad, and marching band was there.

“Hey, California!” Keith came over and did that guy hand-slap/chest-bump combination that must be taught in some dude class. “Welcome, welcome, all!” He looked me up and down, and I gave him a stare that made it clear I wasn’t the least bit interested in anything he was looking for.

“Hey, man,” Ian said, coming between us. “Thanks for the invite.”

“Oh, right, you two are together. See, I keep forgetting that, since she’s always with him.” He pointed to a clearly annoyed Levi.

“Keith, this is Carrie.” Levi gestured in her direction.

For whatever reason, Keith laughed. “Okay, I get it, I get it.” He reached down in a cooler and pulled out some cans of pop. “I’d say go long, Levi, but I don’t think my mom would appreciate getting pop on the carpet.” He laughed again. We all remained stone-faced.

We each took a can and made our way over to the corner of the kitchen.

“Don’t let him get to you,” I said to Levi.

“But he’s right. I can’t catch anything … except grief.” He shook his head.

I turned my back to Carrie and Ian. I knew how embarrassed Levi got about his lack of catching skills. “You’re getting much better. The other day, Adam was telling me you caught a ball nearly all the way down the block.”

“I guess.” His voice was faint. “But it’s so humiliating sitting on that bench every single game.”

“I thought you only wanted to play football to make some friends and fit in.”

He shrugged. “But it doesn’t mean I don’t want to play.”

“I know, but look around. You’re at a party and Keith invited you.”

“He invited
everybody
.”

“But at least you’re here. And he’s ribbing you. Isn’t that the bro way of being friendly?”

“The bro way.” He laughed.

“You know, how guys show affection. Or mark their turf. Kind of like how dogs pee on something to let you know it’s theirs.”

“Do you have any idea of what you’re talking about?”

“Of course not,” I admitted. “But does it at least make you feel a little better?”

“Yeah, just a little.”

I elbowed him playfully. “Well, that will not do. Clearly my job here is not done. Let me count the ways that you’re a stud.”

“Wait, wait.” Levi pulled out his phone. “I need to record this. I may even make it my ringtone.”

I grabbed his phone and spoke directly into the mic. “I, Macallan Marion Dietz, do hereby swear that Levi Rodgers is a total manly man, the ultimate bro. Reason number one, he does a mean British accent. Reason number two, he knows to always compliment a lady’s cooking skills. Um, reason number three. Um …”

“Nice.” He grabbed his phone back. “You can’t even come up with three reasons?”

“See, there are just so many reasons, my poor brain is on overload.”

“Good save.”

“Phew!” I wiped my brow dramatically.

“Hey!” Danielle approached us. “I didn’t see you guys come in. But then I saw your dates outside and figured you were doing that thing you do.”

Danielle could read the nonverbal exchange Levi and I shared. “Let me guess. You didn’t realize your dates left.”

I grimaced.

She shook her head. “You guys are too much.”

“Clearly,” Levi and I said in unison.

“Well, may I suggest that you take your party outside and keep your dates company?”

“Thanks!” I gave Danielle a quick hug before she returned to her marching band friends.

Levi and I went to the glass patio door and saw Carrie and Ian leaning against the deck railing. Ian was telling some story that was making Carrie laugh.

“Well, at least they’re having a good time,” Levi remarked. “In fact, it looks like they’re having a better time now than they did at dinner.”

“Levi.” I stopped him from opening the door. “I think that maybe it’s not the best idea for us to go on double dates.”

He nodded. “I know. It’s hard to throw anybody into our mix. I don’t want to mess things up with Carrie.”

“You and I will still hang out. I’m only saying that maybe date night should just be date night. Not forcing our dates to put up with the two of us.”

Levi’s gaze was fixed straight ahead. His jaw was tightly clenched.

“Levi?”

When he didn’t respond, I followed his stare. Ian moved closer to Carrie and tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. She blushed, but leaned into him. He then put his arm around her.

“Are they
flirting
?” I gasped out. There was no way this was happening.

Levi and I remained frozen as we watched Ian and Carrie get closer and closer. He said something else that made her laugh. She twirled a piece of hair with her finger. Then he leaned farther into her. Her smile dropped. They were studying each other. Intensely.

I recognized that look on Ian. He tilted his head and put his index finger up to her chin.

This was so not happening.

“I can’t …” Levi’s pained voice snapped me into action.

I slid the glass door so quickly it rattled.

“How could you?” I found myself in front of Carrie. I know I should’ve been more upset with Ian, but at that moment I was furious at Carrie. Levi had been on a few dates with her, he’d asked her to come hang out with his friends and go to a party he was invited to, and
this
was how she repaid him?

Carrie shrank from me. But Ian stepped closer. “Are you being serious right now?” I’d never seen him mad before. But he was mad now.

“Are
you
being serious right now?” I threw back.

He looked at me with disgust. “Do you realize how messed up this is? You’re mad at Carrie? Do you even care about me? You know what — you don’t need to answer that. It’s clear that your only concern is Levi, not your boyfriend. No, wait, your
former
boyfriend.”

“Let me make sure I’m getting this straight.” My mind was trying to keep up with everything that had happened in the past few minutes. “
You
were flirting with another girl. If I hadn’t stepped in,
you
were probably going to kiss another girl.
You
were going to cheat on me. Yet
you’re
mad at
me
? And
you’re
breaking up with
me
?”

“Do you have any idea how much this hurts me?” Ian’s voice cracked, and I could tell it was completely genuine. I felt awful. Maybe I had hurt him. But I certainly knew I didn’t do anything that justified cheating.

“How are you putting this on me?” Confusion swirled around in my head. Ian and I had never fought. Not once. We were talking about going into Milwaukee for our one-year anniversary. And now he was breaking up with me? “Have you been drinking?”

“You know I don’t drink,” he snapped at me. “Maybe I did do this on purpose, for you to see what it’s like to have your boyfriend give another girl all your attention. I really like you, Macallan. But I can’t sit here and play second best to Levi anymore.”

“You wouldn’t think any of this if he was a girl.”

“But he’s not. And that’s the problem. Why don’t you two just go out already?”

This was what it always came down to. The perception that there was no way Levi and I could be legitimately best friends and only friends. Nobody ever got that.

Mostly because those people never had a best friend of the opposite sex.

Or maybe it would be more appropriate to say that none of those people had Levi as a best friend.

“If you’ve had such a problem with it, why are you only saying something now?”

He groaned. “Because I figured that the closer you and I got, the less I’d have to deal with him?”

“
Deal with him?
”

“You know what I mean.”

“No, I don’t.”

I nearly jumped out of my skin when I heard Levi’s voice say, “I’m so sorry.” I had forgotten that he and Carrie were there. In fact, a whole crowd had started gathering around the door.

Carrie was hunched over in a clear attempt to disappear. “I should go,” she said quietly.

“I’ll drive you home.” Ian walked into the group of observers with Carrie following behind him.

I heard some clapping. “Dudes,” Keith called out, emerging from the crowd. “I know I can always count on you two for entertainment. If only I had some popcorn! That was insane.”

“Really, Keith?” I asked.

Something in my voice stopped him. “Oh, man, I’m sorry, Macallan.”

I stood there waiting for him to make a sarcastic follow-up comment. But he had a look of actual sympathy on his face. Which made me feel even worse. If Keith felt bad for you, you knew your life must be pathetic.

“Let’s get out of here.” I grabbed Levi by the arm and led us out of the house.

“Um, our ride left,” Levi said with quiet resignation.

“We’ll figure something out.” I opened the door and started walking. “I think fresh air might do us some good.”