The Bookworm Next Door: The Expanded and Revised Edition (31 page)

              Wesley Pitts knew a few things. 

              His father was retired military and kept things running smoothly while cussing like a sailor. 

              That was what caused his mother to divorce his father.  And leave him with his father.

              His closest friends were sickeningly sweet.  Like a toothache.  And he was jealous of them.

              He lied to Jennifer when he said they were better off as friends. 

              There were worse things than having five older brothers.  None of which Jennifer could think of at the moment. 

              There was ten years between her and her eldest brother.  Walker only came around on Sunday nights for some of his mother’s cooking.  The rest of the week he either grabbed fast food, peanut butter sandwiches, or whatever he could put in the oven.  The rest of his time was spent managing the garage he’d bought from his former boss.  That was whenever Mr. Joe wasn’t around pretending that he was still the owner and manager of Joe’s Garage. 

              Two years younger, at twenty-six, was Julius.  He lived on site at the garage in a one-room apartment on the second floor.  He was there in case somebody needed emergency work in the middle of the night.  He found himself at home most nights because the studio didn’t have a working stove and microwave popcorn and T.V. dinners got old fast.  If they found him a tad reclusive and quiet at times they chalked it up to the PTSD he’d suffered while in the Army. 

              Twenty-five-year-old Evan worked with his older brothers, but lived at his girlfriend’s house.  Everybody else had started placing bets on when he was going to propose to Laurel.  Jennifer had a feeling that they were going to make an announcement at dinner.

              Gage, at twenty-three, was working on his MBA.  It wasn’t often that he made it home for Sunday night dinners.  The fact that he was present was enough for Jennifer to suspect Evan and Laurel’s presence even more keenly.

              Her youngest brother, Drew – short for Andrew – was the brother most often in her hair.  Mrs. Matheson, most nights, would end up yelling at her twenty and eighteen-year-old children who were fighting over the bathroom.  Most of the time they didn’t have a clue about what Drew wanted to do except play guitar in his band – a band that played very badly.  At night.  When Jennifer was trying to sleep. 

              When the world was trying to sleep. 

              All six Matheson siblings, Laurel, and their parents were crowded around the table, waiting for either an announcement from the couple or for Mrs. Matheson to drop the food in the middle of the table for them to fight over. 

              After waiting a few minutes and pointedly looking at Evan, she got up and brought out two baskets filled with rolls, followed by the ham she placed in front of her husband.  Mashed potatoes with butter in front of the couple.  Green bean casserole.  Corn on the cob.  A bowl filled with salad that only three people would end up eating from.  Four people if she could get her husband to take some without yelling at him in front of Mr. and Mrs. Grant.  It wouldn’t look good if he started yelling around Evan’s future in-laws.   

              Jennifer looked at all of her siblings while her mother brought in the food, refusing any of her children’s assistance.  Even Jennifer remembered the giant accidental food fight one Thanksgiving when she was six.  She wouldn’t touch green beans for a year. 

              Chaotic or not, they all knew how things were going to happen.  Mr. Matheson would say grace and carve the ham.  The other food bowls would pass around the table until they returned to their original places.  Then the meat would be passed around.  Then they would start talking again and chaos would reign supreme.   

              Except this time everybody looked at Evan and Laurel.  And waited.  Silently. 

              “They know,” he whispered, knowing it would still be heard in the quiet dining room. 

              “You think?” Laurel whispered back.  She reached into her pocket and pulled out a ring.  “We’re getting married!” she announced as she held up her left hand. 

              Mrs. Matheson jumped up excitedly to give her soon-to-be daughter-in-law and the Grants a hug.  Gage, sitting closest to Evan smacked him on the back.  Walker started talking excitedly to Julius.  They had a bachelor party to plan. 

              “No strippers!” Laurel stated firmly, drawing everybody’s attention to her until they noticed where she was glaring. 

              “Come on,” was over-ruled with, “I’m agree with Laurel.” 

              Then, the very words that sent fear racing down Jennifer’s back.  “Jen, will you be a bridesmaid?”

              Visions of dresses with ruffles and butt bows crossed her mind as Jennifer calmly answerer, “Certainly.”  She automatically started plotting ways to get out of it.

              Then the other brothers started shouting about never seeing Jennifer in a dress before and if was Laurel certain she wanted to jumpstart the end of the world by putting Jennifer in a dress? 

              She wanted to curl up in a corner with the bowl of mashed potatoes and a basket of rolls and stuff her face.  Maybe if she gained twenty pounds Laurel would change her mind.  It would work if she didn’t have Track to keep her in shape. 

              Prom season meant that Aimee Kirkland had to watch everybody initiate ‘cute’ prom proposals.  The balloons and flowers.  That one baseball player who paid the announcer to ask his girlfriend in the middle of the game with the local rival team. 

              She even had to deal with David Carver asking Delilah to Prom by buying her a bunch of books with the word “Prom” in the title.  She knew they would be going in the boring bookworm’s locker.  He’d been leaving her books in there all year, but this was the first time that he actually came in the bookstore instead of sending his mother after the books. 

              “Hello, David,” she purred, touching his hand as he slid the books over to her.  “How are you doing?”

              “I’m fine,” he answered stiffly, wishing that he could have sent his mother after these books, but without a set list it she would have refused to help her son.  David wondered if she would try to touch him again when he handed over his debit card.  Mr. Ray wouldn’t like to know that his cashier was flirting with his customers and he really needed to get a card reader that the customers could use.  “I’m in a hurry.” 

              “What’s the hurry?” she whispered, batting her eyelashes at him. 

              He wanted to tell her that she looked ridiculous.  Her fake lashes were too big and one looked like it was coming unglued.  “I’m meeting Delilah,” he said instead, grabbing his bag and card before escaping through the door. 

              “I’ll see you later!” Aimee called after him. 

              But watching Delilah getting her invite wasn’t the point that nearly broke her.  It was watching Garrett Bryant ask Kelly to the Prom.  He just walked right up to her and asked.  Aimee watched Kelly excitedly say yes and tell him about the dress she had already bought.  How she had no problem sharing a limo with Will and his date. 

              She knew that they were still friends, even after everything else from the previous semester.  Aimee just wondered why watching Will and Kelly make prom plans – with their dates - without her hurt so much. 

              It hurt even more when nobody asked her to be their date except for the sleazy guy with bad breath that nobody else wanted to go out with.  To make it worse, he’d said, “I’ve already asked five other girls, but I’m hoping that your answer will be different.  Will you let me rock your socks at Prom?”

              He’d planned it all perfectly.  He’d even talked to the masters of sweet romantic gestures: David and Kyle.  David had his book plan.  Kyle asked Grace to Prom through the school newspaper. 

              That didn’t stop the tiny bit of doubt that hung around the back of Wesley’s head.  Jennifer was not like the other girls.  She had five older brothers and very few female influences.  She wasn’t like Delilah with two older sisters and a hopeless romantic streak a mile wide.  Heck,
everybody
knew what Delilah’s favorite book was and the famous literary couple between its covers.

              Even Grace had a small handful of younger sisters mixed in with her younger brothers – even today he wasn’t certain how many siblings Grace had; he’d just learned that her parents were strict Catholics.  

              David and Kyle’s suggestions were not going to work with a tomboy. 

              Taking his phone out, he sent a quick text to the person he’d brought in to help him. 
Cancel plans.  Forming Plan B

             
A few moments later,
What am I supposed to do with 25 balloons?

              Sell them to somebody who looks like he’s panicking about how to ask somebody to the prom?
Wesley texted back the suggestion, adding
And keep the money.

             
What was the cost of twenty-five helium-filled balloons anyway?

              No, Wesley had to come up with Plan B. 

              “Can you believe it?” Kelly squealed, bouncing up and down while holding her lunch tray.  “Garrett Bryant asked me to Prom!”  Taking a deep breath, she slid into the seat next to Jennifer.  “Hannah, are you going?  You can catch a ride with me and Will?  We’re all pitching in for a limo.  Although,” she looked at Delilah and Grace, “you two can join in and we can get one of those limos that can hold like ten people.”

              Jennifer swore – silently – that if Kelly hadn’t been sitting down she’d still be jumping around excitedly. 

              “Jennifer?” she asked. 

              “Umm…” Jennifer hesitated.  “I’ll have to get back to you on that.”  Even barely listening she still heard Kelly’s offer for her and Wesley to share in the expense of the limo. 

              She just didn’t know if she would be going to the Prom with Wesley.  Everybody assumed she would because they always went out together whenever there was a group date for bowling or the movies or something. 

              Jennifer and Wesley knew that not everybody had realized that they had broken up.  She understood that not making the knowledge well-known meant that her dates were limited to those group dates and whenever they decided to go out to get out of their respective houses. 

              No, Jennifer had a theory that very few high school relationships lasted and that the allotment of forever relationships was already filled with Hannah and either Delilah or Grace.  She couldn’t explain where her theory came from.  Maybe it was from watching her older brothers.  Maybe she had a realistic approach to high school relationships. 

              She actually felt more strongly about the potential for former high school classmates reconnecting years later once they started to mature more.   

              Besides, as she had told Wesley, she had more important things to deal with.  She was in the middle of Track and Field season and desperately was trying to get an athletic scholarship – in addition to the almost guaranteed academic scholarship she’d get for being in the top three of her class – to help supplement her limited college funds.    

              Still, she poked at her salad and hamburger – Jennifer willingly paid extra to get both – instead of eating either of them. 

              “Jenn,” Wesley whispered, sitting down in front of her, “you need to eat.  You have a track meet today.”

              “I know,” she whispered back while she ignored his nickname for her.  She couldn’t get him to stop calling her that no matter how much she complained.  “We’re expecting a recruiter for me today.” 

              But that wasn’t why she was picking at her food.  She was wondering why Wesley hadn’t asked her to Prom yet. 

              If it hadn’t been for her brothers advising her to give Wesley a few more days she would have already started demanding answers from him. 

             Wesley knew a few things.

              He knew that his father had let him borrow the SUV to get them all to Jennifer’s track meet two hours away. 

              He knew that they would have to be careful to keep her from noticing that they were in the stands, even though they’d often made the trip after school to watch her meets. 

              If keeping hidden wouldn’t work – and he seriously doubted that it was possible – he’d have to keep those signs hidden until after Jennifer’s last race.  That might be the bigger problem. 

              She knew they were in the stands. 

              The recruiter was sitting at the top of the stands near the finish line.  He wasn’t sitting up there alone.

              Her friends were sitting behind her teammates, trying to be supportive and not disruptive at the same time. 

              Honestly her teammates liked it when her friends came to cheer them on.  Often Kyle and Grace would be working on homework.  Mark and Penny would be sitting near each other, but talking to other people.  Usually it was people from other teams.  Delilah and David would be flitting about everywhere; David often found people he knew from the other schools and he enjoyed showing Delilah off. 

              Jennifer was a bit surprised that Delilah wasn’t reading whatever David had stashed in her locker for that week –
The Hobbit
– but didn’t think anything about it. 

              She was down in the front, stretching and getting ready for her final race.  Fifteen hundred meters didn’t seem like a lot, only four laps around the track, but she knew she was worn out after her mad dash down the last 200 meters.  This time, instead of going and spending some time with her friends after the 1500 meter race, she had sat down by herself and popped in her headphones.  She really wanted to recover after that second place finish. 

              She needed to rest for the 800 meter race.