stood at the open door, my hands in my pockets. “With your car still being at school, can I pick you up on Monday on my way to zero-hour?” I offered.
“Yeah, sure. I hope my car won’t get broken into if I leave it there tonight.” Alicia furrowed her brow.
“It’ll be fine,” Jibby commented, “I’ve left my car overnight thousands of times.”
Raising my eyebrow, I wondered why he’d ever done that—it seemed likely he had been drunk or high, or both. I shook the thought away before my brain reminded me of Jensen and his partying ... and then went to an even darker place to Fallon.
After Ashlyn drove off with Alicia tucked into her car, I opened my truck for Jibby and Krissa to climb in. Krissa had offered to sit in the cramped back with the speakers, but this time around Jibby said he’d take one for the team and easily jumped in back. I started the truck and turned on the radio.
“Oh, turn this up! I love this song!” Krissa shrieked.
“Huh? I never would have pegged you for a Mazzy Star fan,” Jibby said, turning up the radio. The soulful voice sang about fading into someone and that person never knowing. Amidst the sad melody, it felt like my life at that moment.
“So that guy helping Alicia was hot, wasn’t he?” Krissa casually commented.
“Yeah, he was pretty cute. Loved the accent and the words he used,” I agreed.
“Oh, and his eyes were so dreamy!” Jibby mocked.
Krissa and I giggled, but also took the hint that Jibby wasn’t into gushing over a cute Irish guy who had spent twenty minutes alone with Alicia.
Since I had never been there before, Jibby guided me to where he lived and his house turned out to be near Meander Way, somewhat close to Krissa’s house. After dropping him off, I continued driving down the street to where Krissa lived and pulled up into her driveway a few minutes later to let her off.
“Weird day, huh?” Krissa fiddled with the door handle. “Did you know that when Ryan asked me out, I didn’t immediately tell him my answer?” Krissa looked at me and I shook my head no. It seemed like eons ago that they’d started dating and I wondered why she was saying something about it now. “When I did give him my answer, I spelled “yes” in cheese. You know, the hot cheese you get with the pretzels? He bought me a pretzel that day.” Krissa stared through the windshield with a far off look on her face.
“What made you bring that up?” I asked, fondling my keys and watching Krissa’s hand continue to play with the door handle.
“I don’t know. I guess I’m missing Ryan a little today.” She opened her door and stepped out. “Do you want to come in for a while?”
“Nah, that’s alright. I was thinking of stopping by Alicia’s to see how she’s doing. Maybe take her some movies and pizza. Do you want to come with?”
“I think I’m just going to vegetate, but thanks for the offer. I’ll call you tomorrow.”
“Later,” I said as she shut the door.
Putting my truck in reverse, I backed out and headed to the video store and Bullwinkle’s, trying to keep from thinking about the last time I had been there with Jensen. Picking out a couple of movies that sounded good, I got to Alicia’s just as Ashlyn was pulling out of the driveway. I unrolled the window to talk to her as we stopped next to one another in the driveway.
“Mia, I’m so glad you’re here. I have to go back to the store and I really didn’t want to leave Alicia. She says she’s fine all set up on the couch, but I don’t know ….”
“I’ve got it handled. I picked up some movies and a pizza, and she’ll be all set until you get home.”
“Oh, honey, thanks for being here. Dan will be home tomorrow morning and he can stay with her then. Front door is unlocked, so go right in. I’ll see you later!” Ashlyn sped off before I could say anything in response.
Making it to the front door with three movies piled on top of an extra-large pizza box, I carefully opened the door and yelled out a long “hello” before pushing the door closed with my foot and heading to the living room where I knew Alicia would be.
“Mia! In here! Thank Jesus someone is here with me. I didn’t want to stay here by myself and die of boredom!”
Walking in, I handed Alicia the movies and put the pizza box down on the coffee table.
“You brought food and entertainment! You’re a saint!”
“I do try. Want a plate, or do you just want to eat out of the box?” I asked, but Alicia gave me a look that told me I knew her better than that. “I’ll go grab some paper towels.”
Alicia handed me one of the movies when I came back in. “Put this one in.”
“Not just yet. I want answers,” I said, grabbing the movie and setting it on the couch next to me. “Jibby.”
Alicia looked a little surprised. “Oh, that.” She rolled her eyes. “Alright, alright. I like him, okay? I think we’re on the verge of dating. He just sort of grew on me, you know?”
“What about James?”
“What about him? I broke it off last night. The distance thing was just not worth it. Plus, I think he wanted to see other girls. Anyway, I could tell he was going that direction. I just broke it off before he did.”
“Oh, Leesh, I’m sorry. I had no idea things weren’t okay with you two.”
“Don’t beat yourself up over it. I wasn’t really open about what was going on.” She fluttered her hand around in a dismissive way. “Can we put the movie in already?”
When Alicia was done talking about something, she was done, and I knew better than to keep prying for more details. Besides, she’d confirmed what I thought, so what more did I need to know? I got up and popped the tape into the VCR and sat back down. We didn’t really talk much more about James or her possible relationship with Jibby. If she wanted to say anything more, I figured she would bring it up on her own. Instead, we just watched movies, ate pizza, and shared idle chit-chat about school and her injured ankle.
Around seven, after watching two movies and eating a lot of pizza, I gave Alicia a couple of pain killers and helped her to bed. Ashlyn came home a little later, and I filled her in on our evening before taking off for home. When I unlocked and opened the door to my place, the phone was ringing and I ran over to answer it.
“Hello? I wondered who could be on the other end.
“Hey. What are you doing?” Jensen’s voice was quiet.
“I just got back from your house, actually. At the drill team thing today, Alicia broke her ankle and some other bones in her foot during the flashlight performance.”
“What? No shit! Is she alright?” A very different Jensen from a moment ago bellowed into my ear.
“Yeah, she’s fine.” I held
