Junior Year Box Set

“Have you heard of The Limited, Victoria’s Secret, and Bath and Body Works? They’re all under the L Brands umbrella. A few years ago, we sold a majority share to a buyout firm, but our family still holds seats on the board,” she clued me in.

“Oh, so you could get me a shot at working a Victoria’s Secret gig?” I asked excitedly.

I didn’t expect her to punch me in the arm.

“Jerk,” she hissed.

I bounced around her.

“If only I’d known! What else can you do for me? Want to go to Homecoming with me?” I asked.

“See! This is why I never tell anyone this stuff,” Brook whined.

“What would it be worth to you if I kept your secret?” I teased her.

“You are a ‘stupid boy,’ aren’t you?”

“Yep. What else did your old man accuse me of?” I asked.

“I think he’s going to have you checked out,” she said, not looking at me.

“Have him call Teddy Wesleyan or Beverly Mass. They both had me checked out. It’ll save your dad some time and money,” I suggested and gave Brook their numbers.

“You’re serious, aren’t you?”

“Sure. I don’t have anything serious to hide. If your dad needs me to get him my juvenile records, let me know,” I offered.

“You have a juvenile record?”

“Not really. They never convicted me of anything,” I said.

“My dad’s going to have a heart attack! I thought you were a good boy. I defended you to my father this morning.”

“Doesn’t my bad-boy side make me sexier?” I asked and waggled my eyebrows.

Brook was such a worrier. I was great with fathers! Well, as long as he didn’t talk to Cal. After all, Cal did try to kick my butt when he walked in on Pam and me. I hoped Brook’s dad didn’t do too thorough of an investigation. I wasn’t really proud of that one. Oh, and I forgot about Tom Dole. He might not be the best character witness, either. Tom wanted to put me on playing cards like they did for terrorists so other fathers could be warned about me. Maybe I wasn’t so great with fathers.

“Shut up!” Brook said as she tried to stomp off.

I grabbed her hand and pulled her to my chest and kissed her. When we finally broke our kiss, she gave me a hard look.

“Just because you’re a good kisser doesn’t get you out of trouble with me.”

“We should do it again then. I obviously didn’t do it right,” I suggested.

“I should’ve listened. Everyone warned me,” Brook moaned as she turned and left me in the parking lot.

We would be fine. I had begun to like feisty Brook Davis. She would be a lot of fun to hang out with.

◊◊◊

I walked up to the school and saw Brook walk up to all the other cheerleaders and say something. They all turned and looked at me. That didn’t bode well. I turned to avoid them and about ran over Alan.

“What’re they looking at you like that for?” he asked.

“Brook’s still mad about the kiss tweet,” I answered without thinking.

Now I’d done it! I’d talked to Alan. To be honest, I missed my friend, even though I suspected he’d slept with Tami. Was I ready to forgive and forget? Forgive, maybe, but I would never forget. It made me a little sad when I realized that I’d lost my three best friends.

“I think you might have a serious issue, if their looks tell me anything.”

“Yeah, let’s get out of here before they decide they need to talk to me about it,” I said, and we walked into the school.

Once we got inside, Alan pulled me into an empty classroom and closed the door.

“I’ve thought a lot about the weekend when, well, you know,” Alan said, and I knew what he meant. “I wish I could take it all back because I see how much it hurt you. I have no excuses for what happened, and hope that someday you can see that I love you, man.”

When we were in grade school, Jeff had found a commercial made by Bud Light where a father and son were fishing. The son gives his dad a long speech that ended in ‘I love you, man.’ The father tells the son he isn’t getting his Bud Light. We thought it was hilarious. Of course, we were like ten at the time.

“Alan,” I said in my most serious voice, “you’re not getting my Bud Light.”

It took Alan a second to put it together, and then he busted out laughing. The stupid stuff we thought was funny back in the day still made us both laugh. That was the thing with best friends. There were memories that only we shared that tickled us. Alan finally got control of himself and gave me a sheepish look.

“I really am sorry. Do you think we can be friends again?” he asked.

“Yeah, but don’t push me. My emotions are still a little raw from seeing the two of you together.”

“But nothing happened,” Alan protested.

And there it was. The fun I remembered with my ex-best friend evaporated in an instant.

“Enough happened for the two of you to get naked,” I shot back, then took a moment to collect myself. “Like I said, don’t push it. I don’t want to hear a bunch of excuses, because I saw the end result.”

Alan blanched at my sudden aggression and simply nodded. The bell rang, so we went to our lockers so we could get to our classes.

◊◊◊