A Fine Line (7 page)

Wiping frustrated tears away, Lucy turned around and saw Wes. Sweaty, shirtless, perfectly defined six-pack, Wes.

Wes saw a girl who was obviously upset. Teary eyes, red nose, but still somehow cute, Lucy.

From Lucy’s perspective was a guy who had the most consistently worst timing in the history of the world. She sniffled loudly and asked grumpily, “See anything you like?”

“I can come back another time.”

“Maybe you should.”

That thing that wouldn’t let Wes go on Friday in Lucy’s bedroom appeared again, and before he knew it, he sat down on the swing next to Lucy, making sure to keep his distance. After a moment, he questioned playfully, “Are you taking Man U’s loss as hard as I am?”

Lucy smiled wearily, “No.”

“What’s wrong then?”

“Why do you care?”

“Fine. Forget I tried to be nice. I can’t seem to win with you.”

Lucy crossed her arms and said, “Okay, if you must know, I am officially broken up with.”

“Bugger.”

“You ain’t kidding.”

“The bloke from the pictures?”

Lucy nodded and said, “That’s the one. I didn’t think I would be this upset about it. I mean, we had the most extended break up ever. You would think after three months, it wouldn’t hurt, but here I am.”

“Sucks.”

Lucy wiped her tears and stood up, “Okay, time to go visit my reinforcements.” She ticked off on her fingers, “Ben. Jerry. Mandy. Gina.”

“Oh,” Wes said, standing up and towering over Lucy.

Was that disappointment in his voice?

“Umm, thanks for listening,” Lucy commented awkwardly.

Wes didn’t really think about his actions as he put his arms around Lucy for a big hug and said, “You’ll be all right.”

Lucy was momentarily shocked by his actions, especially considering how close she was to his bare and wonderfully muscular chest. She looked up into his green eyes and answered, “I’ll try.”

After some counseling with the girls, Lucy was ready to tackle the week. Tom joined her for her walk to AP Euro and stated, “So, I think we should go shopping.”

Lucy had to suppress a laugh, knowing that if anyone in the band knew “The Guy” had just suggested shopping, they wouldn’t believe it. She responded, “When exactly were you thinking of performing our little stunt?”

Tom melodramatically looked at his pocket watch, “Well, this week’s game is away, so that won’t work. There’s an off game the following week, so I’m thinking two weeks from now will be the perfect time.”

“Do you think we’ll be ready?”

Tom nodded, “Totally.”

Lucy grinned, “I can’t wait, what a great idea for a prank!”

Tom put an arm around his friend and said, “It’s not so much a prank, as it’s just something we have to do.”

* * *

CHAPTER SEVEN: Preparations

Over the next two weeks, the Marching Flyers began the tedious task of breaking down each piece of the show and going over it again and again (and again). Overall, Henry was happy with the Line’s progress, but was constantly tweaking the show to make sure that it was as difficult as possible. Lucy was glad for all the extra concentration. It was definitely help keeping her mind off of Sam and her regrettable recent behavior towards him.

Why am I acting like a middle schooler?

Making her way back to the Triangle Set, Lucy cringed when she thought about their last conversation. Sam had called after his “date.” Lucy had been dying to call him, but her pride had prevented her from doing so. When he finally did call, Lucy’s mind had been through a million different scenarios of what had happened with her boyfriend (ex-boyfriend? Special friend? Friend with benefits?) and the supposed “girl from his hall.”

Lucy tried to affect a bored voice, “S’up?”

“Hey Luce.”

“How are things?”

“Humid.”

Stalemate. Lucy didn’t want to be the first to ask about his “date.” Sam asked, “So what did you do this weekend?”

“The usual…hung out with the girls, studied.”

I will not ask. I will not ask.

However, Lucy’s resolve couldn’t last one second longer and she gave in, asking a very loaded question, “How was yours?”

“It was fine.”

“What does ‘fine’ mean?”

“It means just that, it was fine.”

“How was the party?”

“It was fun, I guess.”

Lucy’s mind ran through a montage of college party scenes from the movies…Old School, PCU, National Lampoon’s Van Wilder, Animal House. She shook her head. Part of her was dying to know all the details, but a big part of her knew she would probably be crushed when she heard them. There was only one way out of this…

Lucy said nervously, “So, I better go.”

“Is that how it’s going to be, Lucy?”

“What do you mean?”

“What about being honest and all that stuff?”

Lucy took a deep breath, “Honestly, I don’t care how your date was. Honestly, I hope you had a bad time and honestly, I don’t want to talk to you for a very long time!”

Lucy hung up the phone.

That was bad.

Why?

You didn’t even give him a chance to say anything. For all you know he could’ve just had a normal time. He hasn’t given you any reason to think that he would cheat – so why are you already imaging that it’s happened? Whatever happened to trusting him? This is Sam Powell we’re talking about – a boy who crossed his Line for your relationship. You owe him a lot more than hanging up on him.

The shrill Drum major whistle broke Lucy out of reliving her side of the shameful conversation again. She glanced across the field as her friends watched over their sections like hawks. Gina and Mandy both were determined to take home captions this year in their respective categories. Lucy got excited thinking about walking out onto the field for the upcoming competitions. Squashing her last remaining thoughts of Sam, Lucy prepared to go through the closer once more.

Getting home that night, Lucy pulled out her AP English homework and tried to concentrate. It wasn’t happening. Using an excuse of “looking for research,” Lucy signed online.

Cartwright213:
Happy 3rd week of school.

bassgirl17:
Back at ya.

Cartwright213:
Where you been?

bassgirl17:
busy.

Cartwright213:
Doing?

bassgirl17:
Getting dumped. I think.

Cartwright213:
Last I checked that’s one of those things you usually know for sure.

bassgirl17:
Let’s see Cartwright, have you ever known me to be “usually?”

Cartwright213:
I guess not. So, when will you know?

bassgirl17:
When I get up the guts to call him back…

Cartwright213:
Here’s a question for you to consider: Do you want to end your relationship?

bassgirl17:
Well, when you put it that way…

Cartwright213:
Seriously. Sometimes, if you’re very lucky, relationships come to a natural end. So maybe you need to stop looking at it as “getting dumped” and more of, “it’s time this thing ended.”

bassgirl17:
Thanks dude. I think I needed to hear that.

Cartwright213:
Anytime.

Lucy signed off, but Cartwright’s question stayed with her.

Do I really want end this relationship? Or is it worth fighting for?

The Friday afternoon of their off week, Tom picked up Lucy to go shopping and finalize the details of their upcoming stunt.

“Where do you think we should go?” Lucy asked.

“Not sure,” responded Tom, slurping on his Big Gulp.

“I thought we could try the thrift store on Spazier.”

“It’s worth a shot.”

It had occurred to Lucy that while things were progressing nicely with Mandy and James, she had been neglecting her male friends.

Who would Tom look cute with…?

The quint player had ended things with his last girlfriend on the same band trip that Gina had ended things with Jonathan. Lucy’s green eyes mentally surveyed the sections of the band.

Freshmen?

No. We can’t have Tom taking advantage of any of those little girls.

Sophomores?

None that stand out.

Upperclassmen?

Lucy couldn’t think of anyone who could put up with her friend’s hijinks and overall ‘Tomness.’

Who said they have to be in band?

That’s just who we date. People in marching band are the only ones that understand…

That’s pretty close-minded.

Who were you thinking of?

How about Jewel Branscombe?

Lucy started thinking about the fellow senior and all around cool girl.

One problem…

What’s that?

Jewel’s a cheerleader.

So what? Wes is a football player.

Lucy’s internal dialogue screeched to an immediate stop as she put together the analogy her head had just made.

Wait a minute. Tom is to Jewel as you are to…Wes?

No.

Tom interrupted Lucy’s devious thoughts, “Hey, we’re here.”

As they walked into the eclectic store, Tom mused aloud, “I want to try and find something like they were wearing in the video.”

Lucy wrinkled her nose, “Really? You don’t think that would be too cheesy?”

“C’mon, Luce, we have to make a statement.”

They began looking through the racks. Lucy squealed, “Found it!”

She held up the dress for Tom to inspect. He made a twirling motion with his hand, “Let me see how it moves.”

Lucy spun around and the skirt of the dress spun out. Tom nodded, “Perfect.”

In record time the pair had put together their outfits. As they were ringing up their purchases Lucy asked Tom, “How were you planning on getting these out on the field?”

Tom thought a moment, “Umm…I guess I hadn’t really thought about it.”

“Well, when we’re lining up on the back side of the field to march out for opening set, I guess we could change then? I mean, when else will we have the time to without being noticed?”

“You’re right, although that sucks because then we won’t surprise everyone.”

Lucy put her arm through Tom’s, “Don’t worry, buddy, I’m sure we’ll surprise at least a few people.”

Tom matched her grin, “You’re right. I don’t think anyone will see this coming.”

That same afternoon, Wes arrived at the Karate household. It had been two weeks and already the grass had grown inches and the yard definitely needed weeding. Wes wasn’t sure how he was going to be able to keep up with his busy schedule when the season really started kicking into gear. He saw Lucy’s Cavalier in the driveway, but was disappointed not to see her around the house.

Pulling on his gloves and starting the lawn mower, Wes’s mind drifted to what he would be doing if he were still in England and how American secondary schools were still very confusing to him. Recently, a number of the girls on the cheerleading squad had blatantly propositioned him. It seemed that many of his teammates followed this trend and dated the girls with pompoms. It’s not that he wasn’t attracted to them, but they just didn’t do it for him.

C’mon, if your mates could see you now.

What would they say? Go along with the crowd? Do like everyone else is doing? Date a nice American girl?

Something like that. Why are you holding out?

Wes’s green eyes unconsciously flicked up to the window he knew was Lucy’s bedroom.

She just broke up with her boyfriend. Going after her would be in poor taste.

Wes sighed, agreeing with his subconscious. It was too soon to pursue his cute classmate.

Grabbing her bags, Lucy placed a quick peck on Tom’s cheek and jumped out of the car, noting that Wes was there…again with his shirt off? Lucy closed the door in Tom’s face before he could yell out some highly inappropriate comment. She was almost inside when Wes asked, “What’s in the bag?”