Sidekick (27 page)
Click go the locks, and he swings the door open, not at all ashamed of his Ultramon PJs. “Hi, Russ! Are you cured?”
I raise an eyebrow. “Cured?”
“Garr said you got attacked by zombies and you couldn’t come over until you got cured from the zombie disease.”
I laugh a little. “Yeah, I’m cured.”
He lets out an exaggerated sigh. “Okay, you can come in, then.”
“Thanks. Is Garr up yet?”
He shuts the door behind me. “I’ll get him!”
I stuff my hands in my pockets. I’m so nervous they’re sweaty. You’d think I was meeting a girl or something. It’s just Garret, I keep telling myself, but it doesn’t help. This is my last chance to make things right. To start over.
When he rounds the corner, I try not to wince at his purple eye. The guy looks miserable, tired, and ready to throw me out. “What do you want?”
“Just to talk. I wanted to tell you the truth, at least.”
His eyes flash, genuinely curious. “For real?”
I nod.
He looks over his shoulder, as if he doesn’t want Tucker to hear. “Outside, then.”
We sit at the edge of his porch, our feet on the stairs. I look out at our street, still and hazy in the light fog. It’s easier than looking at his face, bruised because I didn’t have the balls to tell him what really happened.
I take a deep breath. Get it out. No more hiding. “I was jealous of you, okay? You always had the pretty girlfriend, the good grades, the most touchdowns. I thought if I could beat you to Keira, that somehow it would prove I wasn’t always second best.”
He only gapes at me, so I keep going.
“I had no idea you were already with her, I swear. When I took her home one night, she kissed me. We made out for about a week until you came into Parker’s, and then I felt like the worst friend in the world. I couldn’t tell you…” I keep rambling. I tell him everything I was afraid to say out loud before, and he listens. “It’s my fault, Garr. I had to tell you. I’ve never been sorrier in my life.”
He looks up at the sky, pressing his lips into a tight, smiling line. “I thought you said you were going to tell the truth.”
“Huh?”
He gives me a suspicious glare. “You were jealous of me? Really?”
“You’re better than me at everything. I had no idea people thought I was cool, not until Mercedes told me, and that was after you and Keira were official. I thought they only tolerated me because of you.”
He shakes his head. “I was always jealous of you.”
“What?”
“I had to have a girlfriend just to compete. I only wanted Keira because of the way she looked at you that night. It was the same with every girl I’ve dated, man. I
stole
them from
you
.”
For some reason, hearing this doesn’t make me mad. “But why?”
He shrugs. “I don’t know. I guess because it proved I wasn’t second best. I should have listened when you warned me about her, but I didn’t want you to win. So it’s as much my fault as it is yours.”
“Wow.” I rest my elbows on my knees. “We’re idiots.”
“No kidding.”
Without another word, I know things are okay between us. There’s no way Garret and I can stop being friends. We could do a thousand stupid things like this and it would still come back to friendship.
“I think I’m in love with Daphne,” I say after a long stretch of silence.
His eyes go wide. “Seriously?”
“Yeah.” I smile just thinking about her. “I was at Dallas’s party last night, and she came to tell me about what happened to you. He kept calling her names, so I punched him. He looked like he was about cry, holding his bloody nose.”
He busts up laughing. “I’m sad I missed that.”
“It was pretty classic.”
“Have you kissed her?”
All I have to do is look at him and he knows.
“Man, she has you totally whipped, doesn’t she?”
“I’m happy to be whipped.”
“Someone alert the media! Russell Pearson finally has a girlfriend. Women everywhere mourn.”
“Whatever. What’s been going on with you?”
“Besides being cheated on and trying to get in with punks? Not much. Aced my classes, turned in my college applications.”
“Did Stanford ever…?” I wince, remembering the championship game. He probably doesn’t want to talk about it.
“They didn’t offer me a football scholarship, if that’s what you were going to ask.” He smiles, which surprises me. I always thought he’d be bummed if he didn’t get to go there. “But they said if I got in academically they’d put me on the team.”
My smile matches his. “So you’re on the team.”
“If I get in.”
“You’ll get in.”
“Hope so. Did you end up applying anywhere?”
I shake my head. “You know how I was working at Parker’s?” He nods. “Well, I’m still working there. And I’m gonna go to culinary school. I want to be a chef.” I’m surprised by how confident I sound, not at all ashamed. This might be the first time I don’t feel even a twinge of embarrassment.
Garret’s eyebrows arch. “That is…strangely perfect for you.”
Before I can answer, Puke’s strangled honk sounds from the street. Izzy pulls up, Daphne in the front seat, and I smile like a fool.
“Russell Arnold Pearson!” Izzy yells, though we’re only twenty feet away. “Will you do the honor of making us breakfast?”
I laugh. “I see how it is!”
“Please?” Daphne draws out the word. “Denny’s has nothing on you.”
“Fine!” I stand and turn to my best friend. “Garr, you hungry?”
He pulls himself up. “Do you even have to ask?”
We head inside, and I pull out all the stops on a full breakfast spread because they deserve it. The only people I need to impress are right here, and they like me just fine.
And I don’t have to be someone I’m not to keep it that way.
Acknowledgments
This book is about friendship, so I have to thank my friends (you know who you are) for teaching me what that word really means. Thank you for taking me as I am and for seeing so much more in me than I see in myself. I would have stopped writing ages ago without you.
Thank you to my amazing editor, Diane Dalton, for sprucing up this story and making it all shiny and new. And a huge thanks to my designer and friend, Michelle Argyle (Melissa Williams Design), for creating the absolute perfect cover for this book. You two really are my “dream team.”
Finally, a huge debt of gratitude goes to my family. My husband and children, of course, but also I want to give a particular shout out to my siblings—Mark, Ariel, and McKenna—who made growing up together a blast and full of story inspiration. Miss you guys too much.
Natalie Whipple has always felt like a sidekick, but has never actually been one. At least not to her bestest friends. Which are the ones that matter. She lives in Utah with her husband and kids, and they spend most of their quality time playing video games together and being proud "freaks" in general.
More From
NATALIE WHIPPLE
