This choice: Hold it back for the time being • Go Back...Chapter #6Talking About Time by: rugal b.   "Yo, Dane!" you call out as you start heading for the door, "I'm gonna get going. See you tomorrow?"
You want to get rid of the book, you want a little extra money, but you remember part of the reason why you stopped playing this stuff: because most of the ones that do play are just completely insufferable. These guys are no real exception from what you can see. The constant arguing, the immaturity, the... nerdiness. Oh fuck, you wonder if this is how you and Caleb and Keith look to everyone else as well? You shudder a bit at that.
"Oh! Uh, yeah sure." he says and you can tell he's only paying half-attention to you.
Or so you think before you get halfway to your truck and you feel a sharp tug on your shirt. You stop and turn to see Dane's smiling face. "Jeez, you couldn't have called out for me or something?" you ask.
"Oh, no way. Didn't wanna cause a ruckus you know?" Dane replies leaving you to shake your head. "So where we going?" he asks as you both clamber into your truck.
"No clue." you reply, "I guess I could take you back to get your car and then we just go our own ways? No offense but I was kind of hoping to go to Andrea's rather than be here with this guys, you know?" You blanche at that realizing that you probably did sound like a jerk there. Why is it that "no offense" usually has the opposite effect, you wonder.
However if you were being a prick then it seems lost on Dane. "Right! Yeah, like, I can get you in there. You know she thinks I'm cute right?" he asks.
"I think you may have said that, yeah." you reply as you put the truck in gear. "So, you ever had a girlfriend?" you ask as you pull out onto the street.
"Yeah, go left at the next light by the way, I have. Still do. Kinda. I think." he answers.
"Kinda?"
"We're not ex-cloo-see-vay." Dane shrugs. "We were, then we weren't together, now we are and aren't. I can't call it, right?" he says flippantly. "It is what it is."
You wonder what he means by all of that. Is their relationship one of those weird open things you read about online some times? Maybe she's just some self-serving bitch trying to take advantage of him to sleep around? Maybe she's hot and if you were hanging around him she'd give you a little--NO! No, you push that out of your mind. Dane's a kind soul, you couldn't do that to him.
* * * * *
The drive out to Andrea's place is a little longer than you'd expect, a little off the beaten path right on the outskirts of downtown. The area isn't the nicest and about the last place you'd expect to find the gorgeous swim team captain; you'd have definitely overlooked it without Dane eagerly giving instructions of where to turn. It's a small place, slightly ramshackle looking and in need of a bit of attention on the outside. You notice a few cars already parked in the driveway and on the lawn so you just edge your truck up to the side of the road.
As you walk up you notice your movements are slowed. You're hesitating, you're palms are sweaty. Only a door separates you and this naiad. Dane, however, doesn't seem to be any more wary as he casually strolls up and knocks on the door. And then the door opens and there she is.
Andrea Varnsworth.
And she's looking a little peeved. "No."
She states simply. "Aww c'mon Andrea. You know you want me to stick around."
"Go home, Dane. The answer's gonna be the same." she says, she gets ready to say something but then notices you. "And who are you?"
"I'm, uh, I'm Prescott. Uh that is, Willprescott. I mean..." you notice her arch an eyebrow. "Sorry, uh, confrontation. Don't do well with it. I'm, uh, Will Prescott." you say, "I kinda drove Dane out here. We were looking for something to do and he just suggested we come out here and..."
Her stare cuts you off but it immediately shifts back to Dane. "Go home."
"Just let them in Drea." comes another voice from inside the house causing Andrea to turn back, "You know he's just gonna sit out there looking like a sad puppy if you don't."
She turns back to look at Dane. "Like one of those dopey St. Bernards maybe." she huffs before stepping aside.
You follow Dane into the living room, which is sparsely populated save an old sofa, a small coffee table, and a beanbag chair. Well and by the small menagerie of people that fill it:: Jelena Petrovic, Charles Hartlein, Sienna Goldman, Fatima Zahedi. Sienna's slightly more notorious given that she once put the boot to Steve Patterson's basketballs and lived to tell about it and Hartlein's a notorious gossipy queen but outside of those vaguaries you know nothing beyond names. You and Dane take seats on the floor, Dane squeezed inbetween Hartlein and Sienna and yourself next to Fatima.
"So you know this guy, huh?" Sienna asks you gesturing to Dane. "What's up then? How come we never see you when he comes around?"
You shrug. "We just never really hung around outside of school until today." you reply, "I got Walberg on my ass and I just needed something to loosen me up a bit I guess."
"Walberg... he's not making you do that goofy fucking time capsule shit is he?" she asks and you're taken slightly aback at how coarse her language is.
You do, however, nod an affirmative. "You're doing it too I'm guessing?" you ask.
"Me, Fatima and Hartlein. Yell and Andrea are lucky they don't have him." Sienna states.
"Good ol' Wallbutt!" Dane exclaims and he's the only one who laughs at his own joke.
"Right, so what are you guys putting in there?" you ask.
"Just a couple of CDs I guess. I mean who needs CDs any more right?" Sienna states, "But like maybe they can decode 'em or some shit in the future and then they can know what we were listening to."
"I've got an old journal." Charles is next.
"Because everyone is going to care about what some preening high schooler thinks in the future, right?" Andrea asks playfully.
"Oh pshaw, Varnsworth." Charles replies dismissively, "Things like that give you an on the ground perspective of what the past was like. The under-the-radar stories you don't see in the history books."
"I'm sure there's no vanity involved in it at all, is there Charles?" teases Jelena.
"None." he replies emphatically though unconvincingly. "So Ms. Zahedi, do you want to go next?"
"Oh, um, sure I guess." Fatima replies, "It's just a book I picked up about the Achaemenid Empire, uh the Persian Empire."
"Which doesn't make sense because, you know, that already happened." Sienna chimes in.
Andrea glares at her, "Actually I think it makes a lot of sense going by how she already explained it." she states.
"Right, like you can get a good idea where people are, kind of culturally and stuff, by how they interpret past events. And even if you can't then you at least have the perspective of the person doing the writing which can be interesting all on its own." explains Fatima.
"I get you." you reply, "Like if you read Herodotus part of the fun is sifting through the bullshit and trying to see his biases and how he's making moral judgements and such and then comparing it to others and getting an idea on general views of the time. I guess you're interested in this stuff?"
"A little." she replies with a small smile, "It's kind of interesting. People think of history as just something that's happened but it's the story of people and it's full of every emotion and genre you could want. But it's..." she then stops and notices everyone looking at her, "Oh god, I'm rambling."
You shake your head, "No it's cool. It's nice hearing people talk about things they enjoy like that." you say and you think you notice a bit of a re-assured expression on Fatima's face.
"What about you..." Andrea starts obviously blanking on your name.
"Will." you reply and you're a bit surprised by how much more calm you already feel. Even sitting next to a cute girl isn't getting to your nerves as much as you thought, even being in a room with plenty of attractive ones, and Hartlein and Dane, isn't freaking you out like you thought it would. "And I dunno, I don't have anything right now, that's what's got me worried. All I've got is this old book but... ugh."
"An old book?" Jelena asks.
"Just something I got from Arnholm's. It..." you stop, do you really want to say this to people you don't know? You'll look like a loon probably but... "They were trying to sell me on the fact it's magic. Uh, not that I believed them of course." you're quick to add, "But it looked kind of cool. But the pages were all stuck together and there was some stuff about me wanting to bleed on it and..."
"Bleed on it." Andrea says coolly.
"I don't know, it was latin and my latin's a little rusty so maybe I was wrong but it was enough to give me some bad vibes, right?" you declare.
"So you're scared of a book, Prescott?" Charles says with a laugh, "Then I have to see this thing. Did you give it to Walberg?"
"Not yet. I've still got it with me but..."
"Then I want to see it." Charles grins, "Girls?"
"Sure, why not?" says Jelena.
"Ditto." Andrea says.
"Same." chimes in Sienna.
"Me too!" it's Dane this time.
Fatima just nods an approval.
"Look, like I said the pages are all stuck together and..." you begin protesting.
"And we want to see it. Come on don't be a pussy, Prescott." Sienna says in a rather challenging manner.
Fatima gives you a smile, everyone's eyes are on you, and suddenly you feel nervous once more. "It could be neat. What do you say?" she asks.  indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
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