Neither A Borrower Nor A Lender Be

Neither A Borrower Nor A Lender Be

“Tambourine, you owe me a favor.”

Brent Tambor winced at the nickname. When he’d schooled his face again, he turned toward the loud voice.

“I don’t owe you anything, Louweez!” he taunted back. He watched as Lou Costa’s face went hard.

“What did you call me?” he asked menacingly, smacking a fist into his large palm.

“Why do I owe you anything, Lou?” Brent wondered.

“I didn’t beat you up yesterday, so you owe me.”

“What kinda favor do you want?”

Lou stopped nose to nose with Brent.

“Introduce me to that new girl in your class. I need a date for the Valentine’s dance. Talk me up and maybe I can miss a few more beatings on your sorry hide!”

“Anything special you want me to say when I talk you up?”

“You’re good with words, use them!”

“Here she comes now! Introduce us!”

Brent shrugged and spoke to the new girl.

“Hi Phoebe. I thought you’d like to meet Lou. Phoebe Smoke, this is Lou Costa; Lou this is Phoebe.”

“Hello Lou,” Phoebe sang.

Lou’s mumbled reply was hard to hear. He gave Brent a telling look as he walked away.

“What’s with that guy?” Phoebe asked Brent.

“He’s a little shy.”

“Really, I just thought he didn’t speak good English. His last name’s Italian, isn’t it?”

Brent nodded. Phoebe smiled.

“Did you know that they decided to make the Valentine’s dance a Sadie Hawkins?” the girl told him conversationally.

“No, I didn’t know that!”

“Will you go with me?” she asked.

“Yes, I’d love to,” Brent replied with a smile.

As they separated for classes they didn’t have together, they agreed to meet at lunch and talk about it.

“Lou’s pounding will be so worth it,” Brent sighed to himself.