The Bookworm Next Door: The Expanded and Revised Edition (23 page)

              Grace had tried her hardest not to stare at him in the hallways, in class, and in the cafeteria with little to no success.  She doubted that anybody would understand her crush on Kyle and after her fight with Delilah she couldn’t even discuss things with her best friend.  Jennifer wasn’t even a possibility because Grace suspected that Jennifer had her own crush on him.  Penny was out of the running because she ‘worked’ with Kyle on the newspaper.  Wesley definitely was out; she suspected that he was more observant than anybody realized.

              “I have to talk to somebody!” she exclaimed, grabbing her mother’s keys, - her car was still not running thanks to Jonah - her purse, and three DVD’s before heading to the store to buy snack foods.  She was going to fix things with Delilah.  Grace needed to do this in order to save her sanity.  She needed her best friend.

Friday night rolled around and for once Delilah found herself with nothing to do. They had finished the play the previous night, reading two acts a night on Tuesday and Wednesday and then the final act on Thursday. Originally she had planned on finishing
Twelfth Night
that weekend, if she had ever managed to get past the first scene, but finishing the play had left her with nothing else to do.

She had hoped that her secret admirer would leave a new book in her locker.  She could have worked on reading that over the weekend, but he had let her down. She had forgotten about
The Mayor of Casterbridge
sitting on her dresser half read until after the doorbell rang. Without waiting for her to answer, David entered the room carrying a bag loaded so full that he was afraid that it would break and ruin his surprise.

For a moment Delilah was surprised that David had entered through the back door as if the years had never separated them. She was even more surprised that he was giving up his weekend. Normally he was doing something with Kyle or Wesley, watching the game, or hanging out with one of his brothers if they had come down for the weekend.

Sitting on the sofa, not even looking at where she was still standing in the middle of the living room floor, David pulled out a box of popcorn. "Do you mind putting this in the microwave? Thanks." Still frozen solid, she watched as he pulled out two packages of sour gummy worms, one tub of gummy bears, a six pack – bottles naturally – of Dr. Pepper, a bag each of Doritos, Cheetos, Fritos, and Ruffles, a jar of cheese dip and a jar of French onion dip – his favorite – and then three movies. "Why are you still standing there? The sooner the popcorn is done the sooner we can watch the movies!"

Shaking his head he got up, grabbing the box of popcorn, and disappeared into the kitchen.

Seconds later she followed him in there.  "What are you doing?"

"Popping popcorn,” he answered Delilah without looking in her direction. 

"No, I mean what are you doing over here?"

Finally, keying in the last number and hitting start, David turned to look at her.  "I'm watching movies with you. I figured you had already finished
The Mayor of Casterbridge
and your secret admirer didn’t get you anything new to read yet.  I thought I would come and cure your inevitable boredom."

Eyes widening, Delilah gave herself a mental face palm.  "I forgot I had that in my room. I'm barely on page one hundred!"  She was surprised that she had been able to forget that she had a book that she could read. 

Maybe her disagreement with Grace was affecting her more than she realized.

David laughed. It was the only sound he made as he went towards the bowls and pulled out one big enough for the bag of popcorn. He moved around as if he knew the kitchen like the back of his hand. Considering it hadn’t changed since elementary school it was possible that he did.

In the process of grabbing a bowl, he noticed a picture on the refrigerator. It was fairly recent; Delilah and Grace with their arms thrown around each other's shoulders and the girls were laughing at some unknown joke. "I haven't seen Grace around lately."

"We got into a fight." Delilah jerked the picture out from under its magnet and left it sitting on the kitchen counter. The magnet, upset from the picture being removed, fell to the floor where it rolled a few feet and was stopped by the toe of David's shoe. "Last week."

"But surely," David started before being cut off.

"She doesn't like you. She saw how I acted after you blew me off freshmen year. She'll only come around if the other girls are present. They haven't figured out that we aren't talking yet."  The words even sounded stilted and sad to her ears.

The microwave beeped and Delilah moved before David could do anything. Taking the popcorn out, he watched her shake the bag before dumping the contents into the bowl he had taken out of the cabinets. "She doesn't want to sit at the same lunch table as you. I told her that it was ridiculous and that you would get tired of sitting with us and move on to another table or take back up with your friends. I'm sure you noticed that she's been sitting on the other side of the table from you, glaring."

"They aren't my friends," he answered, wisely ignoring the Grace comments.  “Real friends wouldn’t pull the crap that they’ve been doing.”

Delilah turned, popcorn bowl in her hands, and just looked at him. "You don't take the time to get to know Jennifer or Penny. What you know about them is what everybody knows about them. Jennifer is battling for valedictorian with Kyle and Taylor Rodgers. Penny is the editor of the school newspaper. How can you call us your friends?"

"Because I can be myself around you. Will and all of them expect certain things from me. All of those rumors are lies. I haven't had sex with any of those girls that they claim that I have; I’ve made out with them, sure, but nothing more than that. I don't know why I let Meg Watkins say otherwise sophomore year.  Maybe I never countered that rumor to get Aimee to leave me alone, not that it worked obviously. Then the others couldn't be left out; they couldn't say that after weeks of dating them that they never got anywhere. So they lied. I had to act like a horny bastard.  All that I managed to get out of the lies was that the girls I actually wanted to go out with turned me down because of my reputation.  Don’t forget the look of disdain on a couple of teachers’ faces when I acted like a jerk in class and still managed to make nineties on my assignments."

David looked down at Delilah when he made his monologue. His brown eyes were locked into her green eyes as he spilt everything that he had kept bottled up. 

“It didn’t help that Aimee would make your exes lives miserable.  The smarter girls didn’t want to go up against her.”

"I never should have insulted you like that freshmen year. Pete reamed into me when we got home. He was that disappointed in me. Every time my so-called friends insulted you and I remained silent I would start thinking of ways to get them to shut up. I was thinking that I shouldn't be on that side of the fence. I should have been on your side. That's why I'm the biggest idiot in the world. I let you go when I should have held on tighter than ever."  Even with that confession, David still didn’t tell her why he never got rid of his toxic friends. 

From the doorway somebody cleared a throat. "I'm sorry to interrupt and for listening in," Grace started to whisper, looking at the floor as she faced what was right in front of her.

David noticed just how close he had gotten to Delilah, kissing distance, and took a step backwards, losing her scent as he did so. Delilah missed his body heat and the boy smell he emitted.

Whispering some more, Grace finally looked up, "David, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have judged you like I did."

“I can’t really blame you.  I never tried to stop Aimee; instead I let her slide because...” he took a deep breath, “… I made a deal with her freshmen year after I saw Amanda bullying you, Grace.”  David turned to look at the girl he was addressing, “I told her that I wouldn’t break up with her right then and there, loudly in the cafeteria, if she left Delilah and all of Delilah’s friends alone.  That meant the bullying, rumors, etc.”  Closing his eyes and turning towards Delilah, “In exchange I’d also help her with her homework.  At the time it was a great idea, until she noticed my interest in you and started her rumors.”

“She’s obsessed with you,” Delilah added, shaking her head.  “Any particular reason why?”

David smiled, noting the movie in Grace’s hands, he asked. "What movie did you bring over?"  It was a good chance to change the conversation. 

"Delilah's favorite," Grace answered, smiling as she tested him.

"That's funny.
Sleeping Beauty
is also in my bag. Want to join us? I brought a lot of junk food and several more movies."

Grace looked back and forth between Delilah and David, watching Delilah's nod slightly to let her know that it was okay. "Sure, but we're going to need some more popcorn. I left my Cokes in the car."

"I'll get them," David volunteered.

"And while he's gone we have plenty to talk about. Two weeks’ worth it seems."

Hours later David was kicked out while Delilah told Grace everything that they needed to share and how she was afraid that she was starting to trust David. 

Thanks to David’s earlier confession they now both knew why Delilah was on Aimee’s radar.  It was just a matter of time before the attempts to keep David to herself would turn solely into attacks towards Delilah.  Aimee had a pattern. 

“You might want to borrow somebody else’s locker for a little while,” Grace suggested. 

“I might need to borrow several people’s lockers,” Delilah added.

              Taking a deep breath, Grace knew that she needed to change the subject from David to Kyle.  “I have a problem,” she announced without thinking about what she was saying.  “I still have a crush on Kyle and Jennifer does too.”

              Delilah paused, frozen in place.  This was way worse than her growing feelings for David.  Their reemergence was a given considering they practically grew up together and shared fourteen years of significant events together.  This crush Grace had on Kyle was problematic.  Kyle never even noticed Grace, unless she was helping with U.S. Government assignments, when she was sitting right next to him. 

“I know,” Grace cried, reading Delilah’s long silence perfectly.  “What do I do?”

              Mrs. Stanfield watched her daughter pacing back and forth.  She knew that something was up, but decided to hold her tongue.  She could barely miss the rumors that were whispered around her, with shy glances in her directions with the words ‘daughter’ and ‘pregnant’ floating around. 

              Truthfully, she didn’t care.  She suspected that Hannah and Brady wouldn’t be able to completely keep their hands off of each other, but she did like Brady better than some of Hannah’s ex-boyfriends. 

              Certainly, yes, she would admit that the timing was horrible.  She knew that her husband would have problems with the situation.  He might even ban her from seeing Hannah, from helping out the young couple. 
I will just have to do things without his knowledge,
Mrs. Stanfield decided.  She knew that the teenagers would have a difficult time of things before their situation got better.  Mrs. Stanfield knew all of this and kept quiet. 

              They would tell her when they were ready to face Hannah’s father.  Knowing her daughter Hannah would make sure that everything was settled and in place before facing him. 

              She loved her husband, but sometimes she wanted to hit him with the book that he so often cherry-picked his way through.  Fire and brimstone indeed. 

              It was scary facing her future in-laws and Kelly.  Certainly things were better once Kelly had stopped hanging out as much with Aimee – often attempting to divide her time between Aimee and Hannah with mixed results - but things still were a bit awkward around her friend. 

              Taking a deep breath, Hannah fiddled with the hem of her shirt.  Was it too short?  Was she showing already even though she wasn’t even close to being at the stage of showing?  What were they going to think?  Was Kelly going to accuse Hannah of trying to trap her brother into a relationship? 

              Everybody knew about Kelly’s hero worship towards her brother.  It had nearly gotten her expelled the year before when Kelly went after his ex-girlfriend, Savannah.  It had cost Honors students their grades thanks to Kelly’s blindly following Aimee’s crazy and destructive plans. 

              “Do I look okay?” she asked Brady for the hundredth time since he picked her up. 

              “You look perfect,” he smiled, reaching over to take one of her fidgeting hands.  “Breathe.  It’ll be fine.  Remember, my parents love you.” 

              “But this is different.  This is us telling them that we are getting married because I’m pregnant.”  If they weren’t in his pickup truck, Hannah would begin pacing back and forth.  As it was, she started fidgeting again despite Brady’s reassurance.  Her hem would start to unravel unless she stopped picking at the stitches. 

              “They love you,” Brady reassured her.  “They aren’t going to see it as you trapping me.  They know us.  They know how we met.  They know that we still spend every Wednesday at Bible Study.  They aren’t going to judge us.  They aren’t going to think anything about this situation.”

              “How do you know?”

              “Because my mom was the first person to offer support when her niece found out she was pregnant in high school.  Sadly our situation isn’t that uncommon.” 

              Hannah started staring out the windshield.  “How are you taking this so calmly?”

              “Because I love you and don’t want to spend the rest of my life without you.”

              “How can you know this?”

              “Do you know how many people I dated before Savannah introduced us?  I doubt I could even tell you the number.  With them I have not felt a tenth of what I feel when I’m with you.”  He glanced over at her.  “We might be young, but sometimes high school sweethearts do in fact make it.  We’ll just have to be careful about making our lives not just about this little peanut but about ourselves as well.” 

              “Wise words,” Hannah whispered, rolling the word ‘peanut’ around in her head as a term of endearment for their baby.

              “Honestly, I heard my aunt say something like that to my cousin when she lost her baby.”

              “Did it work?  Was she right?”

              Brady smiled, “Yes, Amelia and her boyfriend are still together three years later despite their loss.” 

              Mrs. Johnson knew that something was up when her son told her that he would be coming over for dinner on a random Friday night when he was normally out with Hannah.  Even more telling than the fact that Hannah would be joining them, he requested for Kelly to be present, and strongly suggested that it be a family-only dinner. 

              She was suspecting one of two outcomes and a ring would be accompanying both of them. 

              She wanted to reassure Brady and Hannah.  Mrs. Johnson remembered how it felt to meet her husband in high school.  How his parents were skeptical about how quickly their relationship had progressed even as her parents reassured their daughter that their own relationship was a High School Sweethearts relationship.  It appeared to be a family tradition. 

              Kelly would be thrilled.  She had begged for a sister when she was younger, not understanding that the sibling would be too young to play with for several years. 

              But, Mrs. Johnson decided as she collected her thoughts while pulling the lasagna from the oven, she was putting the cart in front of the horse.  The young couple could be announcing something completely different.  Her speculation was based purely on the rumors that Denise Kirkland was sprouting. 

              Thank goodness Kelly had stopped hanging around Aimee as much. 

              “Mom!” Kelly squeaked as she slid into the kitchen.  “You won’t believe what Aimee is still spreading around the school!”

              So much about the previous rumor being about revenge. 

              Clearing his throat, Brady caught everybody’s attention while grabbing for Hannah’s hand.  She had nearly shredded her napkin into nothing and he could tell that her nerves could not last another second. 

              “Well, everybody, I was going to wait until after dessert,” he smiled at his mother, “but now appears to be a good time as any.”

              “I knew it!” Kelly shouted, practically jumping up before slouching back into her seat at her mother’s glare.

              “Hannah and I are going to get married,” he announced, squeezing her hand under the table.  “Next week.”

              Setting his fork down on the table, Mr. Johnson looked at his son and his future daughter-in-law, “I’m sure that wedding bells can wait until after Hannah and Kelly graduate.  It’s not like you are putting the cart before the horse,” he chuckled.  He missed the way that his wife, daughter, and son’s girlfriend squirmed in their seats.  Instead his laughter echoed in the dining room before fading away.  “Right?”

              “Actually…”

              “Well, Sir…”

              “Honey, I’m sure that…”

              “It’s not that big of a deal…”

              He looked at each person at the table in turn before settling his gaze on Hannah.  “How far along are you?”

              Taking a sip of water to clear her throat, “I’m just a few weeks along.  It’s not as if we planned it, but..,” she turned to look at Kelly, “birth control can in fact fail and all it takes is one time.”

              “Too true,” Mrs. Johnson piped in.  “We conceived Brady on our honeymoon.”

              Groaning at her words, he was tempted to cover his ears, “Mom!” Brady turned to look at Hannah as if she was the safest place for him to rest his eyes. 

              “What?  It’s the truth.” 

              Kelly, realizing what this meant, started bouncing up and down in her seat, “Does this mean I’m going to have a sister?”

              Nodding her head, Hannah slipped her hand into the pocket where she had hidden the small diamond Brady had picked out for her.  Once it was on her finger, she held it up for Kelly to see. 

              “Yes!  I always wanted a sister!  Brady’s great and all that, but he isn’t a girl.”

              “Me too,” Hannah smiled.

              “I’m glad I’m not a girl,” Brady protested. 

              Mr. Johnson sat silently in his seat, pondering what this would mean for Brady and Hannah.  He felt his wife’s hand on his shoulder as she joined him at the head of the table.  They both knew what Hannah’s father was like, listening to him rant and rave some Sundays about how tame Pastor Samuel’s sermons were compared to the ones from his youth. 

              “We’ve talked about this,” Brady turned to his father, interpreting Mr. Johnson’s silence for the worry that it was.  “Hannah will be able to get scholarships based on her grades alone, and I still have my baseball scholarship despite deferring for a year.  They actually agreed that it would be best for me to get some more experience at the community college level before joining their ranks.”

              “The school has apartments on campus that aren’t that expensive per semester,” Hannah added.  “And we already have an apartment lined up.  You already knew about Brady’s apartment though.”  Her voice trailed off.  She was still nervous of their reactions.  “It isn’t that far from school.”

              Mr. and Mrs. Johnson exchanged some silent communication between themselves before turning back towards the young couple.  “Okay, we will help you out however you need us too.  We are not going to fully support you,” Mr. Johnson stated, “but we don’t want either of you stressing about money and the ends not meeting while you are both in school.”  He turned to look at his son, “You will keep your job, you will keep your grades up, and you will both come to weekly Saturday or Sunday dinners for the four to five years that you are both in college.  That is our terms.” 

              Mrs. Johnson cleared her throat while looking at her husband, “And neither of you will lose your scholarships.  You cannot be lazy and expect a free ride from either of us.  We will cut you off.  You are also paying for your marriage license.  Are we clear?”

              “Yes, Ma’am,” the young couple stated, giving Brady’s parents each a hug in turn. 

              Kelly, unable to keep silent for another moment, “Can we have dessert now?  And will I be able to babysit?”  A smile spread across her face as everybody else started laughing.