Not Enough For Anyone

We left the bowling alley through the back door, I knew a shortcut to my house that I preferred to take since it was so cold. Sam shivered and his teeth chattered in the dark. He didn’t once ask where we were going, which was a relief. I went into a playground, intending to go through, but Sam had another idea.

“Oh my goodness, everything’s frozen! Even the ground!” he shouted, amazed.

“Yeah. It’ll probably snow tomorrow…” I said. Great, he’s talking again.

“You think so?” he asked, looking at me hopefully.

“Yeah, I watched the weather report,” I said, looking at him oddly. “You act like you’ve never seen snow.”

“…I haven’t.”

“Poor you.”

Sam wanted me to slide on the ice with him. “Come on, Ronnie! Have some fun! Stop being so mean!” He ran back a little and stood there, before taking off. I rolled my eyes and walked away. I heard him sliding towards me, but I didn’t think he was that close…

He smacked into me, knocking both of us to the ground, him laying on my stomach. “Get off me!” I shouted, pushing him off me. He was laughing his head off the whole time, even when I pushed him off me. “Shut up you idiot! It’s not funny! You ruined my jeans! These were fifty bucks!” I shouted angrily. I got up and brushed my jeans off, looking at the horrible black stains.

“I’m sorry,” he said, snickering.

I turned around to see him standing too. Perfect. I tackled him, pushing him to the floor. “You’re not funny,” I said angrily. “Not one bit. But what is funny is that you don’t know where you’re going, and I could just leave you and you’d be lost,” I said, turning and walking away.

“Wait Ronnie! Please!” he called after me. He sounded so pitiful that I sighed and stopped, refusing to look at him. He ran up to me, babbling an apology, but I just ignored him. We walked on in silence, until my cell-phone vibrated in my pocket.

“OH my goodness!” I shouted, pressing a hand over my speeding heart.

“What?” he asked, looking at me confused. We had stopped, and I was trying to pull the vibrating phone out of my pocket. I finally got it out and checked the caller ID before answering.

“Hey Alex, what’s up?”

“Nothin’. Hey, I’m at your house. Where are you?” said my best friend Alexandra.

“I’m on my way. I’ve been… distracted,” I said, glaring at Sam. He looked upset. Good.

“What, is Zero there?” she teased.

“No! My dad sent the new kid to come get me. I’ll tell you about it later.”

“Okay. Hurry up, I’m bored!”

“Of course you are! Okay, we’ll be there soon.” I hung up and slid the phone back into the pocket. I started walking again, and Sam fell into step next to me.

“Was that your boyfriend?” he asked, looking down.

“Alex? Alexandra Parker? Uh, no! She’s my best friend!”

His face lit up. “Oh! Is she cute?”

No. He. Didn’t.

I tripped him, making sure he fell, and I sat on his back, twisting his arm around. “You don’t have a chance with her. Or me. So stop trying!” I growled.

“Okay, okay, okay! Just get off me!”

“I should tie you up and leave you for the crows! But I won’t, because I’m responsible for you. I’m obviously more mature.” I got off him and walked away, leaving Sam to get up on his own.

I ignore every word he said to me until we got to my house. Then I went in, closing the door in his face.

I ran upstairs to my room, beckoning for Alex to follow. I closed the door behind me and locked it, and we sat on my bed. I grabbed a deck of cards and we played poker and talked.

“So, how did you meet Sam?” Alex asked me casually.

“He is such a… I don’t know! Okay, first he corrects the mistake I don’t even notice in my game.” She probably knew I was talking about bowling. I talk about it a lot lately… “Then he flirts with me. And yeah, he’s not that bad looking, but no. His personality is one that makes me want to kill him. And I only met him a few hours ago!”

“Wow… I’m kinda scared…” she interjected.

“So yeah, I lie and tell him I have a boyfriend, and he’s like, ‘Oh. Well you don’t know what you’re missing.’” Alex laughed at that, clearly amused by my annoyance towards Sam. I finished the account, adding in a few thoughts here and there. When I was done, Alex agreed with me. He was annoying.

Our laughter was interrupted by a knock on the door. “Who is it?” I called.

“It’s me,” my brother’s voice replied. “Can we join you?”

“Who’s ‘we’?” Alex called.

“Uh… hi.” Oh great. Sam.

“No.” No way he’s coming in!

“Aw, come on Ronnie! I thought you’d warmed up to me when you slammed the door in my face! And I want to see this friend of yours.”

I had had enough. I got up off my bed and unlocked the door, throwing it open. Andrew and Sam stood there, Sam close enough for me to reach. Yay. “Here we go…” Alex muttered.

I drew my arm back and threw a punch. Then another. I hit him in the face both times. I drew back to hit him again, but Andrew grabbed my arm, twisting it and pinning it behind my back. Alex got up to defend me, and Sam just stood there, holding his bloody nose. “Ronnie, that’s enough. Apologize,” Andrew commanded. Alex stared at him in disbelief.

“No,” I growled.

“He deserves it! He talks way too much!” Alex protested. She was on my side. I nodded.

“Maybe if I hit him enough, he’ll get the hint and stop talking!” I said, glaring at Sam.

“I’d love to see how you treat your boyfriend… I’d actually like to meet the guy that tamed you…” Sam said. Crap. Andrew… he knows I don’t have a boyfriend…

“Ronnie doesn’t have a boyfriend,” Andrew stated. Great. My plan failed.

“She told me she did,” Sam said, confused.

“I do,” I said quickly.

“Who?” Andrew asked disbelievingly.

Uh oh… “…Zero.”

“What?!” Alex asked, stunned.

“Uh… yeah. The other day…” I mumbled, glancing quickly at Alex.

“Who is Zero? What kind of name is that?” Sam asked. As Andrew explained how Zero got his nickname, I whispered a plan to Alex. She looked at me and nodded. She stealthily took her cell phone out of her pocket and put it behind her back.

A few seconds later, my phone buzzed, and I took it out of my pocket. Before answering it, Alex and I left the room. We went downstairs and outside. “Okay, so how’re we gonna do this? You know Andrew is gonna ask his if you’re dating!” Alex said.

“I don’t know… I’ll probably have to pay him or something…” I answered.

“Call him, see if he’ll do it.”

“…Alright.” I flipped open my cell phone and pushed the number two and the call button. It rang a few times, then the most amazing voice in the world answered.

“Hey Ronnie. What’cha need?” Zero said on the other line.

“Um… I need a major favor… It’s like… major.”

“Okay. What?”

“Uh…” I struggled to find the words to say. Alex snatched the phone from me.

“Hi, Zero? It’s Alex. Yeah, hi. Listen, we need you to pretend to date Ronnie… Yeah… We’ll pay you, don’t worry… Um, we’ll talk about that later… I don’t know!... Yeah… Here she is.” Alex handed me the phone.

“Hey,” I said, nervous for once in my life. “…Uh, it’s a long story… I’ll tell you in Physics… Oh, really?... Yeah, okay… Well, I’ve got people over… No, my dad won’t mind… Well, I’ll tell you when you get here… Okay… We’ll be outside… Okay… See you soon. Bye.” I snapped my phone shut. “Oh. My. Goodness.”

“Get over it. You have to pretend to pretend. And you can’t get attached. Because he won’t. He’ll play you, and you’ll get hurt.”

“It’s only until Sam gets a girlfriend…” Oh, how I wish it were for longer…

“Just keep telling yourself that. You’ll need that reminder!”

“Shut up, Alex!” I said, play-hitting her arm.

“No!” she said, play-hitting me back.

Then he was here. He pulled up in the drive-way, and out play-fight stopped in its tracks. He got out and locked the doors before walking over to me and hugging me. I hugged back, feeling like I was dreaming. He let go of me. “Twenty bucks a week, and extra for… extra stuff,” he said, taking my hand.

I intertwined our fingers. “Deal.”