This Is Not an After School Special

I woke up with a minor headache and a dry throat. Other than that, I was perfectly fine. It was eleven-thirty, and I was sure that my mom was waiting for a recap of the night before. But I had other things that had a higher priority. I needed to call Matt, for one.

I headed out to the living room and took the cordless phone from the base. I began punching in the familiar digits as I walked to the kitchen and poured myself a glass of cold water. I was in the middle of gulping it down when Matt's mom answered on the other end of the line.

"Hello?"

I set the glass down. "Hi, is Matt there? It's Becky."

"He's still in bed. I think he was out too late last night. Weren't you there too?"

"Yeah, but I left before him. Can you tell him to call me when he's feeling up to it?"

"Of course, dear. Bye bye."

I hit the little red button on the phone and disconnected the call.

"Thirsty?" My dad asked as he entered the room and noticed me refilling my glass.

"Just a bit. Nothing major."

"You're not feeling sick? Want a greasy cheeseburger?" He smirked.

I hadn't been feeling queasy at all until right then. My stomach squirmed and my face warped in disgust. "Thanks for that, Dad. I was fine until you said that."

"I do what I can. But really, that's the cure for a hangover. How was your night out with Matt?"

I paused, trying to remember more details from the previous night. "It was good. I think I came home a bit early."

"You'd have to ask your mother about that. I was sound asleep by ten."

"Where is she, anyway?" I asked, noticing her absense.

"Running errands. She should be back in an hour or so."

The phone rang loudly, and I snatched it off the countertop. I didn't even look at who was calling, since I knew it would be Matt.

"Hey, what's up?" I answered the call.

"How are you doing, Becky?" Josh's voice replied.

I put my glass back down on the counter, taking a deep breath and trying to calm my racing pulse. I had completely forgotten that Josh had promised to call.

"I'm fine," I told him calmly. "Some memories are a bit fuzzy, though. I didn't do anything stupid, did I?"

He chuckled. "No. Matt got me to take you home before you had the chance to do anything too embarassing."

"Okay, but I didn't say or do anything too terrible to you?" I checked, trying to cover all bases.

"Not at all. It was fun, Becky. I had a blast. You're very entertaining when you're intoxicated."

"Oh, dear God," I moaned, leaving the kitchen and heading to my bedroom so my dad wouldn't be able to listen in anymore. "That doesn't sound promising."

"It was definitely in a good way. But I realised when I got home that I never shook your hand when you told me to. So I had to keep my promise and call you up to arrange something with you."

"Oh yeah, I actually remember that." I closed my bedroom door behind me and sat down on my bed. "What's the plan?"

"Well, I was thinking that maybe we should hang out again tonight."

I shut my eyes and cursed under my breath. "Sorry, Josh. My mom won't let me go out both nights on a weekend. Don't ask me why, because I really can't figure it out. I could sneak out, though. I've done that before."

"No, don't do that. If you get caught, it'll be my fault. And that would prevent us from hanging out during the week. Or next weekend, for that matter. We'll just have to do something then instead."

"Yeah," I sighed, letting myself fall flat on my back on my mattress. "That will work, I guess."

"Don't sound so enthusiastic," he chided.

"I'm not trying to be a bring down or anything, it just sucks that I can't go tonight. It's not like I was even out late last night."

"But you did get pretty smashed. So I'd say that you got a good outing for the week. And now we've got an entire week to plan for our next outing. Because, to be honest, I was just going to abandon you in the middle of downtown Vancouver when you figured out that I had no plans for tonight. Then, I was probably going to swing by later and pick you up before some hobo took my place with you. But I probably would have been too late by the time I came back."

I laughed. "Wow, I feel really safe going down to the studio now that I know that secret plan."

"Well it's not a secret anymore, so I can't really pull it off successfully. I guess you're in the clear until I come up with something new."

"That's a relief."

"For you, maybe. But I have to come up with a whole new master plan by next weekend!"

I laughed again. I couldn't stop myself, he was just so ridiculously funny. A dull beep sounded in my ear, and I sighed heavily. "That's my call waiting, I've got to go. I'll see you Monday."

"Yeah, see you later. I'm going to go and start planning."

"Bye."

I hit the appropriate button on the phone and took the second call. "Hello?"

"Thanks a lot, Beck," Matt's groggy voice muttered. "My mom woke me up so that I could call you back. She said I couldn't make you wait all day."

"But you always make me wait all day," I argued. "I'm used to it. And anyways, it's almost noon. You can't sleep all day, or you won't be able to sleep tonight."

"Have you been talking to my mom? You sound just like her, I swear."

"Oh yeah, we go way back."

I could just about hear him rolling his eyes at me. "So anyways, what's the news? What happened when Josh took you home?"

"Nothing. I just got off the phone with him, though. We're going to hang out next weekend. And probably more during the week."

"That's it? I got out of bed for this?"

"Well what did you do after I left that was so exciting?"

"Well not that hot brunette that you scared off, that's for sure," he joked. "I left right away after you did. I only stayed for like half an hour. It got boring, and everyone else was starting to leave. I was hoping that you would have an exciting story and I'd be entertained. Apparently, I was wrong. When are you going to make a move, Becky? Guys don't wait around forever."

"Aren't guys supposed to make the first move?" I asked.

"Why do girls always think that? It's not always on us, you know."

"I hate this," I scowled. "You know what? I don't care. Me and Josh have fun when we're together, and I'm totally fine with just taking it day by day and going from there. You suck for making me feel like I should be doing something else. I'm pretty sure I asked him a bunch of questions last night about where we stand. That can't be a good thing."

I was half-expecting Matt to get defensive, but he just laughed at me.

"So quit listening to me. I'm just telling you my opinion. If I was with a girl who was taking it as painfully slow as you, I'd get bored and move on. Maybe Josh is different."

"I think he actually told me to ignore you, too. And you're worried about other guys messing with me, yet you have that outlook on girls?" I grinned. "Kind of hypocritical, wouldn't you say?"

"Not really. I think the strange part is that you know that I think of girls like that, yet you're the one who's constantly telling me that they're not good enough for me. Figure that one out."

"Well there are some girls out there that you should watch out for, that's all I'm saying. I'm just trying to help."

"You're nuts. And I'm tired. I'll talk to you later, Becky. I'm going for a nap."

"Sleep tight, Matt."

I hung up the phone and went back to the kitchen to retrieve my glass of water. My dad was now sitting at the table, reading the classified advertisements in the newspaper.

"Hey, here's a good car for you, Becky. It's a few years old, but the mileage is still good."

"You're getting me a car?"

He looked up suddenly, staring at me like I was an escaped mental patient. "No, if you want one you're going to have to save up and buy it yourself. I'm just giving you some ideas on what to look for. And I'm starting to think that maybe you should get something to drive. Matt can't pick you up forever." He looked back down at the paper.

"I guess not. He really doesn't mind, though, and I pitch in for gas every week," I told him in my defense.

"Yeah, and you've started getting rides from someone else, I see."

I froze where I stood at the counter. I slowly revolved on the spot and stared at my father incredulously. "What's that?" I asked, pretending that I hadn't heard him.

"That car that came to get you a couple of nights ago; it's not Matt's."

"No," my mind worked quickly to come up with a plausible excuse. "It's Amanda's. Matt was getting his oil changed, so he borrowed his sister's car."

"Huh," Dad murmured, his attention still on the newspaper. "I thought her car was silver, not blue."

"It is. What car were you looking at, Dad?"

"The one with the boy in the driver's seat. And your mother told me about some other boy picking you up last night. Are you dating someone, Becky?"

"Not exactly. He's a friend, Dad. He's helping me with my singing. I thought Mom would overreact, so I lied and said that it was Matt that was helping me. But we really did hang out with Matt last night." I explained.

"Uh huh," Dad didn't seem at all convinced. "Just remember that if you become more than just friends, I want to meet this guy. And for now, I won't tell your mother anything. You're right; she would blow it out of proportion."

"Thanks Dad. I promise that if anything happens, I'll introduce you to Josh."

"Oh, blue car boy has a name?" I could hear the amusement in his voice. He was going to hold this over my head for a long time.

I cleared my throat. "Yeah, his name is Josh."

"Your mom will be disappointed," he noted. "I think she's hoping that you'll date Matt."

I snorted. "I know she is. But that will never happen, trust me. Matt's the best friend I could ever ask for, why would I want to ruin that?"

He looked up from the newspaper and observed me thoughtfully. "A relationship doesn't always destroy a good friendship, Becky. Your mother was my best friend in college."

"Please don't start with the 'how I met your mother' speech. I know the story. It doesn't mean that my life will turn out the exact same way."

"That's not what I meant by the comment. I was just saying that sometimes you could be missing out on an option when you rule out that Matt kid. He seems nice enough."

"If he wasn't nice, I wouldn't be friends with him. But being a friend that's a girl and being his girlfriend are two very different things. I enjoy where I'm at with him right now."

"Josh, on the other hand," Dad turned his gaze back to the newspaper, leaving his sentence unfinished.

"This is why I need more friends," I said, throwing my hands up in the air as I walked out of the room.

I could hear Dad chuckling lowly from his seat at the table. I hoped that he would keep his word and refrain from telling my mom. I always seemed to forget how observant my dad was. He was so quiet that it was easy to miss the fact that he was always around.

"I'll be in my room if you need me," I called to him over my shoulder. "I'm going to listen to some music and wait out the rest of the weekend."

"See you Monday," Dad replied, going along with my joke.

I headed back into my room and felt suddenly exhausted. Maybe I would follow Matt's example and take a nap. I turned my stereo on low and curled up under the blankets, letting Dave Grohl's voice serenade me into slumber.