Operation Beautiful

I drop Emmaleigh off at home. Her parents invite me inside, but I politely decline. I really should get home before Jessica does.

“Oh, Emmaleigh!” I call as I leave. “As far as Jessica is concerned...”

“She wanted Matt to take me?” Emmaleigh asks. I nod. She shifts awkwardly on her feet. “I’m sorry. She really...she really just needs to back off.”

“She does,” I agree. “But it’s okay. I had a lot of fun.”

“Thanks. Me too. I’ll talk to Jessica, though.”

Not if she talks to me first...

I open the front door to hear a bunch of yelling.

“I thought we had a deal!”

“You played dirty, I played dirty!”

“I did not play--!”

Matt scoffs. “”You didn’t? Please! You said all I had to do was tell Corey, not actually do anything!” There’s a strangled choke and a squeal.

“Get off! And that doesn’t mean you have to go behind my back and--!”

“Hello?” I call into the house. Matt and Jessica do argue sometimes, but I’ve never heard them get this loud. Their parents are nowhere to be seen. Must be upstairs avoiding the conflict.

“Corey!” Matt yells gleefully, his arm around Jessica’s head in a headlock. She’s trying to push his arms away but looks up at me and smiles anyway. “How was your date?” Matt continues. Jessica’s face falls.

“It wasn’t a date,” I say sullenly. “I invited Haley along so I was pretty much a third wheel.” This is reasonably true. Sure, we talked a lot and had some food, but it was mainly me watching a couple girls shop. Not much of a blast. Besides, all the better if Jessica doesn’t know I had fun.

“Haley? Why’d you invite Haley along?” Her voice is scornful.

Great. Apparently, I’ve said the wrong thing. As usual. Why don’t I just duct tape my mouth around girls?

“Never mind,” I growl. “Just pretend I didn’t say anything.”

“I’m not trying to be mean,” Jessica says, backtracking quickly. “I’m just saying. Is it a good idea to be hanging around your ex-girlfriend so much? People will get ideas.” A feeling of annoyance starts gnawing at me. There’s some truth in what she’s saying, but I like hanging out with Haley. What is she, anyway, my girlfriend?

“Who I hang out with is none of your business, Jessica.” Ignoring the hurt look on her face, I had upstairs.

“What were you guys arguing about?” I ask when Matt comes to join me.

“Just...stuff.” He shuts off the light and gets into bed.

But the words keep rolling around in my head. There was a deal. Jessica played dirty by forcing Matt to do something he shouldn’t have had to do. So then Matt played dirty by going behind her back and...having me take Emmaleigh to the mall, I suppose. I never saw either of them as devious, revenge seeking people...it’s kinda weird to think about. But still, it’s not like it had gotten out of hand.

And with that comforting thought, I go to sleep.