Horseshoes and Handgrenades

So this was Tre. I wondered why I had never met him before. He was adorable! I expected him to be taller than me, pretty much everyone was. Hell, even Billie Joe was taller than me, and Mike always made fun of him for being short. Unfortunately for me, Billie Joe always had someone to call on to counter Mike's insults: me.

Sure, Tre was...well...extremely eccentric, to put it nicely, but he was really funny. I couldn't help but laugh at him when he dropped his chocolate milk carton on the floor and then complained about his "orgasm in a carton."

I wasn't trying to be creepy, or anything, but I knew I couldn't successfully stretch over the milk puddle, so I just stayed at the top of the basement stairs, watching Tre go back and forth between the paper towel roll, the spill, and the garbage can. He kept looking up at me with...strange looks, like he was serious when he so boldly introduced himself and said he wanted to fuck me.

Honestly, that was the weirdest introduction of my life. I'm still not sure whether it was cute or creepy. "Should I take that as a compliment?" I asked quietly.

"Take what as a compliment?" a girl's voice asked from behind me.

I looked up. "Christy!" I squeaked, smiling.

"Emilie!" she squeaked back. "I would scamper over hug you, but it seems that there's a bit of a mess here." Christy pointed to the puddle Tre was still cleaning up.

I laughed. "It's alright. This puddle is the only reason I'm still standing here," I said.

Christy winked at me. "Sure it is..."

I rolled my eyes. "Shut up." She giggled.

"Christy?" I heard Mike call from the bottom of the upstairs staircase.

"I'm by the basement door, Mikey," she called back.

Mike appeared from around the corner, spotting Christy and wrapping his arms around her waist. "Hi," he muttered, kissing her cheek.

She turned around and kissed him on the lips. "Hi," Christy said back, after they had broke apart.

"STOP STARING, YOU FREAK!" Tre yelled. My head snapped over to where he was standing by the garbage can, a small smile appearing on his face when our eyes met. I swung my black hair in front of my face to try and hide the blush that was heating my cheeks.

"Tre, don't scare the poor girl," Christy remarked, now turned back to face the two of us.

Billie Joe and Sara came down the stairs then, appearing next to Mike and Christy. "Hey, look, all six of us together. Well, except for you two," he said, pointing at Tre and I. "But we're working on that."

"Christy!" Sara squeaked, detaching herself from her boyfriend to pull her best friend off of her boyfriend to give her a huge hug.

"Hi, Sara," Christy said when she could breathe again.

"Well, we're gonna split," Billie Joe said, smiling. "Bye, Emilie." He walked over to me and gave me a hug.

"Bye, Billie Joe," I said, smiling as well. Sara came over and gave me hug before saying goodbye. "Bye, Sara."

"Text me!" Sara whispered, winking as she and Billie Joe disappeared from view. I just rolled my eyes again. What was it with these people and winking?

A couple minutes of silence went by as Mike, Christy, and I all sort of watched Tre continue cleaning up his mess. "Well, how about you and I go aimlessly stare out my bedroom window at strangers and make up stories about them?" Mike suggested to Christy, looking down at her.

She looked up at him. "Sounds like a great idea," she said, planting a small kiss under his chin.

"Then let's go! The strangers await," Mike said, taking Christy by the hand. I heard them thump up the stairs, leaving Tre and I alone in the kitchen. I looked over at him, throwing what seemed like the last paper towel in the garbage can.

"Finally," he muttered, seemingly to himself. He took a deep breath, looking straight at me. "Were you saying something before Christy came in?"

I smiled slightly. "Yeah. I asked if I should take what you said as a compliment."

"What did I say?" Tre asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Something about wanting to fuck me." I swung my hair back in front of my face, desperately trying to hide the massive blush that came across my face.

I don't think it worked, because I heard Tre chuckle. "Oh, that. Yeah, sorry about that."

I giggled from under my hair. I brushed it away from my face, looking back up at him, fully aware that my cheeks were still pink. "Thanks."

"I can understand if you were a little freaked out," Tre said. He walked up to me, smiling. "Wanna go sit down?" He gestured towards the couch.

I nodded. "Sure." Now, I expected him to walk ahead of me and sit down on the couch, but he actually until I was walking toward the couch before he started to follow me.

There was a very long, awkward silence between Tre and I as we sat there on the couch together. This is why I hate meeting people I should already know. This was such a stupid idea, I thought.

"So...," Tre said, drawing out the syllable to break the silence. I smiled, looking down at the floor, my hair swinging in front of my face. "Emilie who?"

I looked up at him, brushing my hair from my face as I did so. "Emilie Glenn," I answered.

"Tre Cool," Tre said, winking at me.

I looked back down, my cheeks heating up again, a small smile gracing my face. What is it about him that makes me act like this? "That's not your real name, though," I said aloud.

Tre sighed. "No, that's not my real name."

"So what is your real name?" I asked, curious.

"Didn't you hear Mike yell it at me?"

"Well, yes, but...I was just asking," I said, looking down yet again, my hair swinging back in front of my face.

I jumped at the feel of his hand on my shoulder, but he didn't move it. I looked over at him, eyes shimmering with concern. "Chill. It's Frank. Frank Edwin Wright the Third," Tre said quietly.

I giggled. "That's quite a mouthful."

Tre smiled, taking his hand off my shoulder. "Why do think I have a nickname?" he joked.

I laughed, looking straight into his eyes. I didn't know what color to call them. They looked bright blue, like a summer sky, but the longer I looked, the more I could see. For example, I was starting to see some green in his eyes, accompanied by something else.

I didn't know what it was, and I didn't know if it was good or bad, but it looked...trapped. And damn my shyness, I was going to set it free. When I figure out what is, I thought.