Love Is Hell

Garrett.

“So my date with Courtney went really great, man,” Pat said for the hundredth time as we sat on the dry grass of his backyard. “I really like her.”

I nodded. Even if I was annoyed with Pat repeating to me how much he liked the girl, I was glad he actually did like her. I mean, your best friend getting a girlfriend -that’s a good thing, right?

“What’s she like?” I asked, not out of interest, but to make conversation.

“She’s really smart, but she also likes to party and have fun.”

“Does she drink?” I could bet you that seventy-five percent of the kids at our high school either drank alcohol, smoked, or did drugs.

“No, which is actually kind of a good thing. I mean, we like to drink sometimes but it’s nice to know that if we ever dated, she wouldn’t go crazy and do something bad, you know, like cheat or whatever,” Pat said quickly, his words running together.

I nodded again. “She seems like a cool girl.”

“Yeah, if things get more serious we should all hang out! I could have Courtney invite Lina too, since you’ve got the hots for her and all that,” Pat said, grinning.

I rolled my eyes.

“Hey, you don’t have much room to talk, loverboy!” Tim yelled at Pat from his place by the pool, a few feet away from us. “You’ve been talking about her for an hour straight, Pat. Chill out. You aren’t marrying the poor girl.”

“Hey, she’s not poor, Tim! Shut up!” Pat snapped.

Tim laughed and held his hands up. “I meant poor, as in, ‘poor girl’s going to be stuck with you because you’re all over her’.”

Pat scowled but didn’t say anything, and I tried not to laugh.

***

“Hey, look! There’s Courtney and Lina,” Pat said, pointing to a picnic table outside the school building. It was lunch period and the school administrators ever-so-kindly allowed us to eat outside somedays.

Sure enough, I could see two brunette girls sitting across from each other at a table.

Before I could say anything, Pat was already walking towards them, a tray of food in his hands. “Come on, Garrett,” he called after me. Sighing, I followed him.

“Pat!” Courtney said, grinning as we approached them.

“Hey,” Pat said, smiling back at her. “Care if we join you gals?”

“No, not at all!” Courtney said, and from the corner of my eye I could see Lina letting out a deep sigh. “Hi, Garrett.”

“Hey, Courtney,” I said rather awkwardly. I didn’t know if I should have said hello to Lina or not.

Pat sat down next to Courtney, leaving me no other option but to sit by Lina. Not that it bothered me.

Lina looked up at me and gave me a quick, half-smile before scooting over on the wooden bench seat.

Courtney launched back into whatever conversation she and Lina were having before we showed up, gesturing with her hands as Lina silently picked at the food on her own tray. I didn’t know if she was being quiet because Pat and I were there, or if that’s just how she was. I think it was the former.

After listening to her talk for the rest of our lunch period, I decided Courtney was a great person, the kind of person Pat should be with. I’d like to think she’d calm him down a bit, too.

As we were standing to leave, Pat said, “Bye, Courtney.”

Lina stood next to her friend, an arm on hers, as if she were ready to drag her away.

Courtney blushed and said, “Bye, Pat.”

Lina rolled her eyes and tugged on Courtney’s arm, and I almost laughed out loud; the way Pat and Courtney so obviously liked each other, and the way Lina -the carefree one- seemed to be the sensible one at the moment suddenly seemed hilarious. Before I’d realized what I’d done, I’d already let out a small laugh.

The three of them gave me a weird look.

“What’s so funny, Gare?” Pat asked. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Lina tugging on Courtney’s arm.

“Nothing,” I said. It would be considered improper etiquette to tell your best friend that you were laughing at him and his girl, right in front of her, right?

Pat rolled his eyes as Courtney waved and walked off with Lina.

***

I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t anxious to go to 7th period. Lina and I had today to finish our poster, and tomorrow we had to present it to the class.

I walked into the empty classroom, taking a seat in the back like I always do. I watched as the room slowly filled with teenagers. Finally, Lina stepped in the room, almost late -like she was everyday. She made her way over to me and sat down next to me just as the bell rang, signaling that class had started.

“Okay guys, get to work!” the teacher called from her seat behind her computer. Most of the kids ignored her and continued to talk, but Lina didn’t.

“Okay, help me glue these pictures on the board,” she said, grabbing our poster from the back of the classroom.

“You printed out pictures? I could have done something...” I said as she handed me pictures of the rainforest.

She shrugged. “I just remembered last night. It’s no big deal. Here,” she handed me a bottle of glue.

We worked in relative silence for a few minutes, until she asked, “So what were you laughing at, after lunch?”

I wanted to smack myself in the face for laughing.

“Uh, well, I just -I just thought it was sorta funny how Pat and Courtney are acting all lovey-dovey,” I answered, deciding to leave out the part about her being the sensible one, when she was normally the opposite.

“Yeah, I thought so too. She was freaking out over the phone on Saturday, which she never does. It was weird.” She nodded and smiled a little.

I nodded. “It’s weird to see Pat like this, too.”

She made a noise of amusement before going back to our work.

“So I take it you like zombies?” she asked, gesturing towards my shirt.

“Oh, uh, yeah. Zombies are great,” I said, letting a grin slip out.

She scrunched her nose, looking too cute for a girl in combat boots. “This is sort of embarrassing, but... I’m terrified of zombies.”

“Really?” I asked, laughing. “I would have figured you’d love zombies.”

She shook her head. “It creeps me out. I mean, they’re rotting, dead people who eat other people’s brains. That’s gross.”

“You’ll be out of luck when there’s a zombie apocalypse, then,” I said, causing her to grin.

“Oh, whatever. Everyone knows that won’t really happen,” she laughed, showing off her pearly teeth.

“If you say so. But, you know, denial won’t save you,” I teased.

Lina rolled her eyes as she glued a picture onto our poster. “Okay, when there’s a zombie apocalypse, I’ll just come to you for help, Mr. Know It All.”

I laughed. Carolina Hawkins had a dry, sarcastic sense of humor that almost...complemented her.

“But, I don’t believe zombies even exist,” she continued. “There’s no proof that they do. Ghosts, on the other hand...”

I fake groaned. “Ghosts?”

She looked up at me and then looked back at the poster. The corners of her mouth twitched in a smile. “There’s proof that ghosts exist. Don’t you think they do? I mean, freaky stuff happens, and there’s got to be a reason.”

“I dunno, Lina... ghosts are kinda sketchy. Have you ever actually seen one before?”

She glanced up at me again. “Well, no...”

“See, they don’t exist.”

“Oh, what about your zombies, then, Garrett Nickelsen? Have you seen one of those?” she retorted.

“Okay, fine, you win. But I don’t know about the whole ghost thing.”

“See, I’m always right. Anyways, what are we going to do about Courtney and Pat?”

My eyes met hers for a second, light blue to hazel. “What do you mean?”

“What’s the verdict? Do we want them together?”

“Oh. Well, I think Courtney’s a great girl. She’s great for Pat.”

Lina nodded. “Pat seems nice. Courtney really likes him too.” She nodded again. “I think they should be together.”

“Then we’ll be best friend-in-laws!”

Lina grinned. “You wish, Nickelsen.”