Suzie’s House 164: Thinking About It

“That was random.” Ben watched his mother walk down the hall toward the staircase, and muttered to himself.

“What?” Lisa came up behind him. The whole time he’d been talking to his mother, Lisa had been leaning over his desk, reading the story he wrote. Now she leaned around him and looked down the hall.

“Nothing,” Ben glanced at her. “Just something my mother said. Um, Lisa, I need to ask you a favor.”

“Yeah?” Though his mother was already out of sight, Lisa kept leaning and looking. Ben would have thought maybe Lisa did it because it meant she could be closer to him, except she was probably just looking to see if Gene would come out of his room.

“Remember a couple of weeks ago when Gene dared you to kiss me?”

“Yeah, I remember.” She smiled apologetically – not the way he wanted her to feel about it.

“I think maybe Mom saw us.”

“You’re kidding!” She put her hand over her mouth and her eyes got all buggy.

“So… um… anyway. She doesn’t want me to close the door to my room when you’re here anymore.”

Lisa nodded thoughtfully. “That’s fair.”

“And she wants you to start bringing a friend over. A girl.”

“What?!” Lisa leaned so far back she almost fell over.

Ben reached for her to keep her from landing on her butt, then thought better of it and ended up making a weird gesture instead. He probably looked like a total idiot, but Lisa didn’t seem to notice.

“For Gene,” Ben said. “She says we’re making him feel left out.”

“Oh. For Gene.” Lisa pursed her lips and tipped her head, eyes not looking at anything much.

Ben felt like throwing something, or maybe punching something. Was she thinking she didn’t want to find a girl for Gene because she wanted to be Gene’s girl? Was she settling for Ben because she couldn’t get Gene?

Ben didn’t want to be second choice. He wanted Lisa to hang out with him because she liked him best. He wasn’t sure how much more of this second-choice business he could stand. Everything was going great until Mom knocked on the door. He might even have gotten Lisa to kiss him again, only this time for real.

No, that wasn’t going to happen. All she ever did was lean close while reading over his shoulder, or looking down the hall. She wouldn’t really do it because she didn’t really want him and maybe he should just tell Lisa to stop coming around because this whole thing was killing him.

Then she grinned. A big, knowing grin, like she got when she was about to tell him and Gene something good they could do, like crashing a concert or something.

“I’ve got it! I know just who to invite. She’s perfect for him.”

Ben’s jaw dropped. Did that mean what he thought it meant? Like maybe Lisa wasn’t really going after Gene at all?

Lisa leaned around the door frame again, accidentally pressing her shoulder into his chest and not noticing at all. He fought the urge to grab her.

“Oh! Hey, Gene is coming out. Let’s go talk to him.”

She slipped past and skip-ran down the hall, leaving Ben wide eyed and groaning.

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