INTRUSION (Whitney Holmes Series) (14 page)

He blushed., he actually blushed to the roots of his hair, he had light coloring and was kind of cute. Chanda looked disappointed that I declined so fast. She gave me an exasperated look.

“Okay, see ya,” he said and drove off slowly.

“
I didn’t know you knew him,” I said. “Who was that? He looks familiar.”

“
He lives in back of me and I always hear his mom yelling his name,” she said, “whether he is there or not.”

“
That’s funny,” I said. “What a weird mom.”

“
Well, he’s not home much. I think he has several part-time jobs.”

“
My job is taking care of my little brothers when my parents aren’t around.”

“
I can’t believe they pay you for that.”

“
My parents want me to concentrate on school, not working after school.”

“
What a cushy gig in your own home. Babysitting the X-Box nerds.”

“
I know it’s seems easy now, but back in the day, Jordan drove away the first babysitter with a poopy diaper that was pretty nuclear. Jordan had it coming out of one end and the babysitter had it coming out the other.”

“
Oh, shut up with that poop story. I’ve heard it before.”

I laughed. “Sorry.”

“Let’s get a Slurpee. I am dying of thirst,” she said as we got to the 7-Eleven.

As we went in, she said, “We’re in Slurpee Heaven,” and we both laughed.

We went in and we each got a large Coke Slurpee, except mine was the Diet Coke Slurpee. I paid for them, feeling bad about not accepting the ride when Chanda really knew the guy and kind of wanted to go.

I have had “don’t ride with strangers” embedded in my mind since kindergarten. And as I got older, that childhood warning changed into Mom’s worry about what happens to “girls who ride in cars with boys.” She was old-fashioned, but I always tried to do what Mom would have wanted me to do. After all, she turned out pretty good.

“Hey, thanks for the Slurpee,” Chanda said.

“
No problem,” I said.

When we walked out of 7-Eleven, I heard a familiar voice say, “Babe!”

I cracked a smile and looked over at a classic convertible Mustang with the top down. It was candy-apple red with white leather interior. A ‘Happy Birthday’ balloon was tied to the radio antenna. I walked over to the athletic driver, put my drink down and leaned over the car door to give him a big hug.

“
Happy birthday, Brendan,” I said to my ex-boyfriend. I picked up my Slurpee cup again and took a sip.

“
What, no birthday kiss?” he said, lifting up his lips in a mock smooch.

“
Cute,” I said. “There will be no kiss, smooth operator.”

He laughed good-naturedly as we bumped fists.

“I knew that. How about you, Chanda? Got a birthday kiss for your best friend’s ex?”

She shook her head. “Whitney warned me about you a long time ago. I’m saving myself for marriage,” she joked.

“Aww, you good girls are something else,” he said. “Want a ride in the Brendan-mobile?”

“
The Brendan-mobile?” I said. “Honestly, how does your big ego not explode your tiny head?”

We both knew I was totally kidding because he was a really smart kid. He’d tutored me through honors geometry and I’d gotten an A. I still occasionally called him for help with trigonometry, which football players should be good at, and he was. Chanda and I giggled and looked at each other. She looked hopefully at me.

“Come on, Ex-Babe’s best friend,” he said, a wicked grin on his face, now aimed at Chanda. “What’s one kiss?”

“
No,” I said to her firmly. “Don’t even think about it, Chanda. That car is his lair.”

“
You sound like your mom.” She sighed and ran her hand over the gorgeous paint job. “I usually don’t care anything about cars, but this one rocks.”

“
Yep,” he said. “The driver ain’t bad either, once you get over his extreme modesty.”

I had to laugh. Brendan was so funny sometimes, when he got over himself.

“Is this really a birthday present from your parents?” I asked.

“
Grandparents. My parents are over-the-moon ticked off.”

“
I’m sure,” I said. “Who gives a sixteen-year-old boy the keys to trouble on wheels?”

“
Hey, I intend to have this car until the day I die.”

“
Just don’t let that be tomorrow,” I said, with a dubious smile.

“
Hey, that previous car wreck was not my fault.”

“
No, of course not. That was some other Brendan drag-racing his mom’s car down Main Street and hitting a parked police car.”

“
That was thirty seconds of poor judgment. I’ve changed my irresponsible ways, Whitney. I’d like to see you. We could start going out again.”

I put a hand on my hip. “I like you, Brendan, but we’ve already gone down that road. We’re great as friends, but not a good fit as boyfriend and girlfriend.”

“How can you say that?” he said, his eyes pleading.

I folded my arms across my chest. “Okay, hypothetically, if you could take me on a date anywhere, and money was no object, where would it be?”

“Um, money
is
no object, remember?”

“
Yeah, I forgot.” His grandparents were loaded and he was the only grandkid.

“
How about an NFL game?” he suggested.

I laughed and unfolded my arms. “Still the same football jock!”

“I’m very deep. I would even take you to the Super Bowl.”

“
I’m sure you would.” We both knew he was joking about asking me out. We flirted back and forth all the time, but truthfully, we were better friends than we were a couple and we were comfortable with that.

A cute tanned girl dressed in a white tube top and Daisy Duke cut-offs came out of the 7-Eleven with two Slurpees and a bag of chips.

“My cousin,” he mouthed to me as she walked toward us across the parking lot.

“
You’re such a hound dog. You have no cousins,” I whispered, just loud enough for him to hear, but not her.

He reached over and opened the car door for the girl. She got in, handed him a Slurpee and smiled at him in a not-cousinly way.

“Babe!” he said to her and started up the loud car. All eight cylinders thrummed under the hood, drowning out the loud stereo.

He winked at me and shouted, “Thanks for the birthday wishes, ladies!” and backed the Mustang out of the parking spot.

After he had roared off down the street, Chanda and I looked at each other and said, at the same time:  “The Brendan-mobile!” and squealed with laughter. And then together, we screamed, “Babe!” and laughed some more.  We walked the rest of the way home. It felt good to be able to laugh about something, even if it was only for a minute or two. I said goodbye to Chanda at my house and she walked next door. I was so happy to see my mom’s car in the driveway. That meant my dad was home. Finally!

“
Mom, Dad!” I yelled as I went in the door.

My whole family was in the living room. My dad was holding court on the couch, telling the boys all about his accident.

“And the car is totaled,” he said right at the end of his story.

“
Are we going to get a new car?” Jacob asked.

“
Of course we are,” Jordan said.

“
Let’s get a truck,” Jacob said.

“
I want one with seven air bags,” my mom said ruefully, looking at my dad’s broken leg and arm.

“
Our one air bag saved my head,” Dad said.

“
Did it hit you in the face?” Jordan asked.

“
It was like a punching bag.” be replied.

“
But it saved you from getting a concussion,” my mom said.

Dad looked up and saw me.

“Honey, come give me a hug,” he said.

I gave him a hug, being gentle, so as not to hurt him.

“That hospital food was kind of plain. Let’s have pizza tonight. We’ll have it delivered,” my dad said.

“
That sounds good,” Mom said.

“
I want sausage and olives,” Jordan said.

“
That would be different,” I said sarcastically.

“
We all love that kind,” Jacob said.

“
You are right,” I said.

My mom left to order the pizza online.

She came back in a minute.

“
It will be here in less than a half hour,” my mom said.

I was sort of full, just having gulped down a whole Slurpee but that was okay. We never got any different type of pizza, so no matter where we got it, it tasted the same.

After the pizza was delivered by our usual guy, we ate in the living room with my dad because he was so broken that it would have been hard for him to get up and sit at the table. I had one slice. The boys went and settled down to their video games.

I wanted to talk to my dad about getting a gun. I didn’t know how to broach the subject so when my mom, my dad, and I were alone, so I just blurted it out.

“Are we going to get a gun?” I asked.

My dad looked surprised.

“I mean, Mom and I talked about it several times. So of course, I was just wondering.”

“
Yes, I think so. But my arm has to heal so I can take lessons,” he said.

“
Your leg, too. I can’t see you on one leg, on crutches. shooting a gun,” I said smiling.

“
That would be difficult,” he said.

“
How did you get in the house anyway?” I asked.

“
I hopped. It was not a pleasant experience,” my dad said.

“
Dad, Mom said we can take Tae Kwon Do lessons, is that true?”

“
If Mom said so, then it must be true,” he said.

“
I went down today and signed up for the family plan. Your father will start when the doctor says he is ready,” my mom said, smiling.

I was excited, I always wanted to do some sort of martial arts.

“Go look on your bed. There is a uniform that you have to wear. And you got your first belt. It is white,” she said.

I was a white belt. I thought that was funny. What, they didn’t have clear ones? I went in my room and on my bed was a pair of white pants and a white robe. I put it on. I tied my white belt around my waist. I went and looked in the mirror. I looked tough. I just wished my belt was black.

“What do I wear on my feet?” I asked my mom, going into the living room to model my uniform for her.

“
Oh, honey, you look so cute,” my mom said.

“
Not the look I wanted,” I said.

“
She looks like she is not going to take it anymore,” my dad said.

I smiled at him.

“You go barefoot at the lessons,” she said.

“
Wow.” I was surprised.

The boys came running out wearing their uniforms, too, now that was cute. They started doing fake karate moves on each other. We all laughed then Jacob got hurt and whimpered a little and my dad said to knock it off. They wanted to sleep in their uniforms, but my mom said no, they were not pajamas.

The next day was Saturday and my mom, the boys, and I had a Tae Kwon Do lesson. I was nervous because I didn’t know what was going to happen. My dad came along to watch. When we got there, an older Asian man came up to us and introduced himself as Master Ken. He was kind of cute. He said he was going to show us some moves but we had to put on our gear, so we wouldn’t get hurt.

My mom had purchased the whole package. We had knee pads, elbow pads, and rubber helmets to protect our heads. When I put on everything, I felt like a rubber man. The first thing we did was exercises, which were difficult to do in the whole get up. Next, we picked a partner and started doing some roundhouse kicks. We were supposed to do it lightly, so we wouldn’t to hurt our partner. Luckily, there were four of us, so we each had a partner. We did this for an hour. It was really fun. I sweated a lot. I was glad I had my uniform on because it was made of cotton and it was cool to wear. After the hour was up, we took the gear off and thanked Master Ken.

“
You guys were looking good out there,” Dad said. It felt so good to have him there with us. I started to feel safe again.

When we got home, Gretchen, who was usually in the fenced back yard, was in the unfenced front yard. She looked confused. Someone had let her out and she was so good that she stayed at our house.

“Good dog!” I said and petted her. “You didn’t run away.”