“
Four hundred or a thousand. It’s still a long ways away, Keesh.” I try sticking up for myself. Keesh just rolls her eyes.
“
Yeah, but Alex comes home to visit. He comes home to you.” She points her finger at me. “This isn’t home for Jon anymore. He doesn’t have any reason to come here.”
Steph reaches out to her. “Sure, he does. He can come visit you. Does he know that you want to see him?”
“
Gimme a break, Steph. How’s he gonna do that? It’s not like he can just jump on a plane and fly here whenever he wants,” she says, her hands waving in the air.
“
But still. Does he know you have still have feelings for him?” I ask. This is big. He needs to know. I’m not sure how much good it will do him, but if he feels the same way, it will at least make him feel better to know his feelings are reciprocated. Well, it would make me feel better if I were him.
Keesh throws her hands up again, falls back into her chair, and sits up again. “No way. What good is it going to do for us to pledge our undying love if we can’t even see each other? That’s ridiculous.”
“
Dude, why don’t you guys just Skype it?” Andi stands behind Steph, licking an ice cream cone. Our eyes shoot up at her. “Hey, I just got your text. I hope it’s not too late to join you.”
“
No, not at all, pull up a chair,” I tell her. Keesh and I scoot over, around our circular table to make room. She snags a chair from a nearby empty table and joins us.
“
So what did you say about Skype?” Steph asks. “I’ve never used it. There’s a little icon thingy on my laptop but I’ve never paid attention to it.”
“
Dude, how about your phones?” She scans the table, inspecting our phones. She picks up mine and chuckles. “Sorry, Meg. Your flippy just isn’t going to work. You can’t do much with this other than old school text. I haven’t seen one of these in a long time.”
“
Hey, don’t be hating on my Model T cell.” We all giggle. “One day, I may upgrade to one with a keyboard.”
“
Don’t bother. Skip the keyboard and go touch,” Keesh says. “Okay, now tell us about the video chatting. That’s what you’re talking about, right?”
“
Dude, for you guys being all smarty pants and all, you sure are dumb when it comes to technology and apps and such.”
Keesh slams her hand down on the table and we all jump. She scared the crap out of me. “Dude, tell us already before you wear your ice cream.” Both Steph and I giggle. This girl is going batty. Andi even has her saying “dude.”
“
Okay. So you can video chat using your cell phone or computer …” Andi runs down all the particulars and by the time we’re done getting a Video Chatting 101 seminar from her, we’re out of drinks and snacks, and we determine that all of us have the capability somehow or another. Both Steph and Keesh can chat on their phones, and we can all use our laptops. That cell upgrade is sounding a lot more appealing now. But I don’t think I’d ask my parents to fork over the extra money to pay for the monthly service fees that come with a fancy phone.
“
Well, shit, all this time I could’ve been seeing Alex’s beautiful eyes every day.” I don’t know if I’m more excited or pissed. I can’t believe how much time we’ve wasted just sending text messages back and forth.
“
No kidding,” Keesh shakes her head in disgust. “I’ve been looking at old pictures and Facebook photo updates so I don’t forget what Jon looks like.”
“
Dude, you guys really need to learn some shit outside of textbooks.”
“
Tell me about it,” Steph says, and I nod in agreement.
Keesh stands, starts gathering her stuff, and throws all the trash on a tray. She looks like a girl on a mission. She starts walking away, and then turns back to say, “Let’s go. This changes everything.”
Twenty
No freaking way. It’s ridiculous to think I have had to wait for quickie visits to be able to see his Alex’s gorgeous face, and all this time I could have been adoring it every day. Thank god for Andi. Where has she been all my life?
When I first mentioned video chatting to Alex, he had the same reaction as I did. “Why didn’t I think of that?” were his exact words. He talked to his roommate about it and he said he just assumed we were doing that already. It seems that we’re the last ones to catch on to this simple piece of technology. Maybe I would’ve figured it out sooner if my cell phone wasn’t sent to me from the middle ages.
Word spread fast and we all created accounts. The girls and I stopped answering video calls from Josh when he flashed his ass to the screen and let out a roaring fart. Thankfully, we were all at my house gathering around my laptop and I didn’t get a good look. Keesh, however, was front and center and is scarred for life. The only way she’s coping with the whole disgusting ordeal is by giving him a new nickname, Old Brown Eye. She embarrasses the hell out of him when people ask why she calls him that if he has green eyes: “When he let it rip, it sounded wet, and I felt like his ass was going to spit on me through the phone.” Nasty, I know.
I’m confident I don’t have to worry about Alex spreading his cheeks at me even though the guys, young and old, thought it was hilarious. Ben gave him the good ol’ fist bump when he heard the story. And he patted Keesh on the head. Alex sent him a text egging him on to do it again. Nice. This is why every time I get a call or text from him, I’m afraid to open it.
Before Alex left to go back to Berkeley, we sat at my kitchen table with our laptops and tried it out. We wanted to make sure that everything was installed correctly on both our computers and we wouldn’t face any problems. We joked around, making faces at each other and trying out sexy voices. We figured out that I can’t do sexy talk. Every time I tried, we’d both end up laughing. Bedroom voices are way too serious for me and neither one of us was buying it.
But now I’m just minutes away from my first long distance video chat with my friend, who is not my boyfriend but might be again sometime in the future. Someday, anyway. And I’m ready to scream. He’s four hundred miles away and he’s about to show up in my room. He can sit with me on my bed, and we can chat all night.
My phone buzzes.
R u online?
My fingers work their magic.
YUP! U?
Seconds later, Alex’s face shows up on my screen along with a little message alerting me of his video call. Accept or decline, the screen reads. I position the cursor over Accept and click.
The image is a little fuzzy at first.
“
Oh shit, I can see you, Meg,” he says, with a grin.
“
Well, that’s the idea,” I tell him. “But stop moving. Your face is jumping all over the place.”
“
Oh, sorry. I’m tired of sitting at my desk so I’m taking you with me.” His voice is a lot clearer than I thought it would be. It’s like he’s right here next to me.
“
Where are we going? It’s late already.” We decided to wait to talk until just before bed so we wouldn’t have a lot of disruptions. Not to mention, I’m back at soccer practice and doing homework, and he’s back to studying and stuff, so a late night video chat seemed like the best option.
“
To bed.” He winks at me and I may as well be a glop of Jell-O.
“
You wish.” I wonder if he can see my cheeks getting hot through the web cam. I doubt these little lenses are that high def.
He arches his brows at me. “You know it.”
“
This is weird, don’t you think?” I can’t stop smiling. “I feel like I’m just staring at you. I don’t know what to say.”
His nose crinkles up and he tugs at the corner of his bottom lip with his teeth. Uh oh. “What’s on your mind?” I know something’s up. I know his expressions like the back of my hand. And he just gave me the “I need to tell her something but I don’t know where to start” look. “Just say it, Alex.”
He shakes his head with a grin. “You’re funny. I can’t hide anything from you.”
“
Why would you?”
“
True.” He runs a hand through his thick hair. “That’s kinda what I wanted to talk to you about.”
Hmm. This doesn’t sound good. “Okay. Shoot.”
“
So, I know we’re not getting back together. Officially anyway. Or whatever. And I know you and the girls are all about dating this year. And I’m cool with that.” He pauses, biting his lip again.
“
Go on.” I smile at him, looking into his eyes, letting him know he can tell me anything. I’m not gonna break.
“
But, I’m not okay with you and Travis.” I take a deep breath and he puts his hands up. “Wait, no no.” He waves his hands, nervously. “Let me finish.”
“
I’m good. Keep going.” I didn’t even realize I made a sound until he got all worried.
“
Okay, so I know I don’t have any right to say anything about who you go out with and what you do, but I have to tell you what’s on my mind. First, I don’t wanna know anything. Don’t feel like you’re lying to me by not sharing. I really don’t wanna know. But when it comes to Travis, it’s just different. I don’t know what’s going on with you guys or if anything is going on at all, so don’t tell me. But if you and I continue to kiss and stuff when I see you, I can’t hang out with our friends when I come home. Not if you’re doing the same thing with him while I’m gone. It’s just not right. It’s awkward for both of us and not fair to either one of us.” Eeep. I don’t know what to say to that. “Does that make sense, Megan?”
“
It does, actually.” I know it’s awkward for me when the three of us are in the same room. I never thought about how they would feel. Gosh, what a bitch I am. I hate to think how Travis felt the other night when I practically had to chisel myself off of Alex at Josh’s house. “I get it. But I don’t think it’s something you have to worry about.” Anymore, at least. It’s been a while since Travis and I kissed or anything else. And from here on out, I’m going to fight the temptation. This cheesy teen fiction love triangle thing we have going on here is so not my thing, and I just don’t want to go there.
Finals suck. Especially when you’ve discovered a new form of technology that has taken over your life. And it’s not just the typical video chats with Alex. A simple text won’t do anymore. Keesh and Steph are always buzzing through on my laptop. I love chatting with Jon. His goofy facial expressions and dirty jokes are even better on my computer screen. We really need to figure out a way to get to Texas. I miss that guy so much. Jon, Jon, come back. We miss you!
Anyway, back to finals. Thankfully, I have some extra time to study all week in Ms. Gelson’s class. She’s going easy on my grading duties as long as I use the time to prepare for my other classes. A free hour of non-stop reading. I’ll take it. Brody prepared daily study sheets for chemistry and he’s been quizzing me on them every day. I take any chance I get to drill myself. He’s turned into a study monster instead of a study partner. Every time I get an answer wrong, he shakes his head like it’s the end of the world, taps me on the head and tells me, “Think, Meggie, think.” If he does that one more time, I may do more than just
tap
on his nerdy head.
“
Do you have any special plans for break, Ms. G?” I ask as I pack up my killer bag. With an entire semester’s worth of work, my book bag is like a beast. It should have its own zip code.
“
Just visiting with my parents for Christmas. Although if I could, I’d ditch my family and go with Mrs. Cruz to hers. I love the food.” She stares off into space like she’s dreaming of some good beans and rice. I know the feeling. I do the same thing when I think about Steph’s mom’s cooking. “How about you, Meggie?”
“
Same thing as always. Just stay home and open gifts with the parentals. We might have a party again for New Year’s Eve. At my house. The crew always comes to my house.” She grins, which makes me think she’s thinking about her own new year’s party. “Are you doing anything special for New Year’s?”
“
A lot of the teachers get together every year. We have a lot of fun.” She tries to sound nonchalant, but I know my teachers get a little freaky after hours. “So, will you be seeing Alex?” She drags his name along teasing me.
“
I don’t know,” I lie. “Will you be seeing Mr. Fuller?” I drag his name out too.
She chuckles with a sly grin. “Alrighty, missy. You get to class.”
I toss my bag over my shoulder and start to walk away. “Gotcha,” I holler back as I reach the door. I love Ms. Gelson. She’s like the big sister I never had and always wanted. She’s totally professional and all, but she’s laid back enough that I can talk to her if I need someone. It wasn’t always like that. When she was my English teacher freshman year, I would’ve never joked with her about Alex or Mr. Fuller, but being her teacher’s aide is a whole other enchilada. I can talk shit to her and run out the door. And when I do, I’m pretty sure she’s laughing to herself on the other side.
For two weeks, I’ve been studying like crazy for what seems like twenty-four hours a day. With only four academic finals, you’d think my life would be easier this year. Unfortunately, chemistry is kicking my ass, even with Brody’s help, and history is killing me. Mr. Erickson isn’t as hard as Mr. Marino, but he’s super strict and I can’t learn when I feel like everything I do is going to get me into trouble. Since Travis and I got on his bad side the first day of school, the bastard hasn’t let up. He’s constantly giving us the evil eye, and I lost count how many times we’ve had detention.