The Other Fish in the Sea (28 page)

“Melissa wants to know if Brandon can come…” Kate said, looking back and forth between Tristan, who’s now talking to Pete, and Jillian, whose eyes were narrowed at the TV. She looks kind of pissed…

“It’s okay by me, Pete’s in too,” Tristan answered happily and chuckled at Jillian’s disgruntled eye-roll as he put his phone away.
 

I’m not entirely certain why she’s so miffed all of a sudden, but I’m guessing it’s because this whole thing is turning into a party and she really does prefer to work alone. I’m sure she only wanted Melissa to come along because she bought some of the damned stuff. However, all of that had me doing mental math again, and not that I can count on myself to have the numbers right, especially after that mathematical blunder during our camping trip, but Tristan’s bus roomy as it is, won’t transport everyone who’s now going.

“Wait you guys, not everyone can fit in the bus…we’ll have to take more than one vehicle,” I informed them logically.

Jillian smirked and finished French braiding her hair, Tristan and Kate shrugged their shoulders like they didn’t care and then Tristan said, “That’s not a big deal. I can take you, Jillian, Kate and Jeff and then Melissa, Brandon and Pete can follow. When we park, everyone can just climb in the bus to whittle away the time.”

“That’ll totally work! Thank you guys so much…” Kate said sincerely.

“So here’s what we’ll do… Camie and I will come here after school, she can change or whatever and then we’ll take Jillian and the girls (Phineas and Ferb) over to my place and everyone can meet us there. Once your mom starts moving, Kate, we’ll get on the road and have ourselves a little adventure,” he outlined, sounding reconciled to having fun with this.

Having our plans in place, I was walking him to his car when he asked about the sword. “Hey Baby, is that real goddamned broadsword mounted on your sister’s wall?”

“Yes, yes it is. I mean it’s not a genuine antique like the settee, but yeah, it’s real.”
 

“I thought so…it’s fuckin’
amazing
. I was really tempted to touch it but I probably would’ve sliced my finger clean off, it looks wicked sharp.”

He
was
kind of captivated by it and I don’t really blame him, I mean it
is
beautiful. I saw him reach out to it and draw his hand away like he thought touching it wouldn’t be the best idea in the world. Jillian saw him do it too and looked amused.

“It is…it could totally take someone’s head off if they wielded it with enough strength.” Aside from the tips, broadswords weren’t typically sharp as they were used mostly to crush instead of cut or slice, but this one is razor sharp along both edges, so yeah, he could’ve easily cut his finger off.

“Huh. I gotta tell Jeff about her room…” he said almost to himself.

“Why?”

“I think it’ll surprise the shit outta him like it did me. I was thinking her room would be a chaotic mess with electronic shit everywhere and movie or music posters plastered all over the walls, but…it’s
inherently
romantic
. It’s just not what I pictured coming from her at all, and proves there’s a lot more to your sister than what she shows us.”

He totally gets it.

Thursday afternoon we had to alter our spy night travel plans slightly when Jeff informed us that he thought he was getting sick and wouldn’t be going to school on Friday. He was also opting out of spying on Kate’s mom with us. He didn’t look all that sick to me, but he was adamant about not wanting to expose any of us to his cooties and insisted he needed the rest to get better. The basic plan stayed in place, but instead of Pete driving Melissa and Brandon, he would come in the bus with us and Melissa would drive Brandon in her Miata. It wasn’t that big of a deal to any of us, but I think Kate was a little disappointed that Jeff won’t be there to support her when she finds out about what she’s sure is her mom’s shady goings on.
 

Personally, I’m less inclined to believe Kate’s mom is doing anything worth hiding because come on, she just kicked her husband out after having been cheated on for most of her marriage to him and is now probably just trying to cheer herself up by getting out of the house. But, Kate
is
awfully damned intuitive, so we’ll just see tomorrow night…

14.

GPS Points To Cougar Town And A Family Tree From The Deep South

I knew there was a picture of it here somewhere…

Finding what I was after and ignoring the butterflies in my stomach, which
could
always just be nerves about what we’re doing tonight; I went into the kitchen to find Camie.
 

I stole the piece of yummy pizza on her plate that she was practically ignoring, took a bite and said through chewing, “Hey, come here, I wanna show you something.”

I had to whisper because I’m sure Tristan would intervene if he knew what I was up to. The big control freak baby. Besides, the three pieces of pizza I had didn’t quite fill me up, thus the theft and talking with my mouth full, so the whispering kept me from spraying Camie with crust crumbs.

“Kate, where are y—
Oh!
Jeez…
I’ve never been in here before,” she said, sounding the same way I’m sure I probably sounded like the other night seeing her sister’s room for the first time.

Camie and I are very similar in many ways, which is probably why we clicked the way we did and make such great friends. She loves books, and yes, the Daniels’ library is chockfull of ridiculously delicious tombs that I’m sure she’d love to get lost in, but they’re not why I dragged her away from her dinner and in here.

“We probably don’t have very long, but here…this is what I wanted to show you.” I handed her the picture that I’d had to stand on tippy-toes and jump a little to pluck off a bookshelf far over my head.
 

“Aw, is that you with Tristan and Jeff?”
 

I had to smile at the way she’s tracing the four year old Tristan. I do the same thing with pictures of Jeff.

“Yeah, but look at what he’s holding…”

“Oh my God, is that
the
baby-doll?”

“The one and only!” I really had forgotten all about his obsession with that doll. My brain hasn’t really been working the way it normally does…I can’t blame it though, it’s under a lot of stress and I get distracted or what I like to call being “shiny objected.”
 

A perfect example of that is right now... I mean all I was doing was looking up so I could get some eyeliner gunk out of the corner of my eye and it was like, “Ooh! What’s
that?!
”
 

Jeff would kill me if he saw me doing this, but I don’t care, I have
got
to pull that down here…
 

“Kate! You’re gonna break your neck trying to balance on the top of the chair and th—what the heck are you tryi—NO WAY! Is that what I think it is?”

“YES! How much do you love me?” I just totally struck gold for Camie…now
Tristan’s
gonna freaking kill me!

She helped me down and we were just barely cracking the damned thing open when we were caught with our hands totally in the baby book cookie jar.
 

“What are you guys do—Oh
hell
no!” Tristan hollered from the doorway while laughing at our guilty expressions and then with inhuman speed, making me think Jillian might’ve been onto something with the Superman thing, he snatched the book from our hands and held it way above his head.
 

Foiled again. I don’t know how he does it, but I swear he’s either a step ahead or not very far behind me
all
the time. I wonder if he can sense dastardly plots against him. You know, like how Spiderman has his “Spidey Sense.”

“Come on, Trist
aaa
n…you got to see m
iii
ne!” Camie whined while I giggled.
 

Poor Camie. I was trying to help her even the score but, he’s just too quick. And tall. She’s trying to jump to reach the book now, but he’s got his hand on the top of her head, not even letting her get a foot off the ground.
 

“No way. My mom isn’t a scrap-booker like yours and she didn’t put cute little ducky or heart stickers over shit, so until you’re ready to see it in the flesh, you don’t get to see it on fuckin’ Kodak photo paper,” he told her still laughing.

He has a point I guess. Even though Camie and I haven’t talked about it, I know she’s not.
Yet.
I wonder if he knows just how close she is to being ready, though. I doubt it. Sure, he’s immensely intelligent and lifeguards at the beach and rec. center and stuff, but when it comes to all things Camie,
I
think Tristan struggles to keep his head above water. He really is a control freak and usually has a game plan for just about everything, but he’s playing a game he has no experience with whatsoever and I think he’s been forced to write the playbook as he goes. He’s been showing exemplary patience which is sort of a surprise coming from him, but I’ve noticed little things here and there. Like the way he’ll look at her sometimes, like he wants to devour her completely, and in
my
humble opinion, he’s starting to foam at the mouth. Not that he’s gonna push her or give her an ultimatum or anything. That’s just not him and they have that contract thing of theirs, which I find hilarious that she got him to agree to in the first place, but even so, I still think she’s intimidated and I don’t think she knows how to talk to him about it.
 

My point is I honestly think Camie will talk to me about sex before she talks to him, thereby keeping him in the dark about where she is in her readiness. I really hope she’s not holding out because she’s waiting for him to tell her he loves her, though. He does. And I think
he
knows he does, but words aren’t really Tristan’s forte so even if he keeps waiting and they stay together forever, she could possibly die a virgin never having heard him say it, which I think would be quite unfortunate for both of them. However, I
totally
get wanting to keep certain things private and it’s not my business. So, I’m staying out of it until my best friend brings me into it.

“Fine, you big brat…at least I got to see
this
one,” she taunted him and waved the framed picture in front him like he was a bull and it was a red cape.

“Kate, can you please just be satisfied with invading your mom’s privacy for one night! Out of here, both of you,” he demanded still laughing, and keeping his baby book high above his head, he ushered us out of the library and back into the family room with the rest of the gang. Then he looked at Pete and ordered, “Watch these two for a minute.”

“Uh, okay…” Pete responded absentmindedly while talking to Brandon who must’ve just gotten here because he wasn’t when I found Camie a few minutes ago.

“I mean it, man, don’t let ‘em out of your fuckin’ sight…they’re trouble together,” Tristan called over his shoulder as he turned around to go hide his childhood somewhere safe and probably high, like the attic. I’ll laugh my ass off if he comes back with insulation clinging to his hair.

Control freak!
 

“So are we still on for shopping Sunday?” Camie asked me as we both were looking in the direction Tristan had gone.

The control freak is right, though. She and I would totally try to follow him if Pete wasn’t keeping us in sight.

“Definitely. I need to finish up my Christmas shop—”

“Can I go?” Jillian asked, causing me to jump a little.

I didn’t even hear her come up and stand next to me. I’m so glad she’s on my side. Hmm. Maybe Camie and I should send
her
to pilfer Tristan’s photo album…oh, she asked me something though, what was i—oh yeah… “Of course! I’ll even buy you lunch and dinner!” Tristan did warn me there was a price, so if taking her shopping and paying for a couple of meals is what tonight will cost me, then I’m not gonna complain a bit. Actually, I think I’m getting off easy.

It was just about eight o’clock and Tristan had barely reappeared without insulation anywhere on his person, when the beeping started and we all looked at Jillian expectantly.
 

Not in a hurry, she casually lifted the GPS thing in her hand and looking at it she said, “Move ‘em on, head ‘em up…”
 

I have no idea. I know that means my mom is on the move, but other than that, your guess is as good as mine.

Camie continued with it though. “Head ‘em up, move ‘em out…”
 

Ah, now I think I get it…

Naturally, Tristan picked it up. “Move ‘em on, head ‘em out…”
 

Yeah, I got it.

“RAWHIDE!”
Melissa, Pete, Brandon and I all shouted.

Jillian got in first, claiming the shotgun seat which is totally her right. She’s the one who’ll be navigating so I climbed in Tristan’s bus and took my seat next to Camie in the back with Pete, of course, on the other side of me. Heaven
forbid
Camie sit next to a guy who
isn’t
Tristan. Again I say, control freak! But, I really do love him dearly.

“Hey Baby, check it out…you’re gonna love this,” Tristan said, handing Camie his iPod and clicking a playlist entitled “Friday Night Spy Night.”

She and I both started laughing. I have to admit, he’s really damned funny sometimes…he made a playlist comprised solely of stalker songs for tonight. He started the bus and we headed out to the song “Private Eyes” by Hall and Oates. And no, you’re not alone; the
only
reason I know the title of the song or who sings it is because I saw the playlist. I’m not anywhere near to being in the same realm of intelligence as Camie and Tristan, Jillian and Pete too for that matter, when it comes to music. And apparently I even fall behind Brandon in that sphere because he totally knew who sang the song as soon as it started, but I guess I should’ve expected that. He
is
in a band after all and from what Melissa says, they’re really good. Oh yeah…he and Melissa
are
following us in her little two-seater, but Brandon brought really heavy-duty looking handheld CB radios for us so we can stay in touch on the road and he and Tristan happened to be testing them out when the song started.