I want brutal honesty! Candy-coat nothing, my dear reviewers!!
The phone rings for the umpteen-thousandth time that day. I pick it up; knowing it will be Max. “What do you want now?” I shout angrily into the receiver. “Umm… to say good morning?” the voice on the other end does not belong to Max but to my best girl friend, Roxy.
“Oh, it’s just you,” I say, relieved.
“Just me?” comes the response. “I’m sorry, Samantha. If you don’t think that highly of me, I just won’t call next time.” Roxy can be really annoying and so very touchy.
“No, wait! Don’t hang up. I was just expecting Max…”
“Ooh. Maximillian…” She is suddenly interested. It figures, considering what a flirt she is. “What have you two been up to? You would make such a cute couple,” she sighs.
“Ok, first. Max + Me= Just friends. Got it?”
“If you say so…” she says quietly.
I roll my eyes even though I know she can’t see me and continue. “Secondly, what do you know about the news on Chanel 11?”
“What are you talking about?” she asks like I’m crazy.
“The news! You know, the thing? With the…?”
There is silence on Roxy’s end as she tries to make sense of my gibberish.
“You know what? Forget it. Just come over to my house and we can discuss it face to face. I hate talking on the phone.”
“Alrighty-Dighty!”
********
When Roxy rings my doorbell, she is dressed in a rather skimpy outfit. I look at her skeptically and she just giggles and shrugs. “I thought maybe you’d invite Maximillian over. Since you don’t want him, I figured I’d have a go at it. Is that okay with you?” I glare at her.
“Relax. I’m just kidding. What I really want is to hook up with his gorgeous friend… ooh, what’s his name?”
“Are you talking about Finny?”
“Yes, Finnegan! I ran into him the other day at that cute little café on the corner of River Mill Drive. Did you know he works there? Anyways…” And I do relax a little bit. It's nice to know that someone else still lives in blissful ignorance.
“Are you listening to me? Hello?” Roxy has realized I am no longer listening. “What? Did you get lost in la-la-land? Thinking about Maximillian, perhaps?” She just laughs.
I smile, amused. “Roxy,” I change the subject, “why do you do that thing? With the names?”
“I call people by their whole names because it keeps life interesting. How many times must I tell you this? Now, what have you got to drink?” I think she does the name thing to revel in the fact that Roxy isn’t short for anything like “Roxanne.” She likes to stand out.
“There’s soda in the fridge; just help yourself.”
“Don’t I always?” She laughs again and heads to the kitchen.
“Come in here when you’re done and I’ll show you what I saw this morning. I recorded it.” I head to the family room and turn on the news. She comes in with a Root Beer in her hand and sits down and watches with me. When it’s over, she is silent for a moment. And then she just laughs, hard.
“That is the biggest pile of crap I have ever seen. You called me over to your house for that?”
“I know, right? I figured you could use a laugh.” I don’t say what I’m thinking. That I actually believed it. Even if only for a split second.
Max had to believe it though, or else he wouldn’t have called me. What is going on?
The phone rings yet again. God, this house is as busy as Disney World on a Free Admission Day.
“Hullo?” I use my best monotone, the one I save for those really annoying telemarketers when I want them to leave me alone.
“Hey, Sam, it’s me,” Max sounds breathless, but not in the good romantic Ooh-I-have -just–decided –I –like-you-too-so –let’s-go-and-make-out way. No, Max was merely breathless in the I-have-just-been-running-long-and-hard-so-I’m-sweaty-and-stink way.
Roxy follows me to the phone. Who is it? Roxy mouths at me. Max, I mouth back. She gets all girly and tells me to put it on speaker.
I don’t.
“Hi. Um, listen, I’m sorry about—”
“It’s fine,” Max interrupts, he doesn’t just sound breathless now. There’s something else there too. Urgency? “Listen. We don’t have a lot of time. My phone’s dying and I need—”
“What’s he saying?” Roxy hisses at me.
“Shh!” I hiss back.
I continue talking to Max, “We? Who’s we?”
“Me and Finny!” I can hear the exasperation in his voice. “Sam, I need you to drive over to the mall. Finny and I are—”
Now Roxy is reaching for the phone. She grabs it and we yank it back and forth until it finally rests between us.
“The mall? What are you doing there?” I interrupt again. I suppose I should just let him finish but something’s not right. Max isn’t usually like this. Normally he gets way off topic when I interrupt, but right now, he sounds calm and determined, but also kind of scared. He’s making me worried and I don’t think well when I’m worried and I tend to write huge, run-on sentences like I’m doing right now because it is more than probable that I am, at the moment, freaking out.
“Samantha! Will you please just shut up and listen to me? I need you to come to the mall. Finny and I are hiding in-- *huge crash*-- Sporting Goods. *lady screaming*-- need weapons and supplies. *more crashes and screaming and general chaos*-- Just—Oh my god!”
I hear him talking to someone on the other end of the line; then he comes back to me abruptly. “I have to go. Help, Samantha. We need you. I need you.”
There is a click and the line goes dead.
See; my zombie face!
