Hola! Top o’ the day! Bonjour! Ciao! Kon’nichiwa! Mazel tov! Hallo! Okay, now that I’ve got you good and confused, here’s just a plain old English hello!
I’m glad that you could stop by and read a while. Your being here, and in basic good health, has got me dancing on the roof!
Last post, I mentioned that this post would be 1,200 feet off the ground and sunny. Can we negotiate? By any chance would you settle for a post only 1,199 feet off the ground? Electricity ain’t cheap in these summer months. One square foot of typing might save me enough of my utility bill money to wash some of my clothes this week. Sooo…
I know. It’s my problem. I probably need to get a second job and cut down on my take out meals, right? Well just thought I’d ask. Anyway, why don’t you grab a hot or cold beverage and I’ll type up a sunny new story for ya.
“Hey Carter, what’s the matter with you? You sick or something?” Joe Timmons asks. Joe sets his lunch tray down on Carter Miller’s lunch table and pulls out a chair. There were plenty of vacant chairs left to pick from. The one across from Carter was empty. So without a moment’s hesitation, Joe flopped his six foot-one, wrestler-shaped body into it, and popped a french fry into his mouth. Joe is seventeen. But with his mustache and side burns, he looks more like a twenty-one year old adult. Carter was glad to have Joe’s company, but not any of his questions.
“Nope. There’s nothing’s wrong with me.” But Joe stares silently at his lifetime friend with an eyebrow raised.
Carter always hated it when Joe would try to stare him into talking. Carter decided to put his annoyance into one word. “What?!” Carter snapped at Joe. And Joe answered back by going down a list of things.
“What? C’mon man. How bout your hair ain’t combed, you’re slouching down in your chair with your arms folded up, like you’re trying to let people know you don’t want to be bothered. And I know something’s wrong when a cheeseburger and fries are setting in front of you, and they don’t have any shark bites on them. That’s what. And oh, by the way, where’s Brittney? Ain’t you two suppose to be having lunch today?”
Carter lets out a long windy sigh and hitches himself to sit up straighter in his chair.
Carter is also a seventeen year old teenage boy, but was seventeen looking. He was also a good advertisement for what an athletic teen could look like after three weeks of working out.
Without activating a single smiling muscle, Carter laid his cell phone on the table and sighed again. “Yeah man. We were supposed to. And what do you mean my hair ain’t combed. It always looks like this.” “That’s true dude. I was just messin with ya,” Joe said grinning. He pops another french fry into his mouth, pauses to take a sip from his soda can, and then begins a little friendly interrogation.
“So Brittney’s not here? What’s up with that?” Joe asked. “Man. She told me in first period that she doesn’t want to go with me anymore,” Carter said sadly. Joe lets the french fry in his hand fall into his plate. “Carter, you mean Brittney dumped you?”
Carter twists his face up as if he had just put a spoonful of liquid squid into his mouth. “Man, Joe, aren’t you suppose to be in detention someplace?”
“Chill dude. I get it. You’re freaked out. But don’t take it out on me bro.” “Sorry JT. But the last thing she told me was she couldn’t be with somebody that’s not fun anymore and then she walked off.”
Joe couldn’t believe his ears. “What’s she talking about, somebody not fun anymore? You’re an all city skateboard champion. You drive a cool 2023 black Camaro, and you have pool parties at your parent’s house all the time. Man, what the blinkety-blank more fun does she want you to be?”
Carter pushes his lunch tray away from himself with frustration, and stares up at the ceiling. “Man, Joe, that’s what I been trying to figure out almost this whole lunch period.”
Joe takes a huge bite out of his cheeseburger and says with his mouth almost full, “Maybe she means that you’re not as much fun as you were when we were on summer vacation last week.” “What are you talking about Joe? Brittney is always cracking up over my jokes. And we’re still going to fun places on the weekend, and having fun.” Joe hunches his shoulders. “Well… Maybe she means that you…” Joe jolts his mouth to a stop, and instantly changes up what he was going to say. “Hey, did you do or say something to get her parents mad at you dude?”
Carter points at his own chest and raises his eyebrows. “Who, Me? No way dude. At least I don’t think so. Man, I’m always very polite to her parents when I’m over at their house. You know what I mean? …Saying sir and ma’am and stuff like that.” You and her dad cool?” Joe asks. “Yeah. Her dad and I are cool. We talk about sports and stuff. Her mom really likes me too, because she says she really likes a young man like me, that has good manners and doesn’t use curse words. So it can’t be that Brittney dumped me because I disrespected her parents.”
Joe suddenly snaps his fingers. “Carter m’man. I see what’s happening here. It could only be one other thing.” Anger sparked into Carter’s eyes, as he felt his eyebrows rush to try to meet each other in the middle of his forehead. “Nuh uh Joe. Don’t say it. If you’re going to try to tell me that it’s another dude, I don’t want to hear it.”
“Carter, man you’re already thinking it’s another dude! I don’t have to tell you that. This is High School, bro! You know what going together means around here. It’s always AFL. Man, you didn’t think Ain’t For Long wasn’t going to happen to you and Brittney, did you?” Carter thought about it a few seconds and then nodded his head in agreement. “Yeah. I know Joe. But man, I didn’t even cheat on her or anything!”
“Okay. Then maybe somebody set you up?” Joe supposed. In response, Carter burned a look straight at Joe. “Set me up? What in the name of really dumb stuff are you talking about Joe?” Joe grinned and shook his head. “Man, it’s a good thing you got me around to teach you about grown-up stuff. Use your head dude! Somebody probably told Brittney a rumor about you to get her mad at you. Then she got mad and broke up with you.”
Carter reached for his soda, popped the top, and absently thought, could it be true? It does make a lot of sense. Out loud he thought, “Okay Joe. Let’s just say you’re right about me being set up. Man, how am I going to find out for sure?”
“Not a problem. We’ll get Nerissa Collins to go undercover and find out for you.” Joe smiled and took another bite of his cheeseburger.
Carter’s eyebrows went upward to match the amazement he was feeling. “Man you can’t be serious. You mean Brittney’s best friend Nerissa Collins? Are you kidding me?!!! She’ll just tell us to go and take a good long sniff under our armpits!”
Joe almost laughed and almost spurted cheeseburger out of his mouth. But he was able to keep his mouthful of cheeseburger from flying out. “Chill out Carter. Trust me. I can get her to do it.” “How Joe? How you gonna get Nerissa to spy on her best friend, and give us the 411 on why her best friend really dumped me? Who do you think you are dude? …The FBI?”
Joe put down his cheeseburger and curled his upper lip. “Look man. Do you want to find out why you really got dumped or not?” Four seconds of silence goes by. “All right all right! I’m in. But if you screw this up for me Joe, I’ll put that video of you reading poetry to your baby sister’s Barbie doll up on YouTube so fast…” Joe’s eyes lit up with panic. “Man will you please keep your voice down!” Joe points at Carter with an angry finger. “You’re wrong for bringing that up bro! And for the last time, I was practicing with the Barbie because I was working on getting up enough nerve to read it to Arveena Wilkins. Remember?“
Carter looked like he could care less than less. He pointed a serious finger back at Joe. “Whatever dude. Just don’t get me embarrassed, or I’ll make you famous.”
One day later. Joe walks into the High School cafeteria, on his way to getting a snack tray…
“Hey Joe! Over here! …By the soda machine.” Joe sees Carter and walks over to him.
“My bad Carter. Man I didn’t see you standing over here when I came in.” “Really Joe? That’s funny. Cause I’m the only one standing over here. But never mind that? What did Nerissa say?” Joe begins shifting his weight from foot to foot, and looking like a man who knew something funny, but was trying hard to keep it a secret.
“Dude, maybe you don’t want to hear what she told me,” Joe announces. “Maybe not, but tell me anyway,” Carter eagerly urges his friend. “Okay… but you’re really going to feel really stupid when I do.” “Joe. Did I ever tell you bout the time my skate board accidentally landed on this guy’s foot, with me riding on top of it? You want to see how it works when I do it on purpose?”
“That’s real nice. Okay. Have it your way. But just remember Carter, you asked for it. So here goes.” Joe’s hidden smile finally makes it to the surface. He almost felt sorry for what Carter was about to hear him say. But then, his friend did bring it on himself.
Joe took a short deep breath and let er rip. “Bro. Brittney dumped you because you forgot her birthday yesterday. Brittney told Nerissa It was all over her Instagram, Facebook, and X accounts. Nerissa also said that Brittney really blew up when you didn’t phone or text or say anything.”
Carter spontaneously slapped a hand to his forehead. “Her birthday?! Oh man Joe! I thought her birthday wasn’t until next week!” Then Carter thought to ask the question he should have asked in the first place. “Hey! Did Merissa tell you why Brittney didn’t say anything to me about yesterday being her birthday?” Joe nodded his head and broke out laughing. “Yep. She said it was because her mom and dad had each bet her fifty dollars that you would forget.”
With a girlfriend comes great responsibility, no? Thank you for spending time reading at this blog. May God let you know day to day He’s there for you. Greetings until next blog day.