Her Thoughts

"What happened?" Angelo L asked, with overstated curiosity in his eyes.

"Nothin' bro. She's not like that. She's not Christina," Dave said, passion evident in every part of his disposition and voice.

"Who opened?"

"Uh, Streetlight actually."

"Aw, I should of gone . . . Dave you know you wanted some -- "

"Dude, come on."

It was a weird time, amplified by freight and subtle intensity. Dave couldn't believe he had been to two concerts alone with Jen without her boyfriend's awareness. It was a streak bound to be snapped by someone. Heh.

"Where is this going, seriously?" Angelo asked.

"I don't know. But I'm happy for now. We'll see."

"Good luck!" Angelo said in an exaggerated, high-pitched voice which seemed to indicate skepticism and jealousy.

"Fuck you Monday," Jen said to her ceiling. Another morning, another day of school, another week of school, over one hundred of these days to go. Shit. The predictable text message was waiting for her.

She was out of her house by 7:50, about to switch things up and walk to school. She saw Jill, and jogged to her, happy to have someone to talk to. Jill gave an ironic smile to Jen, then a personal, "Hi Jen!"

"Ha, you don't go to school this early," Jen said.

"Yeah I have to talk to Mike about something. How are you doing Jen -- I don't see you much anymore!"

"You know," Jen said. She dragged the phrase into a paragraph's worth of detail.

"Still with him! I'm so happy for you."

"Thanks Jill. I love you, Jill, you know that Jill, right?"

"You don't sound like yourself. What's up?"

"It's not him. But you know that junior Dave?"

"Maybe, I dunno."

"Well . . . I went to two concerts with him. Alone."

Jill's mouth widened, then a laugh escaped which indicated she knew exactly what Jen was about to say.

"No, I didn't do anything with him."

"I realize that. But yeah you have to tell Scott." Jill reached into her purse and fished out her phone. "Does Scott know Dave?" Jill's interest had peaked when she gave the question to Jen.

"Yeah. Not friends or anything but Dave told me in Web Design that he knew him."

Jill finished texting her quick response to Mike's reminder. She reiterated to Jen what she said before. She knew she'd be telling all her friends about this. It was perfect, and completely unpredictable. Her opinion of Jen changed from "possibly slutty" to "too interesting to put a label on."

"I like Jen," Dave said to me. We had been working for hours that Saturday. This crush started, I don't know, a month and a half ago. Why the fuck was he telling me now?

"The whole school knows," I said to him, eye-to-eye with a perfect depressed expression on my mouth.

"What the fuck I've told three people."

"Just kidding, dumbass. Seriously though Dave -- I've known. Don't ask me how."

"You didn't know, faggot."

Why did he have to say that? It worked, though, and out came: "Dave I saw you and her at Wellmont and I read the letter."

"Dude, you're a fucking stalker. Why the fuck were you at the concert?"

I laughed out loud -- okay, that was rude. I cut his next anger-fueled jab off with, "You told everyone in Web Design, dude. I mean, I knew you two were going alone. I just wanted to see what would happen. You think I'm proud of myself?"

"How the fuck would I know, stalker? Dude whatever just don't tell anyone. You always fucking tell people personal things."

"Chill, man."

Dave laughed. He knew how pristine that sounded. He knew how, for once, that sentiment coming from me wasn't ironic. I laughed back at him.

"Nets player," Adem offered.

"Oh, cool," Dave responded.

The sighting of Brook Lopez was popular in the circle consisting of diehard Nets fans -- unfortunately it spread further, and the people that didn't care made it clear that they didn't fucking care.

"Adem I'll see you later -- just make sure you gimme five soon. Okay?"

"Yeah, sure. See ya."

Dave noted that this was the first time he'd seen Jen in Yantacaw park. It was weird -- she was with a few girls, and a small boy who couldn't have been more than 10. Right?

"Jen, we should talk," Dave called. He was uncharacteristically firm and authoritative. Dave would talk to her.

"Dave, hey, yeah," -- Jen approached him -- "let's talk!" She laughed pretty hard. Oh, it was coming.

"What the fuck?" Jen's crew had seemed content with a near bench -- they had all drifted to that viccinity by the time Dave had released his three surprised syllables.

"Nothing, Dave -- just something Nick told me."

Dave knew it. Half of himself was pissed off. The other half pictured Nick explaining the situation to her like, "He did this for you Jen. The Mustard Plug show. All of his actions seem directly or indirectly related to you now, Jen."

"I did that all for you, Jen. I'm glad you think it's funny."

"Come on, I thought you knew me better than that. I'm just laughing at a sixteen year old succeeding in the world of pornography, Dave. I'm so happy for you. Though I really think you should of told me . . . just like I need to tell someone something . . ."

"Yeah I was gonna remind you about Scott -- not that you need it. It's just that obviously he knows something and you gotta be honest with him."

They hugged. A quick, friendly hug -- nothing to start any rumors. There were an equal number of factors pointing to this relationship's demise as its growth. Jen and Dave went home with doubt in their hearts and minds -- but also with newfound sincerity.