Parker Lowell
It had surprised me when I came home to see her still there, especially since Gina and the others had arrived home earlier. Although in front of Gina, Theresa told me that they had come to a calm understanding that she wasn't to tell anyone anything about this, in private she told me that Gina practically had a heart attack when she had walked in the door to see Theresa sitting on the floor, absorbed in a game of Bubble Bobble with Zac.
"This is so cool," she said quietly as Isaac handed me another plate.
"Oh yeah, I always love help with the dishes," I said, rinsing off another glass and handing it to her as she quickly dried it with a towel. I swore that if she paid any less attention to what she was doing, Gina and I wouldn't have any glasses to drink from anymore.
"You know what I mean," she said, elbowing me playfully. "I mean that was Isaac Hanson, the oldest member of one of my favorite bands in the whole world who just handed you a plate. He was standing right next to me. This is so thrilling. I just wish Taylor were here..."
"You can pretend," I said. "I do a pretty good Taylor if you give me a few marbles to put in my mouth while I sing."
"Please, I had a demonstration of your singing abilities on the way to Darien Lake," she said. "What's he like anyway?"
"Well, I guess you sort of know what he's like," I told her. "I mean, you were the one standing next to him at the concert."
"Oh yeah," she said. "Wow. I can't get over all this."
"I can tell," I said jokingly.
She blushed. "Sorry. I must've said that about a million times already."
"Don't worry about it," I said. "I'm just beginning to come to terms with the fact myself."
Her smiled returned.
"Maybe you'll still get to meet Taylor," I told her. "Once he gets out of the hospital in a few days, I'm sure he wouldn't mind seeing you again."
The blush she wore suddenly became brighter as if someone were adjusting their television screen. "Really?"
"Yeah," I replied, nearly laughing as her cheeks turned almost the color of her hair. She looked ready to burst from all the excitement of what was happening to her. I knew she was probably waiting to wake up. I knew because I was still waiting for that myself.
"Wow," she said again.
"Can I recommend a good thesaurus?" I asked jokingly.
She mock-glared at me for a few minutes and then began to laugh.
"But would you really let me meet him? I mean, that wouldn't be intruding or anything?" she asked.
"I don't think so. I'll have to ask him, though," I said. "I'm sure he'll say yes."
She let out a quiet squeal before going back to drying the glass I had handed to her nearly five minutes ago.
Suddenly, I felt a presence behind me and before I could turn around to see who it was, they leaned down so that their mouth was level with my ear.
"I have to talk to you tonight," Isaac said quietly, wary of Theresa. "Zac, too. It's important."
"Okay...," I said slowly.
"Good," he said and walked away.
I stared after him, thoroughly confused. He sounded serious. More serious than usual, which was quite a feat seeing as how he had been pretty grave about almost everything since he had come to stay at our house. I wondered what could be up.
"What was that all about?" Theresa asked after a few minutes.
"I'm not sure," I said.
"Oh," she said, not asking anymore questions. "I guess I should be going," she added, wiping her hands on a dry dish towel as I turned the water off from washing the last dish. I looked at the clock. It had taken us nearly an hour to wash all the dishes. I pitied the person with dish duty in the Hanson household.
"All right," I said.
We walked to the door together. Zac, who was now sitting on the couch looking through an old magazine, got up when he saw Theresa and I headed for the door.
"Hey, I don't want to interrupt anything," he said, winking at me as he came up to us. I rolled my eyes. "But, uh, I just wanted to tell you that I had fun today, playing Nintendo with you."
She smiled and her cheeks reddened even more, having not recovered from when I told her that I thought Taylor would like to see her.
"It's no problem." she said. "Maybe someday we'll get past the ninth level of Bubble Bobble."
He laughed. "Maybe I'll see you again."
"Yeah, sure," she said.
For a moment, the two just stood there, staring at each other, obviously out of things to say.
"All right, I don't want to interrupt anything," I said, grinning devilishly at Zac, who mock-glared at me in order to hide his slightly red cheeks, "but I personally don't want Rose to start making wedding plans just because she thinks that you've been here all day with me."
"Too late," Theresa said. "Do you believe that once she actually bought me one of those bridal catalogs and slipped it under my pillow? I swear, my mother has the determination of a dog with a full bladder."
Zac burst out laughing.
"So, I take it you two are betrothed?" he asked when he had calmed down.
We looked at each other.
"Something like that," I said.
"Zac! Could you come here for a minute?" Mrs. Hanson called from somewhere within the depths of the house (depths...yeah right).
"Coming, Mother!" he called back sarcastically. "It was nice to meet you, Theresa."
"Likewise," she said as he ran off. "That was interesting," she commented to me once he was gone.
"I think somebody has a crush on you," I said in a sing-song voice.
"Please," she said, rolling her eyes as we went out the door.
I sighed, putting my hands in my pockets as we stood on the stairs for a moment.
"Thanks, by the way," I said. "That was really cool of you to not, you know, freak out or anything like that."
She smiled and shrugged modestly. "Wait until I get home. Don't be surprised if my mother calls later to ask what you've done to me."
"I'll keep an ear out," I said.
"I was thinking more along the lines of running to the border and changing your name, but, well, suit yourself," she said.
"Eh, I don't feel like going to Canada," I said.
"I wasn't talking about Canada," she said. "Bye."
"Bye," I said back as she walked down the driveway and onto the sidewalk, walking in the direction of her house. I watched until I couldn't see her anymore before I disappeared back into the house.
Hmm...Maybe Zac's not the only one with a crush on Theresa. What're your thoughts?
Index
Chapter Fifty-Six
Chapter Fifty-Eight