Chapter 11

In the end, it took an appeal from Dave to Sammy.

Bobby refused phone calls from Collette, just as he had from Patty. Collette asked Dave if he could help persuade Bobby to talk to her. Dave suspected that if he attempted to intervene directly on behalf of his sister, he would lose whatever friendship he had with Bobby. So he called Sammy for advice. Sammy agreed to talk to Bobby about it.

The next day, as Bobby, Julie, and Sam studied together in the recreation room of Sammy's house, Sammy struggled with how to broach the subject. She fidgeted and tapped her pencil on the table where she sat, while Julie and Bobby sat reading on either end of a couch behind her.

Soon Bobby and Julie were exchanging amused looks as they watched their agitated friend. Finally Julie had to ask.

"Sam, have you got ants in your pants or something?"

"What?" she replied in irritation.

"You act like you are sitting on a stove burner," offered Bobby as a clarification.

She turned around in her chair to glare at them. "What's it to you?" she demanded.

Both of her friends instinctively raised their hands to shoulder height, palms facing her, like gunfighters backing away from the poker table in an old western movie.

"Nothing, Sammy. You just seem a little, uh, preoccupied," said Bobby.

Sammy's expression softened. "Yeah I guess you're right. I don't know how to do this."

Julie looked at the books on the table in front of Sammy. "Which class are you talking about?"

"It's not about school, damn it!" snapped Sammy. Her friends once again raised their hands, this time remaining silent while looking at her expectantly.

Once again, Sammy's expression eventually softened. She finally decided to just put it on the table.

"Dave Simpson called me last night," she began. Both Julie and Sam noticed Bobby immediately tense up and cross his arms in front of his chest. Sam let that statement float in the air a while without further comment.

Eventually Julie asked, "He's the brother of that Collette that I met at the hospital, right?" Sammy nodded and remained silent, looking at Bobby.

"I'm not talking to her," Bobby finally said through clenched teeth.

"Collette?" asked Julie. "What does she want to talk about?"

Sammy again remained silent, looking at Bobby with a raised eyebrow.

Julie could feel tension coming off Bobby in waves, like heat from an oven. She had the uncomfortable feeling she got when around unpredictable males prone to violence. She'd never felt that way around Bobby before, and had thought she never would. Her heart began accelerating as the adrenalin began flowing to help her fight or flee.

Eventually Bobby answered her. "Collette wants to talk about her sleeping with my ex-girlfriend."

Julie's surge of energy was suddenly confused, and in looking for an outlet it redirected itself towards Collette. How dare she do that to Bobby? "Why that BITCH!" she practically screamed, startling Bobby and Sam.

When they both looked at her in amazement, she laughed at herself self consciously. "Sorry about that," she said sheepishly. "I guess I don't want anyone to hurt you," she added softly to Bobby.

"None of us do, Julie," said Sammy. "I think Collette just wants to tell Bobby her side of the story." She looked at Bobby with a sympathetic expression. "I don't know if it would help anything Bobby. But knowing better what happened might help you put things behind you," she offered. "That's the only reason I brought it up, not to try to get you back together with Patty or anything like that."

Bobby sat silently, thinking about what Sammy had said. Thinking about Patty just made him depressed. Thinking about Collette made him think about Patty. Maybe this was a step he could take to 'get over it, ' as Sammy said. The trouble was, he didn't know if he wanted to be over Patty. At first he was too mad to talk to her. Now he was afraid to talk to her to confirm it was over between them.

He looked up at Julie and Sammy. They seemed so supportive, waiting for him to think it through. It was good to have friends, he thought. Maybe Patty could at least still be a friend.

"All right," he said. "I'll talk to Collette."

Collette pulled up to Sammy's house in her BMW and walked to the front door. After the Lexus had broken down on her, her parents had upgraded her mom's car to a new model, and passed her used Beemer on to Collette.

She'd dropped everything and raced over after getting Sammy's call. Now that she was actually here, the idea of talking to Bobby about her relationship with Patty was a lot more daunting. But she'd promised Dave that she would do what she could.

Sammy answered the door and led her to the rec room where Bobby and Julie still sat on the couch. Julie immediately got up and went with Sammy to her room to give them some privacy.

Collette struggled with how to begin, as Bobby stared at her impassively. She eventually sighed, and decided to just start talking and hope for the best.

"Bobby, I'm sorry about what happened, and I wanted to talk to you about me and Patty. She and I became friends at school this year, and she talks all the time about how much she loves you."

Bobby snorted in derision.