Chapter 11

When thinking about our conversation about Wes, it was Kendall saying 'a woman has needs!' that kept intruding into my thoughts. If she was a woman in need, and Wes was a known quantity that she accepted as being what he was...

It didn't help that I have a pretty active imagination. The image of Wes rutting away on top of Kendall was just ... nauseating.

I had to do something...

"Hello?"

"Hi, kiddo."

"Well hey, sweetie!"

I chuckled into the phone.

"Don't be so nice, Gerri; remember, we're on the verge of breaking up."

"Oops. Sorry."

"S'okay. Can you talk?"

"Gimme a sec'."

I could hear her put the phone down, and then the door of her room closing.

"What's up?"

"Well, if it's okay with you, I'd like to break up a little sooner than we'd planned."

"Oh!" There was a brief pause. "As I recall, you did say something about a girl you were interested in," she said.

"I guess I'm more interested in her than I realized."

"I'm glad to hear that, Randy."

"Thanks."

We were both silent for a few moments. I wasn't sure what to say.

"I really do ... I, you know ... uh..."

"I'm glad we've been together too, Randy. You've made a difference in my life, and I'll always be grateful for that."

I cleared my throat noisily, but still didn't trust my voice not to crack if I spoke.

She became businesslike. "But I was going to call you tonight. I can't speed up our breakup ... I think we have to postpone it."

I frowned into the phone. "Why?"

To my relief she didn't tease me any further about why I was in such a hurry.

"Well ... I just found out that Alan is going to be out of town with my dad for the rest of the month. I kind of need him here to really sell it; you know, make it believable."

"Oh."

"Yeah ... I'm sorry." She paused, and I could hear laughter in her voice when she added on, "I guess I'm stuck with you taking me to Winter Formal after all."

Winter formal was the last week in January. I chuckled, and tried to sound upbeat. "It's okay ... I'll make sure you still have a good time."

"I know you will, Randy. But we really do need Alan for the breakup. My roommate's out tonight, and I've been working on shifting everything into February. I've got to give Alan specific dates and times to call me, so I can make sure there are a lot of people in my room to hear me take the phone call from some new sexy sounding guy.

"Everyone will hear me say how much I enjoyed seeing him over the break, and agree to do lunch with him the next time he's in town. I hang up and call you and work it into the conversation that I'll be getting together with an 'old friend' that day for lunch."

I grinned. "That sounds pretty good."

"Yeah, the girls will eat it up. I'll have him call me a few more times before the lunch, and I'll let people see me get more into it each time. Then I'll come back from the lunch all dreamy looking.

"That'll go on for a few weeks, until he asks to take me out on a Friday night. I'll break a date with you to go with him, and I won't come back to the dorm until the next morning. He'll call me a couple times the next day. Then I'll take you someplace private, and I let you down as easy as I can when I break up with you."

"One thing worries me," I said. "Your plan kind of puts the whole breakup on you. It'll look like you're stepping out on me, which might get guys thinking they can hit on you and you'll step out on Alan, too."

"That's alright. The word will get around after I crush the first guy that tries. Besides, once people meet Alan they'll think twice about it. He can be pretty intimidating when he wants to be."

"I can believe that! Well, okay then. Are you sure you can get him to do all that?"

She chuckled briefly. "Oh yes. He'll have no problem with it."

"I see. Well, I'll just let you and Sharon worry about that part of the plan."

She laughed. "Good decision."

I wasn't sure how to end the conversation. It was still a pretty weird feeling. Gerri broke the brief silence between us.

"Hey, don't worry. It'll be fine. And after a few weeks, we can be friends again."

"Okay..."

"Now go get friendly with your mystery girl! She must be someone pretty special."

"Thanks. We really are just friends. But we have a lot in common, so I hope things work out."

"If she doesn't see what she's missing, tell her to give me a call. I'll set her straight."

"Thanks again, Gerri ... for everything."

"The same to you, Randy ... the same to you."