Chapter 13

"Hello?"

"Hi, Gerri."

"Randy? What's wrong?"

How could I describe my situation?

"I kinda screwed up," I said.

"Something went wrong with ... with her? The girl you like?"

"Her name's Kendall."

"Okay..."

"Gerri, remember when you said ... that if she didn't realize what a great guy I was, that you'd call her to straighten her out?"

I could feel her smile. "Yes, I remember."

"Well, I think I need to take you up on that. Are you going to be in your room for the next couple hours?"

"I can be."

"That's great. So, if you're up for it, this is what I want to do..."

I had a general idea of where Kendall's room was in Carrick. I only had to ask for directions a few times. It was obvious that Kendall was well known in the building.

Or more accurately, her body was. When I asked using her name, I got blank looks. When I described what she looked like, everyone knew who I was talking about. It was another example of how her beauty isolated her.

In Carrick the rooms were organized into suites with their own air conditioning and private bathrooms. As I walked down the hall the suite doors were mostly open with people routinely passing between them. Reaching Kendall's open suite door I took a couple steps inside, and from there I could see into her room. She was reading at her desk with a set of stereo headphones on.

I took a deep breath, squared my shoulders, and knocked firmly on her room's propped open door.

When she saw me her eyebrows rose in surprise. I did my best to appear contrite but not a doormat, an insane combination that probably just made me look unbalanced.

"Hey," I said.

I had a surge of confidence when she smiled as she took off her headphones.

"Hey, Randy, what are you doing here?" She stood, and to my pleasure gave me a hug.

As I looked over her shoulder, I saw a picture of Kendall and Summer Romance Guy (Paul?) on a shelf, hugging and looking happily at the camera.

"I ... if you have a minute, I wanted to apologize for being so creepy today."

"Oh bless your heart," she said. "You didn't have to come all the way here ... it's alright." She waved a hand between us as if dispersing any bad karma that might be hovering there.

"I know you meant well, Randy. You may not have been real smooth about it ... but I can tell you have a good heart."

"Well, thanks. Uh, is there somewhere we can talk ... privately?"

She looked at me quizzically; then she shrugged.

"We can talk here. My roommate won't be back for a couple hours."

"Okay." I sat down on her bed, but immediately thought better of it and sprang up to sit in her roommate's study chair.

Kendall shook her head at me as she moved to close the door.

"Will you relax, Randy? Geez!"

"Sorry."

"And stop apologizing! I'm over it if you are."

"That's kind of why I'm here," I said. That gave her pause.

"Okay ... why are you here'?"

"It's about me being over something."

"'Over something'?"

"Yeah."

"Over what?"

"I can't tell you."

"What?"

I mentally smacked myself in the forehead. Stop being such a clod!

"What I mean is ... I want someone else to tell you something for me."

She bit the inside of her lip and closed her eyes tight, as if she had a sudden headache. She shook her head, and then looked up again.

"Okay, I'm game," she said.

I pulled a folded piece of paper from my shirt pocket and handed it to her. She opened it to find the name Gerri, followed by a phone number.

"This is your Gerri, as in your girlfriend Gerri?"

"Yeah."

"And why am I calling her?"

"Because it's a pretty weird story, and if she tells you there's a chance you might believe it. If I tell you, you might think I was a frat rat trying to pull a fast one on you."

She stared at it for bit.

"She's expecting me to call?"

"Yes."

Still looking doubtful she dialed the number. After a brief pause she sat up a bit straighter, and I sat on pins and needles, listening to her side of the conversation.

"Um, hi, this is Kendall Payton ... yes we do have a mutual friend."

"He's here with me now..."

Kendall laughed, seeming to look me over top to bottom.

"I've been telling him to relax all day."

"Yes, he told me about you ... yes, he is."

"Mmm hmm."

"Well I can believe that."

"You're ... what?

"You're kidding! No way!"

"Oh my God."

Her eyes went wide and she turned her chair away from me. She listened for what seemed like a long time.

"Wow."

After all that she turned back to face me, her expression serious as she looked at me while listening intently.

"This does explain a few things."

"Well, yes."

"I don't know."

"Okay."

"Yes."

"He was right. He said if he told me himself I wouldn't have believed it."

"You too ... bye."

She shook her head, obviously not knowing where to begin. So I tried.

"I didn't want you to think I just dumped my girlfriend before..."

"Yes ... before what?"

"Before I ... I don't know," I trailed off, my courage failing me.

"You really dated her for months without knowing she was in love with another girl?"

"In my defense, I have to say that she gives very enthusiastic head."

She burst out laughing. I didn't think I needed to complicate things further by telling her that Gerri'd also given me her virginity after we'd agreed to break up.

"Anyway," I said, trying to regain some measure of dignity, "her girlfriend in Nashville said that even though Gerri isn't all that experienced with guys, she really is bisexual. I'd say that must be right; that's why Gerri could act straight so convincingly."

"She must be. Otherwise, her fooling you for so long would just mean you're clueless."

"Hey!"

"What, you disagree?"

I tried to glare at her, but couldn't sustain it. So I tried to change the subject to something other than my perception deficit. "After I got over the shock, I have to admit that I still like Gerri a lot. We agreed we'd like to stay friends. She said she'd like to meet you, and I'd like that too. We should get together sometime and do some stuff."

Kendall's playful expression vanished. I thought I saw a look of ... was it anger? ... cross her face before it became stony. I'd said something that didn't agree with her, but I had no idea what. It was yet another rapid transformation.

"What kind of "stuff?" she asked.

'Uh, we didn't really talk about it. Whatever ... something we're all up for."

"What we're all 'up for'?"

"Yeah."

"So you can have her and me?"

My eyes popped wide open.

"What?"

I started to chuckle, but it died on my lips when I saw that she was serious.

"No ... I mean you talked to her, right? She doesn't want..."

"Oh sure, introduce Kendall to your bisexual friend so we can 'do some stuff.' I'm not an idiot, Randy."

"But ... Gerri just told you she's not my girlfriend any more."

"But you'll still be 'friends, ' right? Is that why she said she'd like to meet me? So you two screwing buddies can try to include me?"

I had no idea how the argument started, but now I was starting to get pissed off.

"You don't know what you're talking about."

"Oh don't I?"

"Gerri doesn't want to get me or you in bed! She's in love with Sharon."

"How do you know what she really wants?"

"Because they were both standing in front of me when they told me! Geez! One minute you can tell I'm worried about Wes just by looking at me. Now listen to yourself!"

"Well at least I know what Wes wants. But maybe Wes is the nice guy, and you're just ... just a big bunch of B.S.!"