Chapter 14: The Next Day

We were greeting the morning the best way when The Pest pounded on my door and hollered that he needed a ride.

"Yeah, yeah, you're just going to have to wait."

"You better hurry up or I'm gonna tell Mom that your girlfriend was naked in your room last night!"

We both broke up, chuckling at what an empty threat that was—even if my pesky brother didn't know it.

After we finished "waking up" and got dressed we walked downstairs where The Pest was waiting, "Would you hurry up? I'm gonna be late!"

"Okay, Squirt, where to?" I asked.

"I'm supposed to meet some friends at the mall."

"Then let's go," I said as I headed for the door.

About halfway to the mall, he piped up, "Tommy, I'm a teenager now and my name is Kevin, so quit calling me Squirt and Pest. I'm tired of it!"

Beth looked at me, "He's got a point, you know."

I looked in the rearview mirror, "Okay, Kevin, you're right—since your thirteenth birthday last week you're officially a teenager. So no more names. But ... if you want to be treated as something other than a kid, you're going to have to act that way. No stunts like your threat this morning. Deal?"

He looked like he wanted to ask just what WAS going on in my bedroom, but he just nodded, "Okay, Tommy."

"And I'll try to remember your name, but don't jump all over me if I forget."

"Yeah," Beth added, "Jumping all over him is my job!"

Kevin sat there for a second, turned beet red and mumbled something neither of us could hear.

"What was that?" Beth asked.

"I said it must be nice to have someone to jump all over," he said, still blushing.

"It is ... very nice," I responded. "But that's not everything in a relationship. I know you're not going to believe me, but there's more to it than sex."

"There is?" Beth deadpanned.

"You're not helping here," I told her. Looking back at Kevin, I asked, "So do you have a girlfriend?"

"Now you're just teasing me," he sulked.

"No, I'm not. I'm just wondering if you've found someone or are still looking."

"Well, there is one girl, Gail, in my Math class that seems to like me, but I've barely talked to her. I never know what to say!"

Maybe it's genetic?

Beth leaned over the seat, "Kevin, just talk to her. Ask her if she likes the class you're both in, or what she thought of lunch. That's guaranteed to get a conversation going. Just don't push. Girls don't like it if they think a guy is hitting on them right away."

"Well, I suppose I could try that. Is that with Tommy did to you?"

I was curious to hear the answer to that one myself.

"No, He just asked if anyone needed a ride and I took him up on it."

"Yeah, but what did you talk about?"

"Well, we both found out we were going home to watch the same movie, so I asked him if he wanted to watch it with me and we spent most of the time talking about the movie." Most of the time, I liked that one.

"Yeah, but it's easier for girls."

I looked over at Beth, remembering how shy she'd been, and how uneasy Cindy and Greg had been that first night at the café.

"Kevin," Beth responded. "It only looks easier to you guys. Believe me, girls are as nervous as you are. Just treat her like a friend, not like someone whose bones you want to jump.

"Let her get used to being around you—get to really know you before you try to get romantic."

I glanced in the mirror. Kevin looked like he was concentrating on what Beth had said.

It was time to stick my oar in the water. "Kevin, one important thing—don't EVER brag about what you and a girl have done or are going to do or even want to do and NEVER make things up to impress your buddies. If you do and the word gets out, and it will, you'll lose her and you won't stand a chance with any girl who hears about it. Real men don't brag about stuff like that."

Beth glanced over at me with that special look of hers, "You know, your brother took a beating from the captain of the football team rather than tell him anything about the two of us."

That wasn't EXACTLY what happened, but I wasn't about to interrupt her.

"You did? Do Mom and Dad know about it?"

"No they don't. I wasn't hurt that much and I just want to forget the whole thing."

"Kevin," Beth, with real serious look, "I think I really fell for Tommy when I realized that I could trust him. I mean REALLY trust him."

My brother looked like he was really thinking about what Beth said. He was quiet for the rest of the trip.

After he got out of the car, I looked over at Beth, "You kind of stretched the truth a little there, didn't you?

"Well, maybe a bit. But it was for a good cause and you DID tell Jay it wasn't any of his business."

I wasn't going to argue.