Love and Fandoms (24 page)

PART SEVEN - GRAD NIGHT

MANDY

"Is this the
normal pizza they serve on regular nights?" Kareem asked.

"I assume
so," Luci said. "I've never eaten here before, though, so I don't
know for sure." Mandy and Wyatt nodded, echoing her sentiment.

"Before
Stanford, we're going to have to come back to see. Because this is good."

"It's a plan,"
Wyatt said, and Mandy toasted the idea with her cup of soda.

They were at
Orange Grove High School's annual grad night at Bronco's Buckaroo Miniature
Golf and Fun Zone. They had unlimited access to play as much miniature golf on
the five Old West-themed courses as they wanted, and the video games in the
arcade were all set to free-play for the night. There was also a huge maze to
walk through in the Fun Zone, and an area set aside for dancing. In addition, everyone
received a coupon for two monster slices of pizza and one for a basket of
fries. Sodas were all you could drink, and there were tables with unlimited
snacks, such as popcorn, chips, and cookies, throughout the complex. Orange
Grove had been holding their grad night here for over a decade, and she'd been
looking forward to it for nearly that long. Now that it was her time, she was making
sure to enjoy every second. They got here at 9 PM, and wouldn't leave until 6
AM.

Kareem polished
off his last bite of pizza and pointed to Luci's untouched second slice.
"You gonna finish that, baby?"

"I
might."

"I'm just
asking. Don't want good pizza to go to waste, is all."

"If I don't,
it's all yours. I know you have no problem eating a cold slice."

He leaned over and
kissed her. "It was just a question. Can the drama."

She rolled her
eyes. "Why don't you take Wyatt over to a video game so the adults can
talk?"

"You wound
me, baby. You wound me." He put his hands over his heart.

"And you call
me overdramatic."

Mandy and Wyatt
shared a look and laughed. Luci had always been the perfect friend, but Kareem
brought out the best in her. The fact that she couldn't go to Stanford with him
broke Mandy's heart. Luci was actually taking it better than her.

Kareem smacked
Wyatt's shoulder and pointed to a video game across from them. "I may not
be able to kick your butt in real life anymore, but I can still smoke you in
Back-Alley Deathmatch."

"Bring
it," Wyatt said.

Wyatt stood, bent
down, and gave her a soft, lingering kiss. As always, it took her breath away.
Kareem used to yell at them all the time to knock it off, but they kissed so
often that he learned to ignore it. Which was good because she could never get
enough kisses from Wyatt.

As the boys walked
away, she was able to tear her eyes from Wyatt long enough to notice Luci
gazing a little harder than normal at Kareem. They planned on having a
long-distance relationship, but an open one. If one found someone else, the
other would be fine with it. If they survived his time away, they figured they
were destined to be. Neither she nor Wyatt could see how that would possibly
work, but Luci and Kareem seemed happy with the arrangement.

"Missing him
already?"

"No, not in
the least."

That was an odd
thing to say, especially considering the love in her eyes when she looked at
him. Before she could ask what she meant, Allyssa came up to their table.

"Is it okay
if I sit?"

Both Mandy and
Luci pointed to the chair she stood behind and said, "Sure."

She did, and then
said to Mandy, "I have to admit, I still get a little bit jealous when I
see him kiss you like that. Heck, I always dreamed he'd look at me with half as
much love in his eyes as he holds for you."

Mandy could only
smile and shrug.

"Alas,"
Allyssa said. "I should have known it was doomed from the start. We talked
at one of your soccer games earlier this year. He apologized to me and said one
of the reasons, besides his crippling shyness, for not asking me out was
because of you. I suppose our relationship turned out exactly like he
prophesized to himself."

Luci gave her a
friendly nudge. "No one feels sorry of you, girl."

She laughed.
"Believe me, I don't feel sorry for myself one bit. I gladly took the hunky
future superstar and free ride to Michigan."

They all laughed
at that, and Mandy was glad how happy Allyssa and Alex seemed to make each
other, and how, since Halloween night, as far as she could tell, Alex had
reverted to his perfect self. She hadn't talked much to either of them all
year, not because of any hard feelings (at least after some time passed), but
simply because they didn't run into each other very often, even with her
sharing a class with each of them. When they did talk, it was mostly
insignificant things and catching up with day-to-day life. She did find out,
however, that the afternoon she and Wyatt had finally gotten together, Alex's
parents hadn't even told him about their plans to confront her. He and Allyssa
were already exclusive at that point. His call had been to apologize for his
dad. But with that said, she was glad she hadn't answered, as she'd still been
angry at him for what he let the Pigs do to Wyatt. Wyatt had ultimately been
the one who told her to let it go. The Pigs, who were all still in prison, were
to blame. She didn't want to be so forgiving, but he insisted, so she listened.

Allyssa pointed to
Wyatt. "He's looking good. I always thought his scrawny look was hot, but
he's blowing that away."

"He's worked
hard for it. First with his physical therapist, and then with me. We joined the
gym, I got him running, and Luci and I even nudged him into Taekwondo."

"Kareem
refused," Luci said. "Wimp." They all laughed.

"We're also
going to look into playing co-ed intramural soccer at OCU," she said.
"Even though they don't have any sports teams, it looks like they have
plenty of clubs like that."

"Cool,"
Allyssa said, and then a smile came over her face that Mandy wasn't quite sure
she liked. When she asked the question, Mandy felt her face heat up. "So,
did you end up doing it on prom night? I noticed you two looked happy enough at
the actual dance."

Luci giggled, and
Mandy shook her head. "The four of us hung out at Wyatt's house and
watched a couple of Mystery Science Theater 3000 episodes on Netflix."

"Couldn't
pull the trigger, huh?" Allyssa said, with a chuckle.

Luci jumped in.
"Girl, they've been going at it like bunnies since January. As soon as
Wyatt was able."

Now her head felt
like it was going to burst into flames, Ghost Rider-style. "Thanks,
Luc."

"Well, it's
true. Own it."

"Wait, so you
wouldn't do it with the hunk of a stud, Alex, even after dating him for four
years, but you jumped Wyatt as soon as you could? I'm all for love and all
that, but, seriously, did you ever really look at Alex when you were with him?
He looks better naked than with clothes on." She winked. "And I'm
talking from plenty of experience."

"I loved
Alex, but …"

"Come on,
Allyssa," Luci said. "You said you noticed how she and Wyatt look at
each other. Do you have any doubt that this is a Disney-esque fairy tale
romance? Happily ever after has already happened, and now they get to enjoy the
ride."

"Double
meaning. Hey-oh!" Allyssa and Luci laughed and high-fived.

Mandy covered he
head with her hands. "You two are horrible."

"What about
you, Luci? Are you going to give Kareem a goodbye boom-boom?"

"Well, yeah,
maybe, but it's … not going to be goodbye." Her eyes flickered over to
Mandy.

"Wait,
what?" Her breath froze in her lungs.

"We only
finalized it today with our parents. You know how I'm planning on going to
community college?"

"Yeah,"
Mandy said, hesitation ruling her voice.

"I looked
into it, and there are plenty of them near Stanford, so …"

Tears formed in
her eyes, and she exploded out of her chair and into Luci's arms. "That's
so awesome! He's perfect for you. I'm going to miss you so much, but I hated
that he had to leave you."

"Thanks,
babe." She heard the tears in Luci's voice, and that got her both laughing
and crying harder.

"Hey, guys,
sorry to break this up," Allyssa said, "but you might be interested
to see what's going on over at the video game."

She disengaged
from Luci and looked over. Kareem was on his way back to the table, and Alex stood
at the machine, talking to Wyatt. She smiled and looked over at Allyssa.

"About time,
right?" Allyssa said. "I've been trying to get him to talk to Wyatt
all year. Finally pinned him down tonight."

She reached over
and clutched Allyssa's hand. "Thank you. They both need it."

WYATT

Kareem's character
picked up a steel crowbar which appeared right behind him and bashed Wyatt's
character upside the head, winning the match. That put Kareem in the lead,
three games to two. They'd agreed to play first to five before heading back to
their girls, who wanted to navigate the maze next. That was fine with him; no
doubt it'd be easy to find a hidden corner in there for a steamy make-out
session.

"You got
lucky," he said. "If that crowbar hadn't popped up, I had you."

"Luck and
skill go hand-in-hand, my friend."

"Keep telling
yourself that. Ready for round six?" He moved his hand over to press the
start button.

Kareem looked behind
Wyatt, said "In a few, bro," nodded at someone, and headed back to
the table with the girls. Allyssa had joined them at some point.

Wyatt turned and
found Alex standing there. "Hey, Wyatt. Got a second?"

"Uh,
yeah." He and Alex hadn't spoken at all since the incident on Halloween,
despite sharing the same Language Arts class. In fact, Alex hadn't even met his
gaze, not once. Wyatt occasionally talked to Allyssa, and though their
conversations were usually superficial, focusing on comics or sci-fi and fantasy
entertainment, she did say she pestered Alex about talking to him. Her
badgering must have finally paid off.

"I should
have done this a long time ago, man, but …" He took a deep breath.
"It's … I still feel horrible about what I did. I knew the Pigs were mean
psychopaths. I didn't know they'd go that far, I promise, but I still never
should have let it happen in the first place. I'm sorry. I swear it."

"Thanks,
Alex." He smiled and slapped Alex on the shoulder, the same way he'd
always done to him. "It's not all bad, you know. If it hadn't happened, I
never would have gotten into shape. Not like this, anyway."

Alex laughed.
"Thanks for finding the bright spot. I don't deserve anything but your
scorn, so I really do appreciate it." He then looked at his feet and
started crying. Quietly, but tears spilled from his eyes, and his chest heaved.
Wyatt didn't say anything, let him work through it. He glanced over to the
table and saw Allyssa fighting her instincts to keep from coming over to
comfort Alex.

"Sorry,"
Alex said after a few seconds. He wiped his face. "It's just … if you
hadn't stood up to me that night, I don't think I would have pulled out of my
self-destructive cycle, car accident or not. Your words, your actions, might
not have gotten through to me right then, but they did later. I had a lot of
time to think, and I know it took everything you had to confront me. You … you
…" He grabbed Wyatt in a big hug and pounded his back in a manly display
of affection. Somewhere in the back of his mind, Wyatt felt proud of himself.
Before he'd started working out, those same slaps on his back would have
incapacitated him. "You saved my life, bro. Don't think I'll ever forget
it."

They let go, and
Alex let out a deep breath, and then a chuckle. "I'm not going to
apologize for sleeping with Allyssa, though. That seemed to work out best for
both of us."

Wyatt laughed.
"I can't argue with you there."

"You know, I
never saw it while I was with her, but looking back, Mandy was never mine. I
don't know how I missed it all those years, but her heart always belonged to
you. I know she loved me, but never like she did, does, you."

Wyatt looked over
to the table. All three girls had tears glistening off their cheeks, and he
couldn't be certain, but he could have sworn he saw Kareem try to stealthily
wipe his eyes. His gaze then captured Mandy's, and she smiled. He'd never get
tired of how she looked at him.

"Yeah,"
he said. "We lost each other for a few years, but I think, deep down
inside, we both knew we were destined to be."

CJ Zane writes
fiction for teens and those who love Young Adult books. Like with Mandy, Wyatt,
and Kareem, CJ has a love for many different sci-fi and fantasy fandoms. You
can find CJ Zane on the World Wide Web:

WEBSITE:
http://cjzaneauthor.blogspot.com/

TWITTER:
http://twitter.com/cjzaneauthor

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