"You think Courtney would go out on a date with me?"
I arched my eyebrow at Joey. We were in the waiting room of
Courtney’s office, waiting for JC to get finished with his checkup.
"Don’t look at me like that. Do you?"
I shrugged. "Sure, Joey."
Joey sighed. "I only come to these dumb things with you and JC for
her, and if you’re telling me I don’t have a shot, then-"
"Just ask her, Joe," I said, turning back to my issue of “People”
magazine.
"Okay, I will." After a moment, Joey turned to me. "So you really think she’ll go out with me?"
I sighed and before I could answer, I heard the doors to the waiting
room open and saw that JC and Courtney were coming through them.
"Hey," I said, standing up, a smile automatically lighting up my face
at seeing Josh. "How’d it go?"
"It went great, JC seems to be doing fine," Courtney said with a
smile. "So, see you again in a couple weeks?" she asked, and JC and I nodded while Joey replied, "Yes."
Courtney smiled at him, and I thought I saw her blush a little
bit. "Well, thanks again Courtney, we’ll see you later," JC said, heading towards the exit with Joey.
"Lance, can I, uh, talk to you for a second?" Courtney asked. "In
private," she added, seeing Joey and JC looking at us. I tossed the keys to my car to Joey and said, "I’ll meet you in the car in just a second." I
ignored their quizzical glances and turned to Courtney, a sinking feeling in my stomach.
"I just wanted to ask you... does Joey have a girlfriend?"
Dear God, shoot me now.
*
JC was waiting in the passenger seat, and Joey was sitting in the
back seat when I got to my car. "Keys," I said, motioning with my hand for Joey to hand them over. He gave them to me and soon we were heading back home.
"So, what did Courtney want?" JC asked, and I grinned, looking at
Joey in the rear view mirror. "She asked about Joey," I said, enjoying the look on Joey’s face.
"What did she ask? Lance? What did she ask!"
"She wanted to know if you had a girlfriend," I said, laughing.
"Well? What did you say?"
"I said you had many," I told him, biting back more laughter.
"Lance! No, you didn’t. Please tell me you didn’t..."
JC was grinning and he just shook his head in silent laughter as he
looked
out the window. I stayed quiet and I knew it was killing Joey.
"Lance!" Joey exclaimed.
"No, Joey, I told her you weren’t dating anyone. Then she asked for
your number and I gave it to her. That’s how it went. Really."
Joey sat back and grinned. "I knew going to those boring appointments
would amount to something."
"And you’re such a good friend, Joe," I said, laughing.
I don’t think he heard me, his mind already miles away.
*
"No he’s not- wait, he just walked in the door, hold on."
We walked in and Justin put the phone to his shoulder, looking at us.
"Lance, the phone’s for you."
"Who is it?" I asked.
"Your dad."
I stopped moving and looked right at Justin, feeling my eyes grow wide.
"My dad?"
Justin nodded and handed me the phone. I put it up to my ear hesitantly,
feeling the eyes of everyone in the room on me.
"Hello?"
"Hello, son."
Son, he called me son. That’s got to be a good sign, right?
"How are you?" I asked, trying to make pleasant conversation, although I knew it wouldn’t help the tension between us, miles away and it was
still thick as
ever.
"Lance, please, I just... I called to tell you something. Your
grandfather,
my...my dad, he’s... he died last night Lance."
I felt my knees begin to buckle, and I quickly went to the nearest
chair I
could find to sit down. My throat felt think, like nothing could get
through
it.
"Can you... can you come down to Mississippi? As soon as possible?"
"Yeah," I managed to get out.
"Okay. I...I love you son."
Before I could respond, the line was disconnected, and my father’s
words
became the last thing on my mind. I turned the cordless off and set
it down
on the table I was sitting at. Everyone’s eyes were still on me, I
could feel
it, but I didn’t really care at that moment. I was still trying to
comprehend
something I didn’t understand.
If my grandfather had still been alive when JC died, how come he was
dead now?
*
