“And that’s what interests me. What happened next?”
“Would you believe our dad stayed out all night?”
“No. But, frankly, I wasn’t asking about Principal Baker. What I want to know about is the GILT. Did you get Kelly or Grace?”
“Oh, man.” I sighed. “Do I have a neon sign above my head saying I got laid last night?”
“Ha! Yes!” Noah clapped his hands together and raised his knees before stamping his feet back on the floor. “So, you did. Tell me deets, man. No guys have gotten close to Grace before. Was it Grace? Did you fuck Grace?”
He had me. It wasn’t as if lying to him was an option. I nodded.
“What’s the matter?” I asked. “You got a thing for Grace?” As stated, it was a question I knew the answer to, but getting the cards on the table could only help.
“You know I do, dude, who wouldn’t? She was the hottest, sweetest babe in school. So innocent and humble and kind and...”
“Yeah, Noah. I was in the same school. I do know the girl. And I seem to remember you had a list of GILTs as long as your arm only last week, so don’t pretend Grace is the only one for you.”
“Of course, a wise man keeps all his options open. But stop. I see what you’re doing with this distraction tactic. We’re not taking about me now, but about you. Now tell all.”
“Well, Ry and I’ve been hanging out with Gray and Kels for years, as you know; what with our parents all being part of the school’s staff, we were practically thrown together. Gray was in our advanced algebra class, and we’ve worked on some school projects together. But with our parents, there also came an imaginary artificial barrier there that made her untouchable.”
“That barrier was real, man. A few dudes have tried, and no one’s gotten close to her,” Noah said. “I’ve spent time with her, and I always had this gut feeling that she liked me too. But her mother is the head of the math department, so I’ve always talked myself out of making a move.”
“You seriously think someone would accuse you of trying to kiss up to the teacher, Noah? You’re a damn math genius. You wouldn’t need to do that.”
“Yeah, well, no, I don’t. But you know that kid, Marcus Nielson?”
It took me a bit to recall who the heck Noah was on about, but my memory drummed up an image. A pocket protector and buck teeth away from being a stereotypical nerd. “Yeah, what about him?”
“That dude fucking hates me for whatever reason. We’re both at the top of the class, but he wanted to make it like, a nemesis sort of thing instead of a friendly rivalry. He treated me like I pissed in his Cheerios. It was pretty dire stuff.”
I scratched my head. “He was just jealous of you, man. You’re smart, but you’re a chameleon. You’ve played sports, hung out with the cool kids, been the math geek, and were involved in the Christian society. You fit in everywhere, with everyone. But him? Jeez, the dude was as athletic as a bag of potato chips, with the personality to match. He was as cool as my dad dancing at a school disco.”
“I would love to see your dad dance. But, Sam, I’m no genius, more like as dumb as bricks, but thanks.” It was less self-depreciation and more ‘a wise man knows he is a fool,’ thing. He and his brother were big on that way of thinking.
“So, what, you never made a move on Grace because of her mom, and because you thought Marcus McDumbshit would have gone spreading rumors about you?”
“That, and of course, if her mother didn’t like me, that would have sort of shut down my whole academic ambitions thing. It was a volatile situation, and you know how calculating I am. So I was biding my time. But now I’m out of the school system.” He laced his fingers together and stretched his hands out in front of him, causing his knuckles to crack.
“Yeah, bud, but if you snooze, you lose.”
His eyes widened, leaning closer to me. “So get to the good stuff.”
I grinned nervously.
Given the good vibes, it didn’t seem he’d be too displeased or offended by the idea of me taking Gray as my own. Noah was a pretty rational guy, after all.
And being as virtuous as he was, sometimes he seemed to live vicariously through mine and Ry’s stories.
“Well, Kelly had to leave, so that left just the three of us in the house.”
“Three of you? You mean both Ryan and you with Grace? And she went for that?”
“Yeah, we’re like... twin brothers, man. We’re really close, and between us we’ve been pretty open about wanting Gray. Twin-telepathy, on top of openly talking about it and all. We both wanted her, and we had a lot of the same reservations as you. I guess we just lucked out and struck first.”