From Tutoring, to Friendship, to More...

Chapter 5: Gossiping

     Around half an hour after Ion left Delilah's house, Bowen showed up to get all the details.
     "I want to know everything!" he exclaimed.
     "I was tutored in English," she answered matter of factly. "There's not much else to say."
     "Bitch, you know what I mean," he snapped back. "Who's the brainiac?"
     "Oh, right," she replied. "It's uh... Ion Bleaker..."

     Bowen just stood there for a moment, blinking intermittently.
     "Beaker!?" he finally exclaimed. "Your tutor is Beaker?"
     "That is what many call him, yes," she replied with a slow nod.
     "Holy shit! Del, you've got one of the smartest kids in school tutoring you," he proclaimed.
     "Yeah, I know all this, Bow," she replied.
     "Not to mention one of the cutest boys there," he smirked.
     "What?" she chuckled. "Since when has Ion Bleaker been considered hot?"
     "I said cute, not hot," he retorted. "There is a difference. And please, anyone can see he's cuter than a duck in a hat!"
     "Guess I never noticed," she said.
     "Well, of course you haven't," he scoffed. You're dating super hunk Chaz Freeman!" Bowen said Chaz's name in a swooning manner. "When you're single as fuck like me, you look at every boy in school. But I can tell Beaker is straight. So unfair."
     Delilah laughed at this remark. Bowen never failed to put a smile on her face.

     "So, what's he like?" he kept prying. "The giant nerd weirdo everyone calls him?"
     "He's... friendly," she answered simply.
"Is that code for weirdo?" he asked, arching an eyebrow.
"He didn't do or say anything particularly odd," she answered. "He had this go with the flow attitude. If that makes sense."
"How very zen," he said.
"He also... figured out I was dyslexic," she admitted.
"For reals?" he asked with legitimate surprise.
"For really reals," she replied.
"How?" he asked.
"Apparently his dad is also dyslexic," she explained. "Which is why his first name is spelled with an O unseated of an A."
"Oh right," he said with a mild revelation. "I guess I mostly hear him referred to as Beaker, so I never gave it much thought."
"Probably true of most people at school," she pointed out.

There was another bit of silence. Bowen examined Delilah's movements and facial expressions to see how she was processing all of this. He'd known her long enough to have some idea of what she was thinking.
"So, I assume he didn't attempt to use this information against you like you've feared for years now," he stated, not asked.
"Nope," she replied. "He was more surprised that none of our teachers noticed this about me."
"I'm certainly not," he said with an eye roll. "Then again, their souls have been no doubt crushes from years working at a thankless fucking job. But ok, that's great, right?"
"How so?" she asked.
"Because he's someone who can help you figure that shit out," he explained. "He's got some semblance of experience with it. Sure, it's his dad that has it, but I bet his nerd brain has absorbed information about it over the years."
"I guess so," she said quietly.
"Hell, you've never even told Chaz about it," he pointed out. He almost always said Chaz's name with an annoyed tone.

"I know you don't care for Chaz," she said.
"Understatement of the effing century," he groaned.
"But he's the first guy I've ever dated," she pointed out. "He showed immediate interest in me freshman year."
"And he's always trying to pressure you into banging him," he pointed out.
"We've done other stuff," she shrugged with a slight blush.
"Yeah, but I doubt he'll put up with just that for long," he retorted. "Alpha jocks like that rarely put up with that shit. They think they're owed sex."
"He can be really sweet," she said defensively.
"Then it must be when you're alone," he scoffed. "I've certainly never seen it."
"Ok, enough," she said. "No more bad mouthing my boyfriend! If he does something stupid, then you can bitch and moan all you want."
"So, you're saying I'll be able to bitch and moan soon then?" he asked with a sly grin.
"Hardy fucking har," she shot back, flipping him off at the same time.

____

     A few hours later at Ion's house (specifically the basement), his friends gathered for a Dungeons & Dragons campaign. They consisted of his best friend, Randy Jennings, along with Malena "Mal" Morrison, Benjamin "Benji" Sanchez, and Aldo Ricci. They'd all known each other since grade school, and had been campaigning from pretty much the beginning. Ion always acted as Dungeon Master, due to his love for storytelling; nobody seemed to mind it. On this particular night, his friends were curious about his first ever Saturday tutoring job.

"So, Beaker," Randy was of course the one to initiate the conversation. "How was your first Saturday tutoring?"
"Standard tutoring shit," Ion replied.
"Anyone we know?" Randy pried.
"Our school isn't that big," Ion retorted. "We know basically everyone's name."
"Quit beating around the fucking bush, Beaker," Mal interjected. "He's asking if it's anyone in the social hierarchy."
"I've tutored popular people before," Ion pointed out.
"So it is someone popular," Benji chimed in. "Who is it?"
"Why do y'all care so much?" Ion asked.
"Geeks can enjoy gossip too," replied Benji.
"I'd prefer we just get this shit started," Aldo finally spoke. "But, I'll admit I am now curious too."

Everyone in the room just looked at Ion, waiting for an answer. He nudged his glasses up slightly to rub the bridge of his nose. He knew they wouldn't let it go. "Tenacious shits."
"Delilah Gellar," he finally answered.
Everyone went wide eyed at his answer.
     "Holy fucking shit," Randy broke the silence. "You're tutoring Delilah Gellar, you silly son of a bitch?"
     "How is this such a big deal?" Ion asked.
     "She's one of the most popular girls in school," Benji replied.
     "Yeah, I know," answered Ion.
     "And one of the hottest," smirked Mal.
     "Yeah, I-" Ion fumbled. "Shut the fuck up, Mal."
     "What?" Mal cackled. "It's hard not to notice. She's got an amazing ass."
     "Keep it in your pants, Mal," Randy smirked.
     "Huge tracts of land too," Mal continued, wiggling her eyebrows."
     "Holy shit, dude," said Randy. "Don't make me get the hose."

     "So what's she like?" Benji asked.
"Very... high strung at times," answered Ion. "But also friendlier than I expected."
"Because she's dating that fuck-wit, Chaz Freeman?" Aldo asked.
"That certainly didn't help," Ion admitted.
"What does she see in that douche nozzle?" Randy asked nobody in particular.
"He's also got a nice ass," Mal smirked. Everyone eyed her. "What? Shitty people can be hot too!"
"She's not wrong," agreed Benji, blushing slightly.
"I doubt she's with him just for that," scoffed Ion.
"Probably packing too," winked Mal.
"Can we please start the fucking campaign already?" Ion sighed.

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Notes: Another chapter! Woot! Hope y'all liked the banter I wrote, I certainly had a lot of fun writing it. I initially only had one close friend for Ion, that being Randy. But the more I thought of ideas the more I began coming up with a group for him to hang out with. Not make him a loner.

Thanks for reading! ^__^