Friendly Dating 2 - Ethan

Chapter 22 - Being Vexed

"Wendy, please revive Ethan; he's closest to you," Burlap says, smashing buttons to move his on-screen character out of the way of killer robots. "I can't get to him; there are too many vex around me, and there's a centurion ready to smack Kyle. You're in the clear."

"I don't want to revive Ethan," Wendy sulks, spitefully letting her avatar run right over my dead character. "He pissed me off."

"What the hell, Wends?!" I grunt, and dropping my gaming controller, I try to grab hers, but she smacks me. Hard! This is not the first time I regret teaching her how to hit as though she means it. Her superpowers are only supposed to be used in self-defence.

Why is she mad at me?

After I left Kira's house, I got my bike and went to the 24-hour convenience store near our school to pick up some snacks for me and Burlap and a packet of peanut brittle for his grandfather. He might not always know what year it is and often thinks Burlap is his son, his brother, or his dad, and I'm the coal-delivery guy who tends to park on his flower beds and stole his date for the spring fling of 1959, but he always remembers that he loves peanut brittle.

I was about to start my bike and leave the shop when I noticed Wendy sitting on the low wall hiding the collection of garbage cans. If it weren't for her favourite torn jeans, the fact that she's wearing Barn's huge Demon Hunter T-shirt and the defiant attitude with which she was smoking her cigarette, I wouldn't have recognised her because her hair is now cherry red and not the warm blond it had been when I saw her at the rugby this morning.

She said it's just a temporary hair colour that will rinse out with two washes; she'll be blond again when it's time for school on Monday. She actually looks kinda cute like this, and for a change, Burlap is not the only redhead in the room.

I called her over, as I normally do when I see her, gave her my helmet, and she got on the back of my bike. Here we are now, sitting on bean bags in Burlap's living room, playing console games while his grandfather lounges in his favourite chair, steadily progressing through his peanut brittle supply between short naps.

The late afternoon sun is filtering lazily through the gaps in the blinds, painting highlights on the bowls filled with chips, chocolates and M&M's. We were almost having fun, but I did notice that Wendy was not quite herself. I figured she was just running away from home again... she does every weekend and usually ends up here at Burlap's place unless she's with Jet or at my place.

"Because I didn't buy any peppermint crisp?" I ask, really surprised that she would hold that against me. "I didn't know you were coming. I'll go get some if you need it that much."

Wendy pulls a face, glaring at me, and she's right to glare. She can be extremely lovey-dovey one minute and beat you up for just looking at her too long the next. Sometimes she's so feral she scares me, and other times, she's like a cat looking for affection, and it's hard to get her off your lap. She can alternate between these two pretty quickly too, but one thing she's never is a little princess that thinks people have to cater to her every need.

Come on, I'm lost here! Why is she angry with me?

"No, Moron!" she growls. "I'm mad because I've always encouraged you just to tie Kira up and threaten her until she says yes to being your girlfriend, and now that you've finally done it-."

"That's not what I did..."

"- I suddenly need permission to hang out with you. You never told me that losing my friend would be part of the deal."

"You're not losing me," I say, sitting back to get a better look at her and now I'm the one who is frowning. We've been friends for around four years now, and we've been through a lot together, and I've promised her that I'll always be there for her when life throws shit at her and tries to hurt her. That hasn't changed. Why would she think that it has? "I'm right here."