All I Never Wanted

Chapter 5

“Tell me again why you decided to go to the football game?”

Annie looked at Brent in the mirror as she finished clasping her earring.  “Because I want to.  Because it’s Senior year and I want to have a good time.”

Brent raised a bleach blond eyebrow.  “Are you sure this has nothing to do with Luke?”

Annie held back a sigh and broke eye contact.  It was time to fess up.  She turned and crossed the room, sitting down next to Brent.  She smoothed the wrinkles from her sheets as she talked.

“Yeah, it does.  But it’s not what you think.  You don’t need to be jealous of him Brent.”

“Who says I’m jealous?” he defended.

Annie looked up at him with a lopsided smile.  “I do.  I know you and I know you’re jealous.  But like I’ve told you before, we’re just friends.”

“Last weekend you said you weren’t,” Brent reminded her.

This time Annie did sigh.  “Listen Brent, Luke and I have a history.”

“A history?”

Annie held up her hands, signaling him to stay calm.  “We grew up together.  Luke was my best friend from kindergarten to middle school.  And then we drifted apart and mistakenly thought we didn’t like each other.”

Brent still looked edgy.

“We ended up yelling at each other in the library yesterday and finally figured out that all the animosity was for nothing. I thought he hated me, he thought I acted too good for him.  Turns out we were both idiots.  We called a truce and I agreed to come to a game.”

“So, what?  Now you’re best friends again?”

Annie shook her head.  “Not exactly.  But we’re friendly for the first time in, oh, eight years.  I’d like to keep it that way.”

Brent looked at her for a moment and Annie was sure he still doubted her.  But instead he just grinned and shook his head.  “Annie, you sure are hard on the ego.  Why can’t you just be friends with girls like a normal person?”

Annie shrugged.  “Blame it on Luke.  He was the first friend I made in school and it stuck.  Girls are just so, well, girly.”

Brent snorted.  “Very intellectual.  And why do you call him Luke?”

“It’s his name.  Or was.  It’s a shortened version of Leonard Dukes.  Len is something he picked up here.”

“I see.”

Annie reached out to pat Brent’s knee.  “Like I said, you don’t have to be jealous.  Let’s just go enjoy the game.”

Brent nodded, but she could tell he wasn’t completely convinced.  Annie finished pulling her hair up and then the two met up with Jen and Lisa to head to the stadium.

The field bustled with people but the foursome found some empty seats in the student section.

“I hear our band is pretty kick ass this year,” Jen commented, settling in.

“Yeah?”

Jen nodded.  “One of the guys in my project group plays football, says they’re pretty good.”

“A football player, huh?  What’s his name?” Annie asked.

“Matt Stiller.”

Annie nodded in recognition.  “I’ve heard Luke mention his name.  I think they’re pretty good friends.”