Absolutely Crazy

Chapter 23

   I took the boys home.

Oops, that didn't sound right. I meant I invited them over since we needed to brainstorm. I expected Dennis and Dad to be home but I only found Mom watching TV on the couch.

"I'm home," I said as I opened the door and stepped inside. "I brought some friends over."

Mom perked up. She knew I rarely brought friends. She looked behind me but saw nothing.

"Where are they?"

"I told them to wait while I let you know they're with me. I didn't want you to nag me about not giving you any heads up."

"Oh! Then invite them in! What are you doing, letting them stay outside like that? It's cold, you know!" She stood up and ran her hands through her hair to comb it. "I should prepare some snacks," she muttered to herself. "How many are they?"

I chuckled. Mom fussed over the littlest things.

"Just two," I said. "Ron and Ryan. We're going to work on our class' booth on Foundation day. I'll introduce Ryan to you. One second."

I turned around and called the two guys who were standing far too apart from each other than normal. "She says it's okay! Come in!"

"Hello, Ron!" Mom chirped upon seeing his face. She gave him a peck on the cheek. "I heard you're working on a project."

Ron smiled. "Yeah, sorry for coming here without prior notice."

"Oh, stop that, you know this house is as good as yours."

Mom's gaze then fell on the man standing beside Ron. She stared at Ryan from head to foot.

"Oh my, what a gorgeous young man," she teased. She stretched out a hand. "I'm Jean's mom. She's a handful sometimes. I hope she's not giving you too much trouble?"

I flinched. What did she mean by trouble? I was a well-behaved girl! I shot Ryan a threatening look but he didn't see it because he was focused on my mom. He took her hand firmly and shook it.

"I'm Ryan," he said. He glanced at me and added, "It's alright. Jean's funny."

He said that with a straight face that the word 'funny' sounded sarcastic. And what did he mean by that anyway? Was he talking about all the times I made a fool of myself in front of him? Or did he mean funny as in not right in the head?

My mom laughed. "Well, it's nice to meet you. Go ahead and feel right at home."

Ryan smiled politely. "Thank you."

I led them to my room upstairs. Once the door was closed and they were comfortably sitting on my bed, I rounded on Ryan.

"Funny?" I threw him a sharp look. "What the hell does that even mean?"

He shrugged. "I meant it as is."

"Not like I'm crazy?"

"That's already given," Ron interjected.

"Yeah," Ryan agreed.

I glared at them both. "You know, I want you two to get along, but not at my expense!"

Ron laughed. "Relax. We're not making fun of you. We're just–"

"–telling the truth," Ryan completed.

"Yeah," Ron said with a nod.

I looked from Ron to Ryan and back to Ron again. Did they rehearse this stuff? They seemed so coordinated. What a bunch of jerks. If I argued with them, we wouldn't get anything done, and I would lose my focus on the real objective of this 'group' project which was to bring them closer. I shouldn't let my temper ruin it.