Rose 18: Third wheel

Sorry I'm putting Rose in the background a little too much lately. I'm just having fun with the teenagers. I'll get back to Rose soon. :)

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Fiona

     My brother walks in with this goofy look on his face.

     "Your lab partner is here." he says to me quietly.

    Then, with his eyes wide, he mumbles almost silently to me, "Who is she?"

    "Hey, Chasity." I say as a way to answer Link's question.

    I don't really care for Chasity Romano (Glen's little sister), but I'm glad she's my lab partner rather than Crystal. It was almost Crystal that Mr. Sawyer put me with. Ugh! That would've been awful! I just don't like how Chasity is always using one form of technology or another. She scares me a little. Sometimes I wonder if she has a microchip inserted into her brain and she has to keep using stuff to recharge it like her iPhone, tablet, iPod, oh, and that other phone, a blackberry. Honestly... who needs two phones? I already don't trust the phone I do have because I'm sure it's just another way for the government to keep tabs on us. Don't get me started on Facebook! She looks at me like I'm weird sometimes. 

     "Is that your brother?" she asks me quietly, looking over my shoulder.

     "Yes. One of them. That's Link." I say, and I swear it looks like she's checking out his butt from how low her eyes go. Ew. I do not want to turn around and check to see if I'm right.

    "Are you checking out my brother?!" I mumble quietly to her in shock. I can feel Link straining to hear what we're saying as he stands a little behind me and practices with his wand for a while.

    She giggles in a very girlie way and looks down at her shoes.

    Well, I suppose Link could do worse.

    Chasity and I quickly work on finishing up that science project that we never got to finish on Friday because she wouldn't get off her phones. Link stubbornly stays in the living room while we sit at the table. She keeps getting distracted from what we're doing by looking over at Link. Every time Link looks at her, she snaps her head back to me and pretends to pay attention to what I'm doing for our project, twirling her hair in her fingers. I'd wondered when we started doing this that I'd be doing most of the work. It's no big deal really, I like science as long as it's old science and not get into the too-modern stuff. That's why I love my alchemy station.

     'We' finally finish, and she gets up to 'casually' walk into the living room, begging me with her eyes to come with her while she goes and talks to my brother some.

     Ever get the feeling you've suddenly become a third wheel in a conversation? Link keeps trying to tell me with his eyes to get lost while Chasity begs me to stay but doesn't act like she's overly scared of Link. I don't get it. Either she wants to talk to him or she doesn't. At any rate, I get bored quickly and soon head up to my alchemy station.

    I call Antonio and ask him if he wants to come by and visit. I hate how my voice sounds hopeless. It's for a good reason, however. He tells me he can't... that there's more stuff he's got to do at the station and he'll see me at lunch tomorrow. I work very hard at not crying. It's our one-week anniversary and he's blown me off.
     Our house is undergoing renovations... again. Mom and Dad got a greenhouse built onto the back of the house, and Mom wants the half-walls on the two porches on the sides of the house to match the one in the front, so if you notice things looking a little off.. that's why.

    I have a good run with my time working. It's a full moon again, so I make my way over to the store quickly to put this stuff on consignment since things sell better on the full moon. I don't know what anyone would want with a vial of bliss, but I'm positive it'll sell anyway.
    While at the shop, I buy a recipe book or two and sell some of our extra ingredients. Then I get an idea.
     The fire station isn't too far from the shop. I could go and visit Tony!

    Some lady lets me in, not even asking me why I'm here.

   I ask one of the fire fighters before he goes out and races someone up and down the outdoor stairs if he's seen Antonio today, and he answers 'no', and looks at me like I'm nuts for asking. He tells me Tony wasn't here yesterday either. I nod my head like it's no big deal and have a seat at the table while the rest of them go outside to cheer on the one they want to win their crazy race. I guess it gets boring here sometimes.
    I sit down at the dining room table and a single tear escapes my eye, runs down my nose, and splats down on the plastic/linoleum/whatever tabletop.
    He wasn't here yesterday. Then where was he? Where is he now?
    I decide to get out my phone and call him to see if he'll keep up the lie.

    I bite my lip in worry and anticipation.
    It goes straight to voicemail, and my heart plummets into my stomach.
    There's only one person I can think of to talk to about this.

     Allen picks up on the second ring. "Hey." he says, sounding mildly surprised I called him.
     Why are you surprised? I told you we were still best friends.
     "Allen, I'm sorry to bug you about this, but is Tony at home?" I ask.
     He's quiet for half a beat before he answers, "Uh, no."
     "Please don't lie to me."
     "I'm not lying to you. I just ... Fiona, I have to tell you something, but I don't think I should be the one to tell you this given what I admitted yesterday." His voice sounds pained. "I just don't know how."
      I stifle a quiet sob and ask him to please tell me.
      "I shouldn't have mentioned anything... it's just I can't stand it!" he exclaims, and I know he's probably by himself in the room he shares with Tony since he's being so loud.

    "Allen, please."
    He sighs resolutely and says, "Okay, so I was looking for my phone, and I'd wondered if I'd accidentally, in the dark you know, put my phone in Tony's bedside table drawer instead of mine, and I found ... pictures."
     "Pictures." I ask him to clarify.
     "Yes. Of him and Crystal."
     I lose my voice.
      "I'd say don't worry about it, but the camera had a time and date stamp." I hear on the other end of the line. Phones don't have lines anymore, so I vaguely wonder if that phrase can even apply. Not that it effing matters!
     "What did the stamp say?" I whisper.
     "Friday." he answers.
     Prom was Thursday. And then he's with her on Friday, probably yesterday, and a good chance right now.
     "Fiona?" he asks since I'm quiet. "Where are you? Are you at home? I never should've told you this over the phone. I could show you the pictures... if you want to see them."
     "I'm at the fire station." I say dryly, feeling like I'm having an out-of-body experience.
     "Oh." he says in a weighted way.
     "I don't want to see the pictures today, but keep one for me. Maybe I'll get it when I see you at school tomorrow." The first chance I get will be at lunch, when Tony said he'd see me next.
      "I hate doing this." he says like he's in pain.
      "It's okay. It's not like I haven't wondered about something like this anyway." I say quickly.
      "Are you going to be okay?" he asks quietly.
      "I don't know. I'm going home. I'll ... see you at school tomorrow." I say quietly and hang up.
      I don't go home, however. I just can't be around happy people, and I have a strong suspicion that Chasity is still at my house flirting with Link. They were playing horseshoes when I'd left.

     I wind up at the festival grounds once again, remembering this time last week, heart sore.
     Why Crystal?!
     I can't stand it anymore, so I get up and make my way home. It wouldn't do to have the cops pick me up, and curfew is getting sooner all the time.

    As I walk past the coffeehouse, I see Glen, Chasity's brother. Crystal's new .... wait a minute. Allen had told me that Crystal had started acting like she liked Glen. Does Glen know about her and Tony?
    "Hey, Glen. Wait up a sec." I say to him, and he turns around.
    "Oh, hey Fiona." he says as he scratches the back of his head and looks away, distracted.
    "I was wondering if you'd seen Crystal today." I ask.
    His head snaps in my direction in surprise. "Are you reading my mind? I was just out looking for her. She won't answer her phone."

     "Why do I get the feeling you know something?" he asks after I stand in front of him, trying to figure out what exactly to say to him.
      "I was at the fire station a few hours ago, looking for Tony." I say as a way to start. "Because he'd told me that's where he would be. He didn't expect me to go to the station. I was going to surprise him."
     "What does this have to do with Crystal?" he asks, confused.
     "He wasn't at the fire station." I continue. "So, I called Allen and asked him if he knew where he was."
      "Fiona, I'm lost."
    "I'm getting to it. Allen told me he'd accidentally found time-stamped pictures of Antonio and Crystal together from last Friday afternoon." I pause a second before I ask, "Did you see her at all yesterday?"
     He nods. "In the morning." After a beat, he continues, "So, you're saying Allen thinks they're together?"
      "That's what the pictures imply I guess."
      "Pictures from just last Friday? That's pretty soon to get them developed and then just casually toss them somewhere for Allen to find." he points out, his expression calculating.
       "What do you mean?" I ask.

     "Fiona, think about who gave you this information."
     "You mean my best friend?" I ask, teeth clenched. Please don't go there.
     He looks down at our shoes for a few seconds. "Have you seen these pictures?"
     "He said he'd show me at lunch tomorrow. He offered to bring them by for me to see right away, but I asked him not to. Glen, they're cheating on us!"
      He sighs, "First of all, Crystal and I aren't going steady. Although, this is low even for her if it's true."
      I have no idea what all these guys see in her.
      "Well, Tony and I are." I say, my voice getting choked up. "I think."
      He puts his hand on my shoulder in a supportive way. "Listen, I'm not proud of snatching Crystal out from under Allen's nose, but I can't help but think this is some scheme of his to get back at me and Crystal and implicate his brother in something he may not be guilty of."
       I shake my head no. "He wouldn't do that."
       Glen lets out a huff and removes his hand from my shoulder before he says, "He's in love with you, Fiona! Don't you know that?!"
       "Crystal said that, didn't she?" I ask viciously.
       I can just barely make out Glen rolling his eyes in the dark. "It's obvious. And yes, it drove her nuts."
       "So, now she's stealing my boyfriend from me." I say sadly. "You said so yourself. You two aren't going steady."

     "Try calling her again." I say.
     "I'm not going to. I'm not entirely positive she's with Tony. And if she is, well, then I really can't say anything other than I wished she'd have let me know." He looks at me for a few seconds and says, "Just ... give Tony the benefit of the doubt until you know for sure."
      "Allen wouldn't do something like this." I reiterate.
      "All I'm saying is don't jump to conclusions."
      "Fine." I say sullenly, and we go our separate ways.
       All I got out of him is that he saw Crystal Saturday morning and that he hasn't seen her since.

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Just for a mental picture since I keep talking about her but her face never actually shows up in the story (so far anyway, that might change), here's Crystal Valenci as a teen now: