Keeping in Line

by Courtney Brandt

  Coward.

  What can I do?

  Drew couldn’t bear to think things through. He grabbed the flowers he had picked up for his date, jumped in the car and sped off.

  Many hours and many, many calories later, Bronwyn and Lucy were in the middle of making root beer floats with Lucy’s cute neighbors, Ryan and Matt. The high school sophomore had been shy at first, but being around Lucy and away from the drama of her life, Bronwyn happily settled into the spontaneity of college life. As they wished good night to the guys and returned to Lucy’s apartment, the brunette rummaged around her DVD collection and shouted, “Aha! 10 Things I Hate About You, just what I was looking for. You game?”

  Bronwyn nodded and Lucy sprang up, “Popcorn first!”

  “I couldn’t possibly eat any more!”

  Just then there was a knock at the door. Lucy looked at Bronwyn and shrugged, “It’s probably my good for nothing neighbors wanting to borrow something. Let em’ in.”

  Bronwyn opened the door saying, “I thought I told you we ran out of root beer…” The words died on her lips.

  In front of her, dressed impeccably in a dark suit was none other than Drew, and he was holding a bouquet of beautiful stargazer lilies. Lucy called from the kitchen, “Who is it?”

  Bronwyn couldn’t speak. Drew smiled at her and answered, “It’s Drew.”

  The redhead swore she could hear Lucy smile from the kitchen as her friend responded, “It’s about damn time you showed up!”

  Drew winked at a still speechless Bronwyn and said softly, “I think we need to talk.” To Lucy, he called over Bronwyn’s shoulder, “Can I borrow your house guest for a few minutes?”

  The brunette poked her head around the corner and said, “Stargazers? My favorite!” She grabbed the flowers and shooing the younger pair outside, continued, “Borrow away.”

  Bronwyn could only stare in mute fascination as Drew took her hand and they began walking towards campus. The redhead considered the super weird day she had so far. Somehow, Drew showing up kind of fit in with everything. She still didn’t trust her voice, so she was glad when Drew finally started talking, “I owe you an apology.”

  “I—”

  “Let me finish. The night when everything happen, and you were at my car, and I totally ignored you, that was a really stupid move on my part and I’m sorry.”

  Bronwyn finally found her voice, and asked, “So, why Christina? Was that another ‘stupid move?’”

  Drew didn’t say anything.

  “I think I deserve an answer,” Bronwyn pressed.

  Drew slowly loosened his tie and finally replied, “I thought you were somehow involved with either, um, Ben or maybe Geoff.”

  Something about his completely erroneous ideas struck Bronwyn as funny, and she said, “Me? And Ben?! No way! Why didn’t you just ask me about it?”

  Drew was glad it was dark out, because his cheeks were suddenly very red. He raked a hand through his hair and answered, “I don’t know. I really don’t and then I started dating Christina and it just got all mixed up.”

  “Did you ever really like her?”

  “Not like I liked…it wasn’t ever the same as…”

  Bronwyn understood what he was trying to communicate, but needed to actually hear him say the words, “So, what are you doing here?”

  “Lucy kind of gave me the nudge I needed. I was getting ready to go and then, well, where else would I be?”

  “I’m glad you came.”

  Drew’s face lit up in a smile and he said, “So, I know I’ve been an ass most of the season, but there’s a reason I’m here. Look, Bronwyn, can you forgive me?”

  Bronwyn thought about what a funny pair they made at the moment, she in her jeans and t-shirt, Drew in his suit. She stopped and looked up at him. A cool breeze blew through the campus and she rubbed her hands on her arms, trying to warm up. Drew slowly took off his suit coat and put it on Bronwyn, tightening it around her shoulders. He kept his hands on her arms and slowly pulled her closer to his broad chest.

  “Can you?”

  Bronwyn was overcome with shyness and looked down at the ground.

  “Please?” Drew’s voice was almost a whisper and then his fingers were suddenly under her chin and slowly lifting her gaze up. He kissed her softly at first, then gave in to almost two months of pent up feelings. Bronwyn felt being herself carried away to a place where time seemed to stop and all that existed was Drew and his fabulous kisses.

  “Eh-hem,” a distinctively female voice said behind them sometime later.

  Bronwyn flushed and tried to burrow into Drew’s chest. He put his arms protectively around her.

  “What’s up, bro?”

  Bronwyn slowly turned around and saw Lucy and some guy who could only be related to Drew walking towards her with Pam on the leash between them. Lucy grinned, “You guys were gone so long, I started to get worried. We’ll see you back at my place in a few minutes?”

  Bronwyn nodded. They watched Joe and Lucy walk away.

  When the older couple was out of sight, Drew asked, “Am I forgiven?”

  Bronwyn smiled and said, “You certainly are.”

  Miles away from the happy reunion, Christina Feldman looked at herself in the mirror and was very pleased with what she saw. She looked perfect. Her long mahogany hair was fastened in an elegant upsweep. Her nails were painted in a delicate French manicure. Her dress was a beautiful sky blue…all she was missing was her date. After months of crushing on him, she couldn’t believe she was finally dating Drew. Her senior year was going exactly as planned.

  She checked the clock again; Drew had said he would show up a little after 7PM. The appointed hour came and went and slowly dragged to eight. She had already left numerous calls and text messages on his phone, all of which had gone straight to voicemail. After an hour, she began receiving calls from her friends who were already at Homecoming wondering where she was. She lied smoothly, telling them they were having car trouble and would arrive at the dance shortly.

  As eight pushed to nine, Christina impatiently phoned Drew’s house, “Hello?”

  Drew’s mother, Anne, answered the phone, “Hello, O’Malley residence.”

  “Hi, Mrs. O’Malley, this is Christina.”

  “Oh, hello, dear, is something wrong with Drew?”

  “I was hoping you could tell me.”

  “What do you mean? Isn’t he with you?”

  “He is most certainly not with me!”

  “Well, that’s strange, he left here a while ago…” Anne had privately wondered about her son’s behavior as he left the house. Having two boys, she was pretty clued into their moods. Drew had been a little tense as he walked out the door.

  “I hope nothing’s happened to him.”

  Anne pondered a minute, believing that if something happened to either of her boys, she would probably be aware of it by now. She told the girl on the other end of the line, “Let me check with his brother. Should I call you back?”

  “Just tell him I’ll be at the dance.”

  And with that, Christina abruptly hung up the phone. Anne looked at the device, muttering something about ‘young people these days’ and quickly called her older son’s cell phone number, “Joseph?”

  When it came to their mother, both of the O’Malley boys usually paid attention. Joe answered immediately, “Hey, Ma. What’s up?”

  “Have you seen your brother?”

  “Who wants to know?”

  Anne paused before saying, “Drew’s Homecoming date.”

  “He’s, um, indisposed at the moment.”

  Anne sighed, but answered, “As long as he safe, that’s what matters for now. Should I assume he will be spending the evening with you tonight and I will see you both tomorrow in time for dinner?”

  “Yes, Ma.”

  “I love you, Joseph.”

  “I love you, too.” Joe hung up the phone, and smiled politely at Lucy, “I’m going to kill my brother.”

&
nbsp; “What did he do?”

  “Skipped out on his Homecoming date.”

  Lucy rolled her green eyes, “Will you boys never learn?”

  As a response, Joe wrapped his arms around Lucy and said, “They were pretty cute together, weren’t they?”

  The young woman nodded and said, “I think she was worth whatever crap he’s going to have to deal with in the next couple of weeks.”

  As Bronwyn and Drew walked back to Lucy’s apartment, the sophomore snare started mentally freaking out. She knew he was supposed to be at Homecoming with Christina and had a sinking suspicion that Drew had not disclosed his current location to her. Furthermore, given what had taken place over the past half hour or more would definitely count as cheating. Not wanting to ruin the magic of the evening, Bronwyn decided to let things slide for now and worry about labels and more difficult conversations until tomorrow. Back at the apartment, there was talk of having the guys sleep over, but due to a lack of sleeping arrangements and a look of panic in Bronwyn’s eyes, Lucy pushed the guys out around two in the morning, and said, “Can I assume Drew will be escorting Bronwyn home tomorrow?”

  Drew smiled and answered, “I’ll be back around 11.”

  Lucy’s front door closed and as soon as Bronwyn heard Drew and Joe’s voices trail off into the night, she picked up a bewildered Pam and screamed, “Aaaahhhh! That was the best night of my life!!”

  “So, I take it things are good between you two?”

  Bronwyn stopped dancing around the apartment, placed the dizzy dog on the ground, and said, “Yes. I mean, I just didn’t think things were ever going to actually work out, but then, he just showed up, and…”

  Lucy nudged her friend, “And what? Something like I saw earlier?”

  Bronwyn’s cheeks flamed red.

  “So, what are you going to do about Christina?”

  Bronwyn shrugged, “Not sure yet. We were having such a good time tonight that I didn’t want to wreck things by bringing her up, y’know?”

  “I’m sure he’ll break things off with her.”

  “Yeah, I know it sounds bad, but I kind of hope so.”`

  Lucy opened up a blanket and spread it over the couch, then commented, “Of course, that’s if she doesn’t break up with him first. Standing someone up the night of Homecoming is pretty much grounds for getting dumped. So maybe it will all work out.”

  Bronwyn yawned, suddenly exhausted from the long day and replied, “After everything we’ve already been through this season, I’m sure we can handle her.”

  After a delicious breakfast prepared by Joe, Drew and Bronwyn were all smiles as they drove home the next day. Bronwyn leaned on Drew’s shoulder and asked, “So, what happened last night?”

  Drew knew she wasn’t referring to their night together, but rather his botched Homecoming attempt, “Oh, I, um, didn’t show up.”

  “That’s what I was afraid of.”

  “I don’t know what came over me. I looked in the mirror and then I just jumped in my car and started driving up here.”

  While Bronwyn was touched by the supremely romantic gesture, she was also freaking out a little about the wrath of Christina that would inevitably follow. In the light of day, she knew the Guard Captain was going to blame one person for Drew’s disappearing act. She sighed and slid down in her seat, “She’s going to kill me.”

  “Why you? I’m the one who stood her up.”

  Bronwyn’s grey blue eyes were wide and she said, “You don’t understand. In her world, I forced you to come up and be with me. She’s going to flip.”

  “How about we don’t tell her?” Drew asked, only half kidding.

  Bronwyn shot him a look.

  “Okay, so I know I need to break up with her. Maybe I just won’t give her all of the explicit details.”

  “Can you do your best to convince her that I had nothing to do with this, please?”

  “I still don’t see why you’re so worried, but yes, I’ll try and mention it…or not mention you at all.”

  “That’s all I’m asking for.”

  Too soon, they were pulling up to Bronwyn’s house. Drew grabbed her hand and planted a kiss on her callused fingers, “See you tomorrow?”

  “You want to take this thing public?” Bronwyn asked nervously, “Because I mean, you don’t have to or anything, I’m really just happy to be—”

  “Shhh. Yes, I want everyone in the Forrest Hills band to know that you are my girlfriend.”

  Bronwyn flushed, but managed to say shyly, “I’m glad to hear you say that.”

  She gathered up her bag and impulsively kissed Drew on the cheek, before sprinting out of the car, quickly saying hello to her parents and jumping on the phone to call an emergency meeting at the nearby Espresso Royale Café with Meredith and Megan.

  Reminding himself he needed to do the right thing, Drew called Christina straight after leaving Bronwyn’s house. Driving to the Guard member’s house, he realized how guilty he looked, still in his rumpled suit from the night before.

  Christina answered the door, and joined him on her front porch. She sat across from him and, toe tapping impatiently, asked, “Where were you?”

  “Christina, I…”

  “You couldn’t even call?”

  “I was a jerk. I know that. What I did was unacceptable.”

  “And?”

  “And what?”

  “Aren’t you going to at least say you’re sorry? That’s the least you can do for your girlfriend!”

  Drew pushed a rock on the ground with his foot and said, “Not exactly.”

  “Why the hell not?”

  “I, um, well, that’s part of the reason I didn’t show up last night. I know this is going to sound bad, but I think we should date other people.”

  Christina crossed her arms, and stated in a dark tone, “So, let me get this straight. You don’t bother showing up for Homecoming, you have no excuse for it, you don’t even bother to apologize and now you want to break up with me?”

  “I—”

  “Because let’s get one thing straight, I am dumping you!”

  Drew shrugged and said, “If that’s what you want.”

  Christina, despite the tough exterior she was trying to convince Drew of, was slowly cracking. She continued, “It is! Your ass is dumped!”

  Christina stood up, walked inside, slammed the door behind her, and desperately wished she felt more like she had come out on top of things.

  * * *

  CHAPTER TWENTY: Crossing the Line

  Settled in their favorite booth at the local coffee shop, Espresso Royale, Megan and Meredith looked over at Bronwyn, worried expressions on both of their faces. Megan was the first to venture a question, “So, emergency meeting, huh? Did something happen to Lucy?”

  Bronwyn was attempting to keep a straight face, but couldn’t keep up the charade. A large grin broke across her features and she said, “Not exactly.”

  Meredith asked, “Then what happened? You were only gone one night!”

  “Drew came up to see me!”

  Megan and Meredith sat back in the booth, clearly not expecting that answer from their friend. Bronwyn continued, “It was just, well, magical…”

  Megan asked, “But what about Christina? Where exactly does she fit into this whole situation?”

  “Umm, that’s the part I need help with. Drew didn’t exactly, um, inform her that he was going to, um, not going to go with Homecoming with her. He just kind of showed up on my doorstep. I mean, Lucy’s doorstep.”

  “He what?!” Megan asked.

  Bronwyn stirred massive quantities of sugar into her latte and said lamely, “It sounds just as bad as I think it does, doesn’t it?”

  Meredith said, “It certainly does. Do you feel like going on the offensive?”

  “How do you mean?”

  Meredith continued, “You could call her and explain you really had nothing to do with it.”

  “Do you think she would listen? Imagine if
Ben had not shown up last night and was suddenly dating someone else, how would you feel if that person called you?”

  Megan whistled slowly, “You are so dead.”

  Although she was terrified of what Christina would do when she found out, Bronwyn was flattered when Drew picked her up the next morning. Strapping herself in, she asked cautiously, “Did you talk to her?”

  “Yup.”

  “Did you mention me?”

  “No.”

  “How did she take it?”

  “Not good.”

  “Should I be worried?”

  “Maybe.”

  Bronwyn thought for a moment. It was probably better that Drew hadn’t mentioned the specifics of why he had ditched his Homecoming date, but it was getting unbearable waiting for the other shoe to drop.

  Maybe I should’ve called her, then at least it would’ve been out there already.

  It’s too late now, it’s like Henry said, you’ve made your decision and now you just have to go with it, besides, what’s the worst she can do?

  Christina’s sapphire eyes were glued on the band room door. She looked away for a moment and her eyes widened in surprise as she looked back to see a very happy Drew walking in, hand in hand with a radiant Bronwyn Flueger.

  By Tuesday’s practice, it was obvious to everyone in the Forrest Hills marching band that Bronwyn and Drew were a couple. The infamous “bet” which had stressed Bronwyn out so much, seemed like an eternity ago, and no one else seemed to remember the details anyway. And somehow, the drum major who had looked perfect with the beautiful Guard Captain, looked equally cute with the redheaded sophomore percussionist.

  As Bronwyn walked down to the practice field, Geoff caught up with her. She looked down at her snare for a long moment and admitted, “I wanted to tell you…”

  Geoff smiled companionably and said, “I won’t hold it against you, but, as your friend, I have to ask, wasn’t there some sort of bet taken against you earlier?”