* * *
Back at the pool, Vanessa continued to stare out the window. She considered going down the road to look for them, but if Rex and Nadia were down there somewhere alone, it would make her look like the jealous suspicious girlfriend and she had made a promise to herself that she would never be that. If they were getting it on somewhere, then that was ok. Rex would be back in her arms again and she would be his number one, just like always.
Still, the thought of Nadia with Rex bothered her. It never bothered her when it was any other girl, but her half-sister was different.’
‘Hi, Vanessa,’ an annoyingly familiar voice came from behind her. Turning, she saw Tucker standing there with an ice cream in his hand and a broad smile on his face.
‘Oh, it’s you. Shouldn’t you be at work? Or at the very least be in the pool generating waves for everybody?’
‘No, I’m not starting until later on this afternoon.’
‘Oh,’ she said in a pleasant voice. ‘What a pity.’
‘Want a lick?’ Tucker offered her up his ice cream that looked as though it had already been smoothed over by his tongue.
‘Err… nuh uh. I’ll pass.’
‘Wanna go down the road to a better café than this?’
‘Well you see the problem with that idea is that there’s no wave pool there and the wave pool just happens to be the main reason that we’ve all come here today. For you that might not be the case, for you eating may indeed take priority, but I’m afraid that’s just not the case for me.’
‘Well we can stay here in this café then.’
‘Err no. I’m about to go back to the pool.’ It seemed like the best option to her. Rex and Nadia would return in good time, she was confident of that. He wouldn’t go off with her for the rest of the afternoon. She knew he wasn’t that thoughtless, although she couldn’t help but wonder just what persuasive powers Nadia might have.
‘I’ll come with you.’
‘No, Tucker. You need to stay right here. You see there are a lot of comestibles there at the counter and they really shouldn’t be left there for too long without being eaten, should they?’
‘You think so?’ Tucker asked, his gaze roaming towards the glass cabinet.
‘Yeah huh. In fact, I’m quite confident that you realise this terrible reality and that you will make it your duty to spend the next three hours sitting here consuming those said comestibles.’
Tucker’s eyes widened. ‘You’re right!’
‘You think? You know it is an inescapable conclusion that I am right. That shall then be your mission Agent Tucker.’
‘Cool!’
Vanessa began to walk away.
‘Hey wait!’ Tucker said.
Vanessa sighed and turned to face him. ‘What?’
‘If… If I was a girl… would you go to the café with me?’
‘Hmmmmm,’ Vanessa mockingly put her hand to her chin and peered up as in thoughtful contemplation. ‘Well, Tucker, for one thing, if you were a girl, you would make a completely hideous looking one, which I would not find attractive at all. Secondly, if you were a girl, then that would just drive me straight. So, my answer would have to be a resounding, Nuh uh!’
‘Oh….’ Tucker turned his eyes down at the floor.
‘I’d prefer it if you just stayed the same annoying Tucker Pyles.’
Tucker’s head lifted up and so did his eyes. ‘You would?’
‘Well… in theory yes… but… Ah, I don’t know. See ya.’ She headed back to the pool.
Jealousy at TAC Page 17
