Part 19 (1/2)
”Yeah, I'd say it's time we go again. Doug's great when it comes to cheering up brokenhearted women. He'll be a good companion for Katie.”
”Doug doesn't have a girlfriend yet? I thought he would have met somebody by now.”
”Nope. He told me once that he thought he knew who G.o.d wanted him to marry, but he was waiting for the girl to figure it out. He wouldn't tell me who it was.”
”You think it might be Tracy?” Christy asked. ”They went out for a while.”
”I don't know. He wouldn't give me any hints. Could be Katie, for all we know. Doesn't matter though. Doug's sure that G.o.d will work it all out.”
”I guess Katie and I will drive up together on Friday night as soon as I get off work. We'll get to Bob and Marti's after ten. Is that too late for you guys? I mean, do you want to get together on Friday night, or wait and do something on Sat.u.r.day?”
”Whatever,” Todd said amiably. ”We'll take it as it comes.”
”I'm looking forward to seeing you,” Christy said softly.
”Yeah, I'm looking forward to seeing you too.”
”Bye.”
”Later.”
Christy made a quick phone call to Katie and filled her in on the plans. Even though Katie sounded tired at first, she spoke up when Christy mentioned Doug.
”I don't want charity,” Katie said. ”Doug is not interested in me-he never has been, and he never will be. I don't want him coming along just to give me all his little hugs and try to make me feel better.”
”Okay, fine. Doug might not even come. But we're still going to Disneyland, and that will be fun,” Christy said. trying to sound cheerful.
”Yeah, right. You, Todd, and me. What a fun day that will be. Is Todd going to hold hands with both of us so I won't feel left out?”
Christy was beginning to get irritated. ”Katie, will you stop it? We're going to the pet store tomorrow after school, and then you and I are going to drive up to Newport, stay at my aunt and uncle's, probably go to Disneyland on Sat.u.r.day and then church with Todd on Sunday, and you are going to have a wonderful time. Got it?”
”Sorry,” Katie said. ”I'll try not to be a brat this weekend. I appreciate your making room for me in your plans.”
”It'll be fun, Katie. You'll see. I'm really looking forward to it.”
”Me too,” Katie sighed. ”I wonder what Michael is going to do this weekend? I guess it doesn't matter, does it?”
Christy didn't answer.
”Well,” Katie said, snapping back to a more positive tone of voice, ”I have some more homework to finish. I'll see you tomorrow. Thanks again, Christy. This is the true test of a best friend. Thanks for sticking with me through all this.”
”There's nothing to thank me for, Katie. I'll see you after school. Good night.”
Christy hung up, thinking, If you only knew how selfish I'm feeling right now about having to share Todd with you this weekend, you wouldn't be thanking me.
”Oh, Miss Chris,” Fred said the minute Christy walked into yearbook cla.s.s on Friday. ”May I have a moment of your time?”
”What do you want, Fred?” Christy was not in the mood to deal with him.
”Do you remember yesterday, right before I left to take the photo of the volleyball team. I said I wanted to talk to you about something?”
Christy didn't remember, but she wanted to speed this conversation along, so she nodded and waited for Fred's reply, expecting another invitation to the prom.
”I wanted to ask you something.”
”What, Fred?” she said, her irritation showing.
”I wanted to ask you what church you went to.”
”Why?” Christy asked, surprised.
”I kind of wanted to try going sometime.”
”Why?” Christy asked, and the minute she did, she realized how rude she sounded.
”It's a free country,” Fred said, puffing out his chest a little. ”At least, the last time I checked it was. I've never been to church before. I thought I might like to try it sometime.”
”That's great, Fred.” Christy said, quickly changing her tone. ”I think you'll like it. It's a really good church.” She gave him directions and specifics on when the high school group met and when church services were held.
”Thanks,” Fred said. ”I'll see you there this Sunday.”
”Oh. Is that why you wanted to go to church? Just because I do?”
”No!” Fred answered defensively.
”Well. I'm not going to be there this Sunday. I'm going to be at my aunt and uncle's for the weekend.” Then, trying to sound nice, she added, ”Some other people from school go there, so I'm sure you'll see somebody you know.”
”Like Katie?”
”Actually, Katie is going to be with me. There are other people, though. I think you'll like it; you should go.”
”I will,” Fred said. ”Are you ready to work on these last two collage pages with me? We have to have everything done by next Wednesday. That's the final, final, drop-dead deadline.”
”Are you sure?”
”Yes. I'm sure.”
Christy couldn't help but wonder about Fred's interest in attending church. She would have liked to believe he was becoming interested in Christianity. Maybe somehow she had been a witness to him, although she wasn't sure how. Most of the year she had been rude to him and had never tried talking to him about spiritual things. Somehow, she couldn't help but wonder if it was one of his tactics to spend time with her, especially since they would be done with their mutual projects by next Wednesday. They wouldn't have too many other reasons to talk to each other after the yearbook was done. That is, unless Fred started going to her church.
She told Katie about it on the way to work after school that afternoon. It had been months since Katie and Christy had talked like this, and Katie said she didn't even know Fred had been chasing Christy.
”Only all year,” Christy said.
”Man,” Katie said with a sigh, ”we've missed a lot this year, haven't we? I mean, our whole senior year is almost over, and you and I barely know what's going on with each other.”
”I know.”
”I regret that, Christy, and I know it's all my fault because I was so wrapped up in Michael.”
”It's not all your fault. I didn't exactly make things comfortable for either of us. I could have done a lot more to keep our friends.h.i.+p close, but I didn't. I'm sorry I didn't try harder.”