Page 53 of Learning to Love

"He said he'd be pulling up in 10! Depression pancakes?"

She jumps up and down. "Depression pancakessss!!!"

We take the short drive back to the Fearless Five house in silence. Toby is waiting in his truck for us. I roll down the window. "You driving or me?"

He gives me one of those looks. You know the one. "You ain't fixing to drive me. Trying to be grown."

I laugh. "You're an idiot."

He smiles, beaming with pride. "I sure as hell am! In all seriousness, I'm driving. You suck at it! Don't act like you didn't run into the side of your Mama's house with the riding lawnmower."

My head whips around so fast. I give both of them a dirty look. I can't tell which one is howling with laughter the loudest. "I was like ten! Y'all shut up!"

"Dani! Yeah, ten, my ass! Try ten plus six!" That makes them laugh even louder. I can't help but join in laughter. When he's got a point, he's got a point.

"Whatever!" I flip them both off for good measure. I jump in the shotgun seat. "Take us to get some depression pancakes, please."

"Your wish is my command, ladies."

We settle into our booth. It's not busy today. We all order pancakes, even Toby. He looks up at me with worry in his eyes.

I smile and try to assure him that I don't feel worried. "We're gonna be alright, Toby."

"I know that, Dani, but this is serious. Have you told your mom?"

I sit straight up in my seat. I am panicking on the inside. I urgently plead my case. "No, I haven't! Please, don't tell them, Toby. They would only be worried, and while this is serious, it's not serious enough to tell them about it yet. I will only if I have to."

He wants to disagree but shrugs instead. "Listen, this is how it's going to work this week. Y'all need to go anywhere except for the bathroom, and I'll be going with you. While I can't go into the classrooms with you, I can walk you to and from them. Before and after classes, we are all together. Agreed?"

I look over at Sasha, and she nods at me. "Agreed." We answer in unison. My inner warrior woman wants to be slightly offended, but since he's being bossy out of love, I'll let it slide just this once.

"Did he steal your panties?"

I drop my fork. "Ew. Yes, Toby, you can't say panties in front of me. I'll barf."

Sasha laughs, and I stick my tongue out at both of them. "Toby, you have no idea. This whole situation is so unreal. We came to college, found a best friend, got boyfriends, fell in love, and now we have a freaking drug dealer planting video cameras in our dorm room. This was NOT in the brochure, you know? Why doesn't he leave us alone?"

I take her hand and hold it. I've been in my feelings. I haven't thought about how Sasha feels. That's unfair and not the kind of friend I want to be. "I'm so sorry that you're involved, Sasha. This year should be the best time of your life, and it's not right that any of this is happening to you."

"It's not fair to any of us, Dani. I don't blame you or anyone else but those two jackasses. I want to take them down because I'm thinking about all the people they could potentially hurt in the future. What kind of people would we be if we could have stopped them but didn't. That's not okay, Dani, and if they try to hurt you, I'll fight them with every cell in my body! I love you, you're my best friend."

I wipe several tears away before they can cascade down my face. "I love you, too. We've got to take them down, and we'll do it together."

Toby looks taken back. He's never been good with sensitive emotions. "Well, I've decided to come to school here. I got my acceptance letter when you got yours, but I didn't know if I wanted to or not. Oh, and you both will have nothing to worry about because I'll destroy them if they even touch a single hair on either one of your heads."

We both shout but I shout the loudest. "Omgosh, Toby! Yes! I am so happy!"

He smiles. "I knew that would make an intense situation not so tense anymore."

"Yeah, because you're always so good with emotions."

He laughs. "Exactly."

"What to do tonight bitches?"

Toby and I look at each other. I give him the nod he was waiting on. "Let's watch horror movies all night! We can order some Chinese takeout for supper and sleep the day away tomorrow!"

Sasha rolls her eyes. "You guys want to watch scary movies when we got a panty-sniffing psycho coming after us?"