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Lou felt the anger boil up inside her with that comment. Men never picked the quiet girls. They went for the boisterous, beautiful girls with outgoing personalities, like Liz.
“You know what?” Lou stood up straighter. “I think I do want to go.”
“Really?” Brody and John both asked in chorus.
“Yeah, really,” Lou said sarcastically. Lou stepped closer to Liz and asked quietly. “What should I wear?”
Liz whispered back, “Something sexy and daring.”
Lou nodded seriously, having no idea what that meant.
“Do you want me to bring over something you can wear?” she whispered in Lou’s ear.
“Would you?” Lou whispered back.
“Six o’clock,” Liz said as she got into the truck with her father.
****
Lou relaxed most of the afternoon, second-guessing herself about going out for the evening. She couldn’t begin to compare to the knockout, Liz, and was feeling completely uncomfortable about spending the evening walking in her shadow. However, Brody had thrown down the gauntlet and she had picked it up. Now she had to make the best of it. Brody knew what she looked like, in and out of bed. Would he still pick me if there are other women within his reach? Would he still be just as interested? Or would he pass me over and move on to someone else? Only one way to find out.
Brody knocked on her door at suppertime. She opened the door a crack. “Yeah?”
“Hey. John just burned some chicken on the grill. Want to come down and eat?”
She glanced absently at her watch. “Is it that late already?”
“Yeah. Liz will be here in about thirty minutes. Come on down and get something to eat.”
He reached to put an arm around her shoulders and she sidestepped, avoiding him, walking ahead of him down the hallway instead. “Something bothering you?” he asked.
She spoke around the fingernail she was chewing. “No. Why would anything be wrong?”
“Is your head still hurting? We can cancel tonight if you don’t feel like going out.”
“Oh, no,” she breathed. “We’re going out. With Liz,” she added as an afterthought. She shook the thoughts away. They would get her nowhere. But she wanted to know so badly. . “Tell me one thing?”
“What?”
“What kind of relationship did you have with her all those years ago?”
“We grew up together. We were best friends. Then, in high school, we were boyfriend and girlfriend.”
“What kind of boyfriend and girlfriend? Casual? Or serious?”
He stopped her in the hallway and put his arms around her, pulling her close. “What kind of question is that?”
“It’s the kind of question you ask someone who you’ve been sleeping with,” she snapped at him.
“Do you want to know if we had sex, Lou? If you do, just ask.” It was almost like he was daring her to do just that.
“Never mind,” she bit out. “I really don’t want to know. I just want to know how many memories I’ll be up against tonight.
“If you change your mind, just ask me.”
“I won’t change my mind.” She pushed against his chest. He turned her loose.
They ate supper in relative silence. John prattled on about various topics, not oblivious to the tension. After dinner, they cleared the table and loaded the dishwasher. Then they went and sat outside on the porch.
