Jeri looked her friend in the eye. “Nah. It’ll take some getting used to, but I can deal.”
The two friends smiled at each other, glad they had been able to reclaim their friendship. Jeri pulled the Mustang up the long McAllister driveway.
Jeri flashed a grin. “Hey, now we won’t be in competition for the same guy. Cool.”
“Leave it to you to find something good in all this. My mom’s not home yet. Do you want to come in for a while?” Marlee struggled to get her car door open. She couldn’t quite reach the door handle with her left hand.
“Yeah, sure.” Jeri jumped out and opened it for her. She offered a hand to help Marlee out. Marlee hugged her with one arm.
“Uh, Marlee? I’m straight, remember?”
“Oh, shut up.” Marlee let go. “It’s nice to have you back, Jeri. C’mon, you can cook me spaghetti while I tell you all about how Susie broke up with me on Saturday.”
“Wait! What?” Jeri shouted incredulously. “So that’s why you were so weird today? Girl, this is nuts!” Her mouth dropped open in disbelief.
“C’mon, you’re catching flies.” Marlee led her best friend into the house.
Chapter Fourteen
Choices
JERI PICKED UP her bowling ball and said to Sam, “I can’t believe we’re hanging out with you. You’re the enemy.”
Sam discreetly took Lisa’s hand and said, “Oh, just try to stop me from coming to Clarksonville.”
Lisa smiled at Sam and then stuck her tongue out at Jeri.
“Oh, real mature, Brown.” Jeri stepped up to throw her second ball down the alley.
Marlee joined in. “You know, 2, when we play you guys for the league title Tuesday we’d better not find out you revealed any of our secrets to your team. If we do, well, we’ll just have to kill you.”
“Phht,” Sam said. “Listen, P, I don’t know about the rest of my team, but you’ll probably strike me out every time I get up to bat, even with your bad shoulder, so I wouldn’t worry about it if I were you.”
Lisa chimed in. “And this time I am not giving you the signs. Last time I was flirting. This time it’s war.”
Sam smiled at Lisa as if no one else existed in the bowling alley. It wasn’t hard to see how smitten they were with each other. Sitting down, Lisa still had a height advantage over Sam, but Sam didn’t seem to care. And with the way they looked at each other, Marlee didn’t notice it much, either.
Marlee could tell it was difficult, but Sam tore her eyes away from Lisa and looked at Marlee. “How is your pitching shoulder anyway?”
Jeri skipped back toward her friends having just picked up a spare. She caught Sam’s question and said, “See? See? I told you she was a spy.”
Marlee rolled her eyes. “My shoulder,” she said nudging Jeri with it, “is still a little sore, but I’m feeling good. Coach had me pitch three innings against Mohawk on Tuesday and five against Southbridge on Thursday.”
“Yeah, and she struck me out at batting practice yesterday,” Jeri said with a frown.
Lisa looked sheepish. “And, I don’t know how she did it, but she struck me out yesterday, too. Twice.”
Jeri clapped Lisa on the back in solidarity. She said to Sam, “So go ahead and take that back to your team. Tell them Marlee McAllister is back!”
“Oh, I will,” Sam said. “And I have to tell you honestly that a few of us at East Valley were rooting for you to get the First-Team All-County pitching award. I can’t believe you only got Second-Team. I’m really sorry, Marlee.”
“Thanks, Sam.” Marlee meant it. “I guess Christy earned it again this year. And besides, I did miss a couple of games.”
Jeri jumped in. “Yeah, because of her. If she hadn’t given you a freaking concussion! Anyway, girl, you are so much better. They don’t know what they’re talking about. Marlee gets Second-Team, while she gets First-Team? That’s so messed up.”
“But Lisa,” Marlee put her arm around her catcher, “got First-Team All-County in batting.”
“Well deserved. And she’s only a sophomore. Still a baby,” Jeri said.
Sam beamed at Lisa. Lisa smiled back at Sam but addressed her comment to the group. “Thanks, guys. And don’t forget, Marlee got a batting title, too. Second-Team All-County.”
“Yeah, a jack-of-all-trades and master of none,” Marlee mumbled.
“Hardly,” Sam said. “Don’t sell yourself short. And I know somebody else who was rooting for you to get that All-County nod.” She stood up to take her turn in the lane. “And if you treat me nice, I’ll start talking.” She turned her back to her new friends and proceeded to throw a gutter ball.
Marlee called, “Hey, 2, you’re better at ping-pong than bowling. Let me throw your next one. They,” she nodded her head toward Jeri and Lisa, “won’t let me play my own game.”
“Sure.” She retrieved the ball. “Hey, P,” she said quietly.
Marlee took the ball and placed her fingers in the holes. “Yeah?”
“She asked me to give you something.”
“She who?” But Marlee knew.
“You know who. It’s in the trunk of my car.”
“Yeah?”
“P,” Sam grabbed her arm and said low, “she wanted me to tell you that she made a mistake.”
“About what?”
“Marlee, c’mon. Susie said she made a mistake about breaking up with you.”
Jeri shouted, “Hey, are you two gonna bowl or what?”
“Shut up, Jeri,” Marlee yelled back. She said to Sam, “Hold that thought, 2.” She lined up her feet in the lane and took her usual three steps toward the pins. She expected her shoulder to protest but was pleasantly surprised when it did not. She released the ball right down the center of the lane. The pins flew in every direction. Not a single one was left standing.
“Strike three, yer out,” Lisa yelled. Marlee’s friends clapped and jumped around cheering.
“Okay,” Sam took a seat at the scorer’s table. “No, Lisa, stay for this. You, too, Jeri. You have to hear this.”
Marlee took a seat between Jeri and Lisa. All eyes were on Sam.
“Okay, I just broke the news to P here that Susie told me she shouldn’t have broken up with Marlee.”
Jeri smiled. “Well that didn’t last long, did it?” She patted Marlee on the back.
Sam continued, “You know, I like Christy.”
Lisa shot her a look.
“No, not that way. Eeeeeeww,” Sam amended. “No, I thought she was a friend, but she’s just been so mean to Susie that she’s made all our lives miserable, you know? They’re supposed to be best friends, right? But Christy walks all over her. It’s been so hard to watch. Hard to watch Christy dish it, but harder still to watch Susie take it, you know?”
Marlee started trembling inside. The loud bowling alley was beginning to grate on her nerves. Part of her didn’t want to hear anymore, but another part did. She looked up at Sam, who seemed to be waiting for the okay from Marlee to continue. She nodded for Sam to go on with her story.
Sam continued. “I’ll give you a for-instance. On Thursday, practice was over and everybody was gone except Susie and Christy. I was hanging around because Susie was my ride home. Christy told me, not Susie, mind you, but Christy told me, to wait in Susie’s car and the two of them went into the deserted dugout. Okay, so I go wait in the car, but I can still kind of see them through the holes in the cinder blocks. And I could hear just about everything. So as I’m sitting there trying to mind my own business, I see Christy push Susie, real hard, up against the wall. Christy starts yelling stuff like, ‘You told. You told that girlfriend of yours, didn’t you?’”
Marlee was confused. She had no idea what Susie had supposedly told her.
Sam continued. “And then Christy poked Susie in the shoulder a couple of times. Now, I’ve seen Christy mad, but this was different. Christy was furious. Susie’s strong, you know, but Christy? She’s an ox.”
All three nodded in un
ison, but remained quiet so Sam could continue.
“Christy grabbed Susie’s wrists and pressed so hard she left bruise marks. I saw them later. Christy hissed stuff like, ‘Why did you tell her? You weren’t supposed to tell anyone. Ever. You promised me.’ and then she let go of one of Susie’s wrists and slapped her right across the face. Susie did nothing. Nothing.”
Marlee was close to tears. Why didn’t Susie fight back? She fell back against the hard plastic chair, feeling dizzy.
“Marlee,” Jeri asked with concern, “are you okay?”
Marlee struggled to get up. “I think I need some air.”
“C’mon,” Lisa said. “I’ll go pay. Let’s get out of here.”
Once outside in the cool evening air, Marlee revived a bit. The dim lights from the bowling alley gave just enough light so they could pick their way to the far end of the parking lot where Jeri and Sam had parked their cars. They reached the Mustang and Jeri jumped up on the hood and lit a cigarette. Lisa also jumped up on the hood and Sam leaned against the car nestled between Lisa’s knees. Marlee leaned against the hood upwind of Jeri’s smoke.
Lisa looked at Marlee. “So what did Susie tell you?”
Marlee shook her head. “Nothing. Honest. I have no idea what Christy was talking about. Susie didn’t like to talk about Christy.”
Sam said, “Yeah. That’s true. She hardly ever talks to me about Christy. I mean me and Susie are friends and all, but Susie and Christy? I don’t know. It’s something else totally. They are practically inseparable. Well, they were until Marlee came along.”
Jeri took a drag from her cigarette and asked, “So what happened next? Did Susie beat the crap out of her?”
“Far from it,” Sam continued the tale. “Susie just stood there and took it for a few more minutes, but then she said, ‘I didn’t tell Marlee. I didn’t tell anyone. I never even told my parents.’ And then Susie said something that set Christy off. She said, ‘But I probably should have told your parents.’ Christy went ballistic. She started kicking the wall and then she punched the cinder blocks with her pitching hand. She didn’t break her hand, but she bruised it pretty good. I’m just relieved she didn’t try to slap Susie again, because I would have jumped out of that car and gotten in the middle of it, for sure. Not that I even know what Christy was mad about, you know? After a while Christy just sat on the bench and I think she was crying. I couldn’t hear what they said, but, man, I don’t know why Susie put up with that crap from her. I mean, c’mon, Susie is so nice. She wouldn’t look me in the eye when she got in the car.”
Jeri shook her head. “I can’t believe I hung out with Christy. The girl’s got some anger issues, doesn’t she?”
Marlee was enraged. She had no idea what Susie was mixed up in. And she was quite confused about her supposed part in it. Mostly, though, she was sickened that Christy would hit the girl she once loved. Still loved?
Marlee must have been broadcasting her emotions because Lisa reached over and put an arm around her. “You okay, Marlee? She can stop.”
“No, I think I’d better hear the rest. If there’s more, that is.”
“Oh, there’s more,” Sam said and continued her story. “I don’t know what else has been going on between the two of them. All I can tell you is what I’ve seen and heard myself, you know? But Susie seemed to come to her senses last night when the team went to Christy’s house like we usually do on Fridays. Christy pretty much ignored Susie the whole time. Everybody started getting real uncomfortable, you know? I mean, the team hung around for a while playing ping-pong and stuff, but then people started leaving. That’s when Christy started barking orders at Susie to get her a beer and clean the kitchen. Christy drank too much that night, but what else is new? Christy called Susie her Puerto Rican servant, in front of everybody.”
Marlee’s blood was boiling. She clenched and unclenched her fists. She wanted to punch somebody. I have some anger issues of my own right now. She said the words slowly, “So, what did Susie do?”
“Yeah, what?” Jeri and Lisa chimed together completely into Sam’s story.
Sam continued, “Well, we, or at least I, didn’t think Susie had it in her, but Susie let loose and started yelling back at Christy. She called her a spiteful bitch. Believe me, the rest of us ran out of that house so fast you would have thought we were trying to steal second base on Lisa Brown.”
Lisa beamed.
“Of course, a few of us, ahem, hung out in the driveway listening.”
“Of course,” Jeri said with a grin. “Go on.”
“Oh, you guys must think I’m just a gossip queen.”
“We don’t care.” Jeri urged her to keep going.
“Okay, but understand that I don’t usually eavesdrop on people. It’s just that, well, I wanted to help Susie and P somehow. All right, well, Susie just kept saying something like ‘Christy, you need to get help. I can’t do this anymore. I can’t be here for you all the time. I have to live my own life, too.’ And then she told Christy that she should tell her parents. Tell her parents what, I have no idea.”
Jeri rubbed her chin. “Maybe about her drinking?”
Sam hesitated for a moment. “Maybe, but I don’t think so. This seemed bigger, somehow.”
Lisa asked, “Is she pregnant?”
“Christy?” Sam sounded shocked. “I doubt it. She’s never even gone out with a guy, as far as I know. I mean, I even thought she was one of us for a while. Well, not you, Jeri, but you know, family. But she’s definitely not family. No, I don’t think she’s pregnant. Well, anyway, Susie confronted her about throwing those pitches at you, P. Keep in mind that none of us was ever going to confront Christy about that. Believe me, you don’t want to feel the wrath of Christy Loveland. You know that firsthand, don’t you, P? But Susie’s voice kept getting louder and louder. And, Christy, who is a champion at yelling in her own right, was quiet. We thought it was the calm before the storm or something. And then when Susie stopped shouting the silence was scary. When they did start talking again I heard your name, P, a couple of times. And then I almost died when Susie told Christy to get her act together.”
Lisa said, “Geez, I can’t believe she told off Christy Loveland like that. And this was last night?”
“Yeah,” Sam said. “We bailed like a bunch of cockroaches in the bathroom light when we heard things start breaking inside the house. Beer bottles, I think. I don’t know how she did it, but Susie stayed with her until her parents came home. And they were in California.”
Jeri said half seriously, “Sounds like Christy’s got some issues. Hello! Therapy!”
“Ain’t my job. Thank God,” Sam responded. “But P, Susie came over to my house this afternoon. She knows I’m seeing Lisa.” Sam’s eyes softened when she looked at Lisa. “And she knew I was coming out here tonight. She gave me something for you.”
Sam went to her car and popped the trunk. She pulled out an expensive-looking teddy bear. It had a leather nose and leather padded feet. Susie had attached a card to the bear with curling ribbon.
Sam handed the bear to Marlee. “She told me to give you this cutie and that she’d wait for your answer at our game on Tuesday when she can see you in person.”
Jeri, gleeful, said, “C’mon Marlee, let me take you home. You need privacy, but then you have to call me as soon as you read the card.”
Jeri and Marlee said their goodbyes to Lisa and Sam and then Jeri ushered Marlee into the Mustang to whisk her home.
“MARLEE, IS THAT you?” Marlee’s mother called from the living room.
“Yeah, Mom. We called it an early night.” She stood in the doorway between the kitchen and the living room where her mother was watching television.
“Oh, how cute. Who gave you the bear?”
“Oh, uh, Susie.”
“Get well present?”
Good one, Mom. “Yeah, something like that. I’m going upstairs.”
“Okay, take Patches with you. My lap is now officially closed
, little girl.” Her mother nudged the cat off her lap.
Patches ran toward Marlee, chirped, and pranced up the stairs toward Marlee’s room.
Her mother said, “I think she’s been worried about you. Get a good night’s sleep, honey.”
“’Night, Mom.”
Marlee climbed the stairs slowly. The butterflies in her stomach multiplied with every step. When she finally made it to her room, she flung the bear carelessly on the bed. She hung her sweatshirt up carefully.
“Hey, Patches.” Marlee stroked the cat’s head. “Let’s see what Susie has to say, okay?” She yanked the card off the bear, but left the bear face down on the bed. She plopped into the recliner and put it into the full recline position. Patches jumped up on Marlee’s lap and circled.
“C’mon, girl, find a spot. There’s some crazy stuff going on in East Valley and I’m not sure I want to be part of it.” She coaxed Patches into a prone position. “That was easy, right girl? Let’s see if this is.”
Marlee took a deep breath and willed her stomach to stop doing somersaults. The envelope was blank. She pulled out the card. The front of the card showed a tearful teddy bear and read, “I’m Sorry” in ornate script.
Marlee wasn’t sure what she should feel at that moment. Part of her wanted to leap for joy and call Susie right away. Another part of her remembered Sam’s story. They were practically inseparable until I came along. How could Susie ever think that Marlee would forgive her for dumping her like that? And for some weird friendship with Christy?
She opened the card anyway. What would it hurt? The card inside was blank, but Susie had written a letter on several sheets of loose-leaf paper. Marlee smiled in spite of herself when she recognized Susie’s handwriting. Without reading it, she put the pages down and said to Patches, “Are you ready?” When Patches didn’t answer, Marlee said, “Clearly, you’re not as invested in this as I am, little kitty.”
Marlee took another deep breath and opened the folded pages of Susie’s letter.
Out of Left Field: Marlee's Story Page 16