“Teenage dreams blazing inside me. In the moonlight, we sway.” Scott concluded, belting out the final lyrics to the song he’d written.

The garage we were inside was suddenly left in a state of complete silence afterward. An uncertain pause hung over the air, none of us seemed sure how to react. Determined not to be the first to break the tense silence, I began to look between the other two, waiting for a reaction. A reaction Beth seemed happy to offer.

“That was awesome!” Beth finally declared, extremely loudly.

Skills Updated:

Guitar Mastery 25=> 26

Music Theory 17 => 18

I guess that the blue box that just appeared agreed with her.

“It was actually pretty great.” I said in Scott’s direction, hoping he knew how much I appreciated his efforts, both in singing and in creating the song. Honestly, despite the lack of bass guitar, today’s performance did sound noticeably better than it had last time we played it. Was that because of my new abilities? Were my improved attributes and skills already helping me that much?

“Yeah…” Scott said uncertainly, scratching the back of his head again with his good hand. “I do think it turned out a bit better this time, but that wasn’t because of me.”

He gestured slightly with his injured arm.

“Ah, come on, you were great.” Beth insisted.

“She’s right you know, arm or no arm, you did amazing today.” I attempted to reassure him with my hopeful words.

“I guess you’re right…” Scott said while continuing to futz with the hair on top of his head.

“You’re gonna make yourself bald prematurely if you keep scratching away at the back of your head like that you know.” Beth informed him.

“What!?” Scott protested. “That can’t be something that's true. You’re making that up."

“Nope.” Beth calmly declared. “Keep that up, and your head will be completely devoid of hair within a month.”

“Pssh, shut up. Now I know you’re just messing with me.” Scott shouted back good-naturedly.

I couldn’t help but chuckle at the friendly back-and-forth they were having now. It’d been a while since I’d seen either of them act like this. Beth seemed to notice my large smile as I watched them.

“Oh? What is this?” She inquired playfully, while looking in my direction. “Are you really so unsympathetic to Scott likely losing all of his hair? It’d probably seem pretty weird for a guy in high school to lose all their hair suddenly, but maybe you’re just really into bald dudes.”

“B-Bethany Frankel!” I loudly exclaimed before walking over and kicking her in the shin. “You shut your mouth right now!”

“Ow! Hey, that actually hurt.” Beth said as she carefully massaged her newly injured shin.

“Oh uh, oops. Sorry about that.” I said with embarrassment. While my strength attribute didn’t seem to have changed at all, at least according to my status screen, I still seemed naturally stronger than I had been before.

“I didn’t mean to kick you that hard.” I told her, my head turned downward in contrition.

“Ah, it’s fine. It wasn’t really that bad, I guess.” She reassured me, her voice bright and full of energy in an attempt to make me feel better.

“Jenni here was only trying to defend my honor against your vile slander concerning the fate of the hair atop my scalp.” Scott declared haughtily while pulling me into a tight side-hug beside him with his good arm.

The close proximity and compliment caused my cheeks to get slightly red. Noticing Beth's devilish grin at seeing my predicament, I glared at her threateningly.

Putting her hands up in surrender, Beth offered to give up the fight before it could even really get started.

“So, where are we going to eat?” Scott asked.

It seemed like we were all still following an unspoken agreement that we didn’t want to discuss what happened at the party last Thursday. I don’t know if it's just we wanted to forget about it and move on, or we were all just waiting for the right moment to bring it up. So far none of us were feeling brave enough to be the one to cross that topical minefield.

“Um, I guess that means you want to go out somewhere to eat?” I said to them.

“Obviously. None of us can really cook, and Scott’s Mom isn’t home to make us anything, so…” Beth explained.

“Plus, it's kind of our tradition, you know. Grabbing food somewhere after rocking out to some music together.” Scott said with a big puppy dog smile on his face.

I did my best not to be distracted by it, lest my hormones get the better of my higher brain functions once more. Instead, I revealed one of my new talents.

“Actually, I’m kinda getting better at cooking.” I told them proudly. “I helped my mom make dinner last night, and we made a whole bunch of different things together. Stew, apple pie, fresh bread, sauteed vegetables…”

Before I could continue, Beth interrupted me. “ Wait, since when could you cook?”

“I was just telling you, yesterday I was helping my mom with dinner.” I explained.

“You’ve suddenly become an expert chef in one day?” Beth asked, not believing my assertion.

“Well, no, but I’m getting better.” I said sheepishly. “Plus, the more I cook, the better I’ll get.”

“Yeah, but…tradition.” Scott pointed out pitifully.

Beth and I both looked at his sad puppy dog eyes and then we turned to look back at each other in question. An unspoken dialogue went back and forth between us then. No words were spoken, but we could communicate and understand each other's thoughts clearly.

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

Scott, of course, was utterly oblivious to this proprietary system of communication between the two girls in the room.

“Fine.” I finally relented. “We’ll go out somewhere to eat.”

“Yes!” Scott shouted in excitement.

“Yes!” Beth shouted as well, happily copying Scott’s emotional outburst.

“Why do you two make me feel like I’m the grumpy parent sometimes? You two are like my wild and unruly children I can barely keep control of.” I said to them both.

“Well…” Beth started before pausing to gather her thoughts.

“It’s because you’re the mature and responsible one of the group.” Scott confidently informed me.

“Yeah, pretty much.” Beth agreed. “I was going to make fun of and tease you more, but yeah, that basically summed it up.”

“I can be immature and reckless.” I complained impotently.

“Can, yes. But how often are you though?” Beth asked me pointedly.

“Come on, you two can debate Jenni’s maturity or lack thereof in the van.” He said while gesturing for us to follow.

Putting a pin in my debate with Beth, I packed my dad’s guitar back away into the worn black leather case I usually carried it in.

“Wait, hold up.” I told the other two. “What about your Scott's arm? Is it still safe for him to drive?"

“Huh, I mean it’s fine. I can still use my good hand alright.” He said while wiggling the fingers on his right hand as a demonstration.

“Still…” I said quietly.

My thoughts had drifted back to watching him charge straight into danger back at the party. I had yelled at him to stop, but he charged right into the monster’s midst in order to try and help the others there escape. It was noble and heroic, but at the same time it was completely stupid and super reckless.

“I’ll drive.” Beth eagerly jumped in. “Hand me the keys, and I’ll get us there no problem.”

“It’s still my brother’s van though.” Scott weakly countered. “Plus, what if something does happen while you're driving? Neither of you are on the insurance papers.”

“Oh yeah…” Beth said sadly. “Meh, I'm still willing to do it.”

“I still think driving with only one hand is a bit…risky.” I insisted. “I don’t want to see you getting yourself hurt again.”

“What do you mean again? You mean this?” Scott asked while moving his injured arm a bit. “I promise I’ll take it slow and carefully, Jenni. If at any point while we’re driving you feel like I’m doing a bad job or you feel unsafe, all you have to do is tell me to pull the van over and I will. No arguments, no questions asked.”

“...I guess if we want to go anywhere, we don’t really have a choice.” I said reluctantly.

“Awesome, I swear I’ll be super safe.” Scott reassured me.

With that, we finally made our way out to the curb where Scott's brother’s van was parked and we all piled inside. Scott, as agreed, was doing the driving. Beth let me take shotgun and took up her seat in the back behind us.

Setting out onto the road, I turned to Scott and asked, “So, your brother doesn’t need the van today?”

“Nah, he carpooled into work with someone, I think.” He explained. “To be honest, I think he’s saving up to buy himself a nicer car.”

“Ah, nice. What’s going to happen to this ugly ole' van then.” Beth asked while smacking the sides of the van loudly.

“Hey! Be careful with that.” Scott scolded. “As for the van, well…”

“Well?” I prompted him.

“Well, he’s kinda been hinting that he might let me use it… permanently.” Scott casually revealed.

“What!? You’re finally actually getting your own car?” Beth demanded with genuine curiosity and fervor in her voice.

“Yep!” Scott proudly announced.

“Gah, fuck you, but also congratulations.” Beth said to him while flopping backward in defeat. “I’m so jealous.”

“Hey, if I officially get the van for myself, I can drive us anywhere we want to go 24/7.” Scott said in an attempt to cheer her up.

“Still, I wish I was the one who had their own car…” Beth groaned.

“Come on, you’ll get your own car eventually.” I reassured her.

“Yeah, but when?” She whined childishly.

“Well, whenever you have the money for it or someone with money buys you one.” I logically explained. “Maybe your mom can help you out.”

“I’ve already talked to her about it, but she said that she can only cover part of it.” Beth explained. “I’d need to come up with the rest.”

“What are you going to do about the rest then?” Scott asked.

“I guess I’ll have to get a job.” Beth exclaimed weakly while staring up at the van’s ceiling. “Maybe you can give me a ride to some different places if I ever get any interviews.”

“Definitely, I’d be happy to.” Scott said with that same eager-to-please smile that I had a hard time taking my eyes off of.

“Thanks man, I really appreciate it.” Beth told him sincerely. “Really though, congrats on the van that your brother is maybe, possibly going to give you.”

“Yeah, that is honestly pretty awesome.” I added.

“Thanks guys.” He said to us happily. “Next question, where are we even going to go eat at?”

We’d been driving for a bit now, and Scott seemed to be managing to drive the van around just fine. I guess most of the levers and knobs he needed access to were on the right side of the steering wheel, making it possible for him to still use them without too much trouble.

I decided that, for now, I’d let things continue on without raising another unnecessary stink about who was driving the van. We were all having a good time chatting, and Scott seemed perfectly at ease driving the van so far. Still though, I kept at least one wary eye in his direction at all times, just in case. Purely for safety reasons of course.

“Mmm, the usual place?” Beth suggested uncertainly.

“Ugh, but we go there all the time.” Scott complained unhappily.

They were referring to the diner that was near our school, that also not too far a drive from Scott’s house. We’ve all been there together or individually, dozens if not hundreds of times. The food may not have been gourmet, but it was still pretty good for the price and because of the lack of better options we could afford.

“Weren’t you the one who was just whining about tradition and all that?” Beth demanded while sitting back up to glare at him.

“Yeah, but going out to eat after playing together is the tradition, not eating at the same spot.” He countered.

“Wouldn’t they go hand in hand if it was some super important sacred tradition we all had to follow?” Beth asked.

I personally figured that they were both right in that going to this specific diner was something of a tradition for us. If we went to the diner like 9 times out of 10 after playing together, wouldn’t that count as a tradition?

“Nah, there’s no reason they can’t be separate. Back me up here, Jenni.” Scott said, his words yanking me back to reality and directly into the middle of their argument.

“Yeah, Jenni.” Beth said acidly. “Where should we go?”

Beth was looking at me with another mischievous smirk now. She knew I would have to choose a side, and by being forced into this and asked about by Scott, I would feel compelled to pick his side. But if I decided on him over Beth, who was my best friend, it might seem like I was slighting her and putting more value on what Scott wanted now.

All the pros, cons, angles, and motivations were now spinning around in my head for the few seconds after I had been pulled into this ultimately pointless debate.

Meanwhile, Beth was relishing watching me squirm and struggle to come to a decision that would get me out of my conundrum.

“Uh…” I muttered impotently, unable to find a solution.

Scott, seeing me struggle, just let out a resigned sigh. “Fine, it’s not a big deal. We can just go to the diner again. Their fries are actually pretty good I guess.”

I let out a relieved sigh. “Oh, thank God.”

“Pfft, geeze, Jenni.” Beth laughed at my reaction. “You should have just sided with Scott and made him happy.”

“Wha-!?” I said in shocked disbelief.

“Nah, it’s fine.” Scott protested.

“Nah, see how he’s sulking about it.” Beth said, twisting the verbal knife she'd stabbed into my gut just that much more.

“I, uh, I agree that trying new things is good, but yeah, I’m fine with whatever you two decide.” I belatedly answered, hoping to make up some lost ground.

“The diner it is then.” Scott resolutely declared before pressing down hard on the van’s accelerator. Causing me to be pressed back into my seat and Beth to let out a sharp yelp of surprise as she was sent sliding backwards into the rear of the van.

Maybe letting Scott drive wasn't the best idea after all…