Salvaged (12 page)

She waved her hands in front of her. "Don't look at me. I'm not
touching that stuff."

"This used to be a little hole in the wall. All they had was a
counter with some stools. The line would stretch out forever to get a
seat, but people would wait as long as it took. The original building
burned down, and they rebuilt it then moved to a new spot and then
back here. Just recently they added to the joint by taking over the
spot left vacant by the Dollar Store." Curt filled us in on the history
of the restaurant as Riley ordered everyone a "Fried," "Coney," and
a Dr Pepper.

"Don't forget the fries," I reminded.

"No!" Riley and Curt yelled simultaneously.

"You don't waste precious stomach space on fries," Matt added
in disgust.

"He's right, Charlie." Riley said. "You've gotta save room cause
you'll want more Coneys."

"Charlie? Is he calling you Charlie?" Tammy asked, hiding an
accusation inside of a question.

"It's a long story."

She raised an eyebrow and tilted her head. "I'm sure it is."

"Tammy-"

She cut me off by shaking her head at me and throwing her
hands in the air. "I'm just sayin'."

Riley was oblivious to Tammy's curiosity as he shared stories of
taking family road trips to El Reno for a Coney every chance they
got.

I took a big sip of my soda. "They don't really have Dr Pepper
in New York."

"What?" Anne was shocked. "Whaddya mean they don't have
Dr Pepper?"

"It's very hard to find. I guess it's a southern thing, kind of like
biscuits and gravy."

"They don't have biscuits and gravy either?" Chase asked. "Man,
that's rough."

"Well, mark my words, by this time next year you'll be twenty
pounds heavier," Tammy added. "Oklahoma is like the fat food capitol of the world."

"Do you mean fast food?" I asked.

"No, I mean fat food. We like food that makes you fat. You'll
definitely pack on the pounds."

I laughed, and Dr Pepper spit out of my mouth. "Thanks a lot,
Tammy."

Riley tossed me a napkin.

"Thanks, Riley."

"Just watching out for you," he said proudly.

Out of the corner of my eye I could see the amused look on
Tammy's face. Her imagination was probably running wild. I'd definitely need to clear things up the first chance I got.

As the waitress set the food onto the table in front of me, I
looked down onto my plate and saw a cheeseburger with fried onions
spilling out from under the bun and a bright red hot dog with brown
chili and bright yellow-colored slaw on top. Glancing over at Riley,
I noticed he was already halfway done with his Coney.

"Do I pick it up or use a fork?"

He wiped chili from his chin. "Either one."

"This is amazing," Tess said in a dreamlike state. I looked down
the table as her voice became stern. "Chase, go get me another one."

I scrunched my face and gulped as I grabbed my fork, cut off a
piece of the hot dog, and prepared to bring it to my mouth.

"Make sure you get plenty of chili and slaw on each bite," Riley
suggested.

"You've got chili on your face," I said as I threw him a handful
of napkins.

"Oops, thanks. Come on, Charlie, you'll love it. I promise."

"Oh, all right already." I scooped the colorful mess up and shoved
it in my mouth. Within moments I realized it was by far one of the
best foods I'd ever tasted.

Everyone sat waiting for my reaction, so I nodded my head
wildly while chewing.

Riley grinned. "Good, isn't it?"

I took a sip of my Dr Pepper. "That's freakin' awesome!"

Standing up, Riley pointed a finger in my direction. "I told you!
I knew you'd love it!"

I glanced down the table just as Chase prepared to take another
bite. "I need another one."

"I'm on it." He jumped up and ran back up to the counter.

"Make that two," Tammy added. "That thing rocks."

"Three," Riley yelled with his mouth full and chili still dangling
from his chin.

"Four," Matt added.

"Make that five," Curt announced.

"Six." I glanced toward the voice and found Anne looking ever
so guilty. "What? I don't want to be left out."

As we ate, the boys began talking football. "Well, I heard Berman say that they wouldn't have any kind of defense this year," Curt
announced.

"He drives me crazy," I muttered to myself.

"Who?" Riley asked.

"Chris Berman."

Matt looked at me with a shocked expression on his face. "You
know who we're talking about when we say Chris Berman?"

"Of course."

Curt leaned toward me. "Why does he drive you crazy?"

"He's a long talker."

"A what?" the quartet of boys asked.

"A long talker." I took a deep breath and began my dramatization. "You know, instead of stopping to take a breath every once in a
while he just keeps on talking and talking and talking just like this
until he's about out of air, but he just keeps on talking and talking
and talking, and his voice starts to shake and he doesn't have an
ounce of air left and it sounds annoying just like this and drives me
crazy." I quickly took in a deep breath just as my lungs felt like they
were about to explode. "He just needs take a breath every once in a
while and cut it out with the run-on sentences."

"Oh my gosh!" Chase shouted. "Come to think of it, he is a long
talker."

"You guys watch for it next time," I suggested. "You'll never be
able to watch him the same way again. From now on, every time he
talks you'll be thinking, Take a breath. Take a breath. Berman, take a
breath. That's what I do. I can't even stand to listen to him anymore.
Watch him and then report back to me; I swear you'll hear it.

"I don't like Jim Rome either. I find him totally arrogant. He
acts like he knows everything, but he looks like he's never played a
sport a day in his life because he wouldn't want to mess up his hair.
And the `Sports Reporters,' don't even get me started on those losers. That one weasel-ey looking guy hates OU. He never has anything nice to say about us, and I think he has some vendetta against
Bob Stoops. You know for a fact he's never played a sport. He was
probably in the band-played the piccolo or something."

"Dude," Matt elbowed Riley. "The girl watches ESPN."

Riley grinned at me. "Yes, she does."

"That's a dream girl right there," Matt added.

"Yes, she is," Riley concurred.

"My momma raised me right, Matt." I winked.

Riley leaned across the table and motioned for me to join him.
"Is there such a thing as a piccolo?"

"I have no idea," I admitted as I leaned toward him. "It just came
out. It sort of sounds like it would be a wimpy instrument."

Grinning, he sat back and took another bite of his Coney.

"Hey, you know Anne likes sports too," I said.

"I do!" Anne came to life. "I really do."

"What about you?" Riley asked Tammy.

She shot him a look of disgust. "If there's a party with food
involved, I'll watch it. Other than that, forget it."

Chase started talking from down at the end of the table. "Tess loves
football, but she'd choose a chick flick over it if she had the chance."

"I love chick flicks," Tess said with a sigh.

"Me too," Anne and I agreed and then looked at Tammy, waiting for her to respond.

"I'll go watch them if I can have Milk Duds."

"I'm with you, Tammy," Riley murmured.

"What's your favorite chick flick, Attie?" Tess asked.

"The latest Pride and Prejudice."

"Me too!" Tess gushed.

"Oh gosh," Chase sounded exasperated. "Do not get this girl
started on Pride and Prejudice."

Tess ignored him. "I wish I were Elizabeth Bennet."

Riley quickly stood up and started for the door. "Okay, party's
over. When we start talking chick flicks, I'm out."

The other boys agreed and stood up to leave.

Anne ignored the boys and stayed in her seat. "Isn't Mr. Darcy
the most wonderful thing ever? So sexy! That brooding, smoldering
scene in the rain ... Oh Lord!"

Riley plugged his ears. "I'm not listening to this. I don't wanna
hear this."

"Well, you started talking about sports!" Anne snapped.

"You just said you liked sports!" Matt snapped back. "We never
said we liked this Pride and Jealousness thing."

"Prejudice," Tammy corrected.

"You've seen it, Tammy?" Tess asked.

Tammy shrugged. "I heard Mr. Darcy was hot, so I decided to
check it out."

"He's definitely hot." Tess sighed.

"Let's go, boys!" Riley yelled over his shoulder as he walked out
the door. "You girls cool off and then meet me in the car."

"I'm not quite ready to head home yet, are you?" Riley asked after we
dropped the girls off at their respective houses.

"Not really."

"Wanna go get a soda?"

"Sure. Whatever you want to do."

We drove in silence until pulling into a vacant spot at Sonic. He
ordered two Route 44 Diet Cherry Cokes and turned to face me. "So
did you have fun today?"

I unbuckled my seat belt and twisted slightly so I could face
him. "I had a wonderful time. Thanks so much for inviting us to
come along. It was really nice of you. I really liked everyone."

"No problem. Wait until you meet Kent. It'll get even better."

"Who's that?"

"Tammy's boyfriend. He's a great guy. They're perfect for each
other."

"By that I suppose you mean he's able to put up with her crap?"

"Oh yeah. He matches it word for word; it's a blast."

"She's great."

"Nothing like having someone around who tells you exactly
what they're thinking. You two are alike in that way."

"I prefer girls like that over fake ones any day of the week."

"I can't blame you."

"So when will I get to meet Kent?"

"Not until school starts. He's out of town until then."

"Why? Where is he?"

"Weatherford. He spends his summers working on his grandparents' farm."

"I look forward to meeting him."

"You seemed really happy to make some new friends."

"I hope we can hang out more often. Maybe you'll get lucky and
the girls will start asking me to hang out with them every once in a
while."

He looked confused. "Why would that be lucky for me?"

"You'd be off the hook. You wouldn't have to keep me entertained all the time. Given the fact that you get stuck with me every
night too, you must be getting pretty sick of me by now."

"Actually," he said with a shrug, "not at all."

The carhop knocked on the window. He quickly paid her, grabbed
our drinks, and turned back to me. I unwrapped both straws and put
them in our drinks before grabbing my drink out of his hand.

"Good grief, this thing is huge. If I drink all of this I'll be up all
night."

"What else is new?"

I punched him in the shoulder as I took my first swig.

"I had to say it. You set it up perfectly."

"True, I did."

Riley watched as I took another sip. He was acting strangelyhe had been all day-and I was getting suspicious.

Closing my eyes, I took a deep breath and laid my head back
against the headrest.

"What's the matter? Are you feeling okay?" he asked.

"Can I ask you something without you getting upset or taking
it the wrong way?"

I turned my head and looked at him.

He set his drink into the cup holder and immediately ran his
fingers through his hair. "I would hope so. I guess it depends on
what it is."

"It's not that it's any of my business or anything. I just don't
want to think something that's not true," I said.

"Go ahead; just lay it all out there."

My mind raced as I played with my straw.

"Please just get it over with; I'm dyin' here."

"Someone told me that you've had sex with a lot of girls and you
have the reputation of being a player. Again, not that it's any of my
business or that it should even matter to me, but-"

"But what?"

I shrugged my shoulders, looked down at my drink and wished
I'd never said anything. He was obviously uncomfortable.

"Just say it."

I looked back up at him. "Are you playing me, Riley?"

"What?"

"Being so nice, spending all this time with me. Is this a game for
you? A summer challenge?"

His eyes were large and full of shock. "Is that what you think?"

"I don't think so, but I don't know. I mean it isn't as if we've ever
been extremely close before, and now all of a sudden we're attached
at the hip."

"That's not true, Charlie. We've always been close."

"We hated each other."

"No, we enjoyed torturing each other; there's a difference."

He laid his seat back and covered his eyes with his fists.

"You're upset with me. I knew I shouldn't have said anything."

"Yes, I'm upset, but not with you. And yes, you needed to say
something. Good grief, if that's what you've been thinking all this
time ... Geez, the thought of it makes me sick."