Page 40 of Bending Under Pressure

“Anything good in there?”

He glances over his shoulder at the sound of my voice. I go to stand next to him. “Nope. I was thinking about those burgers from Elsie’s. Do you want to go with me?” he asks, closing the door to the fridge.

A burger from Elsie’s does sound good. I hesitate only for a moment. I’m supposed to be giving him a chance. “Sure. Let me get my phone.”

I quickly go to my room, slip on a pair of flip-flops, grab my phone, and then meet Walter by the front door. On the drive, I notice the tree limbs and leaves are flopping around like a rag doll from the insane winds. When we arrive at a busy Elsie’s, my hair stings my face as it flies around. Walter opens the door for me and I thank him for it.

“Looks like we’ll have to take the counter,” he says.

All the booths are taken. I follow him to two empty seats. Mrs. Elsie is busy with a large table, so we get another waitress. She’s young and looks familiar. Maybe she goes to my school. After we’ve placed our orders, Walter angles toward me a bit.

“How’s school? Do you still like it?”

“Yeah, and my teachers all seem to be nice, too. Well, my math teacher, Mrs. Phillips, is kind of boring, but she explains the material well most of the time.”

“That’s good. What’s on your agenda this weekend? I think your mom is hoping we can all go out to dinner tomorrow.”

The waitress drops off our drinks. “Oh, well, I’m seeing Keelan this afternoon, and I was invited to a birthday party tomorrow. Do you think Mom will still let me go? I already told him I would go.”

“She might.” He takes a sip of his water. “What are you and Keelan going to do?”

“He’s going to teach me how to drive a stick shift.”

“Really? That’s great. I’ve always thought it’s important for everyone to know how to drive a stick, just in case. You never know when you might need to know how. Was that Mustang his or his parents’?” he asks.

“It’s his. His dad gave it to him when he turned sixteen.”

Walter gives a low whistle. “I wish my dad had given me a car like that when I was a kid.” He pauses as the waitress drops off our burgers. “So, is he your boyfriend?”

Thankfully, I’ve bought myself some time because I just took a bite. I shrug. “We’ve been hanging out some, yeah. He’s a good guy.”

“Do you like him?”

“Walter,” I groan, making him laugh.

“Okay, okay. I won’t ask again. What about this party tomorrow? Another guy invited you?”

“Yeah. Seth is a friend from one of my classes. He’s cool, too. He’s having a pool party, which should be fun.”

Walter’s phone rings. “One second, it’s your mom.” He slides his finger across the screen. “Hey, shug.” There’s a pause. “I’m at Elsie’s with Haley.” He laughs. “Yeah, your Haley. Do you want to meet us here?” He listens to what she says. “No, we just now got our burgers,” he lies. “You’ll be fine. C’mon. Okay. See you in a few.”

“Walter, you have like two bites left,” I point out. I, on the other hand, still have half of mine to go.

He looks down at his plate. “I’ll tell her I was starving and couldn’t wait. Eat slower for me, will ya?”

I laugh and nod, deciding to focus more on my neglected fries.

“Can I bring up something before your mom gets here without making you angry?”

“Sure.” Maybe. It has to be about my dad. He’s the main reason I get mad nowadays.

“Now, you don’t have to, of course, but when you were talking to Rita about your dad texting you, you said you didn’t feel right about talking to her about it. I get that. It’s why I want to let you know you can talk to me. It would probably be weird, I know, but it’s better than no one, and I wouldn’t tell Rita unless you let me know it’s okay. That’s all I wanted to tell you.”

I dip my fry into ketchup, mulling over what he said. I guess it’s nice of him to make the offer, but I don’t know if I would be comfortable talking to him about it either. Who would be the best of the worse? Walter or Mom? “Thanks,” I tell him with a small smile.

“Your mom can handle it, by the way.”

“I know, but I still feel bad about how things have been lately.”

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