Chapter 7: Lunch with the yenta

“How’s my yenta today?” Wes asked. He sat down behind Janet in English class like he always did and waited for her brilliant smile to jump start his day.

“Do I know you?” she asked, unconcerned. Visibly shocked he merely started at her. Then she giggled. “Guys are so easy.” 

Relief washed over him. “And you are adorable.” he couldn’t help saying.

Her eyes flew open in surprise. “Adorable? Me? Now, that’s a new one. No one’s ever said that, not even Mom.”  Of course, that was a lie and she knew it. She recalled a time her father had called her that every single day. Her smile faded.

“Laptop still running I see. No more problems?” he asked.

She forced her own father out of her mind. “Good as new. I wanted to ask you about your dad. Is there something he likes to do after work or on weekends like play basketball with his buddies or out to a bar, something like that? Any hobbies at all?”

“My dad? No, he barely leaves the house anymore except for work. My Aunt Beth has been trying to get him to go to their house for dinner but he won’t even do that. He’s been drowning himself in work. He’s truly lost without my mom,” he replied dejectedly.

Janet thought about this for a minute as she stared at him. “Aunt Beth is his sister?” she asked.

“Uncle Rob is his half-brother, Aunt Beth, the sister-in-law,” he answered.

“Does he come to your games?” she asked.

“Never misses one,” he told her with obvious pride.

“Do you think...would you mind if I go to your next game? You could introduce us and we can get talking and that way I can get a good read on him. I can be rather charming when I want to be,” she stated before breaking into a giggle.

His heart skipped a beat. She would be at his game. “And even when you don’t want to be,” he said, grinning. “That would be great. He knows Jasmine already because of Troy, so it’ll be easy to introduce you without him thinking it's strange. Of course, he might think you’re my girlfriend. He’s been after me to get a girl for a while. He even asked me if I was gay. Can you imagine?” he said, looking decidedly disgruntled.

Her eyes widened. “I never thought of that. I’m missing a whole segment of society, but it probably would need to be secret. Don’t wanna oust anyone unless they want to be.” She spoke quietly more to herself than to him. “Are you?” she asked suddenly.

“Am I what?” he asked, totally lost.

“Gay. I make no judgement,” she insisted.

“No!” he shouted.

“Me thinks thy doth protest too much,” she said, a smirk tugging at her lips.

He glowered. “I asked for a brown-haired, brown-eyed girl with curves, lots of nice curves. Does that sound like I’m gay?”

“Would make an excellent cover,” she stated seriously until his glare of indignation was too much for her and she burst out laughing.

“You’re just playing with me,” he said.

“Like I said, guys are so easy,” she said smiling broadly.

“Has anyone ever wanted to strangle you?” he asked.

She nodded fervently.  “All the time. I’ll add you to the list.”

He laughed just as the bell sounded and the teacher came bustling in. “Yeah…adorable,” he mumbled.             

It was lunch time and Janet was at her wit’s end. She had only just gotten another two girls who expressly wanted the same guy. This made the total number of girls wanting a certain Luke Tramaine to a whopping twenty-seven. She didn’t even know who he was. She thought she had heard the name before but she just couldn’t think where. She had searched all through the yearbook and he was nowhere. 

“Who the heck is Luke Tramaine?” she grumbled aloud as she sat in the lunch room with her now warm orange juice and her cold spaghetti. 

“Why do you want to know?” 

She let out a startled yelp.

“Sorry,” Wes said, trying not to laugh.  He sat down next to her putting a paper bag on the table.

“Don’t you know you’re not supposed to answer a person when they’re talking to themselves? That way they don’t think you think they’re nuts,” she retorted irritably.

“Is that a steadfast rule?” he replied smirking.

“What is it with you and steadfast rules?” she asked in return.

“I don’t get along with arbitrary ones,” he said shrugging.

She made a face.  “Hmm, neither do I. Go figure,” she said before taking a sip of her juice and making another funny face.

He laughed at her and handed her his drink. “Have this and I'll tell you who Luke Tramaine is, if you tell me why you want to know.”

“Well, there are about three dozen girls that want me to set them up with him and I can’t find him anywhere. Maybe he already graduated?” she said, reaching for older yearbooks. 

She absently took a sip of Wes' drink. “Mmm, this is yummy. Where did you get this?” she asked.

“That’s my secret. You won’t find Luke in any of those,” he told her as he unwrapped his sandwich.

“Why not? He in jail or something?” she asked slowly, looking at his sandwich with great interest. “Where’d you get that? It looks much better than this.”

“That’s because it is. Here, I wouldn’t want my yenta to starve,” he said handing her half his sandwich.

She shook her head. “Go on. I don’t have cooties,” he told her, before taking a huge bite.

“Well, how would you know? There’s no test for it yet, you know. Research on cooties is woefully underfunded,” she stated seriously.

He laughed so hard he started to choke and she had to pound him hard on the back. There were tears streaming down his face but still he laughed.

 “I think you’re trying to kill me,” he said, wiping the tears away.

“Sorry. Didn’t mean to make you cry. I know guys don’t like that,” she said apologetically.

“Yeah, but the killing part is all right,” he said, cautiously taking another bite.

“Well, since you’re still alive, tell me where I can find Luke Tramaine,” she said. Looking longingly at the sandwich she added, “Looks good. what's in it?”

“Only one way to find out. Take the sandwich,” he said, shoving it into her hands.

“But then you’ll be hungry and you have to practice later.That burns a lot of calories. All I do all day is sit on my big butt. What are you doing?” she asked indignantly.  

Wes turned in his seat and looked at her butt.“Looks pretty good to me. Just the right size in fact. Have the sandwich. I’ll eat half your dinner tonight if it makes you feel any better.”

Janet was thrown for a minute. “What? Did Jasmine invite you to dinner?” she asked, incredulous.

“No, we have a dinner date tonight, remember?” he said casually.

“Excuse me? Who says this?”

“Me, didn’t you hear me just now?” he replied. “Can I have your spaghetti?” he asked. He reached for it before she could answer.

“We had dinner yesterday,” she said, watching him devour the pasta in two huge scoops. He reminded her of her father who always ate spaghetti just like that. she frowned wondering why she should think of her dad twice in one day when she usually pretended she didn't have a father.

“I don’t know about you, but I eat dinner every day. Most people do. I hope that doesn’t come as a shock to you,” he said.

“Wise guy. I mean we already had our business dinner yesterday, so I just assumed that was called off.”

“But if you remember we didn’t discuss improvements for your business, did we?” he replied, putting the plate down and smirking in that sexy way of his. 

Her head tilted to the side slightly as she stared at him. “Nice smile,” she whispered, not realizing she said it aloud. 

She shook herself out of her daze and continued with a slight frown. “Didn’t I tell you I don’t need help with that?” she said, staring at the sandwich in her hand. She relented and took a tentative bite. “Mmm, this is so good! Where did you get it?” She took another bite and moaned with pleasure.

“I have my lunch delivered from a different place every day. Today it’s from the little Bistro down by the mall.”

“They deliver to the school?” she asked disbelievingly.

“No, they deliver just to me. They love me. I fixed their computer, set up a website for them and installed several very useful programs for them,” he said casually. “I can take you to lunch there sometime. The owner is single and might be interested in your services. I’ll introduce you. Kendal is a great guy. Does magic with a sandwich, don’t you think?”

She had been staring at him in utter amazement forgetting the sandwich in her hands. “How many people do you do work for?” she asked in awe.

“A fair few. So, you want to know about Luke? He doesn’t go to this school, never did. He goes to Port Orianco. He’s a senior and he’s my cousin Billy’s best friend.”

“Luke?” she said distractedly, taking another bite. Staring at Wes, it took her a while before she knew what he was talking about. When she spoke with her mouth full nothing but gibberish came out.

“What?” he said, laughing at her. 

She swallowed before trying again. “Sorry. If he’s from another school how do so many people know him here?”

“He’s on their football team. He's the star. But he’s also supposed to be the next coming of Elvis.”

“Elvis Presley? He sings? You mean professionally?" she asked.

"Yup."

"Is he the guy that gave the free concert at the hospital a couple of weeks ago?”

“That’s the one. And he’s supposed to be the best-looking guy to ever exist. Frankly, I don’t see what all the fuss is about but then, I’m not a girl or gay!” he added sternly. 

She giggled wrinkling her nose at him. 

“So, can you ask your cousin to give me his number? Oh, wait...if he’s to die for, I doubt he needs anyone to set him up with twenty-seven high school girls. He must have groupies coming out his ears. I thought I’d heard of him. Now I know,” she said, stuffing the last of the sandwich into her mouth and licking her fingers.

 Wes just watched her with a funny look on his face. “Wes? Hello? Did you hear me?” she asked waving her hand in front of his eyes until they focused again.

“Sorry, what?” he said sheepishly. 

“Luke?”

“Oh, uh, he’s not available,” he said.  “He’s going out with my accountant’s daughter. She’s very cute but so shy, like you wouldn’t believe. Mr. Embrooke asked me to go out with her once.  I couldn’t handle that, someone so shy she wouldn’t even say hello. I need someone… bold and…” 

 

He stopped when she placed her hand on his arm staring at him with her huge eyes. “What’s wrong?”

“You mean your dad’s accountant, right?” she said.

“My dad uses him, too,” he told her casually. 

She gaped. “You...how much money do you make?” she asked, her eyes as wide as they would go.

“Now, I only tell that to very special friends,” he said smirking.

“You pay taxes and everything?” she continued sounding increasingly astonished.

“Of course. Paying taxes, while annoying, is one of those steadfast rules that should be obeyed if only to keep the IRS off your back. You know, it’s like protection money to the mob. Better safe than sorry,” he said shrugging. 

She blinked stupidly and suddenly wanted to be his best friend.