Chapter 8: Lunch with the genius

 “Anyway, my cousin Billy is Luke’s agent so maybe I could get us some tickets to his first show. I think Billy said he would be at Club Palisades. I’m not so sure I’ll like it but maybe you and Jasmine would. I don’t like concerts much. I like Broadway musicals…. but that doesn’t mean I’m gay!” he stated vehemently.

“You like musicals? No, you don’t,” she said making her funny face.

“I do. My mother always took me to see them. I grew to love them. Or maybe it was just because it was with her. Our special time,” he said, again shrugging. “Whatever. Haven’t been to one since she died.” 

“I’m sorry. Jasmine and I love them too. Maybe we can all go together sometime. Troy would hate it but who needs him?” she stated dismissively. She beamed at him. “Fiddler On The  Roof, that’s my favorite. That’s where I got yenta from, you know.”

“I figured that. Matchmaker, matchmaker, make me a match, find me a find, catch me a catch,” he sang.

“You sing so nice,” she said, her eyes wide in delight. She surprised him when she grabbed his arm, all excited. “Hey! You and I should go out for the class musical this year. Oh, it would be awesome if they did ‘Fiddler On The Roof’ but I think I heard it was going to be ‘The Wizard Of Oz’. You would make a perfect scarecrow. The one with the brains, you know.” 

“And you would be Dorothy. Sounds good,” he said happily. 

“Oh, no! Tara Reynolds is gonna be Dorothy. Do you know her? She’s the girl that goes skipping around the school all the time. She cracks me up!” Janet said.

“She’s Damon Marlin’s girlfriend. He’s on the soccer team too. She’s cute but she doesn’t look like a Dorothy. You do though,” he said. “With those big brown eyes you’ll look just like Judy Garland.”

She made a face. “Why in the world would I want to be boring old Dorothy when I could be the wicked old witch? I’ll get you my pretty and your little dog, too!” she said adding a convincing cackle.

“Wow. I’m shaking in my boots,” he said laughing.

“Anyway, I know what you mean. Tara always reminds me of a wood fairy with her pixie haircut. I was thinking of cutting my hair like that,” she said pulling her long hair out and pretending to cut it with finger scissors.

“No! That would be horrible,” he shouted before he could stop himself.

“All right...” she said, frowning at him. “Take a chill pill. I’ll stay boring old me."

Just then the bell ring. 

“Ugh… time for class,” she muttered, standing up. “I didn’t get much done but at least I don’t have to waste any more time looking for Luke Tramaine, pretty -boy singer, super hottie. Have you met him?”

They put their trash away before heading into the hall.

“At my cousin Rebecca’s graduation party. She’s Billy’s sister. Luke sang to her. She loves him but then everybody does,” he said with a wry twist of the mouth.

“You’re not jealous, are you? A cutie like you, what have you got to be jealous about?” she said taking his chin in her hands, shaking his head.

“I would be if my dream girl falls for him. Maybe I could just keep her away from him,” he retorted pointedly. She totally missed his meaning.

“You said he has a girlfriend.”

“So?”

“So, isn’t that enough to keep girls away from him? As soon as I tell these clients of mine that, they won’t like him anymore,” she asked innocently.

“Are you serious?” he said, incredulous. “Just because someone is unavailable doesn’t mean you can’t fall for them.”

She frowned. “Can’t you just switch to someone else? That’s what makes sense,” she said.

He stared at her astonished. “You know, you need a lesson in love if you’re going to be a truly successful Yenta. The heart is in control of love not the brain and it often doesn’t listen to reason.”

She rolled her eyes. “Oh, please! Now you sound like Jasmine,” she said derisively.

“You know, I’m going to prove it to you. I will get you a boyfriend, the man of your dreams and then you’ll know what you’re talking about when you're finally in love,” he told her smirking.

“Oh, so now you’re muscling in on my Yenta business? I don’t think so, Bud. Didn’t I tell you about my No-drugs-for-drug-dealers philosophy? I adhere religiously to it,” she retorted haughtily.

“We’ll see about that. I’ll pick you up after practice and we’ll discuss this further. See you later, Yenta.” he said. He turned and walked away from her.

“I also told you I didn’t need help with my business, so you can just go by yourself. I’ve got work to do. Matches to match, finds to find, catches to catch. Are you hearing me?” she shouted to him.

He only waved as he continued down the hall laughing at her. 

She went to her next class with a definite furrow in her brow. “Some people can be so rude.” she grumbled to herself.