Melinda’s Story

After lunch, Mr. Evans insisted his sons help him shovel the driveway. When I glanced out the front window to see a plow, I wondered why the boys had been recruited.

While Larry played a video game that involved killing mutant woodland creatures, Lily, Sarah, and I sat in the back of the playroom.

“Why didn’t you tell us about you and Pat last night?” Sarah asked.

“Sarah, we were kissing right next to you. We were sharing a chair. You just didn’t see us.”

“I was watching the movie.”

“Your eyes were never on that screen.”

Lily giggled. “So, I had a thought. Do you think we could convince the boys to play truth or dare?”

Sarah squealed. “That sounds like so much fun!”

We shared stories about various dares we had performed at previous sleepovers until Walter and Pat returned. Sarah saw them enter first.

“Oh, good! You’re back. We voted and decided we wanna play truth or dare. You boys in?”

I saw all three boys exchange looks of trepidation as they sat down. Pat voiced his concerns aloud. “There have to be rules.”

“You and your rules.” Walter shook his head.

“What kind of rules?” Sarah asked.

Pat pointed at her. “Dares cannot involve other people.”

I nodded. “And questions have to be ones you wouldn’t mind your parents overhearing the answers to.”

Larry made a face. “I don’t actually know how to play.”

“We need a bottle to spin.” Sarah looked around.

Lily giggled. “Wrong game.”

“No, it makes it easier with this many people. Aren’t there drinks in the theater?”

“I got it.” Walter got to his feet. While he was gone, Sarah explained the rules quickly for Larry. Walter returned a moment later with an empty water bottle. Sarah placed it in the middle of our circle.

“Okay. I’ll go first.” She spun the bottle, and it landed on Pat. “Truth or dare?”

I could sense Pat was nervous and found it endearing. Sarah ended up daring him to remove his socks using just his teeth. He did it, falling over in the process, and everyone laughed. Then, Pat dared Larry to give himself a tattoo in permanent marker.

When Walter chose truth, Larry asked him the most useless random fact he knew, and he gave a five-minute lecture on fruit fly mating habits.

---

An hour or so later, after I had given myself a butterfly tattoo on the inside of my wrist, I spun the bottle. When it landed on Pat, I smiled mischievously. I had been waiting nearly twenty minutes to ask him the perfect question.

“How many girls have you kissed?”

He shrugged a shoulder. “Three. You know that.”

I shook my head as he reached for the bottle. “Not uh. I meant, including girls you’ve kissed in your movies.”

Pat swore and everyone started laughing. “Let’s see. There was—” He swore again. “I don’t even know what movies I’ve done.” With a sigh, he pulled his phone out of his pocket and found a list of movies he’d made. “Okay. So, there was GnomeWorld. That shouldn’t count.”

Walter smirked. “It counts.”

“Fine.”

It surprised me that Pat needed help remembering which movies had kissing scenes. Ultimately, he decided that, including screen kisses, he had kissed ten girls. He took his turn, spinning the bottle as his mother walked through the door.

“Patrick Christopher Evans! What do you think you’re doing?”

Pat held up both his hands. “It’s not what you think.”

“Get out here. Now! You too.” She glared at Walter.

My friends and I exchanged looks as the boys headed into the hallway.

“Aw, man!” Larry whined. “I just thought of the best question for Melinda.”

Sarah shook her head. “The game isn’t over yet.”

“Walter’s mom seemed really mad.”

“Cuz it looked like we were playing spin the bottle.”

“Oh. We should play that while we wait for them to come back.”

I smiled. “Larry? I love you. But what do you think Pat would do if he found out you kissed me?”

The boys were not gone long, but they returned with their mother in tow. She sat near the video games, watching us cautiously. Pat spun Lily, who picked truth.

“What’s the most embarrassing thing that has ever happened to you?”

Lily giggled. “Matt was filming a movie on the same lot as Sonia Says. So, one day, I was eating lunch when the cast comes in and sits at a table right next to me. I thought I was going to die. I had SUCH a crush on Nico Alvarez at the time. So, I stayed where I was and pretended to be on my phone, but I was really hoping they would notice me.”

“I don’t get why this is embarrassing,” Larry said.

“I’m getting there. So, I had eaten the commissary burritos for lunch.”

“Ugh!” Walter grimaced in sympathy. “I bet I can guess what happened.”

Lily nodded. “I was really gassy for a while, but no one knew it was me. They kept looking around, but no one could figure it out. At that point, I was too embarrassed to leave, because then they would have realized it was me. Unfortunately, they all stopped talking just as I let one rip.”

Everyone started laughing, but Lily kept going. “That wasn’t the worst part. It wasn’t gas! I had to run out of the commissary so I could go change my clothes.”

“Oh no!” I gasped.

“That must have been so embarrassing!” Sarah said between giggles. The boys were all doubled over with laughter.

“I wouldn’t go back to the studio for over a month. I was too embarrassed.”

Lily didn’t bother to wait before spinning the bottle again. Eventually, Larry spun me. He wore a mischievous grin as he asked the question he must have been dying to ask. “Who was your biggest celebrity crush?”

I wasn’t sure if Larry expected me to say Pat. I looked my boyfriend in his eyes. “You’ve never been Patrick McGregor to me. You know that, right?”

He kissed my forehead. “It’s one of the things I love most about you.”

“I had a crush on Jarrod Handy for most of seventh grade.”

“Eww . . .” Lily, Walter, and Pat exclaimed in unison.

“Well, it’s not like I like him now.”

Obviously, Mrs. Evans had been eavesdropping on the game. “What’s wrong with Jarrod? He’s a very friendly young man.”

“You know he cheated on Meghan, right Mom?” Walter asked sardonically. The look on her face indicated she clearly had not known.

Lily turned to Pat. “Remember that day we came to the Romeo and Juliet set so you and Matt could read through some lines together? Practice your signing?”

“I remember working with Matt in my trailer. Your mom was there.”

Lily smiled. “It’s okay. I’m not sure I even saw you that day. I spent most of the day in the commissary. Jarrod Handy and Poppy Sommers were sitting at the next table. You and my brother were in the trailer for like an hour. They spent the entire time making out. They were pretty loud about it.” Lily looked disgusted at the memory.

There was more to that story. I glanced at Pat. He looked livid. He wordlessly stalked out of the room. I glanced at Walter and knew he was thinking the same as me. We needed to calm Pat before he did something stupid.

We found him pacing the hall. I kept my voice soft as I approached him.

“Pat?”

Mrs. Evans had followed us. I doubted she knew why Pat was so upset. She sent her son a concerned look.

 “What’s going on? Are you okay?”

Before anyone could explain, Mr. Evans emerged from his studio. Walter looked at him for help.

“Dad, Mom’s eavesdropping on our game.”

Mr. Evans smirked at his wife. “Kara, let them be kids. I talked to the boys this afternoon. They’ll behave themselves.” It sounded like a threat as he glanced at his sons.

Mrs. Evans frowned, but she headed toward her office, Mr. Evans following her. Pat resumed his pacing. I popped into the playroom.

“Hey, guys? I think the game is over.”

“Is Pat okay?” Larry asked.

I shrugged. “He will be. Long story short, he was with Poppy at the same time Meghan was with Jarrod. It was while they were filming Romeo and Juliet.”

Lily gasped, and Larry called Jarrod a foul name.

Sarah looked at me with concern. “We’ll be fine. You go calm him down.”

I returned to the hall just in time to hear Walter ask, “You didn’t even care about Poppy. What does it matter?”

I shook my head. “It’s not about Poppy,”

Pat turned to his brother. “Why don’t you go call Meghan? Tell her about Zayne. Have her tell you about Jarrod. Then ask me if I’m okay.”

When Pat passed me, I put a hand on his arm. He seemed to relax slightly. At the very least, he stopped pacing. I laced my fingers through his.

“Where can we go talk?”

Pat led me to the game room, where we sat on the floor against the wall. I pulled him close, playing with his hair until he was calm enough to talk.

“You’re angry about Meghan, right?”

“She almost slept with him.”

“I know.”

Pat sat up enough to look at me, surprise clear on his face. “How?”

“The night before we went back to school, she called me. Said she wanted to check up on her little sister. I told her about how I was scared that if we let things get too physical, we would lose what we had. She told me about Jarrod. How it was so intense, that just kissing wasn’t enough after a while. That the only reason she didn’t sleep with him was because she saw him making out with . . . someone. I forgot who.”

“Penelope Tracy. Jarrod and I got along okay on the set. I thought we were friends. And I just found out he was cheating on my sister with my girlfriend. I bet Meghan was just some sort of game to him. You have no idea how much I want to hurt him right now.”

“And the next time you see him, you can punch him. Provided there are no cameras around. You wouldn’t want to leave any evidence.”

Pat sat up, the corners of his mouth turned up. I kissed him gently.

“You know, it’s okay to be mad at Poppy for cheating on you.”

Pat shook his head. “I don’t like wasting energy on Poppy. But, you are an amazing girlfriend for suggesting it. I love you.”

He brushed my cheek before kissing me slowly. We stayed there until Mrs. Evans called everyone downstairs to eat.

---

That evening, when we were gathered in the playroom in our pajamas, I pointed to Lily’s nightgown.

“That’s beautiful. I love it.”

“Thanks. I love my nightgowns. I can’t wear things like that.” She pointed to my fleece pants. “I get too hot. I can’t even wear long sleeves.”

I giggled. “I can’t wear nightgowns anymore. I get all tangled in them. I like pants in the winter, shorts in the summer. But always either short sleeves or sleeveless.”

Walter shrugged. “I don’t do pajamas.”

I pointed to his flannel pants. “What do you call those?”

“Well, I can’t walk around the house in my underwear. But I don’t wear these to bed.”

Larry nodded. “Me neither. Tee-shirt and boxers. Sometimes not even that.”

Walter eyed his temporary roommate suspiciously. “Larry, those covers better not come off you during the night!”

After a round of laughter, Sarah smiled. “Shorts and shirt. No underwear.”

Pat smiled. “Last summer, when we were in California, our A/C broke. We opened the windows and it would cool off at night, but it was still really stuffy. I started sleeping in just my boxers. It became a habit.”

Lily looked around. “Hey. You know what I was thinking? This is just like that movie. Saturday Night Sleepover.”

“I’ve never heard of it.” Sarah furrowed her brow.

“Its old. Like, before we were born old. But, it’s kinda funny.”

“Lemme see if I can find it.” Walter grabbed a remote and started searching through the various streaming services on the television.

“I don’t wanna move,” Sarah said from Larry’s lap. “It’s more comfy in here.”

“I agree.” Pat pulled me into his chair.

Lily squeezed beside Walter in his chair as the movie began. I had never even heard of this movie before. It was about a group of friends having a sleepover party. Their game of truth or dare involved much more personal questions and dares, such as kissing each other, visiting a nearby convenience store or prank calling people. It was funny in a silly and unrealistic way.

But I had trouble keeping my eyes open. I heard Pat tell me to go to bed. It was a good idea. I just needed to close my eyes for one minute and then I would go.

Melinda’s Journal

Sunday, January 28

 (Author note: I am not sure what this journal entry should be about. Any suggestions? Leave a comment below.) 

Pat’s Story

After lunch, Dad decided it was time to clear the driveway. The snow hadn’t stopped, but it was coming down lighter, at least for the moment. Even though he could have done it himself, he made Walter and me join him. We understood why as we entered the garage.

“So, you boys seem to be getting along pretty well with the girls. Are you and Melinda back together?” Dad looked at me expectantly.

I shrugged. “Yeah.”

Dad handed Walter the keys, and I climbed into the backseat. Walter opened the garage and started the truck, remembering to lower the plow as he pulled out. Dad waited a moment before continuing.

“I was about your age when your mother and I first . . . became intimate.”

Walter nearly crashed into a bush. I started gagging.

“Dad! I could have gone my whole life without knowing that!”

“I know you guys think you know everything, but—”

“Dad?” Walter sounded a lot calmer than I felt. “If you are going to insist on this conversation, I can’t drive. Or else you can explain to Mom why the plow is in the bushes.”

Mom didn’t know Dad let Walter drive the plow. She would flip out. Dad sighed and gestured for Walter to join me in the backseat. Dad slid over and cleared the driveway while trying to give us a very uncomfortable lecture about responsibility.

Walter interrupted him after about five minutes. “You realize I don’t actually have a girlfriend, right?”

“Yes. And I also know you did have one at one point and that you have probably started thinking about what comes after kissing.”

“Okay, Dad?” I was embarrassed, but I was also kind of angry. I decided as mortifying as it might be, I needed to tell my dad what had been going on. At least a little.

“Believe it or not, Walter and I have already figured most of this out. And, we get lectures about it at school. And we talk about it with our girlfriends.”

“You do?” Dad sounded surprised.

“One of the reasons Melinda and I broke up was because we weren’t talking about this. When we realized we needed to, things got better and we could be together again. And, for the record, we don’t want a physical relationship.”

“I know you think that, but—”

“No, see, I know what you’re going to say. But, we . . . we both know we’re not ready to do more than kiss.”

“What did you do?” My father was verging on that tone that implied I was in a lot of trouble.

“Nothing!”

Walter tried to help. “Anything after kissing the relationship changes. And I’m not ready for that yet. I’m not going to be ready for a long time.”

“Me neither.”

Dad finished the driveway as he considered this. He was backing into the garage when he finally spoke.

“I want you boys to both keep one thing in mind. When your mother and I decided we wanted a physical relationship —”

We both shouted. “Dad!”

He ignored us and continued. “We actually sat down and marked our calendar. We waited exactly one year to see if we still felt the same way. And we learned a lot about each other in that year. And that was what made it special.”

Walter and I jumped out of the truck as soon as Dad cut the engine. We each grabbed a shovel and began digging out our running path. We went in opposite directions. I was too uncomfortable from that conversation to be near my brother.

By the time we met up in the back of the house, most of the weirdness was gone. Walter looked at me as we shoveled the last few feet.

“Please tell me that we will never have to have that conversation again.”

“We won’t. Because I plan on running away next time. Jump right out of the moving vehicle and get far away until he forgets all about it.”

“I like that plan.” Walter shouldered his shovel as we walked back to the garage. “Do you think I should tell Lily about what happened with Zayne?”

“Melinda and I told each other about our relationships. I even told her about the time Chloe kissed me.”

“She did what?”

I didn’t want to have that conversation right now. I quickly brought the subject back to his question. “My point is, it’s awkward. Although it wasn’t nearly as horrible as I thought it would be. But, it helped her understand me better. And I understand her. And we can help each other out if we struggle with something.”

“Melinda was wrong, you know.”

“About what?”

“You talking to me like this? It doesn’t make me think less of you. You’re a pretty good big brother.”

I ruffled his hair. “You’re still a pretty annoying little brother. But, since you shared all your friends with me, I guess I can’t complain.”

---

When Walter and I found everyone in the video game room, Larry was killing aliens while the girls were holding a whispered conversation. Sarah started wiggling in place when she saw us.

“Oh, good! You’re back. We voted and decided we wanna play truth or dare. You boys in?”

I looked at Larry and Walter and knew from the looks on their faces they were thinking the same as me: this would not end well.

I sat beside Melinda. “There have to be rules.”

Walter smirked. “You and your rules.”

Sarah sent me a cautious look. “What rules?”

I considered for a moment. “Dares cannot involve other people.”

Melinda nodded. “And questions have to be ones you wouldn’t mind your parents overhearing the answers to.”

Larry looked sheepishly at the ground. “I don’t actually know how to play.”

“We need a bottle to spin.” Sarah grinned mischievously.

Lily giggled. “Wrong game.”

“No. It makes it easier with this many people. Aren’t there drinks in the theater?”

“I got it.” Walter got to his feet. Sarah explained the rules while Walter was gone. A moment later, he returned with an empty water bottle.

Sarah placed it in the middle of our circle. “Okay. I’ll go first.” She spun the bottle, and it landed on me. “Truth or dare?”

I wasn’t sure I was up for either. “Dare.”

“I dare you to take off your socks. Using just your teeth.”

I turned to Larry. “Larry? Your girlfriend has an evil streak.”

I wasn’t worried about my socks being too gross. Was I going to be able to get my foot to my mouth. I ended up falling backwards, and everyone laughed. But I managed to grab my socks at the ankle and get them off. I wasn’t sure if Melinda would want to kiss me after that, though.

It was my turn, and I spun the bottle. It landed on Larry, whom I dared to give himself a tattoo with a permanent marker. He drew a blob on his ankle that he claimed was a dragon.

Walter chose truth and Larry asked him what was the most useless piece of information he knew. When he spouted something about the mating habits of a fruit fly, I just shook my head.

“Why? Why do you know that?”

“I don’t know. That’s why it’s useless.”

We played for over an hour. We recycled a few questions and dares on people who hadn’t had them. Eventually, we had all removed our socks and had tattoos.

Melinda spun me and I selected truth. Her face stretched into a wicked grin I had only seen once before. “How many girls have you kissed?”

“Three. You know that.”

She shook her head. “Not uh. I meant including girls you’ve kissed in your movies.”

I swore. It wasn’t that I was embarrassed. It was that I truly didn’t remember. I actually had to go online and look up my own filmography to count, with help from everyone else to determine if there had even been a kissing scene in the movie. My magic number turned out to be ten, including the three real kisses.

I had just spun the bottle when Mom screamed from the doorway. “Patrick Christopher Evans! What do you think you’re doing?”

Middle names were never good. It meant she was already so mad, she wouldn’t listen to reason.

I sent her the most innocent look I could muster. “It’s not what you think.”

“Get out here. Now! You too.” She glared at Walter.

He muttered under his breath as we stood up. “First Dad, now Mom?”

Mom pointed to the game room, where she slammed the door behind us. “Have you lost your minds?”

I tried to explain. “Mom, the girls wanted to play truth or dare!”

Walter tried to help. “And we set up rules. Dares can’t involve other people. That means no texting, no posting stuff on social media.”

“No kissing. And the questions are silly. Lily asked if I sleep with a stuffed animal. Larry asked someone about an imaginary friend.”

Mom gave us a pointed look. “So, you wouldn’t mind if I sit with you?” It wasn’t so much a question as a dare.

Walter narrowed his eyes at her. “You can’t play. That would just be wrong.”

I quickly added to the rules. “And you can’t punish us for something we say we did. Like, if someone asked what was the meanest thing I ever did to a sibling and I said I pushed Walter down the stairs. You can’t punish me for that.”

“And no telling on our friends, either.”

Mom followed us back to the room and sat far enough away that we could almost forget she was there. The game got interesting when Larry asked Melinda about her biggest celebrity crush.

She looked me in the eye. “You’ve never been Patrick McGregor to me. You know that, right?”

I kissed her forehead. “It’s one of the things I love most about you.”

“I had a crush on Jarrod Handy for most of seventh grade.”

“Eww!“ Lily, Walter, and I exclaimed in unison.

“Well, it’s not like I like him now.”

Mom inserted herself into the conversation. “What’s wrong with Jarrod? He’s a very friendly young man.”

Walter looked in her direction. “You know he cheated on Meghan, right Mom?” Wow. She didn’t know. It was written on her face.

Lily turned to me. “Remember that day we came to the Romeo and Juliet set so you and Matt could read through some lines together? Practice your signing?”

I remembered the day clearly. I didn’t remember Lily being there. “I remember working with Matt in my trailer. Your mom was there.”

Lily smiled. “It’s okay. I’m not sure I even saw you that day. I spent most of the day in the commissary. Jarrod Handy and Poppy Sommers were sitting at the next table. You and my brother were in the trailer for like an hour. They spent the entire time making out. They were pretty loud about it.”

The disgusted look on Lily’s face matched what I was feeling. I said nothing. I simply left the room. Walter and Melinda found me pacing in the hallway. Mom was a second behind them.

“What’s going on? Are you okay?”

Walter whined as Dad emerged from his studio. “Dad! Mom’s eavesdropping on our game.”

Dad turned to her. “Kara, let them be kids. I talked to the boys this afternoon. They’ll behave themselves.”

Mom didn’t seem happy, but she walked away. Dad followed her. I kept pacing the hallway. Melinda disappeared back into the game room.

Walter let me pass him a few times before asking, “You okay?”

“No. I want to hurt Jarrod.”

“You didn’t even care about Poppy. What does it matter?”

Melinda answered the question as she returned. “It’s not about Poppy.”

I turned to Walter. “Why don’t you go call Meghan? Tell her about Zayne. Have her tell you about Jarrod. Then ask me if I’m okay.”

When I passed Melinda again, she put a hand on my arm. It calmed me enough to stop pacing.

Her voice was gentle. “Where can we go talk?”

I led her to the game room, and we sat on the floor. She held me close to her chest and played with my hair. I could hear her heart beating. It calmed me some more.

“You’re angry about Meghan, right?”

“She almost slept with him.” I knew it wasn’t my story to share, but I wanted her to know why I was so angry.

“I know.”

I couldn’t hide my surprise as I looked at her. “How?”

“The night before we went back to school, she called me. Said she wanted to check up on her little sister. I told her about how I was scared that if we let things get too physical, we would lose what we had. She told me about Jarrod. How it was so intense, that just kissing wasn’t enough after a while. That the only reason she didn’t sleep with him was because she saw him making out with . . . someone. I forgot who.”

My reply was almost automatic. “Penelope Tracy. Jarrod and I got along okay on the set. I thought we were friends. And I just found out he was cheating on my sister with my girlfriend. I bet Meghan was just some sort of game to him. You have no idea how much I want to hurt him right now.”

“And the next time you see him, you can punch him. Provided there are no cameras around. You don’t want to leave any evidence.”

Attention Hammerheads

Melinda is always trying to build her vocabulary. What were some words in this episode that were new to you? She will add them to her vocabulary journal.