AatC Summer Story Part 23

--Theodore--
I followed Eleanor out of the pool. She walked briskly through the parking lot. I had to jog a little to catch up. I grabbed her arm when I caught up, stopping her in the middle of the lot.
"Eleanor," I said, "What's wrong?"
--Eleanor--
And there he was, holding onto my arm, looking kindly concerned. I wanted to puke. He was the very last person I wanted to talk to at the moment. Sophi had just crushed all trust I had in Theodore… and I really just wanted to go home and go to bed.
"It's nothing, Teddy," I muttered, shaking my head and trying to turn away, but his grip didn't loosen.
"Don't lie to me, Ellie," he said simply, frowning.
I paused for a long time, then replied, "I don't know who or what to believe anymore, Theodore. Did you lie to me to protect Alvin?"
He looked like this question took him totally by surprise. "What? El, why would I lie to you?"
"To protect Alvin," I repeated.
"El, don't be ridiculous," he said, chuckling somewhat nervously. "You don't seriously think that, do you? I mean, I'd never lie to you, you know that."
"Do I?"
"Eleanor…" He said, as if searching for words. I pulled my arm out of his grip and started to walk away. He stopped me again, but this time only with his voice. "Eleanor!! You're being completely unreasonable… what would make you think I'd lie to you about Alvin?"
I turned back to him. "Sophi told me. I don't know why I didn't see it before… I mean, it's obvious, you'd clearly choose him over me. I mean, why not? Alvin's always had a lot of influence over you anyway." I turned away again.
But I didn't turn away fast enough to miss the hurt look on his face. "Eleanor, you've got to be kidding me. Sophi's- I mean- why would you listen to her? How do you know SHE'S not messing with you?"
"How do I know YOU'RE not messing with me?" I snapped. I didn't mean to sound so mean, but I did.
Theodore looked taken aback. "Well, I don't know, Eleanor. We've only known each other since we were, like, five. We've only been dating for, like, a year. I'd think you'd have a little faith in me by now."
"I did. But now I don't. Because you lied to me. You lied to me to protect Alvin and you hurt everyone involved. I should've known! I should've known!" I threw my hands up, then continued, my voice rising, "I should've known all along you wouldn't let me screw this up for Alvin! I should've seen that your loyalty will always lie with him, it makes sense. I mean, when he's around, you lose your spine!"
"You want me to have a fucking spine?! Fine!" he was shouting back now. "If you can't trust me, Eleanor, I don't know what this is!" he motioned between the two of us. "If you want to believe some bitch you hardly even know instead of me, that's fine, but I don't wanna hear about it!"
"Theodore…" I said, realizing suddenly where this was going.
"We're done! This obviously isn't going to work because I'm a spineless liar…" he paused and then, his voice hoarse, he added in barely more than a whisper, "Consider yourself dumped."
Then he turned away and walked off, leaving me standing in the middle of the parking lot, my mouth open and my heart broken. I stood there for a minute, feeling empty, then walked slowly in the other direction, deciding to take the long way home… to my own home.

--Theodore--
I didn't go back to the pool party. I lingered at the gate, but finally decided to go home, and take the shortcut. It wasn't until I was halfway home that the tears started coming, and I realized what I had done. Why did I say that? Why did I do that?
Then I remembered what she had said and the questions changed.
Why did she say that? Why did she do that?
I finally made it home, and made a beeline to the kitchen. I made a sandwich without even being sure what I was putting on it, sat down at the table, and ate. I wasn't hungry. I hardly even tasted the food.
"Theodore? Is that you?" Dave asked from his bedroom.
"Yeah," I responded, not realizing how hoarse and strained my voice was until I had already spoken.
He walked in and leaned in the doorway, a funny look on his face. "What's wrong?"
"What would make you think something's wrong, Dave?" I mumbled, looking down at the table.
"You sound upset, and…" he walked over and sat down, picking up my sandwich and looking it over. "… there's all kinds of crazy crap on this sandwich. What happened?"
I paused, still looking down at the table. Then I muttered, "I broke up with Eleanor."

--Jeanette--
I walked up to the karaoke machine, holding Simon's hand. A slightly high-looking girl finished her very off-key rendition of "Don't Stop Beleivin'" by Journey to boos from the crowd. She stuck out her tongue and gave them all the middle finger before sauntering off the stage. I pulled Simon onto the stage and gingerly handed him a microphone, then sat on one of the stools. He rolled his eyes and sat, smiling slightly.
The guy running the machine looked over at me.
"Just pick something random," I told him with a grin.
The beginning guitar strums of "Lucky" by Colbie Caillat and Jason Mraz came on over the speakers and I couldn't hide the blush that crept up on my cheeks. This song, of all songs!
Simon laughed half-nervously, then somewhat reluctantly started singing. It made me smile to hear him sing. He has such a lovely voice. I was so distracted I almost missed my cue. We both knew the words, so we didn't really didn't look at the screens that much… we mainly looked at each other. Our voices were perfect together, just like us. That thought also made me smile.

--Simon--
As the song finished, I realized our faces were very close, our microphones crossed. I tilted my head slightly, and started to lean in…
And that's when Jeanette's stool fell out from under her.
She went down with a shriek, and landed squarely on her bottom. I slid off of my stool and helped her up. "Jeanette! Are you okay?"
"Y-Yeah," she said, blushing cutely. "I'm fine. Sorry. I don't know what happened."

--Jeanette--
I knew exactly what happened. I had seen Michelle grab my microphone cord, which was wrapped around my stool, and give it a good hard yank right before Simon was about to kiss me. And I was not surprised.