The Elephant of Surprise (The Russel Middlebrook Series Book 4) (13 page)

But here's the weird part: I didn't tell Otto how Wade had asked me if I could ever see myself becoming a freegan, and that I'd said I could. What was
that
about? Maybe freeganism really
was
a cult, and I just couldn't see it. I mean, if I really had been brainwashed, I wouldn’t know it, right?

OttoManEmpire: Oh, man, that sounds so romantic.

Smuggler: It was. It really, really was.

It was at that point I finally remembered who I was talking to, that I'd once shared romantic nights with Otto too—that he and I had once been boyfriends.

Smuggler: I hope I'm not depressing you. You'll meet someone too, you know.

OttoManEmpire: Well…

Smuggler: Well what?

OttoManEmpire: Well, maybe I already have.

Smuggler: WHAT?!!?! Tell me tell me tell me!!! Tell me EVERYTHING!

Otto had a new boyfriend too! It was the guy he'd been interested in all along—someone he knew from student council. And deep into the night, Otto told me all about him.

CHAPTER TWELVE

The next day, Sunday, I rode back to Wade's. But halfway there, I passed a gas station at a busy intersection, and I saw Leah standing at one of the pumps. She was wearing military fatigues, and it looked like she was just finishing up filling her car.

Was Min with her? There was definitely someone inside the car waiting. Still, Leah went to a different school, and I knew she had a whole life apart from Min. Even so, I wanted to say hi, so I veered into the parking lot on my bike. I reminded myself not to mention Min's birthday or the surprise party—I didn't even want to begin to explain how I knew she was planning a party.

Leah still hadn't seen me. She'd walked around to the front of her car and was getting back inside.

"Leah!" I called, but she didn't hear me over the noisy intersection. Inside the car, she closed the door and leaned over to kiss the person sitting next to her. I saw it all perfectly from behind. It wasn't a little kiss either.

So it was Min after all. Right? Because it had to be. Didn't it? After what we'd seen in Leah's bedroom? How stupid Min had felt?

Leah pulled forward and turned to the right. But now I could see the person sitting next to her in the car. I didn't necessarily
want
to see—a big part of me just wanted to keep on riding, not even looking back. I wanted to forget I'd ever seen Leah.

But it was too late. I'd seen the person in the car with Leah, and it wasn't Min. It was some guy. Why would Leah be planning a birthday party for Min even though she was dating someone else?

I didn't know. But now I did know that for all of Min's seemingly paranoid suspicions and her crazy plot to break into Leah's house, she had been right: Leah really was cheating on her.

And somehow I had to break it to her.

*   *   *

I rode straight over to Min's. I texted her to say I was stopping by, but that's all. I figured this was something I needed to say in person.

Min's mom let me inside, and I found Min on the computer in her bedroom. "I have something to tell you," I said, "but you have to promise me you won't freak out."

"I'm freaking out just by your making me promise not to freak out," she said.

"I just ran into Leah at a gas station. She didn't see me. She was kissing a guy."

Min didn't say anything. Her aquarium gurgled.

I wasn't sure how long to wait for Min to react. But finally, I said, "You were right. She's cheating on you."

She inhaled at last. "Who is it?"

"I don't know, but I took a picture." As they'd waited to pull out into traffic on the other side of the gas station, I'd taken a picture with my phone. It was blurry, and Leah and the guy obviously weren't kissing anymore. But it was clearly Leah's car.

"Well?" I said.

"I can't make him out. They were really kissing?"

I nodded. "And not like a little peck either. What are you going to do?"

Truthfully, I kind of expected her to say that she wanted my help to break into Leah's house again, or maybe steal her phone to read her text messages. But instead, she turned to me in her chair and said, "What choice do I have? I need to talk to her."

*   *   *

That Monday, I was hurrying between classes. I had Calculus in the far end of one building and American Literature in a classroom that was pretty much on the exact opposite side of campus, and I only had five minutes to get between them. I almost never actually made it on time—the laws of physics were not my friend—but it seemed to be enough for the teacher if I managed to show up in the thirty-second grace period after the last bell, at least if I was sweaty and out of breath.

Halfway there—across a plaza, and through the visitor parking lot, and up two outside staircases—I heard an angry voice from up ahead.

"Screw you, Land! I thought you were my friend!"

"Well," another voice said, "that was your first mistake."

Kevin.

I stepped out into a little courtyard between buildings. Kevin stood off to one side with his friend Ben. Kevin's back was to me, but Ben was getting right up in his face.

I slowed. I was desperate to get to class, but let's face it: I was also curious to know what this little interaction was about. American Literature waited for no man, it's true, but it was admittedly a little more lenient on an A student like me. And for the time being, the three of us were basically alone in that courtyard.

"I just don't get it," Ben said. "Why would you tell all those lies about me?"

"Who says they were lies?" Kevin said. 

"Jesus, you're a dick! How come I never saw what a dick you are before?"

What was this? Now Kevin was telling lies about his friend Ben?

"Don't talk to me!" Ben said, his finger back in Kevin's face. "Not ever again! And if I hear that you're telling lies about me ever again, I'll knock your fucking head off!"

"I am
so
scared," Kevin said, sagging like a bucket seat.

Even so, it sounded like this little talk of theirs was winding up, so that was my cue to hurry along the courtyard again. Ben and Kevin had never even noticed me.

But as I walked on, I thought: Ha! I knew it! I'd known all along what a raging asshole Kevin is. Now I had proof. Why in the world had I ever even doubted it? I might have been peeking at him all these months, but I really never had
seen
him. He and Brian probably weren't even friends—Brian had probably just been tutoring him.

I had no idea if I was going to end up a freegan or not, but I now knew for sure I was meant to be with Wade, not Kevin.

*  *  *

That afternoon after school, Min told me she still hadn't talked to Leah, but that she was going to go confront her in person.

"Will you come with me?" she asked.

"Where?" I said, confused. "When?"

"To her house. Now."

Truthfully, this was the last thing I wanted to do. I'd been planning to ride over and see Wade again—I hadn't seen him since Saturday. But it sounded like Min needed me, and I didn't want to make her invoke the "friend" bat-signal again, so I nodded.

"But what's the plan exactly?" I said.

"I'm not sure. I guess I'll know when we get there."

So I told Gunnar to ride home without me, then I threw my bike in the back of Min's car, and she drove us over to the non-existent Cranberry Creek. This time, we got beeped in through the front gate.

Leah answered her front door. "Hey, Russel." She clearly hadn't expected me to be with Min.

"Hey," I mumbled.

"Well, come on in. What's up?" She led us into the foyer, which had a high ceiling and a fancy chandelier.

Min hesitated by a vase full of pussy willows, and I expected her to say something, but she didn't, just looked sort of tongue-tied. So far, she hadn't said anything at all.

Finally, I said to Leah, "We need to talk."

"Talk?" Leah said, confused, looking from me to Min. "About what?"

"Is there somewhere we can go?" I said, knowing full well how weird this was, that I was the one saying the things Min was supposed to say.

"Sure. Let's go out to the pool."

So we did. It was also weird having been here once before, seeing the pool area from a different angle. Leah's parents were gone, and I was glad—the last thing I wanted was to run into Leah's lecherous dad. It was cold outside, but Leah turned on this heat lamp as we sat at a table by the pool. It smelled like chlorine and wet compost from a garden bed. Somewhere nearby, a water pump whined.

"Do you guys want something to drink?" Leah said.

"I know you're seeing someone," Min said out of the blue.

Leah didn't say anything for a second, just once again looked between Min and me. Even now, I was forty percent sure this had all been some kind of massive misunderstanding—that the guy I'd seen Leah with was her closeted gay best friend trying to prove to the rest of the school he was straight.

But then Leah looked out over the pool and sort of slumped in her seat. The legs of her chair scraped against the concrete.

"What?" Min said.

"Can we talk about this alone?" Leah said, meaning me.

"No," Min said. "I want Russel here. I want him to hear."

"How did you find out?" Leah said.

So it was true? Leah really
was
cheating on Min? Like father, like daughter, I guess. Did everyone lie? First Kevin, now Leah.

"A
guy
?" Min said. I don't know why she sounded so outraged. Min was bisexual after all.

"What makes you think it's a guy?" Leah said. She sounded truly mystified.

"I saw you with him," I said. "At a gas station. Kissing."

Leah considered for a second, then shook her head. "No. It's a girl. She's just butch."

Min looked at me. Could the cute guy I'd seen Leah with have been a girl? I shrugged.

"Min, I'm so sorry," Leah said. "I didn't want to hurt you." She reached forward to take Min's hand, and the bottom of her chair scraped the concrete again.

But Min pulled her hand away before they touched. "You didn't want to
hurt
me? Are you kidding?"

"No." Leah shook her head. "I'm sorry, that was a stupid thing to say. I'm just really sorry about everything. It hasn't felt right for a while now, but I didn't know how to tell you."

"You didn't know how to tell me," Min repeated. She sounded almost dead, like a zombie. I felt a little zombie-like myself, and I was only the one who had seen Leah with the other girl.

"Min, I'm
so
sorry!" Leah said. She was starting to cry.

Min stood up. Her eyes were bone dry. "Let's go, Russel."

I stood up too and together we walked toward the front door. I noticed a single pussy willow on the ceramic tile in the foyer.

From behind, Leah said, "You're not going to tell anyone about us, are you?" Even now, she was worried about being outed, about her friends finding out she was a lesbian. That pissed
me
off, because I knew that was the last thing in the world Min would ever do. How could anyone who once claimed to love Min think that was even an option?

Min didn't say a word, and she definitely didn't look back at Leah. She just inhaled, straightened her back, and walked out through the front door.

*   *   *

We'd traveled here in Min's car, but I offered to drive her home and she let me. She stared out her side window. It wasn't until we were outside the gated community that I said, "Are you okay?"

"She's such a bitch."

"She is," I said.

She turned to look at me at last. "How did I not see it?"

"I don't know. It's not just the cheating thing. That thing she said as we were leaving, about how she thought you were going to out her to her friends. Who thinks that way?"

"I know," Min said. "I couldn't believe she said that." She sort of smiled. "It's the Elephant of Surprise."

"Boy, isn't it?" So Min also remembered that conversation we'd had at the zoo. "He always steps on you when you least expect it."

"Or she."

I smiled. "Right."

Now Min laughed. She leaned back in her seat.

"What?" I said.

"I don't know. Maybe it's like what they say about cancer—that the fear of it is actually worse than the disease. My worst fear just came true, but you know what? I don't feel that bad. It's actually sort of a relief. Which isn't to say I won't cry myself to sleep tonight, but that's then, this is now."

Her talking about how she was going to cry later made me want to cry a little too. But then Min laughed again—howled almost, which is just so not Min. Suddenly, I was seeing her express all kinds of emotion.

"What now?" I said.

"I just can't believe what shitty luck the two of us have with love!"

At that, I finally let myself laugh too, even though I felt a little guilty, since it seemed like I was actually having pretty good luck with Wade.

"I know," I said. "First Kevin and Terese, then that guy Web at summer camp, then Otto and Leah. We can't win!"

Min stopped laughing.

"What?" I said.

"There's something I need to tell you about Kevin. Something important. I should've told you before, but I got so distracted by this Leah thing."

I clenched the steering wheel. "There is nothing you need to tell me about Kevin."

"No, seriously, there is!"

"Min," I said. "Seriously. I know everything I need to know." And I told her what I'd seen between Kevin and Ben earlier that day.

"Ben accused Kevin of telling lies about him?" Min said.