Well, I'd sure done it. I'd pissed Abby off. She had never called me Tuesday night. At first, I was willing to just chalk it up to her forgetting or falling asleep or something, but then I found out from Zac, who had talked to Rachel, that Abby had gone over to Ryan's house yesterday and then they went to the zoo. And to top it off, Abby didn't call me that evening either. It had been over a day since I'd seen her.
When I'd woken up this morning, I had intended to go and see her, to talk to her face to face and get this whole mess cleared up. But then, my mom had cornered me.
"Taylor, you know, we haven't really cleaned the house in awhile. And you know what I mean. I'm talking REALLY cleaned it."
I nodded. "Yeah, so?"
"Well, I was thinking that a big family cleaning day would be great. And what better day to do it than today?"
"But mom, I had plans!"
"Well, your brothers did, too, but I told them they'd have to cancel them. Family is much more important. Besides, if we all pitch in and work hard, all the work will be done quickly and then you can go do whatever you want."
"Fine. What do you want me to do?"
She handed me a rag and a can of Pledge. "Dust the house."
"The whole house?" I whined.
"The whole house. Now get to it."
I started upstairs and worked my way down to the basement. Mom had been right. We'd hadn't really cleaned the house in awhile. I had to use three rags because there was so much dust around. After the entire house had been dusted, I sought out my mom to let her know that I was finished. I found her in the kitchen, cleaning out the refrigerator.
"I'm done, Mom."
"Great! Now you can clean the bathrooms!"
"What? I've already done my fair share of cleaning. Get someone else to do it!"
"Everyone else already has their own job. Ike, for instance, is mowing the lawn. Zac is cleaning the garage. Jessie is going through the house and bundling newspapers and magazines. Avie is cleaning the playroom. Your father is cleaning the attic. And I, of course, am cleaning the kitchen."
I sighed. "Fine. I'll clean the bathrooms." I got the cleaner and sponges and everything and went and cleaned all the bathrooms. It was a yucky job, but I got it done. As I was heading back down the stairs to return the cleaning supplies to the broom closet, I ran into Zac who was hauling around the vacuum cleaner.
I smiled knowingly. "Bet you thought you were done once you cleaned the garage, didn't you?"
He nodded miserably. "And I had plans to get together with Rachel today. But I bet that every time I finish something, Mom'll find another job for me to do."
"I sympathize with ya, buddy."
"ZAC!" Mom called from the kitchen. "I don't hear the vacuum cleaner!"
"Sorry, mom!" he called. "Well, I guess I'd better get to work."
"Yeah." I went and returned the cleaners to the closet and went into the kitchen. "Okay, mom. The bathrooms are clean." She was now working on cleaning the oven.
"Great! Now how about going upstairs and tackling those closets in your room?"
"Hey! Ike and Zac use them too! Why should I get stuck cleaning them?"
Mom smiled at me. "They'll be up to help you shortly."
I sighed and went upstairs. I opened the first closet and groaned. It would take hours to clean this out. I grabbed the trash can and began sorting through the various piles of junk in the bottom of the closet.
I don't know how long I worked, but finally, I was able to see the floor in the closet. I sat back and examined my work with pride. I gathered up the trash I had collected and took it outside to the big trash can. Ike was still outside. Our yard is huge, so mowing it is a huge task. But, of course, Mom hadn't had Ike stop at mowing. He was now weeding, and I suspected that Mom had had Ike edge the lawn as well.
"Having fun?" I asked as I passed him on the way back into the house.
He just glared at me. "No."
"So, what were your plans today?"
"I was going to spend the day with Hannah."
"Hannah? Who's that?"
"She's a girl that I met through Monica."
"Whatever. Well, how much longer do you think it will take you to weed?"
"I don't know. Mom said she wanted the entire yard weed-free, so it'll take awhile. Why?"
"Mom's making me clean out our closets."
Ike grimaced. "Sorry. Maybe Zac will be able to help you soon."
"Yeah. Maybe." I went back inside the house. I could hear the vacuum cleaner going upstairs. I guess Zac wasn't done yet. I went back upstairs to tackle the other closet. I finished about an hour later. When I went to put the other bag of trash outside, Ike was still weeding. Poor guy. I found out that Mom had assigned Zac to organize all the books and videos in the den alphabetically. Another poor guy. After finishing the closet, I went to see Mom again. She was washing the kitchen floor.
"All done, mom."
"Good."
"So, what else do I need to do?"
"Well, are your beds made?"
"Yup. We all made them this morning."
"Are all of your clothes put away?"
I nodded. "Uh-huh."
"Did you bring your dirty clothes down to the laundry room?"
"Yeah. And I sorted them for you."
"Great. Well, I think you're done, Taylor. You've been a big help today."
"Thanks mom. I'm going to go down and see Abby. I'll be back by dinner."
"Okay. Have fun."
I let myself out the front door and called a farewell to Ike. I quickly walked down the street to Abby's house. As I rang the doorbell, I checked my watch. It was 2:30. I wondered if she would even be home. Rachel answered the door and gave me a curious glance.
"I thought your family was having a cleaning day," she said suspiciously.
"We are," I assured her. "But luckily, I finished all my chores and was able to get away. I'm sure that Zac will call you when he's finished."
She smiled. "Oh. Cool. Are you here to see Abby?"
I nodded. "Yup. Is she home?"
Rachel shook her head. "Nope. She went out this morning and hasn't been home yet. I think that she went somewhere with Ryan, but I'm not sure." She must have noticed the look of disappointment on my face, because she quickly added, "But, you know, she and Ryan are just friends."
"Yeah. Whatever."
Rachel gave me a sympathetic smile. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry. I don't know what happened between you and Abby, but I think she's acting way out of line. I know she likes you. But then after you had your fight or whatever it was, she immediately went to Ryan. It's obvious that she just wants to make you jealous."
Jeez. She was really grown-up for a twelve-year old. "Thanks, Rachel. Well, just tell Abby that I stopped by, will ya?"
She nodded. "I'll make her call you even if it kills me."
I smiled. "All right. It was nice to talk to you. I'll make sure that Zac lets you know when he's done cleaning." I turned and walked slowly back to my house. I was still absorbing everything that Rachel had told me. Was it true that Abby was just trying to make my jealous? If she were, wouldn't that mean that she liked me as more than a friend? I was still pondering all of this after I got home. I went to the basement and sat on the couch and just thought. Ike came down after awhile to play his guitar.
"Hey, Tay. Whatcha doing?" he asked as he got his guitar out of its case.
"Just thinking."
"What are you thinking about?"
Argh. Does he ever shut up? "Just stuff."
Ike finally took the hint that I didn't want to talk about it. "Fine. Well, I hope you don't mind if I practice."
"No. Actually, I think I'm going to go watch some TV or something." I stood up and walked back upstairs. I'd just settled down on the floor in the den when the phone rang. I jumped up to answer it. Maybe it was Abby.
"Hello?"
"Taylor?"
"Yeah?" It was a girl, but it wasn't Abby.
"Hey! It's Jenna! I told you I'd call."
"Oh yeah. How are you?"
"Pretty good. Grandma just went out to her weekly bridge club. She'll probably be gone for a long time, so I figured that I'd call you. I hope that you're not busy."
"Nope. I was just going to watch TV. I've actually been bored all day long. Well, actually, not all day. Mom decided this morning that the entire family was going to have a cleaning day. So, I cleaned for most of the morning."
"Oh. Sounds like fun!"
"You know it! So, what did you do today?"
"Grandma took me out for breakfast and then we went to the North America Living Museum. It was interesting, but I would have preferred to stay home to be able to watch my soaps. But, it was kind of cool. I saw Ryan there! Remember how I had a huge crush on Ryan when I was like seven?" Jenna laughed. "Well, luckily, I'm over that. He was there with another girl and they looked pretty close."
"Did she have kind of short brown hair and green eyes?"
"Um, yeah, I think. Why?"
"I was just wondering. That's Abby, the girl that's visiting her dad here for a few weeks. She and I, well, we were getting kind of close, but then I pissed her off and now she's going around with Ryan."
"That sucks. I'm sorry."
"Yeah, well, it's okay. I just hope that she's not serious about Ryan. Abby's little sister seemed to think that Abby is just trying to make me jealous."
Jenna laughed. "That's kind of funny. You'd think that she'd be throwing herself at you, since you're a huge celebrity and everything. I would, if I didn't already know you."
"Why thank you. That makes me feel so much better."
"Calm down, Tay. If she's smart, she'll figure out that you're better than Ryan any day. She'll come around soon, I bet."
"I hope so. Anyway, moving on, what are you doing tonight?"
"Um, nothing that I know of. Like I said, my grandma went out to play bridge and then I think she's going out to dinner and then to play bridge somewhere else. I swear. She's got more of social life than I do."
I laughed. "Well, grandparents are funny like that. Anyway, do you wanna come over here tonight? I doubt my mom would care. After all, we just spent all day cleaning, so I won't have to worry about that. Do you think your grandma would let you spend the night? It'd be just like old times." Ever since we'd been little, we'd spent the night at each other's houses. Our parents didn't really care too much that I was a guy and that Jenna was a girl.
"I'd have to call her to check, but I don't think she'd object."
"Great. Well, why don't you call her and then call me back. I'm going to go check with my mom really quick."
"All right. Talk to you soon." Jenna hung up the phone and I did likewise.
I ran to find my mom. She was in the study, sacked out on the couch. "Hey, Mom. Did I tell you that Jenna is back in Tulsa, spending the summer with her grandmother?"
My mom shook her head. "That's wonderful. You'll have to have her over sometime."
"Well, I was wondering if I could have her over tonight. You know, to sleep over."
My mom raised her eyebrows. "A sleep-over?"
"Oh come on, Mom. You never minded when we were younger!"
"Yeah. Well, you weren't both teenagers."
"Don't you trust me, Mom? Nothing is going to happen, I promise you. Jenna is just my friend, nothing more. I swear."
"Well, all right. It's fine with me."
"Great! Thanks mom!" I went back to the den and sat by the phone, waiting for Jenna to call me back. When the phone rang, I picked it up after the first ring. "So, what did your grandmother say? Can you spend the night?"
"What?" Oh god. It was Abby.
"Oh. Sorry. I thought it was someone else."
"Obviously. Rachel said that you came by today to see me. Sorry I wasn't there. I went out today."
"Yeah. Well, um, I'm sorry about what I said at the mall. I was out of line. Sorry."
Abby sighed. "Well, it's okay. I'm sorry about the way I acted, too. I guess we both kind of over-reacted."
"Yup. So, are we still buds?"
"Of course!"
"Good. Well, I really hate to do this, but I'm expecting another call, so I have to go. I'll call you back when I get a chance, all right?"
"Okay. I'll talk to you later."
"Bye!" I hung up the phone and waited impatiently for Jenna to call me back. I didn't have to wait long.
"Hello?"
"Hey, it's me. My grandmother said it was fine. The only thing is, I have no way to get to your house."
"Hold on a sec." I set the phone down and went to the basement, where Ike was still playing his guitar. I interrupted him in the middle of a solo he was practicing. "Hey, Ike. Would you be willing to go pick up Jenna at her grandmother's? She is going to spend the night here, but she has no means of transportation."
Ike sighed. "Yeah, I guess."
"Great. I'll give you some gas money." I raced back up the stairs and picked up the phone. "Okay. Ike and I will come get you."
"Cool. When are you gonna get here?"
I glanced at my watch. "I guess we'll be there in about an hour. Is that all right?"
"It's fine. I'll see you then."
After hanging up the phone, I went back to the basement. "Okay, Ike. I told Jenna that we'd be there in about an hour, so that gives you some time before we have to go."
Ike nodded and I figured that my work there was done, and began heading up the stairs. Ike stopped me. "Tay, is there something going on between you and Jenna?"
I turned around to face him. "No, why?"
"Well, I was just thinking that...nevermind." He went back to playing guitar.
"No. Tell me."
"Okay. It seems to me that you have been in a funk the last couple of days and I've noticed that you haven't said much about Abby. So, I surmised that you had some kind of falling out with her. Anyway, now you're having Jenna over. And not just for a casual visit. It's a spend the night affair. If Abby finds out, which I figure she probably will, what with Zac being friends with Rachel, well, let's just say that it won't aid in patching things up with her."
I sighed. "Godammit, Ike. Why did you have to say that?"
"Sorry. I was just making an observation."
"No. It was a good observation. Yeah, I had a fight with Abby and Jenna was sort of the cause of it. I just talked to Abby a few minutes ago and we're on our way to making things better. But see, I'm really happy that Jenna is here. She's been my friend forever and I want to spend time with her. On the other hand, I really don't want to piss Abby off." I buried my face in my hands. "What should I do?"
Ike shrugged. "I guess it just comes down to who is more important to you. Jenna or Abby."
"That helps a lot," I said sarcastically.
"Well, too bad. This is your dilemma, not mine. I can't figure out your problems for you, Tay. That's your responsibility." Ike put his guitar away. "Well, once you make your decision, let me know." He went upstairs and left me in the basement alone.
I didn't know what to do. I really like Jenna. She was one of my oldest and closest friends. But I also liked Abby and I knew that I couldn't risk doing anymore to piss her off.

I just felt so bad, sacrificing my friendship with Jenna for something that might not even happen with Abby. That made up my mind. If I was ever going to have anything with Abby, she'd have to learn to trust me and if she couldn't, well, it just wasn't meant to be. I went upstairs and found Ike.
"Let's go pick up Jenna."
"Are you sure about this?"
I nodded. "Very sure. Let's go."
"Well, all right." Ike got up and grabbed his car keys. I followed him out the door and we got into the car and headed over to pick up Jenna.

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