Chapter 9: Knives and Nails

Alexandria thumbed the door to her apartment, breathing hard. Trying to impress something on a boy was like trying to pound in a crappy nail. Sometime you'd drive the point straight and true first time, but more often than not, a minute or two of heavy pounding would get you nothing but a broken nail and a busted thumb. Why had she smiled at Calvin when she left the car? Why did she tell him that she was fine with dinner? She wasn't even sure if she believed what she said.

“You know, you never really seem happy when you come home.”

Alexander's voice made her jump. There he was, sitting in his recliner, reading on his surface.

“Al,” she began. She steadied her voice. “Al, where the actual hell have you been? I've been worried sick!”

Alexander had a small little smile on his face. “Were you?”

“Yes!”

“I'm sorry, Lex,” he said, standing up. “I didn't mean to worry you.”

“Where were you?” Alexandria's folded her arms, and she glared at her brother.

Alexander hesitated, then spoke. “I went on a date last night, and ended up watching a program at her place.”

Alexandria snorted. “Who was it? No, wait. I don't even care. Don't talk to me right now, Al. I'm tired, and it's probably better for you if you just keep reading your book.”

Alexandria went to her room, and closed the door firmly behind her. The noise was louder than she intended. She collapsed on her bed, and sighed.

Alexander was probably lying about something. The hesitation, the fact that he was completely hopeless with women, the fact that even if he had went on a date, it was incredibly unlikely that he would have stayed over. It didn't add up.

But there was a limit to how much bull that she was going to put up with today. And as far as she was concerned, she hit that limit sometime in the car ride back. Why couldn't boys just say what they thought? Was it because they didn't actually think at all? Yeah, that was probably it.

She just wanted to talk to someone sane for once. And because she didn't know anybody like that, she called Theresa instead. Even if Theresa lied right to her face, Alexandria could probably figure out what she was thinking behind it all.

“Hello, darling! Are you alright?” Theresa's voice was a little shaky over the phone.

“Yes. Is Calvin home?”

“Why, yes, he is! Would you like to talk to him?” Alexandria closed her eyes. Theresa probably thought that she was calling to apologize, or some crap like that. The truth was Alexandria didn't want to go over if Calvin was there, especially because she was going to specifically complain about him.

But there was an easy solution to that problem, at least. “I would not. I'm coming over, send him out on an errand or something like that. I'm sure you can come up with something.”

“I... yes, darling, of course I will. How are you getting here? Should I, um, tell Calvin to pick you up?”

Alexandria thumbed the phone off.

Sometimes Theresa was hard to follow. It was fairly clear to her by now that Calvin was right; she was trying to set he and Alexandria up. As she tried to calm herself now, she realized that she actually appreciated the effort. She wouldn't mind it so much if Calvin wasn't so oblivious.

She changed out of her climbing clothes, and put on some comfortable ones. She took a deep breath, and went back into the living room. Alexander was still there, reading.

“Alexander, I'm sorry for yelling at you.”

“I've heard you yell before,” Alexander said, mildly. “This time, I suppose you can apologize for being stern, but not for yelling.”

She sat down next to him. “That's nice of you to say. I'm just having boy troubles, I guess, and it's not fair for me to take them out on you. I'll take them out on Theresa instead.”

Alexander laughed, and nodded. Alexandria stood up, and walked towards the door. She put her hand on the handle, and then stopped.

“But, Al, it's not fair for you to lie to me when I've been so worried. We can talk about that when I get back. And don't spend the time thinking up just a better story.”

She then exited through the door before Alexander could say anything more. Cruel, perhaps, but in that sort of a situation, all she would hear would be excuses. Alexandria was not in the mood for them, and it would just waste everyone's time if Alexander was to try that. She was well aware that she was giving him an opportunity to craft a more believable one, but it was the best she could do at this point.

She hopped on her bike and rode down Lindon St. towards Theresa's place. As she turned onto Library Drive and approached the apartment, she saw Calvin's car pull out of the lot and head down the street towards her. She looked at him as she passed. He wasn't looking at her. Alexandria increased her speed, and braked as she got near. She chained her bike and keyed in the lock with her thumb, and went up the door.

Theresa buzzed her up, and Alexandria walked in the building and up to her door. As she entered Theresa's apartment, she fully intended to toss off some withering comment. She had thought of a couple while biking over.

To her surprise, Theresa wrapped her in a hug. Was Theresa actually crying? Alexandria pushed her off.

“Theresa, I'm fine. It's ok.”

“I'm so sorry, Lex,” Theresa said. She wasn't crying, but did look awfully morose. “I shouldn't have tried to get you guys together, I pushed too hard.”

This wasn't really where Alexandria thought this conversation would go. They sat down on the couch.

“Let's get a couple things straight, Theresa. I'm not really mad at you, I'm more mad at Calvin and Alexander. I know you were doing this with the best of intentions.”

Theresa looked at her sadly. “What if I wasn't?”

“Is that what you were telling yourself?” Alexandria reached back into her memory for a phrase that she had heard her brother use from time to time. “What was the story you were telling yourself in your head? Hero or villain?”

Theresa smiled. “I haven't heard that one before. I was sure, dear, that you two would really like each other.”

“I know you were,” Alexandria repeated. “So you were the hero, the 'Emma' of all this.” She bit her lip. “And, to be honest, I don't know if that's false. I'm frustrated because I have no idea what Calvin or my brother is thinking.”

Theresa folded her legs under her. “Who would you like to complain about first, dear?”

“Calvin, I suppose. Feel free to interrupt if you need to,” Alexandria said.

“While you're talking? It wouldn't be appropriate.”

Alexandria took a deep breath, and told Theresa about the conversation at the Spires.

“There are two points that confuse me,” Alexandria admitted. “Why didn't he just say right away that he wanted to get dinner?”

“You don't believe him when he said that his prediction was that it would make you unhappy?” Theresa asked.

“No. Nobody thinks like that.”

Theresa considered this. “He's been my roommate for a bit, my dear, I can assure you that he does think like that. That, or he's acting like a robot for some unguessable purpose.”

Alexandria laughed. “I guess I'll just need to spend more time around him. But maybe not one on one, because I don't know if I could handle that again.” Theresa laughed.

“And the second point?”

“Calvin said that he was acting in that weird manner because he wanted everyone to be happy. Letting you push him around, spending time with me, everything. Is this kid some kind of emotionless Mother Theresa?”

Theresa said nothing.

“Well, I don't believe it. I've heard enough guys say stuff like that before, and I didn't believe it then, and I don't believe it now.”

Theresa still didn't say anything.

“You're not going to contradict me?” Alexandria asked.

Theresa smiled. “Dear, I'm not here to give you advice, I'm just here to listen. It's not my place to say whether or not you're saying things that are true. I don't want to get into an argument.”

“So you don't think I'm right.”

Theresa bit her lip. “I didn't say that.”

“I don't know that you have that much plausible deniability,” Alexandria said. “But I won't bite. And it's the same with Al. He told me straight that he spent last night at some girl's apartment.”

“That doesn't sound like Al.”

“No, it doesn't, and I can't figure out why he would tell such an obvious lie. But the simple fact was that when I got home late last night he wasn't there, and when I left early for the exam, he still wasn't there.”

“Odd.”

They sat together in silence. Alexandria hadn't really solved any of her problems, not really. But just talking about it with Theresa had made her feel much better.

“Let's talk about something else,” Alexandria said. Theresa faced her eagerly.

“Remember when were talking last night about having a dinner party, dear? I would like to set something up next week. I need help thinking of some activity to do.”

“A murder mystery night? I've heard that those can be pretty fun.”

“Darling, I wouldn't have the faintest idea on how to set one up,” Theresa said.

“Yeah, me either. We're smart though, we can figure something out. You know, we could get Al to write the story for us. He's pretty good with stories.”

Theresa thought about it for a bit. “We could also take care of the food and the decorations and make Calvin plan the mystery. He's pretty logical, and he could probably set up a scenario where the villain would be hard to discover, but inevitable.”

“And Al could help him with the story,” Alexandria said. “That's brilliant. I'll call Al now.”

Alexandria took out her phone, and thumbed for her brother.

“Hi, Al.”

“Hi, Lex. Everything ok?”

“Yes, thank you. Look, Theresa is interested in hosting a dinner party sometime late next week, and we want it to be a murder mystery night. Do you think that you could write up the story for it? Her roommate Calvin could help you with the puzzle of the whole thing.”

“Have you asked him?” Alexander said.

“Not yet.”

“I can,” Alexander said, and Alexandria heard her brother put the phone down and talk to someone else in the room.

She stared at Theresa. “I think Calvin's over at my apartment right now. You didn't tell him to go, did you?”

Theresa shook her head. Alexander was back on the phone.

“Yeah, Lex, that sounds great. We'll hammer something out.”

“We'll take care of the food and the decorations and all that. Oh, and feel free to invite the girl from last night too. Or anyone, really.” She thumbed the phone off before Alexander could respond.

“Twisting the knife a little deeper, my dear?” Theresa smiled. Alexandria smiled back.

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