CHATROOM
LOVE
Chapter Twenty-Nine
November 17, 2001
Las Vegas, Nevada
The manager glared at Tommy, not happy to see that he
was leaning halfway across the counter—the counter that they had to serve food
on.
"Is he a friend of yours?" he asked Paola,
indicating Tommy disdainfully.
"Uh…he’s my third cousin," she replied
weakly, narrowing her eyes at Tommy. "Get off the counter!" she
hissed. "I’ll be out in a minute."
When she got out into the public area, she found Tommy
waiting casually in line at Sbarro’s, having decided that McDonald's might not
be the place to eat right then. Tapping him on the shoulder, she joined him in
line, earning glares from the people she had cut in front of.
"What are you doing in Las Vegas?" she
asked. "Do Uncle Thomas and Aunt Beatrice know you’re here?"
"Yeah, they know. I’m here with my friends for
the Britney Spears concert. Are you going to see it?"
Paola shook her head. "No. It costs too much, and
anyway they’re probably sold out by now."
"Yeah, probably. What are you doing here?"
She rolled her eyes. "My family moved down here two
years ago, dummy. Remember? You were at my going away party…"
"I know you live here. I mean, what are you doing
here in this mall?"
"I work here on the weekends. I got this job back
in August."
"Do you like it?"
"I hate burgers and I want more money." She
stopped, looking at him. "How did you get here? I thought that Aunt
Beatrice said that you needed to learn to be responsible with money, so where
did you get the money for this trip?"
"I am responsible with money. I spend most of it
on food and my girlfriend. Anyway, my girlfriend’s parents paid for everything.
It’s an early birthday present for her, getting to go to the concert with all
her friends."
"Nice. Where is she?"
Tommy turned and looked around, finally spotting the
others crowded around a table halfway across the food court. They waved,
encouraging him to join them. Dawn eyed Paola suspiciously.
"Which one’s your girlfriend?"
"The gorgeous blonde."
"Which blonde? I see two."
"The one with the straight hair. That’s Dawn. The
other one is Helga, a friend of Dawn and me. The red-headed girl is Rose, and
the guys are Jack and Fabrizio."
They had reached the front of the line and quickly
ordered their food—a slice of pizza and a drink for Paola, and four slices of
pizza for Tommy.
"I can see where all your money goes," Paola
remarked, staring at the heavily loaded tray.
Tommy shrugged. "Hey, I’m hungry. It takes a lot
of energy to keep me going."
She just rolled her eyes. "Am I invited to sit
with you, or are you going to pretend you don’t know me?"
"You can sit with us."
They made their way over to the table, grabbing chairs
and shoving their way in. The others grumbled at having to move, but soon went
back to eating, except for Dawn, who was glaring daggers at Paola.
"Who’s this, Tommy?" she asked sweetly,
looking around her boyfriend at the other girl.
Tommy suddenly realized what it looked like to Dawn.
"Uh…Dawn, this is my cousin, Paola Thompson."
"Your cousin?" Dawn’s voice was sceptical.
"Yes," Paola told her. "He’s my older
cousin by two whole days. My dad is his mom’s cousin."
"Are you sure?"
"Of course I’m sure that my dad is his mom’s
cousin."
Rose set her cup down, watching the whole scene with a
glint in her eye. "Oh…it looks like someone’s jealous," she teased
Dawn.
"I am not," Dawn replied crossly. "I
knew she was his cousin. The resemblance is unmistakable."
"Uh-huh." Rose was about to say something
else, but thought better of it when Dawn threatened to squirt a packet of
ketchup at her.
"Paola," Tommy said, "this is Dawn,
Rose, Jack, Fabrizio, and Helga. Jack lived in the US, too."
Paola nodded. "Where are you from?"
"Santa Monica, California, but now I live in
Edmonton."
Paola nodded, suddenly thinking of something.
"Hey, Tommy?"
"Yeah?"
"How come you didn’t tell me you were going to be
in Vegas this weekend?"
"Well…it was kind of a spur of the moment thing,
and anyway, I didn’t think about it."
"He uses all his brains for playing
football," Jack joked. "He doesn’t have any left for anything
else."
"Hey!" Tommy glared at Jack.
"Of course he has brains for other things,"
Dawn corrected Jack.
"Thank you. At least somebody can acknowledge
that."
"Yes. You think about food, too."
"And about making out under the bleachers,"
Fabrizio commented. "Don’t forget that."
Both Tommy and Dawn turned bright red at the comment.
The others laughed, pounding on the table with glee.
"Tell," Paola demanded. "Come on. I
want to hear it."
"Well…uh…we cut class and wanted some private
time together, and the bleachers are the best spot. Unfortunately, the security
guards know that, too, and they caught us and hauled us down to the discipline
office. Of course, somebody told, and pretty soon everyone knew."
"Not everyone," Dawn told him. "I think
a couple of people didn’t hear about it. Besides, we weren’t doing anything
except kissing. There wasn’t anything…else…going on."
Rose giggled, looking at Dawn’s red face.
"Shut up!" Dawn demanded, glaring at her.
"I didn’t say anything."
"Like you can talk. You and Jack were all over
each other last night, at least until my mom made you leave the guys’ hotel
room."
Now it was Rose’s turn to turn red. She stuck her
tongue out at Dawn, then turned to Jack, who was laughing.
"Shut up!" she demanded, punching him in the
arm.
"Ow!" Jack gave her a look of mock pain,
clutching his arm exaggeratedly.
"You big baby. You’re not hurt." She grabbed
his arm. "Look. Not a bruise in sight."
"Ahem." Tommy decided to change the subject.
"So, Paola, what are you doing these days? Besides working at Mc Donald's,
I mean."
"Oh, the usual. School, work, things like
that."
"Are you still writing those fanfic
stories?"
She grimaced. "I wish. I don’t have time. One of
my friends wanted me to write a chapter of a story, and I didn’t have
time."
"That’s too bad. Mom says you’re a good
writer."
"Yeah, well, I don’t have much time. You know how
that goes." She looked at her watch. "Speaking of time, I have to get
back to work. My break is over."
"It was nice seeing you." She started to
leave, then turned back. "Why don’t you stop and visit before you go home?
Tomorrow morning, maybe? Don’t make us wait until we go to Canada again to see
you. Mom and Dad will be mad if you don’t stop by."
"I’ll try."
"You’d better!" Paola turned and headed back
to work, waving once before disappearing through the employees’ door.