Chapter Twenty-Two: Bridget:

And there she was. Bridget Marie Tucker. She waved frantically at me when she saw me. Whoa! How long has it been since I last saw her? Too long. What do I remember about Bridget? Crooked teeth, long bright orange pigtails, short, stumpy legs, nose always looked so red, freckles, and spoke with a lisp. I think I might have the lisp part mixed up with someone else. I try not to think of those things because I will make myself feel old again.

“Is that who I think it is?” she asked.

“Yeah,” I said. Bridget came running towards me. I don’t know what to say to her. We were never that close. Even back then I didn’t know what to say to her. I didn’t think that she would even remember me. I would find out what would happen when she came up to us.

“Hello!” she said.

“Uh… hi,” I said. The conversation already died. Well, she looked a little bit different. The orange hair was back in a ponytail. She still came up to my chest. Still had the stumpy legs and freckles. Bridget is now wearing black-framed glasses. Her nose looked slightly pink and… are those braces?

“How’s your dad?” mom asked. Bridget looked past me as she perked up.

“Fine,” she said. “He’s got another girlfriend now.”

“Oh really? What happened to what’s her name?” mom asked.

“They broke up,” Bridget said without missing a point. I just stood off to the side, looking awkward. Now I started to remember a little bit more about her. She had this weird way of charming all of the adults in our town. Bridget would easily be talking to the teachers and our parents. We never figured out how she did it. I doubt that she would tell us anyway.

It was then I noticed mom and Bridget staring at me. I tilted my head.

“What?” I asked.

“And how have you been doing?” Bridget asked.

“Not so good,” I said. Why was I telling her this? I had no idea.

“Aw, what happened?” she asked. I rubbed the back of my head.

“I got fired and lost my apartment because my landlord is on the run from the law,” I muttered really fast. I noticed mom staring at me with a shocked look on her face.

“What?” I asked. “Didn’t I tell you any of this?”

“Not the part about your landlord being on the run. What did he do?” mom said. I sighed and threw back my head. Whoops. Oh boy.

“We’ll talk about it when we get home,” I said. Mom put her hands on her hips.

“Nathan!” she said.

“We’ll talk about it when we get home,” I said again. “We have to get the groceries into the car now. We bought ice cream, remember?”

“Nathan don’t try to change the subject,” she said. Bridget was just looking between us.

“Um… I don’t want to hold anyone up here,” she said.

“You’re fine,” mom said. I sighed and rolled my eyes.

“Please give me the keys,” I said. I walked over and tried to take the keys out of my mom’s pocket. She started to push me off.

“Nathan!” mom shouted.

“Can we please go now?” I asked. “I don’t want to talk about my criminal former landlord. Please?” Mom stared at me for a tense moment.

“Please?” I asked. I couldn’t ignore Bridget staring at us. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see that she wasn’t sure if she should stay or if she should go. I could tell that she was slowly backing away as well.

“Fine,” Mom said. “We’ll talk at him.” I breathed out and bowed my head.

“Thank you so much,” I said. I managed to get the keys out of her pocket and unlock the trunk. I started to pack away the groceries. I looked over at Bridget. She had backed away half way from mom’s car.

“Well, it’s been nice talking to you,” I said.

“See you around?” she asked.

“I don’t know,” I said.

“Hey, why don’t you come by our home this evening?” mom suggested. “We’re going to be cooking an eggplant casserole this evening.” I whipped my head around. I should’ve known that she would do this. This is her way of retaliating against me. I’m also remembering many a night that Bridget would eat dinner at our house because mom would invite her over for some strange reason. Bridget broke into a huge grin, showing off her braces.

“Glad to,” she said.

“Great! See you at six!” mom said. She got into the driver’s side of the car. I rolled my eyes as I got into the car as well. She pulled out of the parking lot. Here we go again.