"Look at this." Frankie Bosworth took his seat and read the results of The Bugle's List. "Got to see my name in it." His eyes went straight to his name in the list.
12. The Loser Dude - Frankie Bosworth
"What the fuck?!" He almost fell off the chair. "Loser dude? This is a piece of crap!"
"Hey! Your name is surely in, Frankie," Alas teased. "Frankie Bosworth, the loser dude."
"Why am I the loser dude, huh? Let me ask those freaking, shower sneaking losers. What the fuck!"
"Calm down. They got nothing to do with what people think of you. These kids around you voted you. Sue them," Ray Carter said. "I bet my left nut that they got you in that list because of Missy. They knew what happened. And, at Douglas' party last time, she broke up with you again. Frankie, that's twice in a row now."
"You can say that because you are voted as 'Fram Hill High's Cutest Couple' with the Stiff. Ridiculous! You two, a couple? That's just... I don't know... eww?"
"What happened, man?" Alas asked, sipping his strawberry soda and expecting an explanation from Ray.
Ray only nonchalantly shrugged. "I don't know. Who cares?" Toying with the cheese sandwich on his plate, he watched Dan approach their table of four.
"Ray! You surprised me. You and Lily McQueen." Dan took a seat beside Ray, tapping his friend's shoulder.
"No, dude. It's nothing. It's just a piece of crap. Right, Frankie?" Ray couldn't understand what all the fuss was about. He and the Stiff as "Fram Hill High's Cutest Couple"? He didn't really care. It was all fluff--all those prettiest, smartest, and cutest in that piece of paper were all considered teenage fads. No biggie.
The weird part, he must admit, was how he ended up with the Stiff in it.
He took her to Nickel Penny that one afternoon and had a pretty good conversation with her. Just one afternoon he should insist. Everything was friendly. During their conversation, short as it actually was, he learned that she was biracial, half-Asian to be specific. He also learned that while she still had her mom, a popular newspaper writer in the big city, she no longer had her dad around anymore. She lost him in a car accident when she was only ten years old.
Contrary to being the infamous Stiff, Lily McQueen seemed to be a carefree teenager. She was easy to talk to. Surprisingly. Awkward at times yet natural.
Ray realized that she had been through a lot already for someone her age. He just knew that as fact. Her eyes told him so. The way she spoke. Even the manner she tucked her hair behind her elfin ear. There was sadness there, he was sure. He saw it, small and vague it might be, but undeniably a certain charm, a shyness, a hesitation all mixed together to build a wall.
He felt good about her--she was a good person.
The least he could do was to be nice to her. And what better way to be nice to her than to know what she likes?
Of all the things he found out about the "plain and stiff" Lily McQueen that afternoon at Nickel Penny, the funniest was her apparent dislike for lychee.
Man, he likes lychee.
Trying to avoid the issue about Lily, he asked about Dan's girlfriend instead. "How about Sophie? Has she seen the List? She is pretty popular on campus."
"Better her than the Stiff!" Frankie interjected but earned a punch to the arm from Alas. "Ouch! What's that for?"
Shaking his head, Alas said, "You obviously hate the Stiff."
"I don't know her enough to hate her, okay? I just hate this loser dude thing."
Alas chuckled, "Right... sore loser."
Dan replied, "Oh, Sophie? She's fine. She got a copy of the List earlier," but noticed Alas was suddenly uncomfortable and seemed to avoid looking at someone in the room. He searched around and saw Missy, chatting with her friends but obviously was looking over at his friends' table, at him and his friends.
He understood why and faced Alas, "You know what? You and Frankie have this long-standing, weird drama over Missy. Come on. It's been what? Two years? Alas, you gotta let it go and you, Frankie, you got to stop chasing after her. It's pretty clear that she's just playing with the two of you."
"Yes, mom," Alas lazily replied. "You should do the same." He was talking to Frankie.
Getting in the defensive, Frankie held both his hands up. "Man, I like her."
"You like getting laid," Ray corrected him, with a grin on his face. "And Alas, Danny Boy is right. You gotta let it go. Two years and you only had one girlfriend. That's not fun."
This time, it was Alas' turn to hold his hands up. "I give up. Fine! I'll try to date other girls and you," he was talking to Frankie again. "Try to keep it in your pants this time. You may be my best friend since we were little boys but, if you try to steal a girl from me again, I will let my dog bite you. No kidding."
Slumped in his chair, Frankie shrugged and ate what he called his "mature" sandwich. He felt like he was the butt of jokes that day.
The group was silent for a few moments--Frankie was eating; Alas was drinking his soda; Ray was staring at nothing, and Dan was fumbling for his phone when it began ringing. Ryan Adam's "1974" as the ringtone.
"Hello," Dan answered. "Oh, Sophie. I'm fine. You? I'm with the boys." He went on talking to his girlfriend for four minutes before hanging up. "Sophie wanted to say hi to you guys. She said she misses you three."
"That's nice of her. I miss her too. The best thing about Sophie," Frankie said.
Both Ray and Alas nodded in agreement.
"She also said congratulations to you, Ray. She was surprised, really."
"Nothing to congratulate me for, buddy. I hope she didn't ask about how I ended up with the Stiff, yeah?"
With a small laugh, Dan replied, "No, she didn't but she is happy it's Lily McQueen. She said the girl is pretty."
That just about did it for Frankie. "Pretty? The Stiff is pretty? There's something wrong with Sophie, man."
"You're hopeless, Frankie. Stop the hate campaign," Ray disapproved, standing up. "I need to go to the library and be done with a Pee-Sick tutorial session. Dan, you done with your sandwich? If not, give it to crabby Frankie here. He eats a lot when he's being a loser."
"Hey!" Frankie protested with his mouth full, spitting food in the process.
Dan reached out and wiped Frankie's mouth clean with a tissue and followed after Ray. His bag with him, he said, "Yeah. Let's go."
"Au revoir, assholes!" Ray gave the bird to both Alas and a grumpy Frankie.
***