The two of them sat there for some time, not saying anything. Eventually, Becky sat back up, picked up the controller, and resumed the game. The two friends played in relative quiet for a while, the normal taunt and victory whoops kept down to a few disappointed moans and diabolical snickers. But their thoughts kept drifting away from the game, and neither one could fully concentrate. When the round ended, Becky and Andrew put down their controllers and waited for the other one to say something.
It was Andrew who finally broke the silence. "Um, stop me if this makes you uncomfortable," he said, more than a little nervousness in his voice. "But...what was that all about?"
"You mean 'was there any subtext?'" Becky asked. Andrew nodded. She shook her head. "I don't think so, no. I just...I needed to get a grip, was all."
"Gotcha," Andrew said. "It just seemed kinda..."
Becky nodded. "Yeah, I suppose it did," she said. "Maybe it kind of was, I dunno. Like I've said, I'm still trying to figure this whole thing out. But I've never really been good at sorting out my feelings. We're friends, I can tell you that, but as far as being anything else...we'll just have to wait and see."
"This must be pretty hard, I guess," Andrew offered. It seemed like kind of a stupid thing to say, but he couldn't think of anything better. Becky shrugged. "Well...having to get my act together isn't so bad, it's having to do it in front of everybody else. I think I can get this all figured out, it's just going to be awkward being around other people until I do."
"That...really sucks," said Andrew, who was mentally crowning himself King of the Stupid Responses. "I'm sorry you have to go through this."
Becky smiled, and Andrew's spirits lifted. "Thanks," she replied. "But don't worry about me. I'll be okay, it just might be a bit of a rough start." She glanced up at the clock. "Oh, we're probably doing dinner before too long here."
"All right," Andrew. "I'll...I'll talk to Jason about this."
Becky's face turned serious again. "No," she said, "please don't. I appreciate it, but I'm gonna have to learn how to handle these kinds of things myself. And I don't want to have any fallings-out on my account, if it can be avoided."
Andrew nodded, and she went back to smiling. "Okay," she said, "see you tomorrow!"
Becky's house being nearby, she got home with time to spare. Her mom was cooking dinner, chicken marinated in white wine and garlic, a favorite of Becky's "Hi, Mom!" she greeted. "Need a hand with anything?"
Her mother stared off into space for a moment, a blissful smile on her face, before noticing her daughter. "Oh!" she said, snapping back to the reality. "Sorry, I was a little distracted. Um, if you could set the table and get the milk out, that'd be great; I think I've got everything else taken care of." Becky nodded, and Karen returned to absent-mindedly fluffing the rice. Becky wasn't sure what she was thinking about, but she sure didseem distracted. She got the dishes set out on the table and got the milk, then sat down to read for a few minutes before it was time to eat.
Dinner was interesting. Becky's dad was even more distracted than her mom, and neither of them heard her the first couple times she mentioned the sleepover she'd been invited to. Jenny, on the other hand, seemed like a barely-contained bundle of hyperactive excitement, like she had something she really wanted to talk about but wasn't saying anything for some reason. Becky thought that maybe this was one of those days when, for whatever reason, she was more together than the rest of her family.
