School, again, was very slow that morning. Aside from the occasional glare, Jim ignored Rick at school. He did notice that Rick seemed to be talking more with one of the cheerleading clones he'd been chasing for a while, but Jim no real attention to that, either.
At lunch, though, Rick came and sat next to Jim immediately.
"What do you want, now," Jim asked curtly.
"Just wanted to see how my best friend is doing," Rick replied.
"I can't believe you did that to me this morning. Not only the aggravation of not knowing if I was going to be able to come to school, but my mom heard my voice, and walked in on me practically naked! Stop laughing, it wasn't funny!"
With some difficulty, Rick got himself under control, and said, "I'm sorry, really. But you've got to admit that you'd have found it funny, too, if it wasn't you."
Jim went to leave, but Rick grabbed his shoulder, and said, "Alright. I'm sorry. I won't laugh about it anymore."
"And you won't bring Kim around without talking to me again?"
"Dude! I wouldn't do anything like that to you," Rick assured him.
"Then why did that happen, this morning?"
"I don't know." Seeing Jim's skeptical expression, he continued, "Really. I've no idea. But I'll look into it, and see if I can figure it out."
Jim still wasn't sure he believed him, but he knew that that was the best he was going to get. "Fine. So what's going on?"
"Well, I finally got that cheerleader, Brandi, to agree to go out with me, but there's one condition. I had mentioned Kim & Beth, and being friends with them, and the condition is that it has to be a double date with the two of you."
"What?! Why the heck would she care about us?"
"I don't know. But can you do it? I'd owe you a huge favor."
As he considered what that favor could mean, he realized it could get rid of some serious hassles for him and Rebecca. But he didn't let that show, just saying, noncommittally, "I'll see what Beth thinks about it. What did you have in mind?"
"An early movie, then dinner, on Saturday," Rick revealed.
"What's the movie?"
"Some romantic comedy Brandi wants to see. I forget what it's called."
"Alright," Jim said, "I'll see what I can do."
