Fangirl

dark hair and blue smudges in the moonlight.…
    And then it was just Cath out on the quad. Cath and about a hundred trees that she never noticed during the daytime. The library lights switched off behind her; her shadow disappeared.
    Cath sighed and got out her phone—she had two texts from Abel; she ignored them—then dialed her room, hoping her roommate wasn’t asleep.
    “Hello?” Reagan answered on the third ring. There was music in the background.
    “It’s Cath.”
    “Well, hello, Cath, how was your date?”
    “It wasn’t—Look, I’m just gonna walk home. I’ll be fast. I’m already walking.”
    “Levi left as soon as the phone rang. You may as well wait for him.”
    “He doesn’t have to—”
    “It’ll be a bigger hassle if he can’t find you.”
    “Okay,” Cath said, giving in. “Thanks, I guess.”
    Reagan hung up.
    Cath stood next to a lamppost, so he’d see her, and tried to look like the huntsman, not the little girl with the basket. Levi showed up long before she expected him to, jogging down the pathway. Even his jogging looked laid-back.
    She started walking toward him, thinking she’d save him at least a few steps.
    “Catherine,” he said, stopping when they met and turning to walk with her. “In one piece, even.”
    “That,” she said, “isn’t even my name.”
    “Just Cather, huh?”
    “Just Cath.”
    “Did you get lost in the library?”
    “No.”
    “I always get lost in the library,” he said, “no matter how many times I go. In fact, I think I get lost there more, the more that I go. Like it’s getting to know me and revealing new passages.”
    “You spend a lot of time in the library?”
    “I do, actually.”
    “How is that possible when you’re always in my room?”
    “Where do you think I sleep?” he asked. And when she looked at him, he was grinning.
     
    Simon curled on his bed like a wounded unicorn foal, holding the torn piece of green velvet to his tear-stained face.
    “Are you okay?” Basil asked. You could tell he didn’t want to ask. You could tell he found it quite distasteful to speak to his longtime enemy.
    “Leave me alone,” Simon spat, choking on his tears and hating Basil even more than usual. “She was my mother.”
    Basil frowned. He narrowed his smoky grey eyes and folded his arms, like he was forcing himself to keep standing there. Like what he really wanted to do was throw another sneezing spell at Simon.
    “I know,” Basil said almost angrily. “I know what you’re going through. I lost my mother, too.”
    Simon wiped his snotty nose on the sleeve of his jacket and slowly sat up, his eyes as wide and blue as the Eighth Sea. Was Basil lying? That would be just like him, the prat.

    —from “Friends for Life—and After,” posted August 2006 by FanFixx.net authors Magicath and Wrenegade

 
    SIX
    “Dad? Call me.”
    ___
    “It’s Cath again. Call me.”
    ___
    “Dad, stop ignoring my voice mail. Do you listen to your voice mail? Do you know how? Even if you don’t, I know you can see my number in your missed calls. Call me back, okay?”
    ___
    “Dad. Call me. Or call Wren. No, call me. I’m worried about you. I don’t like worrying about you.”
    ___
    “Don’t make me call the neighbors. They’ll come check on you, and you don’t speak any Spanish, and it’ll be embarrassing.”
    ___
    “Dad?”
    “Hey, Cath.”
    “ Dad. Why haven’t you called me? I left you a million messages.”
    “You left me too many messages. You shouldn’t be calling me or even thinking about me. You’re in college now. Move on.”
    “It’s just school, Dad. It’s not like we have irreconcilable differences.”
    “Honey, I’ve watched a lot of 90210. The parents weren’t even on the show once Brandon and Brenda went to college. This is your time—you’re supposed to be going to frat parties and getting back together with Dylan.”
    “Why does everybody want me to go to frat parties?”
    “Who wants you to go to frat parties? I was just kidding. Don’t hang out with frat guys, Cath, they’re terrible. All they do is get drunk and watch 90210. ”
    “Dad, how are you?”
    “I’m fine, honey.”
    “Are you lonely?”
    “Yes.”
    “Are you eating?”
    “Yes.”
    “What are you eating?”
    “Nutritious food.”
    “What did you eat today? No lying. ”
    “Something ingenious I discovered at QuikTrip: It’s a sausage wrapped in a pancake, then cooked to perfection on a hot dog roller—”
    “Dad.”
    “Come