"Yep. 53, The North Ridge Apartments," Kristen replied, "She's been living here all by herself since her sophomore year."
"Does she ever leave?" David asked.
"I have no idea," Kristen replied, "Not that I've seen. She must if she wants food... Unless she has it delivered or something."
They walked around the peeling white gate and towards the complex. Kristen squeezed his hand. "Thank you for doing this," she said, "Hopefully it'll bring Annalise out. I'm sure she'll be very happy."
"Hey, no problem," David said, "I'm looking forward to meeting her."
They approached the door. "Here it is," Kristen said, gesturing to the large silver "53" on the teal door.
David stood back. "Well, have at it," he said.
Kristen took a breath and knocked three times. "Annalise?" she called out, "It's me! I'm just here to to tell you that I got a B- on that Economics paper I was talking about before. I guess Pooperston doesn't hate me as much as I thought. Although he was pretty harsh on a lot of other kids in there. And I've got another math test tomorrow. So far there hasn't been any improvement in my past two tests, but I guess I'll just have to keep going to tutoring... even if that guy is a bit of a grump. Petey says I should just stick it out because at least I haven't got an F on my tests since I started. I still get D's though!"
She sighed. She suddenly noticed David standing behind her and remembered. "Oh, Anna, there's something else," she said, "You remember I've been telling you that I started dating this guy about two weeks ago? And how he's wonderful and amazing and everything? Well... he's here! I brought him here. To meet you."
Kristen stared at the door expectantly. Nothing happened. She sighed and glanced back at David. "I told you she wouldn't come out," she said, down-trodden, "It was worth a shot though, right?"
She began to turn away, but then heard the door handle jiggling. Kristen immediately turned back and rushed to the door. She saw Annalise's eye peek out. "You brought your boyfriend?" Annalise's voice floated out of the crack.
"Yes. Yes, I did!" Kristen said, ecstatic that Annalise was interested. Maybe she would come out after all. Kristen reached back, grabbed David's arm and pulled him forward. "Anna, this is David Leskov... my boyfriend. David, this is Annalise my--"
"No!"
Kristen and David both looked at the blue eye peering out of the dark crack, confused. "What?" Kristen asked.
"No. No! You can't! How could you!?" Annalise cried, "Just... just... stay away. STAY AWAY! I've told you! You... you MONSTER!"
"Anna, but..." Kristen began.
"No! Don't. Just... don't," Annalise said, and she slammed the door in their faces.
Kristen and David stared at the door, shocked. "She... she called me a monster," Kristen said quietly.
"I'm sure she didn't mean that," David said.
"Why would she get so upset like that?" Kristen asked, barely registering his words.
"I don't know. Maybe she was just having a bad day," David suggested.
"I mean, she hasn't always been super receptive to me, but she's never been so..." she felt her eyes begin to sting and suddenly felt a bit nauseous, "I have to go."
Kristen turned and ran, hot tears burning in her eyes, ignoring David's calls after her.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Jonathan sat at the desk, drumming his fingers and staring at the clock. Late again as usual. Would this be a common habit of hers?
The door suddenly burst open, making Jonathan jump slightly and Kristen ran inside. Jonathan could clearly see her eyes were red and puffy as though she had been crying. Uh-oh. She sat down beside him and began to fumble with her backpack.
"Sorry I'm late," she said quickly as she began pulling things out of her backpack, setting up for tutoring "I had a little trouble this morning and I lost track of time."
"Are... you alright?" Jonathan asked.
"Yes! Of course I'm alright! Why wouldn't I be alright?" Kristen asked.
"Well you did just hand me a tube of lipstick, and pulled out your Economics book instead of your math book," Jonathan responded.
Kristen grabbed the lipstick and swapped it for a pencil, then began digging in her backpack once more.
"Did... something happen with David?" Jonathan wondered cautiously.
"No. No, everything's fine with David," Kristen said. Then she threw her backpack down and buried her face in her hands, "I didn't bring my math book!"
She looked close to crying once more. Clearly she was not alright and Jonathan did not think it was over a math book.
He picked up her Economics book and stuck it back into her backpack. "Kristen, come on. I know just the thing to cheer you up."
Kristen looked through her hands. "What?" she asked, "But what about the math?"
"Forget about your math right now," Jonathan said, standing up, "The way you're acting right now, I don't even think you'd hear a word I'd try and teach you. Now come on."
Kristen wiped the back of her hand under her nose, sniffling. "O-okay," she said.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
"Here you go. Chocolate milkshake with extra whipped cream," Jonathan said, pushing a large cup towards Kristen.
Kristen took it as Jonathan sat down on the other side of the booth from her, holding his own cup. "Thanks," she said.
"I promise. The milkshakes here are guaranteed to put a smile on anyone's face," Jonathan said, "Go on. Try it."
Kristen took a long sip from her straw. As she swallowed the cold chocolatey goodness, she felt a small smile creep over her lips. She looked at Jonathan who was watching her expectantly.
"Well?" he asked.
"This is probably the best milkshake I've ever had in my life," Kristen declared, and she went for another sip.
Jonathan grinned. "Didn't I say so?"
Kristen nodded, still drinking her milkshake. She finished off half the glass before she finally looked at Jonathan again. He was casually drinking his own, watching her.
She wiped her mouth. "Thank you again," she said, "I feel a lot better. Chocolate always helps."
He nodded. "No problem," he replied. He was silent for a moment. "So... you didn't have a fight with David or anything?" he asked hesitantly.
Kristen bit her lip. "No. Nothing with David. We're fine," she said, sighing, "It's my sister.
"Your sister?"
"Yeah. See, she lives all alone and I haven't seen her in over a year and a half and everyday I go and try to talk to her, but she hardly ever even opens the door, let alone acknowledges me. Anyways, I brought David with me today, hoping maybe she'd be happy for us and want to meet him. But she yelled at us and slammed the door in our faces."
Jonathan saw the sadness and hurt returning to Kristen's eyes and feared she might begin crying once more. He pushed her cup towards her, "Milkshake, milkshake."
She took another long drink and stared at the table. "She... she called me a monster," she said, going for another sip.
"You're not a monster," Jonathan told her.
Kristen looked up at him. "You know, that is probably the nicest thing you've ever said about me?"
The corner of Jonathan's mouth tweaked up. "Well I may be impossible, but I'm not stupid."
Kristen felt a blush coming on. She fought it back and quickly said, "Well obviously not. You're a tutor."
"Being a tutor doesn't mean you're smart," Jonathan said.
Kristen furrowed her brow. "Sure it does. You'd have to be in order to teach someone how to do something."
"Okay, it might mean you're like book-smart, " Jonathan said, "But are you life-smart?"
"Life-smart? Is that even a word?" Kristen asked, smiling slightly.
"It is now. Don't mock me while I'm trying to be deep," Jonathan retorted, holding back his own smile, "There are lots of different types of smart. Smart with books, smart in life, smart with people. You're lucky if you find someone who is smart in all areas. No one is. If you find someone who is, they're probably a fake."
Kristen nodded, her mind trailing off to David momentarily. He was smart with people for sure, and in life. Was he with books? She remembered him saying something about barely being able to pass his classes, but he could have been exaggerating. Hmm... he must not be because otherwise he's have to be a fake like Jonathan said, right? Or else she was just lucky and actually did find the perfect guy.
She turned her focus back to Jonathan. "Well books are definitely my weakness, as you well know. Although I'm not sure if I'm all that smart in life either... or people... I'm a three package weakness!" she said, smiling, "What about you?"
Jonathan's face dropped slightly and he suddenly found an immense interest in staring at his milkshake. Kristen leaned forward on her elbows. "Come on, I know you're book-smart. You got a scholarship in math for crying out loud," she encouraged, "So it can't be that."
Jonathan finally looked up at her. "People," he mumbled.
"What?" Kristen asked.
"People," he said again, "I've never been good with people."
Kristen saw genuine hurt in his face. "That's okay," she said, "Lots of people aren't good with other people."
"No, when I say I'm not good with people, I mean people can barely stand to be in my presence for very long. I don't know what it is. They just avoid me, and I don't know... I guess it's just sort of turned me into, well... this," Jonathan said, gesturing to himself, "Only my roommate, Sam, has stuck with me through the years."
"He can't be the only friend you have," Kristen said.
"Yeah, actually," Jonathan said, staring coldly at his cup, "People don't like me."
"I like you."
Jonathan looked up at her and saw her smiling warmly at him. There was something about that smile, he could tell she meant it. She pushed his cup towards him. "Milkshake?"
He gave a half smile and took the cup. "Thanks," he said, and took a sip.
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