How Boys Think

Lesson #8: Sometimes You've Got To Bend Before You Break

Saturday morning found me sitting at the breakfast table, a bowl of bran flakes, bananas and raisins in front of me. I spooned some cereal into my mouth and looked over at Ross, who was in the kitchen cooking up a storm. He was making himself this gourmet three cheese omelet with green bell peppers and was frying up some potatoes to go with it. It all smelled delicious from where I was sitting and put my now homely seeming bowl of cereal to shame. And I thought I'd been being snazzy adding the bananas and raisins.

"Seriously, do you have to play Master Chef today? You're making my breakfast seem pathetic." I complained, swallowing a giant spoonful.

He glanced over his shoulder at me grinning. "Do you want some, Mina?" He asked me sweetly. "I'd be more than happy to make you a plate."

I scowled at him. "No thank you. It's a bunch of grease and fat anyway."

He shrugged and turned around. "Don't be bitter, Mina Beana. It's not my fault I'm culinarily gifted."

I scoffed. "Culinarily gifted my arse. You just like to over-do things."

He sat across from me at the table with his plate. "Jealousy is an ugly emotion, Mina."

I opened my mouth to reply just as my phone vibrated in my back pocket. I shifted in my seat to retrieve it.

"Who's that?" Ross asked me, through a mouth full of potato and egg.

I could feel a dopey smile forming on my lips. "It's Christian. He says he's picking me up for rehearsal."

Ross rolled his eyes. "Honestly, Mina, you'd think the guy walked on water the way you are about him."

"Eat your food!" I snapped at him and he laughed.

"What time are you getting back?"

I shrugged. "Je ne sais pas. I don't know. We might hang out a bit after. Go see a movie or something. You should come."

"And go see you and Jesus make out all day long? I don't think so." He went back to eating his breakfast and I reached across the table and plucked him in the forehead, hard. "Ow! Hey!"

"I resent that," I said, standing up with my now empty bowl.

"You can resent it all you like, it's still true," He said, rubbing his forehead. "That hurt, Mina."

"My heart's bleeding, Ross." I put my dishes in the sink and ran some water into the bowl. "I'm going to go get dressed. Maybe when I get back we can play Soul Caliber or something?"

He grinned at me. "If you want me to kick your butt, sure."

I ruffled his hair as I walked past him again to get to the stairs. "I don't know what you been smoking, brother-boy, but that shit's messing with your mind. You're going down."

I practically skipped up the stairs to my room and threw open my closet. I pulled out some dark-washed jeans a Columbia Lions sweatshirt and my low-tops and dressed quickly. I pulled my hair up into a messy pony-tail and added some eye-liner and mascara before pocketing my lip balm.

I always went extremely casual to rehearsals; it was important for me to be comfortable if I was going to be standing around on the stage for three to four hours. I tilted my head as I studied my reflection in the mirror. You'd think that since I'd finally gotten a boyfriend, I'd feel the need to dress up a little, but I didn't. This was me, the me Christian had asked out, the me Christian had kissed. The me I was completely fine with. I smiled at myself in the mirror and the doorbell rang.

"Ross! Get that, will you?" I yelled from my room. I quickly grabbed my messenger bag, made sure my script, a water bottle and my wallet was in it and raced down the stairs, stumbling and almost falling as I got to the last one. 

Ross rolled his eyes at me. He had let Christian in and I flushed a tiny bit at the fact that my fumble had had an audience. "Say nothing," I warned them both, turning my best Glare of Doom on them.

Christian grinned and held his hands up in surrender. "I wasn't going to."

Ross yanked on the end of my pony-tail as he went past. "I was." I swatted at him, but he swung out of the way. "You kids have fun."