Exploiting Realities

CHAPTER TWENTY - UNEXPECTED GUEST

I laughed. "Not when you say it in the middle of a conversation about cute guys!"

She glared at me.

"So what was that particularly interesting piece of information that you were talking about earlier?" I asked her.

Interrupting our conversation, Alec stormed over and sat between us on the bench swing.

"I'm gonna kill that kid," he said, flustered and furious. "Now he's got Riley all upset and blaming herself and now she's talking about doing her next semester of college online to save money and it's all because Will's being a baby about this whole thing. Who needs to go to math camp anyway? It's over the summer! No one wants to do math over the summer!"

"Will's a genius," I reminded him.

"Yeah," he said, "I know. But if he has an IQ of someone 10 years older than him, why is he acting like someone 10 years younger? He needs to grow up."

"Two days ago you were supporting Will," Lorelai told him.

"Well, that was before Riley was considering taking her classes from home. And before he started dating Miche. That's just crazy. So what were you guys talking about?"

"Mia's new boyfriend," Lorelai said giddily.

"She brought him home for Thanksgiving," I told him.

He raised an eyebrow. "Mia? Since when does she get into serious relationships?"

I shrugged. "Since she grew up, I guess."

"So she brought him home?" he asked.

"And he's hot!" Lorelai exclaimed.

Alec laughed. "Good to know."

"Wanna know something crazy?" Lorelai asked him.

"What?"

"Aria doesn't like food anymore."

He looked over at me like I had three heads. "What are you talking about?"

"The chemo is screwing up my tastebuds," I explained to him. "My tolerance for most foods is pretty low."

"But you eat everything!"

"Not anymore. Just limes, chicken, and lettuce. And water."

"Limes?" he asked, astonished.

"Straight limes," I confirmed. "And don't tell me that they taste like stomach bile. I've heard it enough times."

He laughed. "You took the words right out of my mouth. So how are you going to survive on a diet of that?"

"My mom said she's going to get me Pediasure or something like that, and I'm just going to have to force it down whether I like it or not."

"Isn't Pediasure for little kids?" he asked me.

"Usually it is, but it's supposed to fill in the gaps in my nutrition, so I'll take what I can get."

"Aria!" Mia shouted over from our deck. "Come in for dinner!"

I stood up. "Bye guys," I said, walking into my yard.

"You're still friends with Alec, I see," Mia stated disapprovingly when I joined her on the deck.

I shrugged. "He's a decent guy," I told her. Even if I wasn't really happy with him lately, he wasn't a bad person.

"So how's Dillon?" She asked me, emphasizing his name in contrast to Alec's.