Chapter 4
Tuesday Water Polo practice at Harbor Jr/Sr High Pool- 3:35 pm
Joe and Noah were sitting out on the bleachers drying off from practice.
“That was bomb, man,” Noah said laughing.
“Yeah. Man.” Joe said out in a daze.
“Dude…” Noah asked. “Are you okay? Swallow a bit too much chlorine?”
“Funny” Joe said coming back. “Hey if you haven’t noticed Number 21 looked like he was checking you out! Opportunity?”
“Joe.” He said blankly. “Don’t get off topic, what did you do this time with Tea?”
“Whaa?”
Noah gave him his evil look.
“Okay, man. Okay. I kind of…. Checked her out openly.”
“God, man…”
“I know”
“She noticed, right?”
“Well I ended the convo with a lame joke.”
“Idiot, man. Idiot.”
They sat down.
“So Number 21 was checking me out?” Noah said looking for him.
“Hey, I thought we were talking about my problems?”
“I’m joking man, so what happened?”
“Well…”
“Wow, wait man. Chick swimming team..."
“So?”
“Milan’s on the team.”
“And?”
“Who is Milan’s best friend since the crib?”
“Das?”
“Think harder” he said annoyed.
Joe looked puzzled.
“If its not Flash, Jorge or Geffen, who else is left?”
“…. Tea.”
“Yes?”
Joe turned around and saw her walking past them. She sat down by Noah.
“Hey Noah!” she said hugging him.
“Tea! We were just talking about you!”
Joe nudged his elbow into Noah’s rib.
“Good things, I hope.” Tea smiled. “Joseph! I got the band an awesome gig!”
“Yeah?” Joe said pretending like things were back to normal.
“Yeah!! Its at Underground Jungle”
“You mean that hot new club?” Noah said with excitement.
“Yeah I know” Tea said squealing and talking to about it with Noah.
Joe sat there.
“Yeah, so I talked to Nicholas in my homeroom and I called Paul… I mean Kevin and they were totally for it! Bomb huh?”
“Yeah.” He answered but Tea didn’t hear. She was too busy talking to Noah to hear.
“For sure, No! I’ll get you on the regulars and the VIP list. The owner and I are totally cool and he’s single…” she hinted.
“Name?”
“Jeffrey Keith”
“Age?”
“19, but he pretends he’s twenty. He looks kind of like…. Joseph really!”
Joe’s ears perked up.
“I am so in!” Noah said smiling.
“Sweet!” Tea said. “So, I’ll call the manager and tell him you guys are in and try and schedule in a date for Noah-Bear!”
“I told you not to call me that. Cute bathing suit by the way… Dior?”
“Pshaww” she scoffed. “More like the Victoria’s Secret 2007 swim line!”
“Mommy, take you shopping?”
“With Daddy’s credit card!”
They both laughed.
Joe looked at them blankly.
“Wow! Time to go guys. I have to go all through the campus to… yeah, see you guys later!”
“Bye!”
“Yeah, bye” Joe said.
“Joe…” Noah warned.
“Whaa?”
“I saw you! You are in love, man.”
“What? Come on!”
Noah flashed his evil look again.
“Man, if you keep doing that I’m going to have to spill everything, aren’t I?”
Noah kept looking at him.
“OKAY!” he said giving up. “I like Tea.”
Noah kept on.
“I LOVE HER!” he yelled. “I love her, kay?”
“So why didn’t you say anything before?” Noah asked.
“Well, Noah it’s kind of hard to tell your best friend you’ve been in love with them for ten years.”
“That is true…” he answered. “But you’ve never tried?”
“Well…” Joe said exasperated. “See, I would try, but then a girl would come into my life and I would forget about Tea, but I would always compare that girl to Tea at times, and then she would break up with me or I would break it with her… just excuses.”
“Ah… the old replacement routine.” Noah said stealing a frappucino from the Starbucks carton the coach brought the team.
“You know what? I’m just going to ask her out! I don’t care if I’m scared out of my wits! It never stopped me with another girl!”
“Uh, Joe…” Noah said walking out the pool area with him. “Before you decide to ask her out I’ve got to tell you about something… well someone…”
“What?” Joe asked.
“Well the fact is ---”
