rated *
Let’s See Where This Is Going
by Amber
At lunch, Honey may have missed Trixie and Di’s exchange, but Dan didn’t. He had no time to wonder about it, though. He had to think of something he and Trixie could do. True, this wouldn’t be the first time since that party that they had hung out, but they wouldn’t be doing homework this time.
Dan went to Trixie’s locker after school. “What do you want to do?” she asked him.
“I don’t know. Do you have any ideas?” She shook her head. “Wimpy’s?” he suggested.
She shook her head again. “That’s probably where Di and Mart are going. I don’t want to feel like I’m horning in on their celebration, you know?” She glanced at him from the corner of her eye.
Dan nodded. It made sense to him.
“How about a cook out at my house, then we go for a walk?”
Dan smiled. People around were a great thing, highly underrated in his opinion. He was afraid she would suggest something where they were completely alone. Well, she had mentioned a walk, but that was through the woods.
“I think that would be fun,” he told Trixie.
On the ride home, Mart asked Honey, “Why does your mother desire to go into the bustling metropolis? Didn’t she just go last weekend?”
“Um,” Honey stammered. “She wants me to go shopping with her.” That was at least partly true, so she didn’t feel so bad about lying.
“Honey?” Trixie asked. “What’s the rest of it? I know you aren’t telling us something.”
“She wants to visit Jim at college,” Honey answered in a whispered rush.
“I’m glad she wants to,” Trixie replied. “But why didn’t you just tell us that to begin with?” Trixie sounded genuinely puzzled.
“I didn’t want to make you feel bad,” Honey replied.
“I don’t feel bad. I’m okay, Honey.”
Di gave Trixie a quick knowing glance.
Wonder what that was about, thought Dan. The girls would probably be embarrassed if they knew how much Dan knew. He even knew who should switch to thong underwear because of the regular kind riding up. He shrugged. Maybe I’ll find out later.
When Dan got home, he saw Mr. Maypenny.
“Do you kids have any plans tonight, Danny?”
“Honey’s going into the city with her mother, Mart and Di are going out, and Trixie invited me over for dinner. I thought I’d visit Uncle Bill afterwards.”
Mr. Maypenny nodded in approval. “Fine way for you to spend a Friday night. Just don’t get back here so late you won’t get up in the morning for your chores.”
“Yes, sir,” Dan said, taking his school stuff to his room to get his homework out of the way.
It only took him about an hour to do his homework. He decided to take a shower and head on over to Crabapple Farm a little early.
Trixie answered the door. “We’re just getting ready to go out back,” she said inviting him in.
Dan smiled. “Guess I’m right on time. I was afraid I’d be too early.”
Trixie smiled back. “You could never be too early. You’re always welcome here. You know that, right?”
As they were walking through the house to the backyard, Dan looked at Trixie. He thought she looked very pretty, beautiful actually, but, of course, he could never tell her that.
“Hi, Mr. and Mrs. Belden. Thanks for having me over,” Dan greeted Trixie’s parents.
“Hi, Dan,” Moms said warmly. “We love having you here.”
Mr. Belden shook Dan’s hand. “We really do.”
“Hiya, Bobby,” Dan said, catching sight of Trixie’s little brother.
“Danny!” Bobby yelled, running up to Dan. “Are you staying for dinner?”
“I sure am,” Dan assured the young boy.
“Daddy’s making hamburgers and Moms made a lot of stuff and Trixie helped! I did too!” Bobby was very excited.
Dan laughed and caught Trixie’s eye. He smiled so she wouldn’t feel annoyed about Bobby’s attention towards him.
“What a good helper you must be,” Dan congratulated Bobby.
“Trixie,” called Moms. “Come get the plates and things and set the table, please. Bobby, come help me in the kitchen.”
“Okay, Moms.” Bobby was glad to be Moms’ special helper.
Dan helped Trixie set the table. “Thanks,” she said softly.
“No problem. I don’t mind working for my meal,” he assured her, lightly. They looked at each other and laughed.
“It looks like Dad is almost done with the burgers. I’d better help Moms get the rest of the food out here.”
“I’ll go help your father.”
Trixie went into the kitchen and Dan walked over to the grill.
“Trixie sure is growing up. I’m glad she has you to listen to her. What with Jim and Brian gone, she needs that. Especially since she doesn’t like Mart too much right now. She says he’s smothering her,” Mr. Belden confided.
“Thank you, sir. She’s one of my best friends, you know.”
“Yes, she’s also your biggest supporter lately.”
Dan thought about this for a few minutes. Could it be…? Nah…
Dan took the plate of cooked burgers to the table at the same time Trixie was putting out potato salad and baked beans. She smiled at him. “Having fun?” she teased.
“Yeah, I am.”
“I’m glad. I can’t wait until we go for our walk, though. It will feel good to get away from Bobby for a little while.” She laughed.
Dan grinned. “Did he annoy you?”
“Like you wouldn’t believe,” she answered.
See? He thought. She’s happy to go for a walk with you so she can get away from Bobby. Dan felt his good mood slip away slightly with that thought.
“It’s ready!” Helen called.
Everyone grabbed plates and proceeded to fill them.
After dinner, Dan helped Trixie bring everything into the kitchen. Trixie tried to get him to go into the living room while she washed dishes, but he wouldn’t hear of it. “I helped make the mess; I’ll help clean it up. I do think your mom should look into paper plates and plastic utensils, though.”
Trixie started giggling. “I do, too,” she managed to say.
They got the left-overs put away and the kitchen cleaned up in less than a half hour. Trixie was just wiping the counters down when Moms came in. “Trixie, why don’t you go ahead with Dan and leave for your walk while Bobby’s occupied?”
“Thanks, Moms!” Trixie exclaimed.
Just then, the phone rang. “Trixie! It’s Jim for you!”
Dan felt his heart sink a bit. Even though he knew he and Trixie were just friends, he still enjoyed spending time with her. He didn’t like that Jim had to call right at that moment, almost as if he knew…
“Tell him I’m about to go out for a walk and I’ll call him back sometime, maybe tomorrow. Come on, Dan. Let’s go.”
“Whoa, Trixie,” Dan said laughing. “Grab your jacket first.”
Trixie grabbed her jacket with one hand and Dan’s hand with her other and almost dragged him outside. She stopped on the porch to put her jacket on. Dan finally had the freedom to put his on, too.
“Where should we walk?” Trixie asked.
“Come this way,” Dan said. “Let’s go see what Uncle Bill’s up to.”
“Okay,” Trixie agreed.
They walked to Regan’s apartment over the garage. Dan knocked on the door. “Who is it?” they heard.
“It’s Dan and Trixie, Uncle Bill.”
Regan could be heard muttering through the closed door. “Can’t believe they picked tonight of all nights to come over.”
A female laughed. “Oh, Bill. It’s okay. After hearing all about your nephew and his friends, I’d love to meet them actually.”
Dan and Trixie looked at each other, confused. Who was that woman, and how did she know them?
Regan finally opened the door. “What are you two doing here?”
“Just wanted to come see you, Uncle Bill.”
“Nice timing,” Regan muttered, stepping back to let them come in.
“Thanks for your hospitality,” Dan muttered back, sarcastically.
Trixie and the ‘mystery woman’ laughed.
Regan sat next to the woman. “That’s Dan and Trixie. I think you can tell who’s who. Dan, Trix, this is Lindsay.”
Trixie stepped forward. “Hi, nice to meet you.”
“Hi. Hope Uncle Bill isn’t bothering you,” Dan teased, shaking Lindsay’s hand.
“If he was, I wouldn’t be here,” she teased back.
Regan protested loudly that he never bothered anyone. Dan took a moment to study Lindsay. She was cute, with red hair, although not as dark as Regan’s or as bright as Jim’s.
Trixie had made a remark back to Regan, unheard by Dan. He just knew that Lindsay seemed nice. Lindsay might just be the woman for Uncle Bill, Dan found himself thinking.
During the next few minutes, Dan and Trixie learned a lot about Lindsay. She loved horses as much as Regan did, she loved being outdoors. She also loved children. When Trixie heard that, she said, “We’ll see how much you love them if you spend time with my younger brother.”
“Aww, Trix, Bobby’s not that bad,” Dan interjected.
“You don’t live with him,” she retorted.
“Now, Trix,” Regan said with a voice of reason, “you know he’s gotten much better the last couple of years.”
Even Trixie had to agree with that.
Lindsay laughed. “I believe her. I had one of those.”
Trixie enjoyed having someone on her side. “Had? How’d you lose him?”
Because Trixie had seen Lindsay’s grin, She knew Lindsay was teasing.
Lindsay laughed. “It was really quite easy for me. I avoided him until he grew up!”
Every laughed. Trixie said, “Too bad I can’t avoid Bobby for that long.”
They talked for a few more minutes, and then Dan pulled Trixie up from the floor. “We need to go on that walk Trixie promised me.”
“Ate at Crabapple Farm, didn’t you?” Regan said.
“Yeah, how could you tell?” Dan retorted.
Regan showed them out, and they left still laughing quietly.
Using the flashlight that Trixie had in her pocket, they walked into the preserve silently for about twenty minutes until they came to a clearing. Trixie sat down with her back against a tree and patted the spot beside her, inviting Dan to join her.
“Dan, I’ve been thinking,” she started as Dan sat down next to her. “I never really thanked you for being such a good friend when I needed you.” She blushed and looked down at her hands.
“Trix, you don’t need to thank me. I am your friend, and because I am, I’ll always be there for you, whenever you need me.”
Trixie’s eyes shone. “I do need to say this. I don’t know how you always seem to know, but you do. You know when not to push me. You know when to let me take care of myself and when to let me make my own decisions and mistakes. You just know. When I do make mistakes, you don’t lecture, you wait for me to come to you. I just want you to know how much that means to me.” Trixie leaned over and gave Dan a hug.
Dan hugged Trixie back quickly and let go to look her in the eye. Somehow, another one of those magical moments came that Dan just knew what Trixie was thinking. He leaned forward and kissed her lightly on the lips before he had time to think about it.
“How did you know?” Trixie smiled, softly.
“I just did,” Dan answered with a shrug. “But we do need to talk.”
“Are you going to tell me it was a mistake to kiss me?” Trixie asked.
“No. I just want to make sure I’m not a stand-in. For anyone. I’m here because you want me to be.”
“No worries about that, Dan. I talked to Di about how I feel. She told me I should really examine my feelings for you. So that’s why I asked you to help me with my homework. I wanted to make sure I felt the same way every time we were together. I know who I want. I want you,” Trixie concluded earnestly.
“I’m glad to hear you say that, but why have you been pining over Jim?”
“It was expected for us to be together. I heard about it so much that I convinced myself I wanted it, too. To be honest, after talking to you last time, I actually felt relieved that Jim wanted us to be apart, and that was when I thought you wanted to just be friends.”
“I can understand that. What gave you the idea of you and me together?”
“Something Di said. When I told her how I felt around you, she said that’s how it was between her and Mart. That’s when she told me to focus on my feelings, let them tell me what to do.”
Dan wrapped Trixie in a tight hug. “No one gives that girl enough credit. When it comes to the heart, she’s the smartest of us all.”
“Yes, she is.”
Dan finally kissed Trixie. She had been waiting for this kiss for what seemed like her whole life.
After a few minutes, the kiss ended.
“Wow,” Dan and Trixie said simultaneously.
They looked at each other and started to laugh.
“Do you think we could keep this quiet until I have a chance to talk to Honey about it?” Trixie asked timidly. She didn’t want Dan to think that she wanted to keep him a secret.
“I understand what you mean, and yes, we can. By the way, do you want to go with me to the school dance next weekend?”
Trixie found his abrupt change of subject hilarious. She couldn’t stop giggling, but managed to nod. Her laughter was contagious; Dan started laughing, too. That made Trixie’s giggles turn into full-blown laughter. Finally, stomachs hurting and eyes watering, they calmed. Dan walked Trixie home.
At Trixie’s door, Dan kissed her lightly and said, “Let me know how it goes.” He meant with Honey. He didn’t have to say it. She understood.
The next morning, after Trixie had cleaned up from breakfast, Di called and invited her over. Trixie asked Moms if she could go. Moms said yes as long as Trixie didn’t need anyone to drive her. Trixie assured her mother she could run.
In true Trixie style, she came through Diana’s bedroom door twenty minutes later, breathing heavily. “Okay,” she panted. “Tell me everything. No, not everything, but everything else. You know what I mean, right?” Diana promised.
After hearing Di’s story, Trixie told hers. She had so much fun watching Di’s expressions continuously change. Right as Trixie finished her story, the phone rang. “Good timing,” laughed Di as she answered it. Her face lost its expression. She said goodbye to the person on the phone and hung up.
“What’s wrong, Di?” Trixie wanted to know.
Di said two words. “Honey’s home.”
Dan was whistling his way through his morning chores. He was hoping that Trixie could talk to Honey and have her understand. He knew Honey wanted Trixie and Jim to get together, and that she wouldn’t be happy if they didn’t. Since he was finished working for the morning, he decided to go back to the cabin for breakfast. It was ten o’clock by then. Mr. Maypenny wasn’t there, but he’d left Dan a plate. Dan decided to eat slowly and not have lunch until about one or two.
It was a good thing he was eating slowly, because half an hour later, someone knocked hard on the door. He went to open it. Trixie collapsed in his arms, crying hysterically.
“Trix? What’s wrong?”
Trixie stopped crying after a few minutes. “Honey came home this morning. I was at Di’s when she called. I went to talk to her.”
“What happened?” Dan knew Trixie wouldn’t cry for no reason.
Earlier at Honey’s
Trixie knocked at Honey’s bedroom door. “Trixie, it’s a good thing you came over.”
“What’s wrong, Honey?”
“Jim had a date last night,” Honey said in a flat voice.
“Okay,” Trixie replied. “And?”
“Aren’t you hurt?” Honey asked.
“Truthfully? No, not really. I told you last week I was okay with Jim and me not being together. I thought you knew I was telling the truth.”
“Trixie, I thought you believed you were okay, but that this news would upset you.”
“I’m okay, really, Honey.”
“How can you be okay? I’m not okay with it! You and Jim were supposed to be like Brian and me! Together!!” Honey was very upset.
“Honey,” Trixie said, trying to calm her down. “We knew this would happen. I’m okay with it. You should be. I don’t think this is the right time to tell you this, but you know Dan and I hung out last night, right?”
Honey nodded.
“Well,” Trixie continued, “we had dinner at my house and then we went for a walk.”
“So what? You and Dan hang out a lot now.”
“Honey, we had a long talk during our walk. We decided to see where it goes.”
“Where what goes? I’m confused, Trixie.”
“We decided to see if we could be more than friends,” Trixie said gently.
“You decided not to, right? That’s what you meant to say.”
“No, Honey,” Trixie said softly. “We decided to try.”
“I can’t believe this!” Honey yelled. “How could you? You were supposed to wait for Jim!”
“What?” Trixie exclaimed. “You think I should sit at home and be miserable because Jim had a date? After I discovered I really liked Dan? That’s totally selfish, Honey.” Trixie was trying to get Honey to see reason.
“You think I’m selfish because I want my brother to be happy?”
“No, I think it’s selfish of you to want me to not go out and have fun with a guy I like because you want me to be with your brother. Because you think I should sit at home waiting for him to call when he’s going out with other girls.”
“I think I want you to leave,” Honey said, in a voice devoid of all emotion.
“Honey,” Trixie pleaded. “Don’t let this mess up our friendship.”
“I didn’t say that. I said I wanted you to leave. I need to think about this.”
Trixie’s eyes welled up with tears. “Okay, Honey. If that’s what you want.”
Trixie turned and ran out of Manor House. By the time she reached the woods, she was hiccupping from crying so hard. Trixie was sure that Honey would never talk to her after this. There was only one person she could talk to, so that’s where she went.
Dan was still holding Trixie. He started rubbing her back, murmuring soothingly. “It’s okay, Trixie. She probably wants time to think, just like she said.”
“You didn’t see her eyes, Dan. They were empty when she looked at me. She felt nothing.” Trixie was crying again.
“She was just on information overload, Trix. She just needs time to process it. When she does, she’ll apologize to you. I’m sure of it.”
“I hope you’re right, Dan. I couldn’t stand it if she didn’t want to be my friend anymore.” Dan kissed Trixie on the forehead. “Look at it this way. She was already upset about Jim dating, right?” Trixie nodded. Dan continued, “She was probably just upset that her plans for you and Jim were gone. It’s hard when you realize dreams may not come true.”
“You’re probably right. Thanks.” Trixie went into the kitchen to wash her face. When she was done, she wrapped her arms around Dan. She lifted her face and kissed him.
The End
Thanks to Kaye and Chelsea for editing, and thanks to Reganfan for all her advice.