⌜ chapter nine ⌟

"Mr. Feeny. Mr. Feeny!" Eric's yelling when Letty walks into the backyard at his house.

The brunette chuckles as the teacher's backdoor opens, and he walks outside. Rather than interrupting whatever's got Eric so worked up, she opts to wait so that she can talk to him after he's calmed down some. She has the next couple of days off from work, and she wants to know if he's free to go out and talk like they said they would last week.

"Mr. Matthews, what can I do for you?" Feeny asks as he takes the few steps toward the gate, a book in his hand.

"I got a problem. You're not out here gardening." Eric says. "You're not at school, you're not gardening. What are you doing?"

"I'm sorry." He holds a hand up. "I'm here now."

"Okay." He nods. "I've been selected to be on this MTV game show Singled Out. And I know they're gonna interview me before I go on the show, and I know they're gonna ask me what college I go to."

"You don't go to a college."

"Now, the one thing I don't wanna say is Harvard." He continues. "I mean, they're gonna know I don't go to Harvard. They're gonna think I'm so stupid because I don't know the name of some other prestigious school, so... I was wondering, could you just give me the name of the school you went to, you know, if it still exists?" Eric asks him.

"I won't do that, Mr. Matthews." Feeny shakes his head.

"Gone, huh?"

"I won't be a party to this deception. And my advice to you is to think long and hard about what you're doing." He tells him.

Letty's gaze drops to the ground as her eyebrows furrow; she's trying to keep her composure as she turns around and leaves the Matthews' house. She knows exactly what Singled Out is — it's a dating show that she used to make fun of. And now Eric's gonna be a contestant.

—

"The hell are you doing here?" Tyler asks when he finds his teenage roommate on the living room couch Saturday night. "I thought you were gonna ask your ex out on a date."

"I was."

"So, what happened?"

"He already has plans."

"And he didn't cancel? So much for being in love with you." He says sarcastically as he sits down beside her. "Is that why you're acting like a depressed teenager, sitting in the dark and watching crappy television?"

"I never asked him."

"Why not?"

"Because I didn't. Go away." She tries to push him off of the couch, to no avail.

"Welcome back to our special college edition of Singled Out. And once again, our professor of loveology, Chris Hardwick." The announcer says when the show starts on the tv.

"The hell are you watching?" Tyler questions.

"Alright, class, close your books because today we start our semester with fifty comely co-eds who will do anything to get to the head of the class." Chris Hardwick says. "But, of course, only one will graduate with honors and she's going to win a date with our big man on campus. Let's meet him, Mr. Eric Matthews!"

"Oh, you have got to be kidding me." He grabs the remote and shuts off the tv.

"Hey!" Letty yells as she tries to take the device back from him.

"No." He shakes his head as he stands up. "I am not letting my best friend's kid sister stoop to this level of pathetic."

"You're pathetic." She retorts lamely as she crosses her arms over her chest.

"Hey, let's have some ice cream. Girls do that when they're upset, right?" He asks as he gets up and starts for the kitchen, remote still in hand.

"I hate you."

"And that's the answer for what not to say to your boss." He says, mocking the game show host's voice, and she glares at him without getting up.

A little under half an hour later, Tyler leaves the kitchen to go to the bathroom, complaining that he can't find anything for dinner, and Letty then walks over to the tv. She uses the buttons there to turn the tv back on so that she can see how the show's going. The brunette sits on the wooden coffee table in front of the tv as she looks at Eric on the screen, and she hates to see all of the pretty college girls standing behind him. The host is gonna be asking questions, and the girls have to guess what Eric's answer is gonna be. If they get it wrong, they lose.

"Bad kissers: dump em' or train 'em?" Chris asks.

"Train 'em." Letty mumbles, and then Eric holds up a card with that answer.

"A guy who listens is sensitive or picturing you naked?"

"Sensitive."

"Well, this could be the final question here: Best way to wake up; steamy hot cocoa for two or steamy hot shower for two?"

"Cocoa." Letty smiles, remembering when she and Eric would get up early during the Winter when she still lived with them. Her smile widens and then turns sad when he gives the same answer, and she looks down because he just narrowed it down to the last girl in the contest.

The tv shuts off again.

"I hope you sanitized that remote."

"Do you feel better now?" Tyler asks. "You saw her."

"Pretty college girl — his age, blonde, not emotionally damaged like me." Letty looks at the black screen. "I hate college girls. I hate blondes."

"Do you hate emotionally stable people too?"

"Shut up."

"Get your ass up." He tells her. "We're going out."

"You're too old for me."

"Cute." Tyler says sarcastically. "Go change out of your sweats. You know, try and look a little less pathetic than you're pretending you are."

He then takes her to get frozen yogurt, claiming that dessert always tastes better when you have it before dinner. After that, the pair head down to Chubbie's to get burgers. They make it down the stairs, and then Tyler quickly turns around to look at her.

"You know, on second thought — why don't we go down to the bar and make Reggie cook for us?" He suggests, and Letty's eyebrows furrow as she looks at him.

"What? No, we're already here, and I didn't even wanna—" She stops when she sees Eric and the blonde from the game show sitting across from each other in one of the booths. They're smiling at each other as they talk, seeming to be having a good time. "It's completely my fault, you know? I told Eric that he should move on... I ruin everything good that ever comes into my life. I always have." She tells him, and he shakes his head. "I sabotaged myself."

"You do not ruin everything."

"He was asking me about everything last week, and I thought we were gonna hang out so I could tell him about Alec and..." The brunette tries to fight off tears as she looks over at Eric. "I actually thought that maybe....we could try fixing things with us."

"I think we've got some frozen hamburger patties that I can fry up for the two of us back at the house." Tyler says. "Let's head home, huh?" He pats her arm and then heads up the stairs.

"I don't have one anymore." The heartbroken teenager says before she turns around and follows after him.