My Heart's in Alabama

26 - Kiersten

Whitney freezes like a statute. The blood drains from her face, turning her cheeks a ghostly white. Considering how heavy handed she is with the fake tanner, it tells you all you need to know.
"It was you," she mutters to herself.
Completely shell-shocked, Whitney lowers herself gently onto a bale of hay. I can see the pieces start to come together in her head. The weird secrecy, Teddy's sudden interest in cheerleading, the disappearing acts. It all made sense.
"Of course. Of course, it was you. Lordy, how did I miss it?'
Whitney holds her head in her hands as she grapples with an existential crisis. Our little gossip queen spent all her time peeking in everyone else's backyard, she missed the rabbit sneaking into her flower bed.
"Did you know about this?" She says, turning sharply to Sal and throwing him an accusatory look. As if this is somehow his fault.
"Don't look at me," he says and puts his hands up to show his innocence. "I had no idea."
Whitney eyes him suspiciously, but deems him not guilty and sets her sights on her next prime suspect. Me.
"Did you?"
I don't say anything, but my face contorts into a guilty grimace, giving me away instantly. Whitney's jaw drops at the betrayal.
"How could you?" She says, highly disappointed. "My dear sister, and your friend might I add, is clearly suffering some sort of cow manure induced delirium and you didn't even tell me?"
"Come on, Whit," Sal says. "It's not that totally crazy, is it?"
Oh, Sal. Bless him for trying to make this seem normal. It's not gonna work, I can tell you that right now, but it's a valiant attempt.
"Um, yeah it is. It's Teddy."
"Yeah, and? He's a good guy. He'll treat her right. Hell, he'll probably be the best boyfriend she's had."
Teddy and Bridgette both tense up at the mention of the word boyfriend like two kids getting caught stealing cookies. Their faces turn beet red, which I can only imagine means their relationship is as undefined as it was last night.
Puzzled by their reaction, Sal hesitantly changes gears.
"Or...not?"
Bridgette and Teddy look at each other shyly, once again not being brave enough to speak.
"Wait. You've been keeping her a secret this whole time and you didn't even have the decency to make her your girlfriend? Is she not good enough for you?" Says Whitney. Dramatically, of course.
"No, no, no," Teddy quickly defends himself, quite flustered at being called out. "It's not like that. I'm not good enough for her. I wanted to ask her to be my girlfriend. I swear I did. But I didn't think she'd say yes."
"You want me to be your girlfriend?" Bridgette says shyly.
Teddy's cheeks flush as he turns to Bridgette.
"Well, yeah," Teddy shrugs like it's obvious. "Of course I do. But I didn't know what to say, or how to say it, and I'm no good at this and I kept gettin' nervous."
"Too nervous to ask a simple question, but not too nervous to make out with her behind the bleachers, I'm sure," Whitney mutters under her breath.
"Whitney, hush," Bridgette says. "Teddy, you don't have to be nervous. I...I want that too."
"Yeah?"
Bridgette nods as she tries to contain her smile.Teddy doesn't even try to hide it. He's a grinnin', love struck fool and he doesn't even care who knows it. And man, if it ain't the cutest thing.
"Well, I'll be," Sal says. "Seems a celebration is in order. How about we head to the diner? Waffles on the house for the new couple."
Teddy turns to Bridgette and offers his hand.
"What'dya say?" He says with a smirk.
No longer able to contain her smile, Bridgette giggles and happily takes his hand.

Sal secures us the wrap-around booth in the back, the best seat in the house. Perfect for a special occasion. Teddy and Bridgette snuggle up and bask in that new relationship glow. Whitney grumbles a bit, but I know deep down she's happy for them. I mean, is it totally weird and unexpected? Sure. But that's young love for ya.
I watch them with a smile. They really are cute together. I don't know why I didn't see it before. Bubbly cheerleader meets gruff, misunderstood cowboy. The Lifetime original movie practically writes itself. I wonder when they'll get married. A December wedding would be nice.
Oh, I think, my romantic musings getting interrupted by my impatient bladder. I gotta pee.
"I'll be right back, guys," I say as I scoot myself out of the booth.
I make my way to the bathroom, my mind wandering back to my little Mr. & Mrs. Teddy Peters fantasy world. I'm only half paying attention to my surroundings, so I'm quite startled when I go to open the bathroom door and someone else pops out on the other side.
"Oh, sorry," I say instinctively to the stranger.
At least, I think it's a stranger. But when I look up, I realize it's not a stranger at all.
"Mr. Purdy," I say awkwardly. "Hi."
"Hi, Kiersten."
The space between us is thick with tension. We've always been so comfortable around each other. In a lot of ways, Mr. Purdy has been like a second dad to me. But now that he's effectively banned me from seeing Matt, I'm not sure how to act or how to feel. Should I be mad at him? Is he mad at me? Do I ask him how he's doing? Do I ignore him? Do I smile? Do I frown? I have no idea, but I have to do something. This is beyond awkward.
I don't know if it's the right thing, but I duck my head and move past him towards the bathroom.
"It's nothing personal, you know," he blurts out, causing me to turn around. "Your kid gets in a fight, you gotta take that seriously."
"No, I understand."
"It's not like I wanted to. He didn't give me a choice. I had to do something," Mr. Purdy continues while I wonder why he feels the need to justify his parenting decisions to me. Maybe he's not trying to justify it to me, maybe he's trying to justify it to himself.
"I know, it's okay. You don't need to explain yourself."
Mr. Purdy takes a second to listen to what I said. I don't know exactly what he's thinking, but he seems to appreciate my understanding.
"You're a good kid, Kiersten, but he needs to focus on himself."
I give Mr. Purdy a weak smile before he pats me on the shoulder and walks away.