Those words caught him completely off guard. Had he heard Wendy right? She wanted to play matchmaker and set him up with Cassie? That was...a little much for her right now. He had to stop it.

“Where’s Patricia?” Alvin hoped to divert Wendy’s attention away from his love life and to something less awkward.

 “Upstairs but I don’t really care, ” Wendy replied, rubbing her sore biceps.

“ She made me carry a ton of shopping bags,” She groaned as she receded into the couch.

“You’re a big girl, you can carry those bags,” Alvin patted her sore bicep, eliciting a pained moan from Wendy.

“Don’t, it still hurts. You’re lucky you got Cassie, that girl will carry all of her stuff, yours too if she has to,” Wendy distanced herself from Alvin, wary of more pressure on her arms, they needed some rest time. Inside, she was rather pleased about her redirecting of the topics, Alvin was not going to wiggle his way out of this one.

 “ We’re friends.Nothing else, ” Alvin grabbed the remote and turned up the volume on the television, crossing his arms while still holding the remote.

  Wendy gave him a knowing look, skeptical about the whole statement, “ Yeah right. She’s a hot nerdy girl with a heart of gold. She also spends a lot of time with you, often calling you and put yours truly through hell whenever I picked on you.”

 She inched closer and gave him a pat on his shoulder, “ Ya know that’s not true Alvin. You do, I can see it in you. The only thing we need to confirm is if Cassie feels the same about you.”

 “ She sees me as a friend, nothing else,”Alvin reiterated his point, hoping Wendy would stop. At least she didn’t have him in a headlock or anyone of her jiujitsu moves. That would have a lot worse than this.

 “ I don’t think so. You had to have thought of dating her at least once didn’t you? I haven’t heard a of a boy who didn’t want her before.” Wendy shoved her face in to Alvin’s personal space, her soft smile annoying him.

 “Okay,” Alvin pushed her face away, chuckling as Wendy withdrew to a more socially acceptable distance.

 “ There were a few times I thought it would be nice to date her,” he admitted sheepishly.

Wendy’s smile grew several sizes at his admission, “ I thought so!”

Alvin sighed, nothing he did would throw her off. All it did was reaffirm her decision to be his wingwoman, whether he consented or not.

  “ We’re just friends. Men can be friends with beautiful women, it isn’t a new thing!”

  “No,” She slowly shook her head, hand on his shoulder.

 “You need to watch more tv, Harry and Sally disagree with your argument big bro.”

  “Why not bring up Cinderella too? I could get asked to go to the ball,” Alvin wore a deadpan look but his attempt at sarcasm fell flat as Wendy merely laughed it off.

“That would be perfect!” She imagined Alvin and Cassie going to prom , the envy of the school as they became the power couple everyone would look up to. She had to make it happen, there wasn’t enough time.

 “ Okay you got to lay off the fairytales,” He felt her forehead with the back of his palm.

 “Or I fear you’ll come down with a case of delusionitis, the mental condition where you believe fairy tales to be real.”

Wendy took his hand away from her forehead, clicking her tongue in irritation, “ Don’t believe me? Take note of how you behave around Cassie and I mean really observe. You’ll be surprised.”

“I-” His reply was cut short by a howl of despair from upstairs, both turning their heads together. Alvin considered going up to check on Patricia but as he got up,Wendy pulled on his arm, stopping him from what she thought was a suicide mission.

Alvin silently agreed and sat back down.

******

Up in her room,  Patricia threw a crumpled stack of bills on top of a larger heap, the spoils of her retail therapy. The white smooth bill landed on top, rolling down its brethren before coming to a stop at the base of the heap.

 “ How did I spend so much?” She asked herself rhetorically, clutching letters from several credit companies.

    She looked around her room, bags upon bags of expensive designer from every major clothing brand( except for Bonheur) as well as designer bags and footwear from the same companies. Most the clothes were untouched, Patricia didn’t need them and looking at the accumulated bill of over fifty grand, she didn’t have the moolah to pay for these wants.

She rapped her knuckles against her forehead repeatedly, all sorts of self inflicted insults swirling in her head.

“Patricia you dolt,” She curled up into a ball. Being jobless was taxing enough but now she had drained the family’s coffers.

 The sound of laughter from her children downstairs did little to cheer her up, only making her wish that she could be as carefree as those two. They didn’t seem to have any problems of their own. Instead it all fell to her, the sole breadwinner for the last twenty of her life to keep things together.

 “No, stop feeling so bad about yourself Pat, get on your feet and do something!” She picked up her phone and scrolled through her contacts for the one person she knew to call when money problems came around.

Allen Gambol, the family accountant who handled all of her finances ever since she got together with Daniel could probably pull something out of the hat for; or else she would have our own personal financial nadir.

  One press of a button was all it took to call him, a rather bland and rough electronic ringtone filling her ear canal. It annoyed her but she put up with it in the hopes of getting through. Then the ringtone left, replaced by Allen’s voice.

 “ Patricia, it seems like forever since I heard your lovely voice, how long has it been?” He said.

 I don’t know, maybe 6 years , Patricia thought. He hadn’t changed for sure, the man was still sweeter than a [sugar factory.

 “ Too long Allen but really, its only been two months,” She said, buttering him up. She wasn’t proud but she had done worse things before. Using a few honeyed words on a man she tolerated on the best of days would be a piece of cake.

  “ So how can I be of assistance?” Allen replied, sweetly.

“I need you to go through my finances, might have to make a few cuts here and there,” Patricia chewed on her thumbnail as she waited for his reply.

 “ Sure. Let me check my planner,” Allen grabbed his thick hardback planner and leafed through it, looking for an opening. He moved through hundreds of dog eared, annotated with brightly coloured notepaper before finding one, hidden in a page he erroneously believed to be full. .

 “ I can see you on the following Monday,” He responded.

“No, no it has to be sooner. It’s really bad,” Patricia barked.

“Look Pat, it is the best I can do. You can’t expect me to ignore my other clients?”

“But we’ve had you for ten years,” She grew more exasperated, almost pleading with him.

“If it's really as awful as you make it sound, I suggest finding someone else until I can take a look at it. That is all I can do for now,” He answered gently.

“ Alright,” Patricia terminated the call without even waiting for a goodbye.

*********

Alvin once again waited at the spacious, sparsely populated Titan bleachers, racking his brains over a chemistry problem that had been bugging him for a while. Everyone now and then he’d be pulled from the world of chemical compounds and equations because of the shouts and cries from the cheerleaders below.

  “ Oh Alvin, how predictable,” Alvin looked up from his revision to see Wendy walking up the steps of the Titan bleachers to him.

 “What?” Alvin tried to mask his intentions but the red in his cheeks revealed another agenda.

Wendy pointed to the field , Alvin following the direction of her finger which ended straight at the cheerleaders, Cassie right there front and centre briefing them about what must have been very important routines.

 “Oh that,” Alvin said while beginning to feel hot under the collar.

“ Caught you red handed,” She stood over him, his reaction vindicating her theory.

“Now I have a reason for me being so close to Cassie- I mean cheerleaders because well...you know that Cassie and I are...so close and...she invited me to watch- I mean hang around to wait for her to finish before we go out- I mean study together,” Alvin stumbled and fumbled while all Wendy had to do was to enjoy the show.

 “ I see,” She smirked and sat in front of Alvin.

  “ So you get to do your…” Wendy took a quick peek at his open book, “Advanced chemistry while making some of your own every time Cassie’s skirt flies up.”

 “Hey she invited me, I didn’t initiate at all.”

Wendy gave a devilish grin and gracefully folded her arms, biceps bulging as she sat.

“ I’m sure it was so hard to refuse her that you broke and got trapped here! Oh my, what a horrible predicament to be in!” She clasped her cheeks in faux horror.

  “Hey no need to mock, she’s a really wonderful friend,” Alvin shook his head as he resumed tackling the arduous chemistry questions.

 “ I’m not,” She covered those questions, prompting Alvin to focus on her again.

“I just find it so amusing you have the cheerleading squad’s finest throwing them yourself at your feet and you bury your head in a book,” She grabbed the book from Alvin who looked like a baby who had his prized pacifier yanked from between his lips.

 “ Hey!” He wailed, trying to get it back but Wendy held it above him , chuckling. It felt so similar to the old regime but neither of them felt too sour, Wendy chuckling benignly. Alvin stood on his knees to extend his reach, Wendy dropping her arm and relaxing her grip.

 Alvin snatched it back, gingerly setting it on his lap and resuming his

 “ I just want you to see the beauty in front of you,” Wendy  cooed, shifting her Amazonian frame next to Alvin.

   “You’re not gay are you?” She asked with trepidation, Alvin didn’t ever give off a homosexual vibe but her gaydar wasn’t the most attuned to the orientation of others.

  Alvin’s lip curled up, befuddled by how far Wendy had missed her mark; there wasn’t any evidence to suggest that.

 “ Nope, definitely not gay,” Alvin emphasised.

 *******

 “Alvin, are you paying attention?” Cassie asked, not pissed by his aloofness throughout the entire but amused by the vacant expression he was giving.

  She moved to brush something off her cheek, she assumed that’s what he was staring at, or was it on the cheek as her king sized mattress of a hand switched sides?

“Sorry Cassie. Got distracted, ” He mumbled as her question only just registered to him.

Besides him, Nadya and Jamila just watched the little show unfold, very amused by Alvin’s blank stare. The duo exchanged knowing glances, sniggering to themselves whenever the pair weren’t looking and sending texts to each other giving a running commentary of events to each other.

Alvin and Cassie didn’t notice or if they did, neither of them bothered with the pair’s silly antics.

“Well it is getting late, ” Cassie tapped her phone’s circular plastic home button, flashing the lock screen and time, fifteen to nine; late to still be in school.

“ No I can still go on,” Alvin insisted, flustered by his own lack of focus. Why was he staring at Cassie so hard that it made lose track of the happenings around him?

 “What were the laws enacted by Joan Corneille in 1954? ” She asked, the subject having moved on from chemistry to modern history.

 Alvin groaned, the Civil Rights movement was all did for high school history. Corneillean laws were a particular part he didn’t like but it had become mandatory as part of State education.

 “ Lets see,” He tapped his chin.

“ Mostly about segregating Titans from the rest of the sizes?” He answered , hoping his answer was correct.

 Cassie shook her head, displeased by his response.

 “ What else? Give more details,  your SAT is not going to reward you for such general mediocre answers.”

 Alvin shook his head as if he were clearing it of clutter, teaching Corneille’s impact on size relations was made mandatory as part of an effort to prevent a history from repeating itself.

 “So sorry , I’m so distracted,” Alvin wiped his face with his palm.

“ She....segregated Titans by putting them all in forced communities away from the other sizes? Allowed them to only do menial work?” Alvin treaded carefully, the issue still rankled many Titans despite it over three quarters of a century having passed since the storm lifted.

 “ Correct,” Cassie nodded.

Alvin blew a puff of oxygen depleted air out from his cheeks , relieved he had gotten it right. Still though, why was he so distracted? By Cassie of all things? It was a thought that tapped itself into his mind over and over like a needle weaving a thread through his mind.

It was a point he couldn’t get over or through for the rest of the session.

******

Afterwards, Alvin got home, the entire house dark except for the kitchen light. Strange, Alvin thought since well,he spent the most time inside it. Wendy and Patricia only made the occasional foray into it and usually it was for food. Cooking and cleaning was a realm inhabited solely by Alvin.

 So it was a surprise to see Wendy sitting by the kitchen counter, digging into a salad bowl sized tub of Ben and Jerry's Chocolate Macadamia; her favourite flavour. She slid her shiny stainless steel spoon, scaled up for an Amazon out of her mouth, with only a smidgen of ice cream clinging to it.

 She noticed Alvin and clumsily pulled the tub back towards her, nearly dropping it on to her lap.

 “ Ben and Jerry’s?” She pointed her spoon at him, offering him a share of it.

 “ No thanks,” He held up his hand, amused by what he saw. Alvin moved to the counter and sat across her, looking at the ice cream and his step sister, a little bit of it on her lip.

 “ Not a fan of macadamia, I prefer vanilla,” Alvin looked away. He couldn’t believe it but Wendy was right, he had something going on with Cassie. It was there, he hadn’t noticed it until now but why now ?

Wendy noticed his conundrum and eagerly moved in, knowing very well what it was.

 “ So…” She drawled.

“I take it I’m right, you do have the hots for Cassie?”

Alvin nodded, “ So it would seem.”

“ Then why are you so down?” She effortlessly slid the tub towards him, not bothering with his preference for plainer flavours.

 Alvin felt the chill of the dairy product and looked back towards Wendy, pondering her point.

“I don’t know,” He threw his arms up, ceding to Wendy.

 “ Maybe it's because I just don’t know what to do from here? I usually know the next step, even if  it hurts to take it.”

Wendy leaned across and grasped his cheeks, “ I’ll help you. I promise. For now though, do nothing.”

 “ But shouldn’t I y-you know...check if I’m right? See if Cassie really likes me too?” Alvin asked, Wendy chuckling at his naivety.

 “ This is not a science experiment dear brother, you’re a guy so leave it be. As a Titan, Cassie will do the chasing so sit back.”

Alvin wasn’t convinced but he was a noob in the field of romance.

“ So you want me to do nothing?”

Wendy nodded gingerly.

“ Nothing at all?”

Wendy repeated her nod.

“ Just like that and Cassie will come to me?”

“Yes, now stop asking questions. Just report what she does to me and we’ll take it from there.”