~Ch. 7~
by: Aimee

~ By the time half-time started Dayre had almost forgotten about his problems. He had gotten into the game and was having fun arguing with Ricki over whose team was better. At half-time Dyre's team was ahead by one touchdown and he was rubbing in Ricki's face. ~ "Shut up man," Ricki said, laughing, "You know that my team will beat yours. Admit it." ~ "Yeah right! My team is ahead now and they'll be ahead for the rest of the game up until they win." ~ "Uh-huh. Sure. Damn, one more slice. You want it?" ~ "Naw, Ricki, you go 'head. I do want more beer though. You want another pizza or more beer?" ~ "Beer. I'm done with pizza for now. I'll go up and get it. You had Miller Light, right?" ~ "Yeah, thanks," Dyre said as Ricki got up to buy another two pitchers of beer. While Dyre sat there his mind drifted back to his girlfriend. He began thinking about how he was going to propose the next day. All he knew was that it was their anniversary and he was going to propose at one point dure the day. All of a sudden his thoughts drifted back to the nightmare that he had had earlier that morning. Before he could go too deep into thought, Ricki returned with the 2 pitchers of beer. ~ "Here is yours," Ricki said as he put one of the pitchers down in front of Dyre. "You okay man?" he asked when he saw Dyre's face. ~ "Oh yeah, I'm good. Thanks Ricki," Dyre said trying to make it not look obvious that he had started thinking about Ashley again. But it didn't work. ~ "You're thinking about Ash, aren't you," Ricki said. ~ "Yeah I am, but I'm thinking about how to propose tomorrow. Is there a problem with that?" Dyre asked sarcastically. Ricki laughed. ~ "No, no problem. I think you should draw up a hot bath for her and do it while she's soaking in the tub." ~ "That sounds nice. I might just do that. Unless I can think of something better between now and then. Oh look the game is starting again. 3^rd quarter. MY team will beat the living fuck outta yours," Dyre said with a big grin on his face. ~ "You wish Dyre," Ricki replied. They both poured themselves another glass of beer and focused on the TV. Dyre's mind was once again oblivious to anything but the game. ~ For a few minutes Ashley said nothing at all. Kris kept looking at her waiting for a response. Finally, Ashley spoke. ~ "Sorry, I had to figure out something else first. What's my idea? Well, usually when you're working on a problem in school you have to find a way to eliminate the problem, correct?" ~ Kris looked at Ashely, slightly confused. "What does school have to do with this?" ~ "I need to eliminate the problem. The other girl is the problem. Are you starting to get it?" Ashley said with a somewhat hopeful expression on her face. Kris continued to stare at Ashley, looking very confused. Then all of a sudden her face changed drastically. ~ "You're not going to do what I think you are, are you?" Kris asked half-confused, half-suspicious. ~ "I didn't say anything. Let's finish eating. This was a good choice for lunch. Thanks." Ashley kept eating as if nothing had just happened. ~ " Yo're going to kill her?!" Kris asked in a hushed tone. Ashley looked up at her. ~ "I said nothing. Let's just eat and forget about my plan okay?" Ashley said and started eating again. ~ "Whatever you say Ash," Kris started eating again and once they were finished, their conversation started again and no mention of Dyre or the mistress came up until later that afternoon. The two girls wandered around the mall going in and out of stores looking at this and that. Neither of them bought anything except the gift Ashley had bought for Dyre for their anniversary. She had gotten him the necklace/bracelet/watch set that he had been looking at for the longest time. ~ "You think he'll like the matching jewelry set that you bought him?I didn't think he like jewelry all that much," Kris asked Ashley when they were leaving the mall to go somewhere else; although where, they were not sure of. ~ "Yeah, he's been looking at this set every time we come in here and has been since like last year when the original set came out. And every time they come out with a new set or a new color he says he has to have it. So I'm getting it for him. I wonder what he's going to get me for our anniversary. If he even remembered," Ashley laughed and Kris joined her in laughing. ~ "You're incredible. You caught him cheating on you and you're still in love with him. You're tough girl," Kris said. ~ "Well, he didn't really do anything. But even if he did, I can't just stop loving him. Look at all he's given me. All the things he's ever done for me, true? Hey lets go in here," Ashley said all of a sudden pointing at the AnchorBlue store they were walking past. They turned and went into the store. ~ "That's true Ash. Dyre has done a lot for you. That's cute right there," Kris said as she pointed out a tee-shirt in front of them. The remainder of their afternoon was similar to the way it was right then: wandering in and out of stores with small conversations here and there. ~ Meanwhile, back at the pizzaria, the football game was coming to a close and, lucky Dyre, his team was ahead. There was 2 minutes left in the 4^th quarter and there was absolutely no way possible for the opposing team to win. Ricki sat down in his seat right again and sighed. He looked across the table at Dyre. ~ "I don't like you," he said sarcastically. All Dyre did was smile. ~ "I'm going to head home man. And after a while I'm going to call Ash and see if she's having fun and if she has any idea when she'll be home. I'll catch you later man," Dyre said, standing up and stretching. ~ "Alright Dyre see you around. Tell Ash I said hey. And next game, for sure, my team will beat yours," Ricki replied with a smirk on is face. Dyre smiled and turned to go out to his car. On his way home he was extremely deep in thought. Exactly what he was thinking about, he didn't know. All he knew was that it was causing a headache.