《Being Neighborly》Chapter 35

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I climb the stairs from the basement onto the first floor of Nicole and Nate's house. The smell of the pizza rolls we had made earlier for our snack gets stronger the closer I get to the kitchen. I can hear Tristan talking quietly on the phone, probably somewhere near the kitchen. I round a corner, following his voice and the scent of sauce and cheese, until his cinnamon cologne overpowers the pizza aroma.

Stopping just at the entrance of the kitchen, I can no clearly hear his side of the conversation. He's still keeping his voice low, but his frustration is growing by the second.

"Yes, the notebook is with me," he says, left hand running through his hair. "Of course I bring it with me everywhere, I'm not dumb enough to just leave it laying around my house... No, I'm not saying you would do that..."

He pauses, listening intently to whatever my uncle is saying to him on the other end. He closes his eyes slowly and hangs his head down, sighing as he leans against the kitchen island.

"I can drop it off when I drive Leila home... Yes, she is with me... No, we're studying with friends... I don't see how that is your business... Okay fine you're right she is your niece and technically you are her guardian, but I don't see how that has anything to do with-"

Tristan gets cut off by whatever Uncle Luke is inevitably lecturing him about. He listens some more for a while, his face staying composed, but his fingers running rapidly through his hair. Damn, I wish I knew what the hell they were talking about.

"I'll stick the notebook in your mailbox once Leila gets inside, she won't know a thing. I need to go now Luke, but trust me everything will be fine." And with that last statement, Tristan hangs up.

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I don't want him to suspect that I was standing outside the kitchen listening, so I tip toe back towards the basement stairs and wait a few seconds. Once I hear his footsteps walking back towards me, I obnoxiously swing the door so it makes a creaking noise, hopefully making it seem as if I ad just come up the stairs.

"Oh hey, " I say as nonchalantly as I can when Tristan appears around the corner. "I'm getting some more water, do you need anything?"

He lifts one eyebrow and looks down at the cup I was holding. I follow his gaze and realize my glass was completely full. Shit.

"I, uh," I wrack my brain to think of something slightly intelligent to use as an excuse.

"You were getting ice for your water," he helps me out.

"Uh."

"Leila, the next time you eavesdrop on me, maybe try thinking about what you're doing before you actually do it," Tristan says, smirking a bit. He leans down to peck my lips and passes by me to go down to the basement. He stops a few steps down and turns back to add, "But in the future maybe you should keep your promise of staying out of my business with your uncle."

***************

Tristan stops the car in front of my house and hands me my backpack from the backseat. The rest of the afternoon at Nicole and Nate's was spent actually studying for midterms. I still couldn't help my mind wandering to what Uncle Luke and Tristan could possibly be doing together though. That made concentrating on quadratic equations pretty difficult.

On the way home, Tristan was acting normal. Maybe a little more quiet than he has been around me lately, but not too much tension between us since my failed eavesdropping attempt. We didn't bring it up for the rest of the afternoon, and probably wouldn't for the rest of eternity. Which is fine since now I know how to get all the answers I need.

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The notebook.

It has got to be that notebook I've seen Tristan scribbling numbers in a thousand times. The one I thought was for school, but clearly isn't if Uncle Luke wants it. I just hope i can get my hands on it and return it to eh mailbox before he gets home from work. And I'm wishful for having the ability to decipher whatever code or secret message could be behind those numbers.

"Thanks for the ride home," I open the passenger door and climb out. "I don't think we're going to study tomorrow after school, but we should all do something fun to destress."

"Yeah, sounds good," he replies. "Just let me know."

I smile, close the door, and walk around the front of the car to get to the house. As I'm passing by his door, Tristan rolls down the window and hands me something.

"Give this to Luke," he says. "I know you were planning on trying to read this before he got home and put it back, so let me save you the trouble. You can try all you want to figure out what any of this means, but I'm telling you now, you won't. And you don't need to because it doesn't concern you."

And with that, Tristan pulls away from the sidewalk and drives next door to his house, leaving me open mouthed and utterly shocked. He just gave me the notebook? And did he just insult my skill to understand what any of it meant?

Tristan Johnson, you have just challenged the wrong girl.

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