Gilbert's New Girl

Chapter Three

I met Sally for lunch that day and she knew about the girl working at the store. ‘It’s typical of Gilbert to push the townsfolk to their limits,’ she said with a wry smile. ‘He always sticks his neck out for the misfits, always drawn to the freaks and weirdoes, is our Gilbert.’ Personally, I thought he was just being awkward, but that comes from having lived with the man for almost his entire life. ‘So is that why he goes out with you?’ I asked in a less than kind tone. Sally rolled her eyes and sighed, ‘Please Amy, the last thing I need right now is to be on the receiving end of your nasty streak.’ I opened my mouth to protest, but Sally cut me off saying, ‘Don’t even try to deny it. You’ve all got it, everyone of you, even Gilbert can be a sour Grape at times.’ After an awkward silence, Sally changed the conversation to telling me about how Gilbert was going with her and her boys to a softball match that evening. As we left the diner she said, ‘So tell the Gorgeous Gilbert to be at my house at seven sharp, and don’t expect him home tonight. I have a little softball of my own lined up for him.’ Honestly, sometimes Sally can be a bit crude. I think she forgets that her lover happens to be my brother and in my eyes he’s not gorgeous or desirable. To me Gilbert is just Gilbert, still the same as always, still moody, still vulnerable, still insecure, still my baby brother.

The phone was ringing as I unlocked the front door and I lifted the receiver just in time. It was Tucker. ‘Do you wanna go for a drink tonight? Or maybe we could drive over to Fern Creek and catch a movie or something?’ I told him I didn’t feel like going anywhere, but that if he wanted to bring over a pizza and a bottle of wine, we could watch Celebrity Wheel of Fortune on t.v. and speculate on what exactly was going on between Gilbert and the Goth girl. ‘I don’t think there’s anything like that going on Amy, I mean she’s just a kid and Gilbert’s got Sally. I mean, he’s got something real going on with her, you know? Sex and stuff, stuff that maybe we should be thinking about.’ I tried not to laugh down the phone line at his hopeful plea. ‘Tucker just come over about eight armed with a pepperoni and a half decent Chablis and we’ll take it from there, okay?’ I swear to God, I could feel his excitement rising long distance, poor baby. Just as I hung up the phone, Gilbert came through the front door, loaded down with the best part of a weeks groceries; it was one of the perks of his job, although a lot of the stuff we got for free was either damaged or right up against it’s sell by date. Just like Gilbert, just like me.

I let Tucker stay the night, but as usual whenever he stayed over, he slept in Gilbert’s bed and not in mine. Munching his way through his second bowl of cornflakes, Tucker said, ‘D’you think that maybe Gilbert and Sally have done it here, you know, in his room, in his bed?’ My hand froze, the piece of toast suspended half way between the plate and my mouth. ‘Don’t be disgusting! I’m trying to eat my breakfast and the last thing I need is a mental image of my brother and my best friend….oh please, I don’t even want to think about it.’ Tucker stared at me blankly for a moment and then he smiled and said, ‘But you know they do it, don’t you? And there’s nothing wrong in it either. And maybe there’s nothing wrong in me being curious. I mean you’re pretty curious about him and that girl. You’re just dying to know if he’s attracted to her because she reminds you of Becky.’ Ouch! Talk about hitting a nerve! Of course, I denied it. ‘She’s nothing like Becky. For all her faults, Becky was much prettier and at least the age gap between her and Gilbert was acceptable.’ Tucker smiled again, ‘It didn’t stop her from almost wrecking his life. Man, he was crazy for her, just like I’m crazy for you Amy. You wanna wreck my life? You can if you want. Please Amy I’m ripe for being wrecked, and it would be something that me and Gilbert could talk about, share our experiences, what d’you say Amy, I need to be wrecked.’ He ducked as I sent a piece of toast flying at his head.