George gets his foot in the door

"Don't tell me, killer hangover is it?" Mr. Hanson replied, sounding rather amused.

"Yeah, you could say that..."

"Must have been one hell of a party. It's a real shame I couldn't make it, but unfortunately I had this whole family crisis thing with my sister. I'll spare you the details." Listening in from behind the wall, you had to say you were glad of this - fearing the longer he talked the less likely Randall was to get rid of him. Sure enough, seeming oblivious to the fact that now really wasn't a good time as Randall had said, the next words out of Mr. Hanson's mouth were, "Anyway, that's all the more reason to let your old pal George help out. I've got this pretty full proof hangover cure I could show you...you know, while you unwrap your present..."

Though this was obviously just a blatant attempt just to get a foot in the door, and while you yourself couldn't help but silently scoff, Randall was clearly enticed. "Well a hangover cure sure does sound pretty good right about now," he said, caving ever so slightly for a moment, before thankfully bringing it back"...but I really am kind of in the middle of something here."

"No problem. It'll take like a minute tops!" Hanson enthusiastically told him, not taking no for an answer (not that Randall really was giving him a definitive 'no', much to your annoyance), "And then you'll feel right as rain again. Besides, you can't just send me packing when I spent months and months scouring the globe for the most perfect, awe inspiring gift anyone could ever ask for - one never before seen by human eyes!"

Laughing at this rather over the top description, Randall, much to your disbelief, actually relented and said "Oh alright then, in you come. But just for a minute or two. Then I've really got to get back to what I was doing."

What the fuck? you said to yourself, as Mr. Hanson gave a jokey "Scouts honor, ma'am!", feeling your frustration from the previous day once again beginning to rise - this being the second time in two days that he'd gone and disregarded you for one of his other 'friends'...and after he'd promised too!

"Just uh, just head on through to the kitchen there. It's the second door on the right," Randall meanwhile continued, as you heard the front door close, adding a little nervously, "I've just got to grab something real quick." A moment later he appeared, skipping quickly into the living room with a guilt ridden look on his face, where you immediately cut him off before he even had a chance to speak...

"Dude, what are you doing? Why'd you invite him in?" you questioned, keeping your voice to a low hush, "You promised we were gonna hang out!"

"I know, I know, and we will," he replied, looking rather apologetic as he tried to calm you down. "I just uh...I didn't want to just act all weird and turn him away - He's got me a birthday present after all." You really should have known this was the reason, presents having always been a weakness of his (even if this present in question was for 'Miss. Card' rather than the 18 year old boy inside), and you couldn't help but let out a groan as he said it.

"Seriously, Randall? It wasn't even technically your birthday! Why didn't you just take it off him and shut the door?"

He didn't answer however, and instead began backing away again into the hallway, telling you as he went, "I'll just be like five minutes, and then I'll get rid of him I promise. Today is still totally about the two of us hanging out." And with that he was gone, leaving you once again discarded and on your own, left to listen in on him laugh and fool around with someone else when it was supposed to be the two of you doing just that.

Letting out a sigh and slumping back down onto the couch, you said to yourself, Five minutes it is then, hearing as you did the sound of Randall and Mr. Hanson's voices chuckling away from the vicinity of the kitchen. Most of the conversation appeared to revolve around Randall's birthday/house warming party, as well as the various people who'd attended (many of the names being totally lost on you), while Hanson went about concocting this supposed 'miracle cure' he'd discovered, which from the sounds of it didn't seem too appetizing. Randall did seemed pleased with his gift however (or at least he was pretending pretty damn well) - it being in the end not quite the awe inspiring gift Hanson had made it out to be.

"Thank you, George, I've been dying to watch this!" Miss. Card's soft voice beamed from the distance, it being some kind of DVD box set.

"No worries. I remember how much you were going on about it over dinner. Which kind of surprised me...I never took you for a Sci-Fi fanatic. But then again, a lot about you surprise me."

"Hey! What does that mean?"

"Nothing. Don't hit me!" Mr. Hanson laughed, feigning intimidation, before going on to explain, "I just mean you're a lot...I don't know, more relaxed and enthusiastic and stuff than you seemed in the past. It's kind of hard to describe."

Not really, you thought, not if you knew who he truly was - a goofy 18 year old slacker inhabiting the body of his female History teacher. Still it was interesting to hear that Randall's impersonation of Miss. Card wasn't 100% flawless (how could it be?), and the people who'd really known her could obviously sense a difference, even if they didn't quite know why. Anytime he went full 'Miss. Card' on you, you were completely fooled - but then again, you only known her as a teacher and nothing more.

Looking at your watch while the two of them continued to chat away like the best of buddies (much like the two of you often did), you realized that they'd been going at it for a good thirty minutes now, rather than the advertised five and you couldn't help but begin to grow a little impatient. After not only missing out on the parties, getting pushed to one side after Miss. Wells made her appearance yesterday, and then finding Randall half naked and in a hell of a state this morning - questioning the very person he'd become - you'd very much been looking forward to finally getting some proper 'guy time' (if you could even call it that any more) to mess around on the XBox and possibly share a few more details about your first time with Allison. Now though, and just like with your mom last week, an unexpected visitor had completely disrupted your day. Unlike with her though, this time Randall wasn't just putting on an act and counting the minutes till Mr. Hanson left, he was actually enjoying himself, and had for the time being it seemed completely forgotten about you!

"Fuck this! I'm not hanging around listening to this crap while he totally ignores me!" you said to yourself a further ten or so minutes later, having finally run out of patience, there being no sign what so ever from the kitchen that Mr. Hanson was getting ready to leave anytime soon.

Pushing yourself then up off the couch, you quickly and quietly made your way out into he hallway and headed straight for the door, the sound of Mr. Hanson's hearty laugh following you outside - almost as if it was mocking you for being some pathetic third wheel who's best friend couldn't even bother to spare a couple of hours for.

Once there, you headed directly down the street towards the car, fuming at Randall as you climbed in. After all you'd done for him and after all the support you'd given him after the accident (not to mention holding onto his hair while he blew chunks earlier) this was how he repaid you? By making promised he couldn't keep! By completely ignoring you and chatting away with someone else! Well fuck him then! you thought, Who needs him anyway? If he wasn't going to be a proper friend to you, why should you be one to him? And to think you were actually looking forward to telling him what had happened between you and Allison, to share the good news with your friend. Now you wondered why the hell you'd even bothered...

And with that, feeling an incredible sense of anger and disappointment towards your friend, you started up the engine and drove off, wanting to be as far away from both Randall and 'Miss. Card' right now as humanly possible...