Gennie hadn’t heard from Foster in a couple of days. She suspected something was wrong. Two days ago, Ben had come home from the hospital early, his eyes red and swollen, as if he had been crying. When Gennie asked what was wrong, he grumbled that it was nothing. He said he was fine, and then went to his room and closed the door. That was last she had seen of him. Colleen brought his meals to him so he wouldn’t starve to death. She wasn’t even allowed in, so she would put the food by the door. Gennie tried to talk with him several times when he opened the door and took his meals inside, but he wouldn’t have any of it. He shut the door right in her face.
She was wondering if she had anything to do with it. Maybe Foster did something that upset him and now he was blaming her too. Or perhaps Ben upset Foster, they got into a fight and now for some stupid reason, Ben was blaming her for it. Maybe it had something to do with Charlene, and somehow Ben was mad at her because of it.
Whatever it was, Gennie was very aggravated by not knowing. It was affecting her performance at school, which was dismal enough as it was because she didn’t want to be there, but Malcolm and Colleen were forcing her to finish. She would have liked to talk to Page about it, but Page was still mad at her for not coming back from that date with Foster last year. Gennie hadn’t been to her house since though she knew eventually she had to go there to pick up her stuff.
She was trying to read a chapter from The Scarlet Letter but couldn’t concentrate. She finally set it down on her bedroom floor and sighed. She had to know what was going on. Being mad at Gennie week had to come to an end.
She went into the kitchen, picked up the phone and dialed Foster’s number.
“Hello?” It was Foster’s roommate at Berkeley, Donald. She could hear the Rolling Stones song, “The Last Time” playing in the background.
“Is Foster there?” Gennie asked.
“Oh no,” Donald replied. “He’s at home with his parents. I guess his sister’s really sick.”
“I heard about that. I thought he would be back on campus by now.”
“You haven’t heard from him?”
“No, I think he’s mad at me or something.”
“Well, if he is, you can always go out with me,” Donald said chuckling.
Gennie smirked. What a smart aleck. “Thanks, but no thanks. I’ll call Foster at home.”
“Your loss, baby. Bye.”
Gennie hung up the phone. Something must be really wrong with Charlene. She dialed the number to his parents’ house.
“Hello?” It was Loren.
“Oh hi, Mr. Conrad, is Foster there?”
“Um, yes. Let me get him.” He didn’t sound particularly happy.
A few seconds later, Foster picked up the phone.
“Gennie?”
“Hi, Foster. I haven’t heard from you in a couple of days. Are you mad at me?”
Foster paused. “No, I’m not mad at you,” he said sadly.
“Is something wrong?”
“You could say that. We have a little problem here.”
“Okay?”
“Did you know that Charlene and Ben…they were having sex?”
Uh-oh, Gennie thought. “Uh…yeah. Ben told me.”
“So you knew all along?”
“About what?”
“About Ben taking advantage of my sister!”
“Hey, wait a minute here. It takes two to tango, you know. Your sister isn’t exactly an innocent. Ben told me it was her idea and he went along with it.”
“I don’t care whose idea it was. She wouldn’t be pregnant if it weren’t for your brother!”
Gennie felt like the bottom dropped out of her stomach.
“What! Oh, shit!”
“That’s exactly what I think.”
“Oh geez, I’m so sorry.”
“Well, don’t worry. My parents have plans for her.”
“Plans? What is that supposed to mean? It sounds like they’re going to take her to the dog pound and put her to sleep.”
“No, my dad is going to make sure she has a good future.”
“She’s going to get an abortion, then?”
Foster didn’t respond.
“Did you ask Ben about this? It’s his baby too, you know.”
“It’s not your brother’s decision to make.”
“It’s not your parents’ decision either. It’s Ben and Charlene’s baby. I can’t believe you guys are doing this.”
“Well, that’s what we’re doing. My dad already paid the doctor. The appointment is next week.”
Gennie sighed in disgust. “No wonder Ben has been in his room all this time. I can’t believe you’re doing this to him. When he came home from the hospital, it looked like he had been crying, you know.”
“I could care less about him. He can go to hell as far as I’m concerned.”
“Oh, that’s nice.”
“Look what he did to my sister.”
“Ben told me a while back that he wanted to marry Charlene. Can’t they do that instead?”
“That’s not going to happen.”
“Why not? Charlene’s in love with Ben too. Why can’t they marry?”
“I hate to say this, but my parents want better for Charlene, and I agree with them.”
“Better? Like how?”
“Charlene’s a really special girl. She should have someone smart and attractive like her from a good family and with a bright future. Ben doesn’t…well, he doesn’t have any of those things.”
“What? Did you just come from the 1800’s or something? It’s 1965! If two people want to get married, they get married. What is she, friggin’ royalty?”
“See, that’s what I mean.”
“That’s what you mean by what? That I’m not perfect like your sister? You’re telling me Ben is not good enough to marry Charlene…well, newsflash, I’m his twin, you know. Are you saying that I’m not good enough for you either?”
She heard Foster gulp. “Uh, no, I would never say that about you.”
“When you decided to go out with me…you were just screwing around, right?”
“No, Charlene persuaded me to come and meet you. I didn’t have high hopes at first, but I liked you right away. I thought you were really pretty. If things were different, I’d let myself fall in love with you.”
Gennie clenched her free hand into a fist. She was holding the receiver so tight the hard plastic was digging into her other hand.
“So…you were just going to go out with me until another Miss Rich Bitch came along and then you were going to dump me by the side of the road, right?”
“No, I wouldn’t do that to you.”
“Fuck you, Foster Conrad, that’s exactly what you were planning. See, I’m not perfect in every way and I’m not from the right family so I’m not good enough to marry. Well, let me tell you something. My family is just as good as yours…no, they’re even better. They’re not stuck up and pretentious like you guys are. Furthermore, there’s nothing wrong with Ben. Actually, I’m glad he’s not marrying Charlene. He’s too good for her. Now he can date a really nice girl and he won’t have to deal with uppity people like you.”
She heard Foster sob. “I’m really sorry, Gennie.”
“No, you’re not.”
“Yes, I am. I wish things could have been different between us.”
“Up yours,” Gennie said, slamming the phone down.
Gennie returned to her bedroom, lay in bed and stared at the ceiling for a few minutes.
So, it was true. Foster wasn’t the person she thought he was. He was an elitist like the rest of them. He was only going out with her because she liked cars and he was in between girlfriends. She meant nothing to him.
She threw a pillow over her head and cried her eyes out.
Chapter 29: October 1