Jack developed a mischievous glint in his eye. “I know, how about Cerise Jones?”
“C-Cerise?” Johnny stammered. The girl he’d had a crush on ever since he’d hit puberty? That Cerise? Did Jack know about that?
“Yeah, she’s my friend Gary’s sister. You go to school with her right?”
Jack knew all about Johnny’s crush on Cerise. If he thought that he was being subtle about it, he was fooling himself because the boy could not keep a secret. Though deep down he loved his brother, Jack knew that Johnny was a total dweeb who never had a chance with a girl like Cerise, so he might as well have some fun with this crush! When Johnny suggested that Jack help him test his mind reading machine Jack thought it would be hilarious to suggest Cerise. He could probe her brain for secrets he could use against Johnny, share some embarrassing memories he had of Johnny with Cerise, maybe even talk Johnny into hooking himself up to the machine with Cerise. Jack loved toying with his brother, and already this plan was making him squirm.
“We… we’re familiar with each other.” The truth was that Johnny worshiped Cerise and she thought that he was a total freak. Opinions on him and his experiments at school were mixed, and from what he could tell Cerise was firmly against them ever since a disastrous incident where some genetically modified flowers he’d planted in her locker had eaten her textbooks. He’d replaced them, of course, but he never truly felt like she forgave him. “Why her?”
“Gary said she’s always been interested in knowing more about men and so I think this would be a cool opportunity for her. Besides, who wouldn’t want to see what’s inside of a girl’s head? You’d like to get inside of Cerise, wouldn’t you Johnny?” Jack wiggled his eyebrows suggestively, and Johnny suddenly got very busy looking through some papers. “I bet this would really impress her.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about Jack. This is a bad idea.” No way Johnny was going to do this.
“Why, do you have a problem with it? Is something wrong with Cerise?”
“No! Nothing’s wrong with her, she’s perfect.” Johnny cursed himself over his word choice, but that was what he thought about her.
“So you’ll invite her over then.”
“No.” No matter how much Jack asked, he wasn’t doing it.
“All right. I guess you’re too chicken to call her. Probably too scared that your nerd device isn’t going to work.” Jack scoffed, but inside he was grinning. He knew his brother, and Johnny wasn’t the type to back down from a challenge.
“Alright, fine Jack! I’ll call.” Throwing his hands up, Johnny took out his phone. He was going to regret this, wasn’t he?
“Do you even have her number?” Jack asked.
“I have everyone’s phone number Jack, they’re in databases.“ He tapped a few keys on his phone and began pulling up the information. “It’s easy if you know where you’re looking, especially if you’re a genius like me.”
“Girls just give me their phone numbers Johnny,” Jack said, giving an exaggerated flex of his bicep. “I don’t need to look them up.”
Rolling his eyes, Johnny dialed the phone. “Hi, Cerise, it’s Johnny Mack! Yeah, like from school. A, uh, a friend gave me this number. No I won’t tell you who. Anyways, I was working on a new experiment and I think you’re the perfect person to help me test it. You see, it’s a mind reading machine, and–No, you wouldn’t be trying it out with me, you’d be doing it with my brother Jack. You know Jack, he-Oh you’ll do it! Great, thanks so much! Why don’t you come on-Oh you’ll do it? Great, I’ll see you soon I guess! Can’t wait until you’re here, bye! What’s that? Oh, right, the address.” Johnny rattled off the address to Cerise. “All right, now it’s goodbye. Okay. Love you!” He sputtered out as he hung up the phone. He paled once he realized his mistake.
“You’re such a loser, I can’t believe you said that. So she said yes?” Jack asked, rolling his eyes at how awkward his little brother was. He couldn’t believe that this dweeb and him had the same parents.
“Yeah, she’s on her way over right now I guess.” While on the outside he was trying to play it cool, inside Johnny was bursting with excitement. He couldn’t believe that his crush was going to be here, in his lab! It was a dream come true.
“I hope she’s still coming after that little performance you gave.” Jack almost felt bad for Johnny. He knew this was kind of a mean prank, but he felt it was necessary to get Johnny out of his shell a little bit. “Why are you so nervous?”
“I’m always nervous whenever I show my experiments to people from school. I mean, I’m confident that it will work but the last thing I want to do is screw this up in front of the prettiest girl in school.” Johnny cringed as he’d realized his mistake.
“Oh, you think Cerise is pretty? Is Johnny nervous around a pretty girl?” Jack probed, relishing the chance to poke fun at his little brother.
“Shut up Jack.” Johnny felt the sting of Jack’s words because to some extent they were true. Johnny wasn’t antisocial but he was far more comfortable with his lab than with a girl, he just didn’t know what to say to them! For all of his genius, women were the one thing he could never seem to understand.
Jack chuckled. “Maybe you should use that mind reading machine on me, figure out how I do it with the ladies.” He joked.
Johnny paused. That… wasn’t such a bad idea actually. Jack had tons of game around girls and was constantly getting dates and hookups, and scoping out some of his secrets was an intriguing concept. True Johnny didn’t have Jack’s looks and physique, but any help he could get with girls would certainly be useful. Should he try the machine with Jack before Cerise got there?
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