Pitch Episode 36: Love in Hate
#45 of Pitch
Matt laid out many concerns. He never needed help unpacking. It was an excuse to get me alone so we could talk. He was blunt. Joining The Ring came with more than just benefits. And then he made Wes and I finish unpacking the last of his stuff.
Matt was going to have the final say on whether or not I'd be accepted into The Ring. Nerf nominated me, but obviously a founding member of the organization would have more deciding power. The monkey planned to stay in town long enough to watch me. I couldn't say if I was honored or worried. The thought of concealed eyes gave me some sort of feeling.
By the time Wes and I left the cabin, it was too late for our date. Regardless, I think we both had fun being back together after weeks of cut communication. I didn't have much, but I had my friends, family, and Wes. That was enough. It had to be. I didn't need to worry about the future, at least not for the rest of the night. With Danger out of town, I had an opportunity to relax and kick back. Or so I foolishly thought.
Wizard Wars.
That's Where Danger and Beth were. They were spending their weekend on the most popular TV show everyone wanted to be a part of. How did I know? When I made it home that night, Mom and Dad were snuggled up on the couch watching it together. I almost missed it, but they had the episode recorded. As I walked through the house, I saw Danger on TV from the corner of my eye. Like a moth to a flame, my eyes were immediately hooked to the screen from that moment on.
It's true I didn't use magic anymore. I didn't want to be reliant on magic to have a future, but Wizard Wars was my show. It was everyone's show. I dreamed of being a contestant one day. I wasn't one for the limelight most of the time, but Wizard Wars would have been an exception.
On most episodes, contestants fought alone, but Danger and Beth managed to make it on to a special team's episode. And they weren't alone. Vista was with them. There was a time when I would have given anything for me, BJ, and Wes to compete together. Thinking about it then, it was never a plausible dream.
Enthralled by the site of my double, It took the sound of the house phone ringing to snap me back to life. I'd honestly forgotten that we had one. It was always in the kitchen, but no one ever used it. Its foreign ring felt more unusual than most things. I almost didn't believe my ears even as I stood over the source. With how many cellphones I lost, broke, or endangered, I should have been more reliant on the old school relic. Not even I was that desperate.
I answered it.
"Did you see it?" Asked a familiar voice.
"BJ?" I asked.
"Did you see it?" She repeated.
"How do you have this number?" I asked.
I didn't have the number, so I knew I didn't give it out.
"Pitch," she said my name protesting.
I wasn't in the mood to humor BJ, but it was a surprise to hear from her out of the blue.
"Did I see what?" I asked.
"Danger, on Wizard Wars," she explained.
"Yea, I saw," I said, exhausted and annoyed.
"I can't believe he took Vista," she continued.
Did BJ somehow forget how petty and mean she'd been? I had to assume something was wrong with her head. Why else, or how else could she think I was the right person to call? It wasn't hard to slip back into our old dynamic, though it should have been. I allowed it, but in the back of my mind, I waited for her to go sour again.
"You know I always wanted you, me, and Wes to make it on Wizard Wars together," I said.
"And you know I'd never willingly work with Wes," she declared.
"Would you have done it for me?"
"...Maybe," she answered.
She went silent for a while, and I could still hear the living room TV in the background.
"This is the first time you've called me in months," I said.
"Yes. I suppose I had a lapse in judgment," she replied as if we hadn't just been doing well.
"We're different people than we were last year."
"But still very much the same," she said.
That silence between the line we kept encountering was loud enough to kill.
"You said some things the last time we spoke," I argued.
"So did you," she argued back.
"Did you mean all of it?"
I couldn't tell if she treated me so poorly because she thought she had to, or because that's who she was. Maybe I gave her too many chances to go back, but I couldn't help myself.
"You called me!" I exclaimed as her silence grew old.
Was she trying to undermine everything she claimed to believe?
"I shouldn't have," she replied.
"Why did you?"
"I didn't have anyone else to talk to," she said.
"What about the elf, what's his name?"
"Harmon?" She answered.
"Yea," I said.
"He was with them. Vista could have invited anyone to sit in the audience, but she picked Harmon over me," she revealed.
I wasn't sure if it was right to feel sorry for her anymore. She made it perfectly clear where we stood with one another. Nonetheless, I couldn't keep myself from relating.
"We haven't agreed on anything in a while, but for what it's worth, I still think you're a good person," I said.
"There are no good or bad people, Pitch, just people," she refuted.