The Third Wheel:  I Need Love

by Jen

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

You must be the seed

Descend into the earth

Searching for the union

Of death and then rebirth

But I need love

It is patience it is kindness

I need love

It is rain after the dryness I need love

Sister wisdom help me see

Its the one thing that I need

Its the only thing that I need



~Love, Sixpence None The Richer



&&&&&&&&&



"Jolie, phone!" Jolie picked up the phone and rolled over in her bed.



"Hello?" she mumbled sleepily. "Alex?"



"Hello to you too, Jolie," Alex said icily. "What the hell got into you last
night?"

Nothing," Jolie said innocently. "Why?"



"So what's with you?" Alex snapped. "Last night. One minute you're normal,
and the next, you've morphed into Frosty the Snowbitch."



"Excuse me?" Jolie asked. "Last night? Oh, you mean the part where I called
you on the obvious fact that Isabel's got you wrapped around her little
finger? I mean, do you have no loyalty, Alex? You could have stuck up for
me."



"Oh, ouch," Alex said sarcastically. "That hurts. Why didn't you just, you
know, tell her about some of my good qualities? My looks, my smarts, my-,"

"Hold it, Whitman," Jolie interrupted. "Let's not get too carried away. I
said you'd help Dizzy Izzy out with her bio project. Is that still the case?"




"Don't call her that," Alex snapped. "What?" Jolie asked with a laugh.
"Dizzy Izzy? That offends you? I'm sorry, Whit. It just fits her."



"Oh, right," Alex mumbled. "Look, I'm sorry that I didn't say anything when
she was ragging on you. But you didn't need to insult her."



"Well, I'm sorry!" Jolie exclaimed. "Look, at least you're gonna help her
with biology, right?"



"No I'm not. I can't even talk to her, and now she expects me to help her
with biology." Alex said with a sigh. "This is going to be a disaster,
Jolie."



Im sorry. I thought I was doing you a favor," Jolie said quietly.



Alex sighed. "Thanks for the effort," he said glumly. "I'll see you later."



"Okay," Jolie replied. "Bye, Alex." She hung up the phone and pulled the
pillow over her head. "What else can go wrong?!" she asked, glancing up at
the ceiling.



Maria knocked on the door, followed by Liz. "Jolie! Wake up!"



"Oh god, I spoke too soon," Jolie mumbled, burrowing down underneath her
covers. "Morning, guys."



"Good morning, Jolie!" Maria chirped, pulling the covers away from her
friend. "Get up."



Jolie sighed. "Maria, I am in no mood for-," "Get. Up," Maria said
pointedly, tossing Jolie her bathrobe. "If you're not in the shower in five
minutes, I'm dragging your butt in there, little missy. March."



"I'll get her feet," Liz offered. Jolie glared at them. "Can't I just find
a hole to crawl into? Or maybe some normal friends?"



Fifteen minutes later, Jolie walked back into her room to see Liz and Maria
sitting on her bed. "You guys suck," she snapped. "It's not even nine'o clock
on a Saturday morning and I am awake. Why?"



"We're going to the Crashdown for a few hours," Liz said, handing Jolie a
seafoam green Crashdown waitress uniform and the regulation headgear.

"Remember, you two promised you'd help me out for the morning?"



Jolie rolled her eyes. "Yes, I remember! Are Max and his little sidekick
going to come in for eggs and toast?"



"Maybe," Liz said distantly. Jolie groaned and pulled the dress over her
head, shrugging out of her gray t-shirt and boxers. "Great. So you two are
just gonna make moony-eyes at Max and Michael while Islave over a hot stove,
have Jose yell at me in Spanish when he knows I don't speak a word of it, and
think of ways to poison Isabel Evans without actually killing her?"



"Yup," Maria and Liz said in unison. "Don't you love us?" Jolie rolled her
eyes. "Down to my little toes," she said sarcastically. Maria slung her arms
around her friend's shoulders. "Oh, cheer up. Kyle might be there."



Jolie snorted. "Kyle Valenti? Oh god. You know, we should hook him up with
Dizabel Evans. They're perfect. They're both shallow, and conceited, and live
to wreck people's lives. Liz, I mean, you and Max have some sort of
quasi-normal friendship and what does Kyle do? He comes crawling on his knees
and messes with your pretty little mind. Isabel, on the other hand, flirts
with the boy of my dreams and leads him around like a puppy!"



Liz and Maria just looked at eachother and laughed. "Come on, Grumpy, let's
go."



Max, Michael, and Isabel walked into the Crashdown and sat down at their
usual booth. "Look, Jolie's here," Max said, waving to her and Maria. "Are
you going to be civil or are we going to have to put you in the time-out
chair, Isabel?"



"Oh, shut up," Isabel retorted. "I can't help it if she's a complete psycho!
Why does she hang out with Alex all the time? Doesn't she have any other
friends?"

"Yeah, Maria and Liz," Max pointed out.



Isabel groaned. "Humpty and Dumpty? Right." "Jealous, Is?" Michael asked
devilishly. "Of Jolie?" "Spare me," Isabel sighed. "It's too early."



"Don't they need menus?" Maria asked, looking over at Michael, Max and
Isabel sitting in their usual booth. Liz came by with a full tray. "I can't,"
she said, looking pleadingly at Jolie. "Go."



"Grr!" Jolie muttered, grabbing three menus. "Hi, I'm Jolie, welcome to the
Crashdown. Our special today is Extra-Terrestrial Eggs with hash browns and
Alien toast. Unless you don't feel comfortable eating your own kind," she
sneered.



Isabel practically choked on her water. "Um, I'll just have some hash
browns," she managed to say. Jolie scribbled something down on her menu pad.



"Okay, potatoes for the princess. Prince Charming? Quasimodo? Can I get you
some breakfast?"



"Um, yeah, can I have some eggs and toast? Scrambled?" Michael asked. Jolie
nodded. "Sure. And here's some extra tabasco sauce. Max?" Max handed her his
menu. "Um, I'll have an Out of This World egg-and-cheese omelet." Jolie
nodded. "Okay, I'll put 'em in."



She walked away and Isabel leaned back in her seat with a sigh. "How come

she's nice to you?" she asked. Michael smirked. "I dunno. Maybe she likes
me." Isabel glared at him. "Wouldn't that be a laugh? Sorry Michael, I think
her heart's reserved for Alex."



"Seriously? Jolie likes Alex Whitman? Oh my god!" Michael said with a laugh.



"What's wrong with Alex?" Isabel asked. "I mean, apart from the fact that
he's annoying as sin."



"Nothing," Michael managed to say. "It's just, Jolie's actually normal, and
Alex-,"



"He's geek," Isabel finished. "Alex is a geek. Why don't you just give him a
shot, Michael? He's not that bad."



"Take your own advice," Michael said, taking a sip of his water.



Isabel grinned at him. "Maybe I will."



&&&&&&&&&



"See, that wasn't so bad, was it?" Maria asked during a lull between the
breakfast and lunch hours. "You and Isabel can play nice if you really want
to."



Jolie sighed. "God, that girl...she drives me up the wall. Does she even
know what she has? I'd give my left arm to be her for a day. Gorgeous,
popular, with a trail of adoring fans in her wake. Alex included."



Liz pointed to a nearby booth. "Sit. Down," she ordered. "Let me get this
straight, Jol," she said, squeezing in to make room for Maria on her side.



"You don't like Isabel because she's gorgeous, and popular, and Alex is in
love with her. But is it really about Alex? Or is he just an excuse because
you're jealous of Isabel?"



"No!" Jolie snapped. "Stick to science, Liz. The shrink deal won't work for
you." Liz sighed. "Go on."



Jolie glanced around the diner. "I mean, this may sound really cheesy, but
god, I'm completely in love with him. And Isabel's completely....not. Why is
Alex wasting his time lusting over Isabel when she has absolutely no clue how
special he is? Even if Isabel wasn't the Ice-Queen that she is, he'd find
some reason to be into her."



Maria nodded, pulling a bag of M&Ms out of her purse. "Here. Vent," she
said, giving some candy to her friends. "Spill."



Jolie wiped her eyes. "Okay, so he came over last night. And we were gonna
go out. I figured just the two of us, a movie, eating Twizzlers. But then he
wanted to go to the Crashdown. And Isabel was there."



Jolie sighed. "God, this is so stupid!" she said, blinking back tears. "I
honestly cried last night. I cried over Alex Whitman. We had come here, and I
was hoping to get some alone time with him. Just the two of us, maybe a
movie, eating Twizzlers."



"What happened? You guys came here, didn't you?" Maria asked.

Jolie nodded. "Yep, because he wanted to tail Isabel. And we wound up
sitting with her and Max and Michael. You should have heard the way she was
talking to me! Like I was "Alex's friend". And I was so angry. He didn't even
do anything, like jokingly, even. He could have said, you know, kidding,
"Hey, Isabel leave her alone". He just sat there like a complete jerk."



"Ouch," Liz said sympathetically. "That must have been humiliating."

Jolie nodded. "Yeah, it was. Maybe this whole thing is just stupid."



"It's not stupid," Maria consoled her. "Hey, even I had a thing for Alex. In
the third grade, remember? When he stuck up for me against Billy Reed when he
called me a fat cow? Granted, it was only for about a week, but it still
counts!"



Jolie smiled at them. "Liz? What about you?" Liz shrugged. "Just follow your
heart. I mean, it can always change. He could always wake up one day and
realize he's madly in love with you."



Jolie smirked. "Wouldn't that be the best?" Maria laughed.

"See, you can smile! All hope is not lost. It'll happen, honey. Hey, if my
mom can date Sheriff Valenti, anything's possible."



Jolie wrinkled up her nose. "Oh, right, they're still "dating". You know, if
they got married, you could be related to Kyle."



Maria shuddered. "Oh god. That would be too weird. I mean, "Jim" even
"sleeps over" sometimes. And I bet they don't sleep."



"Ewww," Jolie and Liz said in unison. "Scary mental picture."



Maria reached for the bag of M&Ms. "More chocolate?" she asked, handing the
bag to her friends.



Liz nodded. "Please."



&&&&&&&&&



Alex tossed a foam basketball up at the plastic hoop on his door. He'd
called Jolie to apologize, but she was still working at the Crashdown. He
felt horrible.

He flipped on the radio and turned it up.



There she goes

There she goes again

Racing through my brain

And I just can't contain

This feeling that remains



Alex sighed. He didn't understand it. Jolie was supposed to be his friend.
They barely ever fought before, but now it felt like they were fighting all
the time. He didn't get it.



Something's going on, he thought. I have to figure out what.