"Joe, can I talk to you?" Rachel asked him one day while they were picking beans together. 

The two of them were alone. Lauren didn't join them today, but she did on other days, and he enjoyed knowing she was there because she wanted to be near him, not that she necessarily wanted to make money like Rachel did. She was currently in a counselling session with Al's dad, who was a child psychologist, but she said she might see them later.

After the harrowing events of a few weeks ago, when the Lawrence Street Detective Club had broken into the Trybek house to rescue Rachel, the grown-ups had determined the event must have been traumatic for them, and that talking their feelings out to a professional might do them some good. Joe had had a session with Mr. Mackenzie and hadn't gotten anything out of it, himself, but he didn't think he'd been that traumatized. Not like poor Rachel, who'd had many.

Something bad had happened to her, something he didn't know how to describe, but when Joe had pushed over Mr. Trybek after Lauren had cut him with her grandfather's sword, and he'd climbed over him into the living room, he'd noticed Rachel tugging on her shorts, and wondered if they'd been pulled down, and why they would be pulled down there in the living room and not in the bathroom, where she would pull them down to use the toilet. It made him blush in the same way as the thought of Francis O'Rourke trying to touch Rachel's boob made him blush, and he suspected the two events had a connection, just like the hug from Lauren and the swelling in his pants had a connection. He couldn't ask anyone what that connection might be, because he was too embarrassed, and he didn't think his parents would tell him, and he thought Johnny would just tease him if he asked.

Lauren had needed more than one session too, apparently. She'd injured Mr. Trybek pretty badly. She'd cut his... Joe couldn't even think about it. Thinking about it would cause the exact opposite of the swelling in his pants, if such a thing were possible. The grown-ups must have thought she needed closer examination than the rest of them, in case she ever felt the urge to hurt someone like that again. Joe thought that was preposterous. Lauren would never purposefully hurt anyone she cared about. She was just defending her friends, and he didn't even think she'd meant to cut off Mr. Trybek's... he still couldn't think about it.

"Sure, what is it?" he asked.

Rachel looked around to make sure no one was close by to hear them, and kept picking as she spoke. "Look, we're friends, right?"

"Of course we are."

"And as friends, we shouldn't keep secrets from each other, right?"

"Uh..."

"I just want to make sure you know something before it gets out of hand and you can't back out of it."

Joe stopped picking and looked at her. "What are you talking about, Rachel?"

She sighed in frustration. "Sorry, I'm not saying it right. Look, Lauren has the hots for you, okay? I just wanted to warn you."

Joe smiled. Why was Rachel saying it like it was a bad thing? "Yeah, I know."

Rachel blinked in surprise. "You do?"

"Sure."

"And you're okay with that?"

"Of course I am. I like her too. I've had a crush on her for a while, since last Halloween, actually."

She stood blinking at him for a moment. "Oh. Okay," she said.

"Why were you making such a big deal about it, like I should be scared or something?"

Now she looked sheepish. "I don't know, it's just, she's really into you, she talks about you all the time, and she even..."

Suddenly she blushed, and Joe wondered what she was going to say, and if she couldn't say it because it was something naughty, and to his horror he felt the swelling in his pants again.

"Look," she said, "it's just a little intense, how she feels about you, and you're both just thirteen, and it might not be appropriate."

Now it was Joe's turn to be surprised. "Shouldn't that be for me to decide?" he asked, a little offended. It was the first time Rachel had ever annoyed him, and it made him sad, like something was changing between them, between all the friends, actually. Was Lauren coming between them now?

Rachel nodded. "Okay, you're right. Sorry. I just... remember when we were seven, and your mom said you were going to marry an Italian girl? I think Lauren might be angling to overturn your mother's plans."

Joe chuckled in surprise. "Oh, come on. I don't think we're there yet." But of course he'd thought about it too, and he found he rather liked the idea of Lauren and him getting married, regardless of what his mother had in store for him.

"I just don't want you to get in trouble with your parents by going too fast too soon," she said.

"Let me worry about that," he said. "Rachel, you're not saying all this for some other reason, are you?"

Rachel's mouth dropped open. "What are you talking about?"

Joe suddenly felt nervous about saying what he wanted to say next. An image of her in that dress flashed through his mind, and now he couldn't tell if the swelling in his pants was still a remnant of his previous thoughts about Lauren, or about Rachel in the dress. "You weren't... uh... still hoping we'd get married, were you?"

Rachel burst out laughing, and Joe felt both relieved and a little disappointed that she found the idea so funny. "Oh, Joe," she said, "we were seven. I'm sorry, I was silly to stand outside your window and shout my love for you. You were just trying to make me feel better, and I turned it into love. I've grown out of it now."

"Oh. Well, good." Was it, though? Rachel was one of his best friends, but he couldn't help noticing how she'd grown into herself this past year. He knew Al was smitten with her, and that kiss she'd given him at the Trybek house was something Joe pictured her doing to him sometimes.

"Oh, look, here comes Lauren now," Rachel said wryly.

Joe looked, and she was striding down Lawrence Street from Al's house, having finished her session. When they locked eyes, she brightened and ran the rest of the way to them. "Hey, guys!" she said from the street. "Did I miss anything?"

"Nope, just picking beans," Rachel said. Joe noticed that she didn't sound very happy to see her friend, and wondered what the real reason for Rachel's concern for him was. Was she jealous of Lauren feeling grown-up feelings for him, when she didn't have someone to have feelings for? (She might have kissed Al, but he didn't think that was serious).

"How was your session with Al's dad?" Joe asked.

Lauren shrugged. "Same as always. Always asking the same questions while avoiding asking the real question: am I going to use the sword on someone else?"

"Are you going to help pick today?" Rachel asked irritably, as if she'd heard this before and it had gotten old.

"Nah, I'll just stand here and talk to you. My shoes won't get dirty that way."

Joe noticed Rachel rolling her eyes and grinned. He was well aware of Rachel's resentment of the other friends for having parents who had income that wasn't all spent on rent and food. Now that Rachel's mom was back, maybe the extra income she brought in would improve Rachel's circumstances, but until then she was still surly about it.

Before any of them could say another word, however, Johnny emerged from the dense green foliage. "Hey, guys, it's lunch time," he said. "Mom's got sandwiches ready."

Immediately Rachel blushed and looked down at her feet. Joe noticed she'd been doing that a lot lately when Johnny was around, and he fought down a surge of jealousy toward his older brother, who'd shot up like a weed in the last year or two, gotten wider in the shoulders and leaner in the face. Once again, his shirt was off, and his chest and arms gleamed with sweat. Did Johnny know the effect he had on girls? He must have; his girlfriend was a knockout, a real Italian princess, and she was usually all over him when the two were together. All of the men had been looking at her at the ten year dinner, in her filmy dress, but her eyes were only for Johnny, basketball star.

When Joe looked at Lauren, however, he noticed her eyes were only on him. She seemed immune to Johnny's charms. If she knew how much that meant to Joe, she didn't show it. "Does she have an extra for me?" she asked.

Johnny looked at Lauren and said, "Workers only. Move along, squirt, Joe doesn't need you distracting him today."

Johnny had noticed how much time he and Lauren were spending together, apparently, chatting while picking beans, or holding hands while sitting on the stairs of the two-unit apartment building Rachel and Lauren called home. Hopefully he hadn't spotted them sneaking kisses on the cheek; if he had, he might tell Mom, and then Joe would have some explaining to do.

To everyone's surprise, Lauren said, "Oh, fuck off, Johnny, Joe can look after himself."

If anyone but Lauren had told Johnny to fuck off, they might have paid for it. If Joe had said it, Johnny would have boxed his ears. Johnny had heard what Lauren had done to Mr. Trybek, though, and he wasn't about to aggravate the strange little half-Japanese girl who was stuck to his little brother's hip.

Johnny just smirked at the way such a childishly dressed girl used such filthy language, and looked at Rachel. "Better get your salami while you can," he said, making Rachel blush even harder, and Joe felt a little sorry for her.

Thanks for reading this far! I liked writing this chapter because this scene wasn't in the first two novels, and illustrates a little the changing relationship between Joe and Rachel, now that adolescence is hitting them. Rachel's concern for Joe seems a little too much, doesn't it? Maybe there's a little jealousy there? If you liked what you just read, hit "Vote" and leave a comment. To see what the LSDC find in Logan's room, click on "Continue reading."