100 This Is Ridiculous

"Red team, this is gold team. Over," Richie spoke into the walkie talkie, mashing the send button and speaking in a low, serious voice typically only heard in war movies. Brenda Briswell sat next to him in the passenger seat of Richie's Lexus, and she rolled her eyes, wondering what the hell she had gotten herself into. She should have known better than to finally give in to Richie's pestering. All Brenda wanted was to get him to shut up and leave her alone, and now she was stuck playing cops-and-robbers with Richie and Brenda's twin sister, Bridget, off in some other car at an undisclosed location.

"Is this really necessary? I mean, is our whole date going to be like this?" Brenda said after a wary sigh.

"This red team. We copy you. What's up, Gold leader? Over," the walkie talkie buzzed in Richie's hand. The voice on the line was that of Bridget Briswell, Brenda's sister. She was also on a date, but with a beefy security guard who got a huge kick out of all the snooping around and thought the stealthy surveillance they were doing was the coolest thing ever. Richie turned to Brenda.

"You mean you're not having fun? I mean, this is mostly your sister's idea," Richie said and then spoke into the walkie talkie. "Red team, this is gold team. All quiet on the western front. Anything your way? Over."

"Gold team, this is red team. It's beer o'clock, and all is well. Over," a male's voice said, apparently Bridget's date wanted his turn to speak on the walkie talkie. Richie held back his laughter; he could tell that Brenda was not enjoying herself. He should have asked out her sister.

"Don't worry, Melvin's going to contact us and let us know where we're going to not-so accidentally run into him for dinner. Then we'll all sit down, have a little get together, and keep our eyes open for the likes of Melvin's ex. You're in for an entertaining night. If I know Abby, she's got to be around her somewhere," Richie said to Brenda, patting her reassuringly on the arm. Brenda leaned the seat back and put her hands over her eyes. She tried not to think about all the other things she could have been doing tonight.

"This is ridiculous," she groaned.

"But fun as hell," Richie said and held the walkie talkie to his lips.