Back from France

I drove back from Champs Les Sims in the dead of night, in a rented Jeep.

After I got back, I put together our new nectar cellar. I figured the nectar maker and the nectar bottles are going to be handy when we put together our next party, we'll have that to serve. Both mom and I know how to make nectar, and I'm going to teach Neil and Bassy how to do it too.

After I got back, I decided to pay a visit to Ari, who now wants to be called by her given name, Arielle. Ari, as usual, was teed off. I tried to talk about my trip and she's all, "I'm sick and tired of seeing my best friend on the cover of some trashy gossip rag."

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm browsing through some stuff at the bookstore, and here you are on the cover of this gossip rag, suckin' face with some guy! What's that about?"

"None of your business!"

"Who is he, Savannah? I wanna know. Besides -- he's kinda cute. Geeky -- but cute."

I was reluctant. "His name is Gustave Delven."

"Oooh, Gustave!" she teased, "sounds veddy French."

"We met the first time I went to France, when my parents got married." I told her about the nectar history project we ended up working on.

"Uh-huh, and then you ended up sleeping at his house -- better be careful, Vanna, that's how these start!"

"There's one problem -- the bitch he lives with, Jolene. He says she's his roommate, but the way she's acting it seems like there's much more going on than that."

"Ah, so you're the other woman!"

"You watch entirely too much TV, Ari," I teased.

Ari and I decided to go over to Hogan's to get a bite to eat.

"You have to think about what you're getting into," Ari cautioned over her blaring Llama Mouth band while we were making the drive. "Jolene not only doesn't sound like a savory character, but it doesn't sound like Gustave has been entirely truthful to you, either."

"What do you mean? He doesn't seem like he has a lie inside of him."

"That's just it," Ari said. "It's pretty clear there's something going on between him and Jolene, but to keep from hurting you, he won't tell you about it. Seriously, why would they move in together?"

Being a Friday night, the place was PACKED! It was even more packed than usual because Hogan's was running an all-you-can-eat special. We had fried hot chicken wings and onion rings -- exactly the greasy fattening food I'd sworn off.

Just before I left, I saw Bassy and Neil pull up in Bassy's car. I know they had been over at the spa because Bassy got a job there -- no doubt to try to get at girls -- and then they came over to the diner to try their hands and stomachs at the greasy stuff.