Amanda Vs The Universe

by Patricia B Tighe

  Four? My eggs hardened like lead in my stomach. I put my fork onto my plate and crumpled the napkin in my lap. “I thought only Kenzie and Dylan were coming.”

  Mom smiled. “No, that’s the surprise. Noah and Gabby were able to come after all. Isn’t that great?”

  I forced enthusiasm into my voice. “Yeah, great.” Wonderful. Fantastic. Two summers ago in this very house, Noah and Gabby became a couple. He was Geoff’s best friend, and I’d been crushing on him for months. He’d said mean things about me being too young. I’d made accusations, which turned out wrong, about Gabby just playing Noah.

  I was so over it, but the whole situation sometimes still made me cringe. So I made a point not to think about it. Except I couldn’t help remembering it when I was around Gabby and Noah. They weren’t rude. They didn’t hold a grudge. But I couldn’t escape the awkwardness that clung to us whenever we interacted. I’d so hoped they wouldn’t come on vacation this year. Especially since I didn’t have Haley, or even Gamma, to hang out with.

  So, yay! I was going to be the odd number, the seventh wheel, the little kid looking through the bakery window at all the wonders inside. Who didn’t want to join a bunch of college friends eager to catch up with each other? Not little ole high school me.

  Maybe I could spend more time at Cady’s. There had to be other chores or errands that she needed help with even though she already had Kyle.

  I refocused on my parents. “… Too bad about the play,” Dad said.

  I stiffened. Another bad memory from two years ago. “What about a play? We’re not going to do that again, are we?”

  “No,” he said. “We couldn’t get one written in time.”

  My tight muscles relaxed. “Good.”

  “But we are going to do something fun,” Mom said. “We always do.”

  I made myself drink my juice slowly and carefully. The cool, tart flavor tasted like a jolt of energy. And I needed that to think straight. This was no time to overreact. My parents loved to break out of their day-to-day lawyer grind on vacation. Over the years, we’d put on plays, held mock Olympic games, had nightly singalongs masquerading as karaoke, and in general made ourselves look ridiculous. “Aren’t we getting too old for that stuff?” I asked, hoping against hope they might actually consider it.

  They stared at me as if I’d said something blasphemous. “It’s tradition,” Mom said.

  Dad gave me an amused look. “Gamma is the only one who might, and I said might, be too old. It’s not going to kill you to participate in weird family fun.”

  “You might even enjoy it,” Mom said, frowning into a container of Crisco. She made an even worse face and then tossed it into the trash.

  I steeled myself. “So what’s it going to be this time?”

  Dad shoved his hands in his jeans pockets. “We’re still deciding.”

  “Between what and what?” I asked.

  “It’s kind of a secret,” Mom said.

  “A secret.” That could only be bad. At least for me. Geoff and his friends never seemed to care as much as I did about not looking stupid. They’d even gotten into dressing up as zombies a couple of Halloweens ago—per my parents’ request. I’d lucked out of that one because I knew ahead of time and made plans with Haley to be at her house. Maybe I could get my parents to spill. “Very mysterious. You know, I can’t help you plan for it if I don’t know what it is.”

  “Nice try,” Mom said, tossing a bag of egg noodles to Dad.

  “You’ll be the first to know,” he said, eyeing me as if he thought I was up to something.

  “Come on, y’all. You know you want to tell me.”

  They just laughed.

  I smiled and took my plate to the sink. No need for them to know how freaked out I was. “I guess I’ll get ready to go to Cady’s, then.”

  “Right after you help with the pantry shelves,” Mom said.

  “Okay.” Be nice, and that might be the only thing she asked me to do. And in the meantime, I’d do some snooping around to see if I could find out what they were planning.

  Four

  The afternoon sun lit up the small display room of Cady’s house with a hazy glow. I wiped out another mug of a brilliant cobalt blue design. I loved the stoneware she made so much. I could easily see buying a set for my own house someday, even adding accent pieces like vases or jars to match.

  The post-lunch cleaning time was going great. Cady rested on the sofa in her den. I had my tunes on Spotify coming through my earbuds. Nothing too bouncy. In fact, I listened to a relaxing channel with a bunch of chill ballads. So relaxing, that I’d entered some kind of meditative state. Pick up stoneware. Wipe off stoneware and shelf. Replace stoneware.

  Maybe it had to do with eating recently. After I’d finished chores with my mom, we had barbecue sandwiches and chips. Good thing I was moving around. I’d be seriously snuggling in my sheets if I wasn’t.

  I worked my way down to the lowest shelf, swaying with the music, which was problematic since I had to squat. Oh, well. I’d been in more awkward situations. But at that moment, a shadow came at me from the left. I jerked and tumbled backward onto my butt, one of Cady’s earth-toned mugs coming loose in my hands. With fumbling fingers, I clutched the mug against my stomach, where it stayed. I yanked out my earbuds and scowled up at the shadow, which of course turned out to be Kyle the Nephew in a fitted black T-shirt and wrinkled khaki shorts. I hadn’t seen him in the house until that moment. Ugh. Why did I always have to look stupid in front of guys?

  He sucked in his cheeks like he didn’t want to smile, but I could see the laughter in his brown eyes. “You ought to be more careful. You wouldn’t want to break anything.”

  Yeah, and it would’ve been your fault. I eased myself into a sitting position. “Thanks for the tip.” I carefully replaced the mug on the shelf. “Is there something you need?”

  He held out a hand to help me up, but when I ignored it, he fiddled with the collection of leather and woven bracelets surrounding his left wrist. “Cady wondered if you’re ready to take a break. She’s serving tea in the living room.”

  Was he really letting his aunt serve people? I scrambled to my feet. “She’s serving? You know she shouldn’t be walking around.”

  He gave me a scornful look. “Relax. I’m helping.”

  A sudden desire to one-up him seized me. “No need. I can help her.” I swung away to go find Cady.

  “What?” Steps sounded behind me. “What’re you doing? You can’t serve the tea. You don’t live here.”

  He caught up as I headed down the hall to the back of the house, walking so close his body heat collided with mine. A shiver ran through me. “You don’t either.”

  He grunted. “Well, I’m her nephew.”

  Dammit. I knew he was going to throw the nephew card. In this case, the best response was no response.

  We both sped up, trying to make it through the door to the den first. He had longer legs, and it looked like I was about to lose. So, brushing aside my conscience, I tripped him. Not badly, but he stumbled, and I surged ahead. Even so, at the last second he drew close, and we shoved through the doorway together, my shoulder plastered against his upper arm. We staggered into the room like we’d been playing beer-pong for hours.

  On the sofa with her legs stretched out, Cady looked up from arranging a scone on a plate. Her mouth dropped open. Then she broke into laughter. “What’s this? A new game?”

  I shook my head. Kyle crossed his arms over his chest. Neither of us spoke. The ridiculousness of the situation hit me hard. What an idiot I was. I could give lessons on how to be immature. What would Cady think of me now?

  Kyle shuffled to a seat and sank into it. “As you can see,” he said, pointing to a tea tray on the sofa table, “everything is already set up. No help needed.”

  He’d known that from the beginning and hadn’t said anything. Just raced me to the room so I’d look like a fool. Or maybe I was doing fine at that all on my own.

 
Cady waved me over. “Come and sit. We have hot tea and scones. I know it’s warm out, but this gray weather has put me in the mood for hot tea.”

  I went to the empty armchair across from Kyle’s and sat. Something like a smirk curled his lips, but he lifted a glass of iced tea to his lips, and stared out the back window at the forest. Was he laughing at me? What if I just yanked his glass away? Being that rude couldn’t make things worse than the already were, could it?

  My mood called for a cold drink like his, but there was no way I’d ask for anything other than what Cady was offering. “Thanks, Cady,” I said. “I’ll have a scone with my tea.”

  She smiled. “Perfect. Help yourself.” She poured from a china teapot covered in tiny pink roses on a curving green vine and handed me the cup and saucer.

  “Thanks. I love this china pattern. I don’t think I’ve ever seen it before.”

  Kyle eyed me and tapped his nose. I didn’t care. He could think I was brown-nosing all he wanted. I really did like the china. When Cady turned away to pick up her cup, I made a disgusted face at him. Immature, but oh so satisfying.

  “Thank you,” Cady said. “It was my mother’s.”

  Kyle chuckled. “I think my mom wished she’d gotten that set.”

  Yeah, pretend to be interested in a conversation about china. We can tell you’re not.

  “My darling baby sister may want it now,” Cady said, “but back in the day, she wasn’t interested at all.”

  “Yeah, well,” he said, “it’s not like she’s going to steal it from you. She just likes it.”

  I needed to focus on my tea and scone, so I wouldn’t give in to the desire to make more faces at him. I sliced my scone in half and spooned a drop of strawberry jam on it. I took a bite, barely registering the sweet strawberry taste.

  “True,” Cady said. “And on an earlier topic, why were you two disgorged into this room as though you’d been squeezed through a tube?”

  I froze, the scone in my mouth suddenly turning hard and dry. Was Kyle going to make me answer that? We locked gazes. He studied me for a moment before saying, “It was nothing. We just raced from the display room.”

  “Ah.” Cady looked from one of us to the other. “And who won?”

  I choked down my bite of scone, then had my cup to my mouth in three seconds. I sipped the tea, trying to stay busy so I wouldn’t have to talk.

  Kyle tilted his head as he examined me again. “I think it was a tie, unless you consider the unsportsmanlike conduct.”

  Cady raised an eyebrow. “Really? Good to know somebody knows how the game is played.” She and Kyle laughed together as though sharing a private joke. A small ache formed in my chest. Maybe I should just go. They were family. They’d always be closer to each other than I could ever be with Cady. The frustrating part was not understanding why I needed Cady to care more about me than she did about Kyle.

  “So what did you do?” Cady asked, staring at Kyle.

  “Me!” he erupted. He looked so taken aback that I almost laughed. “There’s a reason Miss Helpful hasn’t said anything in the last three minutes.”

  Cady eyed me, mischief in her eyes. “Is this true?”

  Miss Helpful? I was getting him back for that one. But not right now. “Maybe,” I said, drawing out the word.

  “Hmm,” she said, and sipped her tea.

  “Okay,” Kyle said. “If she won’t tell you, then I will. She tr—”

  “I’ve never been big on sports anyway,” I blurted, trying to find a way out of this. Oh, I knew Cady would find out I’d tripped Kyle, but I didn’t want to see her face when she did. “Give me a house that needs to be decorated or something to bake and I’m all in.”

  Cady nodded like I’d said something profound. “I completely agree. I like creating a certain ambiance in a room.”

  “Me too. I work really well when I have a theme.”

  Kyle’s brows drew together. “What are y’all talking about?”

  “Decorating,” Cady said.

  “Then I’m out of here.” He drained his glass. “I have lots of work to do outside.”

  He started to get up, but Cady waved him back down. “Don’t worry about the chores right now. Did you know that Amanda lives in San Antonio, just like you?”

  “No.” He rested his elbow on the arm of the chair. “What high school do you go to?”

  “Alamo Heights.”

  “Ah, the rich kids’ school.”

  “Right,” I said with as much scorn as I could muster.

  “You know it’s true.”

  I didn’t know how to fight against this. I’d heard those words all my life, but the kids at my school weren’t particularly rich. Well, some were. But I usually just ignored the label and changed the subject. This time, though, I wanted to show him he was wrong. “No, it isn’t. What school do you go to anyway?”

  “Churchill.”

  It was like he’d just thrown a shot put that landed against my chest. I could barely breathe. Alex went to Churchill. Kyle probably even knew him. Or knew of him. Who wouldn’t know the quarterback of their football team? I sipped my lukewarm tea, trying to clear my throat. “As if Churchill doesn’t have rich kids.” I couldn’t manage a stronger argument. My mind buzzed with things I shouldn’t say. Do you know Alex Delgado? Are you friends? Did he date anyone at your school last spring? I mean, besides me?

  Kyle let out a puff of air. “As if Alamo Heights doesn’t have a higher proportion of rich—”

  “You two can argue about any subject,” Cady said with an amused look.

  She was right. I needed to let this go. I didn’t want to make things harder for her by fighting with her nephew. But I couldn’t help it. He just got under my skin so quickly.

  “Arguing is healthy,” Kyle said, his playful expression looking remarkably like Cady’s.

  Maybe so, but I was ready to quit. I placed my teacup and plate with the unfinished scone on the sofa table. “I should probably get back to the display room. All I have left is to sweep. Do you want me to take the tea service to the kitchen?”

  “No,” Cady said. “What I’d like is for you to help Kyle deliver mugs.”

  What? I tightened my hands on the edge of my chair.

  Kyle avoided looking at me. “I thought you wanted me to pull weeds and mow.”

  Cady lifted her cell phone. “I do, but Janice at Sacred Grounds called half an hour ago. They’ve run out of my mugs a week early. And if I send you with some for her, you might as well drop off a few boxes at the other places around town.”

  “Okay, but—” Kyle finally made eye contact with me. “Why does Amanda have to help? I can deliver them.”

  I tensed, waiting for Cady’s answer. She’d better not say anything that smacked of matchmaking. “She’s more familiar with the area,” Cady said, smiling at me. “She knows where all the stores are.”

  Phew. That was simple enough.

  “Um, you know I have a map app, right?” he asked, frowning.

  Okay. He clearly did not want me to go—not that I wanted to spend extra time with him, but I hated that heart-pinch I got any time someone didn’t want me around. I shifted in my seat, trying to get comfortable.

  “Nonsense,” Cady said, with a quick shake of the head. “Those apps are wrong half the time. Besides, this’ll give you and Amanda more time to argue.” She let out a quiet chuckle. “Just let me get the inventory list.” She levered her leg off the couch and started to get up.

  Kyle leaped to his feet. “I can get the list.”

  “I moved it since yesterday and I’m not sure where I put it. Come with me, you two, and we’ll get this all sorted out.”

  I rose slowly, giving Kyle a wary look, but he just shrugged and followed Cady out the back door toward her studio.

  Five

  With the back of the van loaded, I climbed into the front passenger seat. I really didn’t want to go on the delivery run, but I did want to be helpful to Cady. I just didn’t know why she s
eemed obsessed about me and Kyle spending time together. Oh, she’d made the comment about people needing friends, but in this case, I’d have to disappoint her. I couldn’t see it happening. We rubbed each other the wrong way too much.

  The driver’s door creaked open, and Kyle got in. He stuck the key in the ignition before turning to me. “You really don’t have to come if you’ve got something else going on. I’m sure I can find these places.”

  “I don’t have any other plans.”

  He squinted at the dappled sunshine lighting up the dark gray dashboard. “Okay, but it’s gonna be mind-numbingly boring.”

  I clicked my seatbelt into place. “It beats going home and having my parents give me chores.”

  A grin crossed his face. “I hear ya. It’s way more fun doing stuff for Cady than it is for the parents.”

  “Exactly,” I said, smiling.

  He cocked his head and, with parted lips, stared at me. Then he shook his head.

  “What?” I asked.

  “Nothing.” He started the van. “Let’s do this.”

  We headed down the gravel drive. When we reached the road, Kyle rolled down the window and rested his arm on the door. He held the steering wheel with his other hand, the tendon in his forearm pronounced. In a flash, I was in the past, seeing Alex’s strong arms. The way he’d look over and grin. The way he’d rest a hand on my thigh. I breathed hard against the heaviness in my chest. I hadn’t been in a car with a guy in months.

  This was a really bad idea. I should ask him to take me back.

  “So, what do you want to talk about?” Talk? I couldn’t talk. When I didn’t respond, he glanced over. “Something wrong?” he asked, slowing the car for a stoplight.

  Yes, but I couldn’t deal with it in front of him. I cleared my throat. “Can we listen to some music?”

  “Radio’s broken.”

  “Oh.”

  He gave me a rueful look. “It’s either talk or sit in awkward silence.”