When Love Dies

by Francine Pascal

  Jessica tried to hide her disappointment. “Isn’t there anything I can do for you?”

  “I can’t think of anything right now. Except”—he picked up a pen from his bedside table—“you can return this to your sister. She left it here when she signed my cast.”

  “Can I sign it, too?” she asked, not to be outdone by her twin.

  “Sure thing.” He handed her the pen. “Don’t tell me you’re a writer like your sister.”

  Jessica dimpled. “Nothing that boring. I’m going to be an actress. A TV actress,” she hinted outrageously.

  “I see,” Jeremy said, stifling a smile.

  Jessica’s heart beat quickly as she held the pen poised over his cast, looking for a spot that wasn’t already written on or decorated. As she leaned forward, she lost her balance. Instinctively she put out her right hand and hit him in his other kneecap, jabbing it with the pen. Jeremy let out a yelp, jerking upright so suddenly that one of the cables holding his leg up was pulled loose. He groaned loudly, his face as white as the sheets he was lying on.

  Speechless with horror, Jessica could only stare at him.

  “Get … a … nurse,” he croaked.

  “A nurse. Sure. I’ll be right back. Don’t go anywhere.”

  “Where would I go?” he mumbled weakly.

  Jessica dashed out of the room. Her one chance at stardom and she’d probably blown it for good! She found a nurse and managed to babble out what had happened. The nurse shot Jessica a disgusted look before bustling off in the direction of Jeremy’s room.

  Jessica sank down on a chair in the waiting room. Maybe it wasn’t completely hopeless, she told herself. Maybe there was still a chance of showing Jeremy how devoted she could be, of earning his undying gratitude—and a guest spot on his show.

  Five

  “I’m not in the mood for a party,” Steven growled. “Thanks, Jess, but I’ll pass.”

  “But, Steve!” Jessica dropped down beside her brother, who lay sprawled on the living room couch. It was Friday, and he’d just arrived home for the weekend. “It would be so much fun. Besides, Cara’s feelings would be hurt if you couldn’t come.”

  “Cara Walker, huh?” Steven shot her a wise look. “I think I know what this is all about. Look, if you’re trying to fix me up with her again, you can forget it.”

  Jessica stuck out her lower lip. “How can you be so mean? I was only trying to do you a favor. I know how bad you’re feeling about Tricia. I thought a party might cheer you up.”

  Steven’s expression softened. “Well, it was a nice thought, but I don’t think anything could cheer me up right now.”

  He went back to peering glumly at the history textbook he’d been trying to read without much success. Forgetting Tricia was proving to be an impossible task. He felt as heartsick about the whole thing as he had the night they broke up.

  But Jessica wasn’t giving up as easily as that. “You can’t just mope around forever. You have your reputation to think of.”

  “I don’t get the connection,” Steven said in bewilderment. “What’s my reputation got to do with it?”

  “You don’t want people to start thinking you’re a wimp, do you? Only wimps sit around doing their homework on Friday night when they could be out partying.”

  Steven shrugged. He wasn’t the least bit interested in his reputation, Jessica could see. He looked awful, too, as if he hadn’t eaten or slept all week—which he probably hadn’t. Getting him to stop thinking about Tricia wasn’t going to be as easy as she’d hoped. Jessica leaned over and planted an affectionate kiss on her brother’s unshaven cheek.

  “Come on, Steve, don’t be stubborn. You could go just for an hour or so. If you don’t have fun, you can always leave. It would mean so much to Cara.”

  “I see we’re back to Cara again.”

  “And what’s wrong with Cara, I’d like to know?” Jessica shot back indignantly. “Honestly, the way you’re acting, anyone would think she had two heads and weighed three hundred pounds. In case you haven’t noticed lately, Cara happens to be fantastic-looking.”

  “Great. Then she should have no trouble getting dates on her own.”

  Jessica resisted the impulse to bat him over the head with a pillow. Instead, she tried to catch him with some different bait.

  “I’ll bet Tricia’s not going to be sitting home tonight,” she suggested slyly.

  At the mention of Tricia’s name, Steven slammed his book shut and scowled up at Jessica. “What makes you such an expert on Tricia all of a sudden?” he demanded angrily.

  “Oh, I don’t know. I hear things around school—you know how it is.” Jessica yawned, pretending to be bored with the whole subject.

  “Like what things?” he persisted.

  “Well, Cara told me just the other day that she heard from one of the seniors that Tricia’s been cutting an awful lot of classes lately.”

  Steven’s frown deepened. “That doesn’t sound like Tricia. She’s always been an A student.”

  “Maybe she found something better to do. You remember what happened with Betsy after she started hanging around with that dropout Rick Andover. It wasn’t long before she was flunking half her classes.”

  “Tricia’s not like Betsy,” Steven insisted stubbornly.

  “I don’t see how you can defend her after the way she treated you! If you ask me, she deserves to flunk out.”

  “What else did Cara say about Tricia?” Steven asked.

  Jessica suppressed a smile of triumph. The bait had worked. He was hooked. Now all she had to do was reel him in.

  “How on earth would I know? I’m not the FBI. Of course, if you’re really interested, you could always ask Cara yourself.”

  “Who says you’re not the FBI? Only in your case it stands for Forever Butting In.” Giving a weary sigh, Steven rose from the couch. “What time did you say the party was?”

  Jessica had to stand on tiptoe to hug him. “Eight-thirty. And don’t worry—you won’t regret this, Steve. Cross my heart!”

  “I think I’m already regretting it.”

  But Jessica wasn’t listening. She was dashing upstairs to phone Cara.

  * * *

  “You told him I was having a party? Tonight?” Cara shrieked into the phone. “Jessica Wakefield, how could you? He’ll think I’m the biggest creep in Sweet Valley when he gets here and finds out it was all a big lie!”

  “I had to tell him something,” Jessica said. “Would you rather I told him you were madly in love with him and were dying for a date?”

  “You wouldn’t dare!”

  “OK, so it’s not the greatest plan in the world, but it was the best I could come up with. Just put some potato chips out and we’ll invite a few more people. I didn’t tell him it was going to be a big party.”

  “Who can we invite at the last minute?”

  “Well, I could ask Liz and Todd. I’ll tell Liz I’m doing it for Steve. It’s the truth. I’m just making sure he doesn’t go running back to that no-good Tricia.” She sighed. “The trouble is, no one around here seems to care about the Wakefield reputation except me.”

  “Gee, that’s tough, Jess,” Cara said, not bothering to hide the sarcasm in her voice. “What I want to know is what you’re going to do about me. What if you can’t get anyone to come?”

  “You can always pretend you invited a bunch of people but no one showed up.”

  “Great. Then I’ll look like the biggest nerd this side of the Rockies.” Cara moaned loudly. “How did I ever let you talk me into this?”

  “Just leave everything to me,” Jessica said confidently.

  “Do I have a choice?”

  “Sure. You can always back out. Then some other lucky girl will probably snag Steven.”

  There was a brief silence at the other end. “Well, when you put it that way…”

  Jessica laughed. “Trust me, Cara. You won’t be sorry. Just put on the sexiest outfit you own. Nature will take care of the rest. Don’t
forget, Steve’s only human.”

  Six

  “Hi, everybody! Hi, Steve! I’m really glad you could come.”

  Cara greeted them at the door. She was wearing a splashy Hawaiian-print halter dress. It was cut so low in back that Steven could see the white lines from her bikini crisscrossing her dark tan. She had pulled her long brown hair into a ponytail over one ear so that it snaked seductively down her bare shoulder.

  From the moment he saw Cara, Steven was sorry he’d come. It was a mistake. He never should have let Jessica talk him into this. It was an effort to control the sudden urge he had to run to the nearest phone and call Tricia. What was she doing right then? Who was she with?

  Anger pounded in his temples, and his face grew hot at the thought of Tricia with someone else. He’d spent the entire week trying to make himself hate her, but it was no good. Each time he pictured her—golden-haired and fragile, with those great misty blue eyes—he wanted to take her in his arms, to protect her from—

  From what? he asked himself. Tricia didn’t want his love or his protection. She’d told him so herself. Yet there had been something about her, something that twisted his heart at the memory of how she’d looked the night of their breakup. As if she still loved him. As if what she was saying had hurt her more than it was hurting him.

  He knew he was probably just imagining it because he wanted so much for it to be true. A part of him still didn’t believe she could end it like that. You couldn’t stop loving someone just like shutting off a faucet. At least he couldn’t.

  At first he’d been so angry at Tricia that he couldn’t see straight, but lately he’d been remembering all the good times they’d had together. Tricia’s presence in his life had been like the sun and the moon and the stars all rolled into one.

  “Looks like we’re practically the first ones to get here,” Jessica commented as she looked about the nearly deserted living room. Only one other couple had arrived so far. She waved to Lila Fowler, who was sitting on the couch talking to her date, a boy Jessica didn’t recognize.

  Cara blushed. “Uh, well … a bunch of people called and said they couldn’t make it.”

  “Don’t worry,” Jessica assured Cara. “I think it’s much nicer this way. I hate big parties. They’re so noisy. This is much more intimate.” She turned to her date, handsome soccer player Aaron Dallas. Don’t you agree, Aaron?”

  “Sure do.” Grinning, he put an arm about her waist. “I like intimate parties, too. The more intimate, the better.”

  Steven winced as he watched his sister plant a kiss on Aaron’s waiting cheek. Jessica probably didn’t know the meaning of real love, he thought. She wouldn’t understand the way he felt about Tricia, what it was like to love someone so much you couldn’t imagine life without that person.

  “Where are Liz and Todd?” Cara asked, beginning to show signs of nervousness.

  Jessica shrugged. “They couldn’t make it. Todd had some concert tickets.” She didn’t want to tell Cara the truth—that Elizabeth had simply refused to have any part in fixing her up with Steven.

  “I didn’t know there was a concert tonight,” Lila put in. “What group is playing?”

  “It’s—nobody you ever heard of,” Jessica hedged. She felt like kicking Lila.

  Lila laughed, tossing her head so that her wavy, light brown hair rippled across her shoulders. “Believe me, Jessica, there isn’t a group I haven’t heard of.”

  The Fowlers were so rich that Lila had her own built-in stereo system in her bedroom, with a record collection that stretched wall to wall.

  Jessica could feel herself growing warm. “Uh, it’s a classical group,” she finally said. “You know how crazy Liz is about all that highbrow stuff.”

  Lila wrinkled her nose in distaste. “Classical music just puts me to sleep.”

  Her date, a preppy type with short, rust-red hair and devilish blue eyes, said, “No sleep tonight, Lila. I’ve got other plans.”

  “Oh, Jim!” Lila giggled, pretending to be shocked, but she didn’t pull away when he hooked an arm about her shoulder, drawing her in for a kiss.

  “Speaking of big plans,” Cara interrupted, “I just found out about a party you won’t want to miss.”

  Jessica frowned. Usually she knew about every party of any importance long before invitations were made. “Who’s giving it?”

  “Regina Morrow. You know, the new girl who’s moving into the Godfrey mansion. I haven’t met her yet, but my mother met her mother. That’s how I found out. It’s going to be a kind of get-to-know-everyone party. She’s inviting the whole junior class. She’s going all out, too. It’s supposed to be really fancy. I guess she wants to make a good impression.”

  “Wow!” Jessica’s blue-green eyes sparkled with enthusiasm. “I can’t wait!”

  “I thought you didn’t like big parties,” Aaron teased.

  Jessica blushed, casting a guilty glance at Cara, who was glaring at her across the room. For once, Jessica was speechless.

  Cara ducked into the kitchen and came out carrying a six-pack of beer. “My parents aren’t home,” she explained with a sheepish smile.

  Steven shook his head when she offered him a beer. He didn’t feel like drinking. He didn’t feel much like talking to anyone either. All he wanted was to be with Tricia. Nibbling listlessly at a potato chip, he sank down on the couch.

  “Don’t be such a party pooper, Steve!” Jessica sang out as Cara put a record on the turntable.

  The room thundered with a pulsing beat. Jessica and Aaron started to whirl across the carpet with their arms looped about each other’s waists. Then they disappeared outside, and Steven could hear their laughter drifting in from the darkened patio. A few minutes later, Lila and her date joined them.

  Cara curled up next to Steven on the couch. She kicked her sandals off, tucking her feet up underneath her. She wasted no time in getting directly to the point.

  “I heard you and Tricia broke up,” she said. “That’s too bad. Tricia’s a nice girl.” She didn’t sound very sincere.

  Steven found himself asking, almost against his will, “How well do you know Tricia? Uh … I was just wondering if you ever talked or anything.”

  He hated himself immediately. Why should he care one way or another if they were friends? It was over between Tricia and him. She had made that crystal clear. Why torture himself?

  “I don’t really know her that well,” Cara admitted. “Tricia’s—well, you could call her the shy type.”

  Steven recalled Elizabeth telling him once that Cara Walker was the biggest gossip in school. Maybe Tricia had been reluctant to get close to Cara for that reason. Tricia had enough to worry about as it was without a gossipmonger spreading even more stories about her family.

  “Anyway,” Cara went on, “you don’t have to worry about hurting her feelings anymore. Jessica told me it was your idea to break up, but I guess Tricia must have gotten over it in a big hurry.”

  “What do you mean?” Steven asked slowly. There was a roaring in his ears, and his mouth was so dry he could hardly swallow.

  “I heard she’s got a new boyfriend,” Cara replied, dropping her voice to a confidential whisper.

  Steve fought to keep his emotions under control. “Oh? Somebody from school?”

  “I don’t think so. Caroline didn’t recognize him. That’s who I heard it from—Caroline Pearce. She said she saw Tricia and this guy down at the drugstore a couple of days ago. According to Caroline, Tricia was draped all over him.”

  Steven felt himself stiffen. “Yeah, well, it’s none of my business what she does. We’re not going together anymore.”

  “That’s what I told Caroline.”

  “Tricia can see whoever she wants.”

  “I couldn’t agree with you more, Steve,” Cara cooed.

  “I mean, if she wants to hang all over some creep in public, what’s it to me?”

  “Absolutely nothing. Steve, what are you getting so excited about?”

/>   “I’m not excited!” he practically roared. Abruptly he grabbed Cara’s wrist, pulling her to her feet. “Let’s dance. I feel like dancing.” To hell with Tricia, he thought, but that didn’t stop his eyes from stinging with unshed tears.

  Cara smiled dreamily. “Sure, Steve, whatever you say.”

  The song now playing was soft and dreamy. Stiffly Steven placed his arms around Cara. With a sigh of contentment, she melted against him. Steven closed his eyes, imagining it was Tricia he was holding. Tricia’s warm body pressed so closely to his, Tricia’s fingertips dancing lightly over the back of his neck—

  Stop it! he commanded himself. He was thinking like an idiot. Some other guy was probably holding Tricia right now, kissing her, maybe even telling her he loved her.

  Suddenly Steven jerked his head forward and kissed Cara hard on the lips. But he felt nothing. Just cold inside. Cold and dead.

  Cara stirred eagerly in his arms. “Oh, Steve,” she murmured. “I think this is going to be the nicest party I ever had.”

  * * *

  Jessica smirked as she bounced down on Elizabeth’s bed. It was past one, and she’d just returned from Cara’s party. “I hate to say I told you so. Steve didn’t need much encouraging. He was all over Cara!”

  Elizabeth sat up and blinked. She’d just been dozing off when Jessica came barging in. “I don’t believe it,” she said.

  “Ask Lila. She was there. She saw the way Steve was acting.” Jessica smiled as she began peeling off her pantyhose. “I don’t think we need to worry about Steve mourning over Tricia anymore. He’s probably forgotten her name by now.”

  Elizabeth still couldn’t quite believe it. What could have happened to make Steven change his mind about Cara so quickly? Knowing Jessica and her tricks, it could have been anything.

  “Do you think it’s serious?” she asked.

  Jessica’s smile broadened. “I hope so. Steve didn’t even come home with me. He and Cara must be off in some cozy place right this minute.”

  “Come on, Jess, you can’t mean it. Cara’s all wrong for Steve.”

  “What do you have against Cara?” Jessica demanded. “She’s cute, and she’s popular—and she’s even on the cheering squad.”