The Perfect Boy

by Hailey Abbott

  Ciara had to admit that the group’s enthusiasm was contagious. She found herself smiling when the fiddle solo ended and the rest of the group launched into a raucous chorus.

  “This is definitely more fun than losing my lunch on a loop-de-loop,” she said. It was also something that Em would be into. Whenever she landed on a weird radio station, she’d always give it at least a three-song shot.

  “I’d rather catch some good tunes than have to hang on to some safety bar for dear life any day,” Kevin agreed.

  A cascade of familiar giggles made them both whirl around. AJ and Heidi were approaching, doubled over in laughter and clutching each other for support.

  “Could we look any worse?” Heidi asked, holding up a glossy photograph in the cheap cardboard commemorative frame from the Viper’s photo booth. Ciara leaned in for a look. Heidi’s platinum hair was tangled in the wind and AJ’s long, dark eyelashes seemed plastered against his face. They both had their mouths open in a combination of fear and laughter, and she could see the gold cap on one of AJ’s molars.

  Ciara’s stomach flipped with disappointment. They were holding hands on top of the safety bar. She stared at the photograph for what seemed like a very long time, unable to look up at AJ, afraid he’d see the loss and rejection etched clearly across her face.

  “I can’t believe you paid for that picture,” Kevin was saying, his voice carefully neutral to hide his own emotions.

  “This day’s been really fun,” AJ said.

  “Yeah, I wanted something to remember it by,” Heidi agreed. Her face was flushed, and Ciara wondered if it was just leftover adrenaline from the ride or if something more than hand-holding had happened on the Viper.

  A trace of the nausea she’d felt on Scream! earlier came whirling back, and she reminded herself that the picture didn’t prove anything.

  “Hey, I’m starving. Anyone up for a corn dog?” Heidi asked.

  Kevin agreed enthusiastically, and Ciara nodded despite the churning in her stomach. They all turned to AJ, but he was staring up at the pinnacle of the Viper with a wistful smile on his face. “You guys go ahead,” he said. “I’ll meet up with you at the snack stand later, all right?”

  Without waiting for an answer, he wandered off down the curving concrete path, not even realizing his three friends were staring at his retreating back in stunned surprise.

  Chapter Eight

  Man it’s just da game, I just play it to play it

  —Jay-Z

  That was, like, the best day ever,” Heidi said happily as Kevin pulled off the exit to Santa Barbara.

  “Yeah, it was a real blast,” Ciara said, trying to keep the sarcasm out of her voice. She stared out the front windshield at the neat white houses rising above them on the hills overlooking the ocean. Heidi had “generously” suggested that Ciara ride shotgun because of her stomach, and she’d been giggling and nudging AJ in the backseat all the way home. Even the amazing Hieroglyphics CD Kevin had put on couldn’t distract her from the feeling of unrest in the pit of her stomach. She kept feeling like there were undercurrents of flirtation floating toward them from the backseat, but then she’d sneak a glance in the rearview mirror to find AJ just staring out the window, bobbing his head slightly to the beat. Was something really going on between him and Heidi, or was she just being paranoid?

  “So hey,” Kevin said, pulling into Heidi’s driveway. “I’m spinning on this party boat down at the pier tomorrow night. It should be a good time.”

  AJ’s gorgeous eyes sparkled as he turned to Heidi. “He got me free tickets. Want to come?”

  Ciara’s cheeks flamed. If AJ wanted to ask Heidi out, that was fine. But did he have to do it right in front of her? The only thing that could have made her feel any worse was if Heidi flung her arms around AJ’s neck and kissed his cheek in gratitude. Which was exactly what she did.

  “I’d love to!” she shrieked, her voice reaching a pitch Ciara had never heard outside of a Teletubbies cartoon.

  “I’ll knock you a plus-one too, Ciara,” AJ said quickly, probably sensing that she was about to reach into the backseat and strangle Heidi with the drawstring on the hood of her jumper. “We’ll all go. It’ll be tight.”

  “Thanks,” Ciara said. Kevin gave her a look that seemed to say, This is our chance, and she returned it with a subtle nod. She bet she had more experience than Heidi when it came to grinding on the dance floor—this was clearly a great opportunity to show off her moves.

  “Hey, Ciara!” Heidi turned to her. “Want to come to the mall and pick out something to wear? I’m supposed to meet Marlene there in an hour anyway.”

  The very last thing Ciara wanted to do was watch Heidi try on the skimpiest outfit in every store in the mall. Then again, if this was going to turn into a full-on competition, she needed something to wear too.

  “Sure,” she heard herself saying. Maybe this would be a chance to pump Heidi for details on what was going on with her and AJ as well.

  “Cool!” Heidi chirped. She turned to AJ. “I guess I’ll see you tomorrow night.” Ciara could actually see her struggling to come up with something cute and clever to say—her brow furrowed for a moment before she gave up and opened the door, hopping lightly to the pavement.

  Kevin’s car pulled out of the driveway, and Ciara climbed into the passenger seat of Heidi’s white Kia Spectra. Heidi turned the key in the ignition, and Jessica Simpson came blasting through the speakers. Ciara winced. In addition to stealing her man, Heidi had really cheesy taste in music.

  Heidi nodded along, her shaggy platinum hair fluttering in the breeze from the air conditioner.

  “So you had fun today?” Ciara asked.

  “Totally,” Heidi said. She still had a far-off glimmer in her eye. “Didn’t you?”

  “Sure,” Ciara said. “I actually had a really good time checking out that bluegrass band with Kevin. He knows so much about music, it’s amazing.”

  “Neat,” Heidi said. She seemed distracted, a shy grin fluttering across her face as she stared intently at the road. “Look, if I tell you something, do you promise to keep it a secret?”

  “Of course,” Ciara said. Her palms suddenly felt damp.

  “You have to promise,” Heidi repeated. “Because I don’t want this getting back to Marlene.”

  “Pinkie swear.” Ciara held up her pinkie and raised an eyebrow, but Heidi barely took her eyes off the road. She was obviously concentrating hard on what she was about to confess.

  “Okay, cool,” she said. She took a deep breath. “I kissed AJ,” she said quickly.

  “Really?” Ciara asked, trying to sound surprised. Even though she could have guessed it was coming, the news still made her ache.

  “Yeah.” Heidi looked like she was about to swoon over the wheel. “Right before we got on the Viper.”

  “Wow,” Ciara said. The dampness in her palms was starting to feel slimy. “How was it?”

  “Amazing.” Heidi sighed. “Ciara, honestly? I thought I was going to die.”

  “The Viper will do that to you,” Ciara quipped. Just thinking about it made her feel like she’d left her stomach up at the top of Scream!

  Heidi laughed a short, nervous laugh. “No, but seriously. He’s such an incredible kisser. He has these supersoft lips, and I just felt like I was going to melt into a big puddle all over the roller coaster as soon as he touched me.”

  “I’m glad you didn’t,” Ciara said seriously. “It probably would have jammed the gears.”

  Heidi threw back her head and howled with laughter. “Wow, Ciara, you are hilarious. You know, I’m really glad to have you back. You’re, like, the only person I can really talk to about this stuff. I mean, please don’t tell Marlene. Like, I know they broke up and everything, but she might still be kind of pissed that I hooked up with her ex, you know?”

  “My lips are sealed,” Ciara assured her.

  “Phew!” Heidi pulled into a parking space and cut the engine, but she didn’t get out of t
he car. Instead, she turned and looked at Ciara, a serious expression on her face. “Can I tell you something else?” she asked.

  “Sure.” Without the air conditioner blasting, the car suddenly felt too hot. Sweat was starting to trickle down the insides of her arms.

  Heidi looked down at her hands, which were twisting around each other in her lap. “That was only the second time I ever kissed a guy,” she whispered.

  Ciara had no idea how to respond. Why was Heidi even telling her this? “Congratulations…?” she said.

  “Thanks.” Heidi let out a nervous little giggle and peered through the windshield, still avoiding Ciara’s gaze. “I feel so dumb. I mean, I’m sixteen. Most of the girls I know have already lost their virginity. I just feel so, like, inexperienced and out of it, and that’s kind of why I decided to be a little more wild this summer.”

  “Seems like it’s working,” Ciara remarked. Doubt was starting to wrench at her insides. Operation Woo-ha had seemed like a good idea when she saw herself and Heidi as equals, but seeing her as this vulnerable little girl who had only made out with two guys and was turning to her for kissing advice just made it seem…wrong. Devious. Well, more devious than it had been in the first place.

  “I hope so,” Heidi said. “Because the first guy I kissed…that didn’t turn out so well.”

  Ciara wondered if she was talking about Jude, but Heidi answered the question before she even had a chance to ask. Her eyes grew wide and dark as she confessed how crazy she’d been about Jude and how hurt and mortified she’d been when he dumped her for the wilder, more experienced Princess. Heidi obviously saw AJ as her chance for redemption from being dumped—if Heidi the wild child could land AJ, she could land anyone. Which Ciara supposed would be all good except that AJ was supposed to be her redemption too!

  The curious, wide-eyed stare Heidi was giving her wasn’t doing a lot to make her feel better about herself. “Have you kissed a lot of guys?” Heidi asked her point-blank.

  A cold bubble of dread rose in Ciara’s stomach. How did Heidi know?

  “I mean—sorry, that came out sounding weird,” Heidi continued. “But I mean, you’re from LA, and I figure people there are kind of more sophisticated and experienced.”

  Ciara relaxed. Heidi was actually sort of paying her a compliment.

  “I’ve smooched my fair share,” she said cautiously. “It’s fun, but nothing to freak out over. Just don’t worry that you’re doing it wrong and you’ll be fine. There’s no ‘wrong’ way to kiss. Chances are, the guy will be so psyched to be kissing you that he won’t exactly be critiquing your technique.”

  She couldn’t believe it. Earlier that day she’d been plotting to steal AJ’s attention away from Heidi—now she was giving her sisterly advice. How twisted was that?

  “All right,” Heidi said slowly. “So, like, what does it mean if he pulls away really quickly? Does that mean he’s just not that into you, or whatever?”

  “Well, not necessarily,” Ciara said. “Sometimes guys get nervous that they’re going to get too turned on, and that’s why they pull back. Or, like…well, something could distract them, or maybe they want to look at you. It’s hard to say. Why, did AJ pull back?” The thought of AJ pulling away from Heidi made her feel smug in a way she didn’t like but couldn’t help. Maybe Heidi didn’t have what it took to land a guy like AJ after all.

  “Well, it was kind of hard to tell,” Heidi admitted. “I mean, three seconds later we were upside down, and it’s not exactly easy to make out when you’re corkscrewing through the air at sixty miles per hour.”

  “Then maybe it was that,” Ciara said. “It’s hard to tell with guys sometimes.”

  “Cool,” Heidi said. Then she started to laugh. “It’s so dumb that I need someone to tell me stuff like that. I mean, any magazine would have said the same thing, but somehow…I don’t know, it’s like it feels more authentic coming from you. You know?”

  “I guess,” Ciara said.

  “Have I mentioned how glad I am you’re back in town?” Heidi asked.

  “I think once or twice.” Ciara let her face relax into a grin. It was nice to have a girlfriend who actually cared if she was around or not. Em was so wrapped up in Tim by the time Ciara had left LA that sometimes she wondered whether her best friend would even notice once she left town. “So do you think things are going to get serious with you and AJ?”

  Heidi giggled, and her cheeks glowed pink. “I don’t think so. I mean, he just got out of a relationship, and I’m all about getting in touch with my wild side this summer. But I figure, if anyone can bring out the tiger in me, it’s AJ. I think we’re going to have a lot of fun.”

  Her giggles snaked right through Ciara’s ears and scratched at her heart like nails down a chalkboard. It was so unfair! Of all the people that Heidi could have tagged for her Girl Gone Wild experiment, did it have to be AJ? She wished she could tell Heidi to go find someone else to play with because she had plans for AJ that involved more than just casual summer fun. Heidi had gotten to be the “good girl” her whole life, and now that Ciara had decided it was her turn, Heidi was yanking the opportunity right out from under her.

  “Anyway, if you can keep it on the DL around Marlene, I’d really appreciate it,” Heidi said for the third time, opening the car door and stepping out.

  “Don’t worry,” Ciara said. “You can count on me.”

  Ciara’s phone beeped as they entered the mall. It was a text message from Kevin.

  AJ goes nuts for tennis skirts was all it said.

  “Who are you texting with?” Heidi wanted to know as they headed toward Smoothie City.

  “Just my dad.” Ciara rolled her eyes. “He wants to know what I want for dinner.”

  “That’s so sweet,” Heidi crooned, spotting Marlene and waving. They made their way across the crowded food court to Smoothie City, where Marlene had perched on one of the stools to drink her Kiwi Dream and peruse the latest issue of Teen People.

  “Hey!” She closed the magazine and gave them each a hug. “How was Six Flags? Was AJ beating up little kids to get to the front of the line like he always does?”

  Ciara laughed. “He was remarkably well-behaved.” Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Heidi turn beet red. If she was going to sneak around with her friend’s ex, Ciara thought, she’d have to work on that poker face.

  “Yeah, it’s too bad you couldn’t be there to witness it,” Heidi said quickly. “Hey, I’m going to go get a smoothie. Want one?”

  “No thanks,” Ciara said, hopping up on a stool next to Marlene. “I’m still full from those corn dogs.”

  They watched her get in line and make eye contact with the guy behind the counter, whose barbed wire tattoo peeked out from under the short sleeve of his purple polyester uniform shirt. Heidi smiled, blushed, and looked down at the floor, twisting a strand of hair around her finger.

  Ciara glanced at Marlene, whose russet-colored hair formed a shimmering cloud around her face. She wished she could just come out and ask her point-blank about AJ: what their relationship had been like, why they broke up, and what it was like kissing him and talking to him and calling him her boyfriend. Instead, she turned to Marlene, smiled, and asked, “How was work?”

  “All right.” Marlene sighed. “I’m a little annoyed—they told me when they hired me that I’d actually learn how to cut and color hair, but all they have me doing is sweeping the floor and telling these little old ladies which chair to sit in. It’s kind of disappointing.”

  “Bummer,” Ciara said sympathetically. She wondered if there was some way she could bring AJ into the conversation without sounding completely obvious.

  “So how were the roller coasters?” Marlene asked. “I haven’t even been to Six Flags yet this season, and I’m dying to give Tatsu a test run. Honestly, I might have even tried to take off work, but Heidi said she wasn’t sure if you guys were really going to go.”

  Ciara was too shocked to say anything. When Heidi had in
vited her the day before, she’d made it sound like the trip was definitely on. Had she been deliberately trying to keep Marlene away for the day? That was pretty sneaky. And then she remembered her own relief that very morning when she’d learned that Marlene wasn’t coming and started to feel a little icky inside.

  “Were the lines long?” Marlene asked, trying to prod Ciara out of her silence. “Did you get to go on a lot of rides?”

  “Actually, not so much,” Ciara confessed. She told Marlene about feeling sick after Scream! and how Kevin had stayed on the ground.

  “Kevin’s sweet like that,” Marlene said. “He was really there for me when AJ and I broke up.”

  Ciara couldn’t believe her luck. She didn’t even need to rack her brain trying to come up with ways to work AJ into the conversation—Marlene had dropped it right in her lap.

  “That must have been rough,” she said. “Why did you guys split?”

  Marlene sighed and took a long sip of her smoothie. “The whole band thing really got in the way,” she said. “As soon as they started playing out and getting fans, AJ’s ego got way too big for his head. I kept being like, ‘Dude, remember you’re still human and so am I and you have to respect that,’ but he was off in his own little world.”

  “So you dumped him?” Ciara asked, trying not to sound incredulous. Marlene had always seemed pretty sane to her, but what girl in her right mind would dump AJ? If AJ was her boyfriend, she would do whatever it took to keep him around.

  “Sort of,” Marlene said. “I mean, it was kind of mutual. Or more, like, I broke up with him, but he didn’t exactly beg me to reconsider. He kind of felt like the relationship was getting in the way of his never-ending quest for stardom or whatever.”

  Ciara wondered if she could ask Marlene if she still missed him, but it was too late. Heidi was bouncing up to them, an extra-large smoothie in one hand and a huge grin on her face.

  “Guess what?” she said, hopping onto the stool next to Ciara.