He stood. “Yep.” He draped an arm across her shoulders once she slid out of the booth and joined him. “With you. It’s your birthday, dummy. I’m takin’ you to the mall.”
“Eww, why?”
“So you can pick out what you want. And I thought you were the brainy one.”
Beth socked him in the ribs. “Shut up.” She hit hard for such a petite little thing.
Going into a Barnes and Noble with her was a lesson in patience. Normally, she didn’t like shopping and went straight for what she wanted and left—if you got her in the mall in the first place. But take her to a bookstore and you might as well kiss your afternoon goodbye, especially if she was allowed to buy. She flitted from this possibility to that, taking forever to decide which book was the one. Made him happy to see her smile, though, so he followed along and didn’t complain.
If Bethie’s birthday was quiet, Jacob’s birthday a week later was in stark contrast. His house was filled with friends, food, and loud music, and that was after coming back from the rented movie theatre. The actual date of his birth was a Thursday, so the party was two days later and he hoped it lasted all night. Never felt so alive, being the center of adoration for so many people. It inspired him to grab his electric and accompany the stereo.
Too bad his best friend had bailed earlier, but he couldn’t make her stay in a crowd.
With prom behind them, only one event remained—Graduation Day.
Saddest day of Beth’s life up to that moment. Their moms sat in the bleachers holding roses. She had a wrapped gift she felt he’d appreciate more.
“Congratulations Class of 2000!”
After the ceremony, she found him first over by the booth to turn in his cap and gown. They hugged, the pat-the-back type between friends. “You made it, amazingly,” she teased.
“Quiet, you. Pressie for me?” He reached for it and she held it behind her back.
“Yup. But pick up your diploma first. The moms are about to reach us.”
They gushed over him and he made them feel like the bouquets were the best thing ever. Sometimes Beth’s mother forgot she’d only passed two kids out of her womb, not three.
He got his fancy diploma, then they started trying to get to the parking lot amid a thousand other people. Mrs. Lindsey had made a reservation at a really nice restaurant. He and Beth climbed in the back of the car. She placed his present on his lap so she could fasten her seatbelt.
“Can I open it now?”
“If you want to.”
He shredded the paper. “A notebook?”
“Look inside.”
“Ah, notation paper! You’re the best, Bethie.” He draped his arm across her shoulders and squeezed her arm.
She blushed again. “You’ll need it for all those hit songs.”
“Damn right.”
“Jacob,” Mrs. Lindsey scolded him.
“Sorry, Mum. Darn right.”
Beth saw her roll her eyes in the rearview mirror, and stifled a giggle.
“What’s next for you, Jacob?” her mother asked. She just had to bring that up.
“Moving to London in two weeks to get used to it,” he said. He’d decided to pursue his music degree at one of the universities there.
“And find a job,” his mother added.
“Yes, Mum, and find a job. She’s not funding my summers, only my education.”
“Poor baby,” Beth teased to keep from crying.
Four years with an eight-hour time difference. She’d been counting down the days since he told her his plans. Probably be counting the hours, too. She fantasized about one of those airport romance movie scenes where the boy and girl kiss at the last minute instead of parting forever. But in this scenario, she’d have to do the kissing and she was too chicken. Ruining their friendship wasn’t worth satisfying her crush.
So, she toasted his graduation, helped him pack up what he could fly with, and said goodbye to him at the terminal with a smile. ‘Cause that’s what best friends did.
Chapter Three
Keeping in touch with Jacob across the world was hard. Well, not on Beth’s end—she still didn’t have enough of a life to make her too busy to write.
At first, he called.
Then he sent notes.
Then she got the occasional postcard.
Once classes started for him, she had more luck getting info from his mother. It hurt, but life went on.
She was sixteen, a junior, and ready to take her driving test soon. Dad’s car would be hers to drive when he was out of town. Driving a car filled a hole in her she didn’t know was missing. It was control. It was freedom. It was fun. Without Jacob here as an excuse, she had to make more friends. Turned out, geeks found each other pretty easily in AP classes. She didn’t get close to anyone else, though.
Christmas and Spring breaks were lonely.
****
First-year music was easy. Since he’d been playing piano and guitar since he was a small lad, he passed the proficiencies, no sweat. The private voice lessons were tougher. Though he’d been in choirs forever, there was apparently much technique he still didn’t know, and the professor insisted he master classical pieces before modern ones. Some days frustrated him to near tears. But the classes for his major weren’t a problem.
It was the rest, the general education crap. Though he tried to pick the easiest choices in the catalog, he was still surprised by the amount of work presented. Many dead trees were sacrificed in the name of higher education. Faced with having fun or spending the weekend stooped over a desk, he probably chose fun a few times too many, but what else would an eighteen-year-old bloke do out on his own? A bar band, a beer, and a pretty girl on his arm made for good distraction.
Still, a voice in the back of his head that sounded an awful lot like Beth kept nudging him back to study, to press on. She’d never let him hear the end of it if he flunked out first year. As always, she was his conscience, the good little angel on his shoulder.
When Jacob had finals week, Beth asked him how he thought he did.
Blueyedevil: Alright, I think. Performance exams were a piece of cake. You?
Bookworm01: Passed the AP tests in April, so those classes are auto A’s. So glad I don’t have to take PE again. Are you coming home for summer?
Blueyedevil: Don’t think so, Bethie.
Bookworm01: Why not? School’s out.
Blueyedevil: It’s expensive, and the band is pushing for gigs now we have time. ‘Sides, you know Mum—I have to work.
Bookworm01: You could work here.
Bookworm01: I miss my best friend.
Blueyedevil: Miss you, too, love. Gotta go. Celebratory freedom date.
Bookworm01: Oh. Girlfriend?
Blueyedevil: Could be. Later, Bethie!
He signed off the messenger program.
Well, that sucked. No best friend for the summer plus he was out with other girls and she was…
Beth grew to five-foot-five over the year and finally felt she was starting to look her age of seventeen. She still didn’t have much of a figure, yet, but at least she didn’t look twelve.
It was summer and she was looking at college applications, so she toured the UCLA campus and got lost in the beautiful library. She’d already decided not to leave L.A. as long as her parents were here. Call her a scared-y-cat, but she wasn’t ready to leave home, yet. London was the only other city that enticed her, but friendship wasn’t enough to make her move to another continent.
She and Mom went to visit Andrew for a week in August. He had a serious girlfriend he wanted the family to meet. It was an awesome trip and she could already tell she wouldn’t mind Darcy as a sister-in-law.
Her high came crashing down when they got home.
Jacob made a surprise visit for a few days and she wasn’t there. He left souvenirs and a letter on her bed, but there was so much she would have said and wanted to know.
Of all the rotten, stupid timing…
“Hey…” she greeted him when th
e phone picked up.
“Hey, Bethie! What’s up, love?” He sounded distracted, some place noisy.
“I don’t have a lot of minutes, but I wanted to say I’m sorry I missed you. Why didn’t you tell someone you were coming?”
“Eh, spur of the moment, pet, really. You should see us play. The band is really takin’ off, Bethie. I had to tell Mum before things get crazy, ya know? I have a feelin’ about this like you wouldn’t believe.” Even over an international phone line, his accent was thicker after a year in London.
“That’s great. When you make the radio I’ll tell people I knew you when.”
Jacob getting famous scared her. Distance made it hard to keep in touch—becoming a rock star would make it impossible. The worst of it? She knew it would happen some day.
“Aww, there’ll always be room for my number one fan, Bethie. Think you’ll like what I brought you. Well, gotta go, pet. Rehearsal space ain’t cheap.”
“O-okay. Keep me up to date, okay?” He wasn’t reliable about it, but she could still ask. These phone calls never lasted long enough.
“Sure, sure. Bye!”
“B—”
Click.
“Bye…” She set the phone in the cradle, and sniffed, something bothering her eye, and looked through her presents. There was a t-shirt wrapped in plastic. She tore that open and held up the shirt—a band logo. Jacob’s band logo! “Awesome!”
There was some other London stuff—tourist trinkets, mostly. She set the letter aside to read after dinner when she wouldn’t be interrupted.
When she went to bed, she slept in the shirt.
Senior year was a blur and too slow all at once. Didn’t make sense, but the mind sensed the passage of time in weird ways.
Her eighteenth birthday carried little fanfare, but she did finally have a party, a small one. Dad barbequed and they were out in the backyard until it got too warm. A few class friends came over, other nerds that were cool to hang out with.
Andrew and Darcy sent a gift and she got an e-mail from Jacob, and her friends brought gift cards. Beth’s mother gave her an old camera and the coordinating lenses. You might think a hand-me-down present was cheap, but not this…she could spend days playing with her new capabilities on film.
She graduated second in her class and five foot seven. Jacob sent a charm of a book for her congratulations gift. It was gold, or gold-tone, and on a fine gold chain. At least, she thought it was from him. Mrs. Lindsey passed it on to her. She chose to believe his mother wasn’t covering for his forgetfulness since she didn’t hear from him often these days.
Beth wanted to fly out to London to see him this summer, but her parents wouldn’t pay for it and she didn’t have enough. “Can’t you cover the rest? You know what it would mean to me, and I’ll pay you back.”
Mom shook her head. “I’m sorry, honey. Your father said absolutely no way. He doesn’t want you going that far alone.”
“But I wouldn’t be alone there!” Jacob would take her in even if she didn’t call him first.
“Elizabeth, he made up his mind before he left. Maybe when he gets back there will be time to—”
“Forget it.” She stomped into her room and slammed the door shut. Then she thought of talking to Mrs. Lindsey about it. She was eighteen, could go where she wanted—just didn’t have the cash. Luck was with her when she went around the corner and found Mrs. Lindsey’s car in the driveway. Opening the front door, she called out, “Hello?”
“Elizabeth?” Vivian Lindsey walked out of her kitchen.
“It’s me.” She closed the door since the AC was on. “Um, I wanted to ask you something.”
She led Beth into her living room to the sofa. “What is it, dear?”
“Are you visiting Jacob this summer?”
“Probably…why?”
“I…I’d like to go with you. I haven’t seen him for two years, and once I start college, there might not be time again.”
“Well, Elizabeth, of course I enjoy your company, but have you discussed this with your parents?”
She had an answer prepared for that question. “Mom’s fine with me going and Dad’s away on business again. I’m eighteen, though, and I’ll be moving into the dorms in August, so, adult now. I’ll even pay part of my way. Please?”
She smiled. “Just as stubborn as my son. Do you even have a passport?”
“Yup! A trip like this would be educational, too, with the history and the sights…get some nice photos for my portfolio…?”
Chuckling, she shook her head. “I pity the person that stands in the way of your goals, Elizabeth. Very well—”
Beth squealed and hugged her, cutting off the rest of her sentence. Might have squeezed a bit too hard, now she was several inches taller than Vivian. “Thank you, thank you! Say when and my bag is packed.”
Two weeks later, she sat at an airport gate waiting for them to call their row, foot tapping impatiently. Daddy wasn’t too thrilled she found a way to circumvent his decision, but she didn’t care. In a matter of hours, she’d see Jacob again! He knew his mother was coming, but she hadn’t told Beth if he knew about her tagging along, as well. She hoped to surprise him.
Mrs. Lindsey put her house up for sale before they left, but that didn’t matter now, either. England was her home, and he would be there indefinitely. It made sense she’d want to go back, though Beth would miss climbing over the fence and chatting over cookies.
“Elizabeth, that’s us.”
“Okay!”
Vivian grinned. “You know you can’t bounce on the plane, yes?”
She blushed. “Sorry. This is just a big deal for me.”
She hugged me with her free arm. “I know, dear. Strange as it may sound, I remember being eighteen.”
Chapter Four
2002
Mrs. Lindsey hugged Beth with her free arm. “I know, dear. Strange as it may sound, I remember being eighteen. I met my husband at university here.”
“In L.A., here?” She knew his dad had been American, but she assumed they came from England when he started at her school.
She nodded. “I wanted to get out on my own, away from what I was used to, you know, and met this brash young man in my Philosophy class. I turned him down twice before we went on a date, and then I discovered he was sweet, too. A lot like Jacob.”
They handed the attendant our boarding passes. “Wow. So you were sweethearts?”
“Goodness, yes. Probably quite sickening.”
They made it into the tunnel and onto the plane. The seats were spaced farther apart than Beth was used to. She actually had room to stretch her legs. “Do you mind if I take the window seat?” She stowed their carry-ons above while Vivian stepped aside to let people continue down the aisle.
“Not at all.”
Beth had never left the US before—flown cross-country, but never across an ocean. She wasn’t sure how she’d bear waiting five hours just to get to that part. Her book would be killed in four. Then, what? “I should’ve brought a second book.”
“What’s that?”
“I was just thinking about the length of the flight. My book isn’t long enough to keep me occupied for eleven hours.”
She smiled, understanding. “Well, they will show a movie, though keep in mind it’s likely you’ll doze off at some point.
Beth shook her head. “I’m too excited to sleep.”
“Mm-hmm…”
They chatted for a while, Beth picking her brain about famous stuff close to her house. Vivian insisted there was enough room to put her up and assured her she wouldn’t be a burden. Still, she hoped it wasn’t far from his apartment.
Reading until they served a meal, she then finished off the book before the in-flight movie started. It was some think-y drama about adults with issues and she nodded off from boredom. A light sleeper, though, she woke when they got dinner.
“Hey, it’s dark on this side of the world.” They left Los Angeles at 10:30AM, which made it a
round eight in the evening now, but with the time difference… “What time is it in London?”
“It’ll be close to six in the morning when we exit the plane.”
“Oh, wow. No way Jacob will be up to meet us at the airport.” It was a bummer she had to wait longer to see him.
His mother laughed. “Indeed! He didn’t like waking early as a baby.”
A clear summer night, Beth could see the moon reflecting off the water below out her window. Far below, but hey…scenery.
They landed around 6:00AM. Ten at night at home, so she would be thinking about bed in another hour. Instead, she was looking at breakfast. A car with personal driver picked them up and she started to wonder about the family Mrs. Lindsey came from. When the car eventually stopped in front of a manor, she knew Vivian had been holding out on her.
“Friend’s place?”
Vivian’s cheeks colored slightly. “No. It belonged to my parents, and my grandparents before them.”
“No wonder you don’t have a job in L.A.”
“I have been fortunate, yes, but one does not need to be blatant with one’s wealth. And I was quite happy to be a young bride in California, once upon a time.” By appearances, she was younger than Beth’s parents.
People opened doors for them and more people took their luggage to other rooms. Beth spun in a circle in the foyer, taking in the grand staircase, chandelier, and gold-framed paintings. Her sneakers squeaked on the marble tiles.
“Elizabeth, it’s not polite to gawk,” Vivian whispered in her ear.
She dropped her chin and her eyes and followed upstairs. Mrs. Lindsey took a right and stopped at a door.
“This is your bedroom. I’m only down the hall. There is an intercom system throughout the house, so if you need a servant for any reason, buzz.”
“Servant?” she asked, her voice taking on an airy quality as she took in her bedroom.
“It’s a long way to the kitchen if you crave a midnight snack.”
The room had a four-poster bed and a window seat. Fresh flowers graced every table and the duvet looked to be a silk blend from the subtle sheen of the fibers. More exploring revealed a huge closet, and a luxurious bathroom with a claw-foot tub. She ran her hand over the fluffy towels.
Kissed Page 4