As if reading her mind, A.J. downed the last gulp of his beer, then stood and stretched. “Whew! It’s getting kind of chilly out here. I think I’ll grab another brewski and head inside to warm up,” he announced.
“Good idea.” Alex started to clamber to his feet, almost spilling his can as he caught his foot on the leg of his chair. “I’ll come with you.”
Stevie gulped, feeling panicky. “Hold it,” she commanded, doing her best to keep her voice calm and casual. “What are you, complete wimps? Running inside just because it gets a little nippy?”
It was a stupid challenge, but as Stevie had hoped, the guys were just buzzed enough for it to work. “Who you calling a wimp, little girl?” Alex demanded, puffing out his chest and pounding on it with one fist. “We could stay out here all night if we wanted to. Naked, even. Right, dude?”
“Right.” A.J. strutted into the garage and reappeared a moment later with a six-pack balanced on one hand. “I’ll drink to that.”
“Fine,” Stevie said dryly, feeling relieved. “Just do me a favor, okay? Forget the naked part.”
“Whatever.” Alex reached for one of the beers A.J. had dropped on the end of his chair and popped it open. Then he paused and glanced at Stevie. “Oops, sorry,” he said. “Where are my manners? Here.” He held the opened beer out to her. “Ladies first.”
“No thanks,” Stevie said quickly. “I don’t feel like turning into a stumbling idiot just now, thanks.”
“Wimp!” A.J. crowed, holding his can aloft. “Stevie’s a wimp!”
“Ste-vie’s a wimp! Ste-vie’s a wimp!” the two guys chanted gleefully.
Stevie rolled her eyes and folded her arms across her chest. “Very funny.”
Alex moved toward her and slung one arm over her shoulder. “I don’t know, sis,” he said. “You’re the one who was just ragging on us for wanting to go inside. And now you won’t even have a few little sips of beer …” He glanced at A.J. “What do you think? If we run, we could beat her inside and then lock her out here to think about what a wimp she is.”
“No!” Stevie cried. She couldn’t care less about being locked out, but there was no way she could let Alex and A.J. go inside. Not in their condition. Not unless she wanted her perfect party to degenerate into some kind of wild beer bash. “Hold it. I was just kidding.” She grabbed the beer out of Alex’s hand. “See? I’m no wimp.”
A.J. cocked an eyebrow at her. “Oh yeah?” he said. “Then why aren’t you drinking yet?”
With a weak grin, Stevie held the beer aloft. “Just waiting for you to make a toast.”
“Okay, then.” A.J. raised his beer. Alex did likewise. “Here’s to …” A.J. paused for a moment, scratching his head thoughtfully. Then his eyes lit up. “I know! Here’s to the party of the century!”
“Whoo-hoo!” Alex cried before tipping his head back and chugging half his beer.
Stevie raised her can to her lips, too, doing her best not to wrinkle her nose as the first sip of the cold, slightly sour-tasting beer hit her tongue. The guys were watching her, so she kept the can at her lips for a good long time, not wanting to set them off again.
“All right, Stevie!” A.J. raised his can to her in admiration. “Way to chug. Ready for your second?”
“Not quite yet.” Stevie took another quick sip. She had no intention of drinking a second beer or even finishing the first. All she had to do was nurse it long enough to keep the guys satisfied—and outside—until she figured out the best way to handle the situation.
Callie glanced over her shoulder as she joined her brother and Veronica. As usual, a small group of admirers was gathered around them, most of whom Callie recognized as friends of Veronica’s. But Scott immediately made space beside himself for his sister, smiling a welcome. “Hi,” he said. “Having fun?”
“Sure.” Callie checked the doorway again. Realizing that Veronica and the others were staring at her curiously, she did her best to compose herself and act normal. “Um, hi, everyone. Wasn’t Stevie here just now? I wanted to talk to her about something.”
Veronica pursed her lips. “Stevie? I guess she was hanging around here before.”
Betsy Cavanaugh, one of Veronica’s friends, shrugged and tossed her head. “Yeah. But she ran off a few minutes ago.” The others nodded.
“Oh.” Callie chewed on her lower lip in frustration. She’d really wanted to talk to Stevie about George. Stevie was good at figuring out what to do in sticky situations, and Callie could use a second opinion about the one she was in with her not-so-secret admirer.
I guess it’s probably not a good time to catch her, she thought. I mean, not only is she in charge of keeping, like, a hundred people under control and not letting her house get destroyed, but on top of it all, her brother just broke up with her best friend. She glanced around, realizing that she hadn’t seen Alex for quite some time, although Lisa was across the room chatting with some people Callie didn’t know.
Callie forced herself to tune into the conversation around her, smiling blandly as Veronica droned on and on about Scott’s ideas for refurbishing the Fenton Hall cafeteria. Scott sipped at his soda and watched Veronica calmly, not seeming to mind that she kept touching his arm every two seconds and gazing up at him adoringly in between.
Ugh, Callie thought. How can he stand it? She’s so clingy and obvious.
She shuddered, reminded once again of George. Over the past hour it had become uncomfortably clear that he thought of her as more than a friend. He’d turned up in every room, wriggled into every group she was in. Everywhere she looked, he was there, smiling hopefully at her or offering to bring her a drink. It was driving her crazy.
He’s being almost as obvious and relentless as she is, she thought, watching as Veronica threw her head back and laughed too loudly at some comment Scott had just made.
Then Callie started to feel a little guilty about her thoughts. It wasn’t really fair of her to compare George to Veronica. After all, Veronica was pushy, self-centered, and obnoxious, while George was really just a perfectly nice, rather naive guy who wanted to get to know her. What was wrong with that? Okay, he wasn’t exactly an Adonis, but he was sort of cute in a puppy-dog kind of way. Maybe he deserved a chance?
Callie shook her head, suddenly disgusted with herself. When she thought about it that way, she realized she was no better than Veronica. Maybe that was why she always seemed to end up with the male versions of Veronica—self-absorbed losers who cared more about being seen with her than in learning what made her tick.
Well, now here’s a sweet, smart, caring guy who really seems interested in me, not just in my looks or my family, and I’m already writing him off. Why can’t I go ahead and give the nice guy a chance? Who knows, it might be good for me.
At that moment she caught a glimpse of George, who was over near the fireplace talking to Emily. He was standing with a cup of punch in one hand and a cookie in the other, his round cheeks slightly pink from the heat of the crowded room, his short, wavy hair a bit rumpled, his corduroy pants a tad too short. Maybe he wasn’t puppy-dog cute. In fact, he looked just about as dumpy and uncool as he possibly could, and Callie shook her head in dismay, knowing it was no good. She couldn’t do it. She would never be able to take him seriously as a guy. Would she?
She was saved from trying to figure out the answer by Julianna, who rushed up to the group, looking anxious. “Hi!” she said breathlessly, cutting off one of Veronica’s endless monologues. “Listen, have you guys seen A.J.? He disappeared ages ago, and nobody knows where he is.”
TEN
Lisa had spent the past half hour swinging back and forth between feeling sorry for herself and feeling furious at Alex. She still couldn’t believe the bad luck that had caused him to look over right when she was leaning toward Gary. After what he’d just learned about her and Skye, it was no wonder he’d jumped to the wrong conclusion.
Then again, as she reminded herself more than once, it still hadn’t been fair of him
to rush off without giving her a chance to explain. Even if he was feeling wounded about the Skye thing, it shouldn’t give him an excuse to throw away more than nine months of good times. Hadn’t the trust they’d had in each other during that time meant anything to him in the end? Was he really willing to allow one little incident—one where she hadn’t even done anything wrong except neglect to tell him about it—to destroy everything they’d built together?
As those thoughts ran through her head in an endless circle, she wandered aimlessly from one group of people she didn’t know very well to another, making mindless small talk, hardly noticing what anyone said to her or what she said back. It was tempting to just leave the party—she certainly wasn’t having much fun—but she knew that wasn’t really an option. Her mother wasn’t expecting her home for a couple of hours at least, and Lisa was afraid to think too hard about what she might interrupt if she went home now.
She drifted away from a gaggle of girls who kept talking about a movie she hadn’t seen and found herself on the outskirts of the group huddled around Scott Forester. Veronica was holding court, one hand resting lightly on Scott’s arm as she pontificated on all the reasons Fenton Hall needed to hold a school dance soon. Lisa nodded a hello to Callie, who was standing beside her brother looking rather bored and restless. Then she pasted a bland smile on her face and pretended to listen, at the same time letting her eyes roam around the room, checking for Alex. She hadn’t seen him since he’d stormed out earlier, and she wondered where he’d gone. After all, this was his house.
Speaking of which, I haven’t seen Stevie in a while, either, Lisa thought absently. She couldn’t help feeling relieved about that. A little while earlier, she’d noticed Stevie looking at her and had been sure she was going to come over, wanting to talk about what had happened with Alex. But then Stevie had turned away and headed for the hallway instead, and Lisa had let out a sigh of relief. She didn’t really want to face Stevie until she figured out how she actually felt about Stevie’s twin. She also didn’t particularly want to deal with Carole, which was why she was glad that she seemed to have disappeared, too.
Actually, Lisa wasn’t even sure she wanted to find Alex, though she couldn’t seem to stop watching for him to reappear. What would she say to him? She had recognized the stubborn look he’d had on his face when he’d stormed out of the house. She’d seen that look before, though never directed at her. It meant that his anger and his wounded pride had taken over and his brain had switched off. There was no way he was going to be reasonable about what had happened, at least not until he’d had a chance to cool off. Of course, Lisa wasn’t feeling very reasonable herself at the moment. If she got a chance to talk to him, she wasn’t sure whether she would burst into tears and beg his forgiveness or scream at him for being such a jerk.
Lisa continued to scan the crowds around her. Everyone seemed to be smiling, dancing, having fun, enjoying themselves. That was only right—it was a party, after all. As she watched a couple of guys clowning around in front of Emily, hopping like kangaroos and making her laugh, Lisa felt a pang of self-pity. This was such a special night for Emily, and it should have been a special night for Lisa and Alex, too. Now it was completely ruined, all because of a stupid misunderstanding. The thought made her so weary that she almost couldn’t stand it. What if she and Alex didn’t work things out? How many other special occasions would end up being as painful as this one when she was forced to face them alone instead of with him at her side? She and Alex were supposed to go to the Willow Creek High School homecoming dance the next weekend. They had made plans to go to the Colesford Horse Show two weeks after that to cheer on Carole and Stevie and their other friends who were entered. And of course, looming on the horizon just beyond that was Thanksgiving.
So much for all our romantic plans for eating turkey together, Lisa thought helplessly. We’ll be lucky if we’re even speaking by then. I’ll probably end up having to pass the cranberry sauce to Rafe after all.…
Suddenly she blinked as she remembered that there was still another option open to her. She hadn’t mentioned her plans with Alex to her mother yet. She hadn’t even told her father that she wasn’t coming to California.
I could still go out there, she realized, her heart starting to pound at the thought. Why hang around Willow Creek and be miserable when I could be relaxing in sunny California with people who aren’t mad at me, like Alex and probably Stevie, or driving me crazy, like Mom and Rafe?
The more she thought about the idea, the more perfect it seemed. Obviously, dinner at the Lakes’ was off now that she and Alex were off. And even if Rafe didn’t actually come to her house for Thanksgiving, she didn’t want to spend the holiday listening to her mother talk about him.
Getting away from my problems for a little while might just give me some perspective on them, she thought with anticipation, loving her new idea more and more the longer she considered it. Or at the very least, it will give me a chance to just forget about everything and relax for a few days. I could spend some time with Lily, go to the beach, maybe get Dad and Evelyn to help me with my college applications, see all my friends from the summer.…
“Excuse me,” she mumbled to Scott and Callie and the others around her, suddenly unable to wait one more minute to put her new plan into action. She’d spent so much of the evening feeling helpless—but now she was going to take back control of her life. She was going to call her father right now and give him the good news.
She slipped away from the group and headed for the stairs. Moments later she was peeking into Stevie’s bedroom, which was dim and empty and relatively quiet, though the noise from the party still seeped up through the floorboards and made the whole house seem to throb as if alive. Closing the door softly behind her, Lisa hurried across the room, perched on the edge of Stevie’s bed, and picked up the phone from her bedside table.
Her father had given her a private phone code when he’d first moved to California, which meant she wouldn’t have to worry about reimbursing the Lakes for the long-distance call. As she punched in the familiar numbers, Lisa prayed that her father would be home.
“Hello?”
Lisa smiled when she heard his voice. “Hi, Dad. It’s me.”
“Me who?” he joked, as he’d done since she was a little girl calling him at the office.
“Me, the one who’s coming to California for Thanksgiving,” she replied.
“Really?” Her father sounded surprised but thrilled. “Are you serious? You’re going to come? That’s great!”
“I can’t wait to see you—all of you.”
“We can’t wait to see you,” he answered. “This is such a nice surprise—we were starting to think you weren’t going to be able to make it. I know you’re awfully busy these days. Speaking of which, aren’t you supposed to be at some kind of party right now?”
Lisa gulped and clutched the phone tighter. She didn’t feel like explaining the reasons for the timing of her call. “Um, sort of. Oops! I think that was call waiting,” she lied. “I’d better go, okay?”
“Sure,” her father agreed. “I’ll call and let you know once I make the arrangements for your plane ticket. Talk to you then, sweetheart.”
“Bye, Dad.” As she hung up the phone, an intense feeling of relief washed over her. It was done. Soon she would be able to escape from all the problems that were weighing her down. Soon, but not soon enough. She only wished that Thanksgiving break started the next day instead of a whole month from then.
Carole slumped deeper into the well-worn upholstered chair, once again feeling invisible. This time she was glad. She had come down into the Lakes’ basement rec room specifically to avoid having to talk to anyone. Ever since Ben had stomped out of the party some twenty minutes earlier, she hadn’t felt capable of carrying on any sort of conversation.
Fortunately the dozen or so other people in the basement seemed perfectly willing to let her be. The only person who had even glanced at her when she’d crept
down the stairs had been Gary Korman. He seemed to be deeply involved in some kind of intense Ping-Pong tournament, though, so he had merely nodded a casual hello from his spot at the table and then apparently forgotten her presence. Carole didn’t know any of the other people who were hanging out around the Ping-Pong table, so she had just sat there pretending to watch match after match from her chair in the corner, nursing her injured feelings and worried thoughts in privacy.
She still couldn’t believe how much it had hurt when Ben had glared at her and then left her feeling like the world’s biggest fool. Carole didn’t pretend to be any kind of expert when it came to guys—far from it—but she still couldn’t believe she’d made such a huge, humiliating mistake.
How could I have actually believed that Ben came to this party because he liked me? she thought. How could I have been so conceited, so completely delusional? As her eyes followed the Ping-Pong ball back and forth, back and forth, she wondered how she would ever be able to face Ben again.
The worst part was, he wasn’t the only one she was afraid to face. Lisa had been angry at her, and no wonder—thanks to Carole, her perfect romance with Alex was in ruins. Carole wouldn’t be surprised if Lisa never wanted to speak to her again. Even Stevie had looked at her as if it were all her fault.
Carole had thought about just getting up and leaving the party. After what she’d done, she was probably the least welcome person in the world at the Lakes’ house. But somehow she couldn’t work up the energy. It just seemed too hard to climb out of her comfortable, private chair and go all the way upstairs. For one thing, she would be sure to run into people she knew who might start asking her questions, wanting to talk about what had happened. Worse yet, she might encounter Lisa, or maybe Stevie or Alex. She wasn’t sure she could handle seeing any of them without bursting into tears again.
Besides, where would she go if she left? Her first instinct would be to head over to Pine Hollow, find comfort in the familiar sounds and smells of the nighttime stable, spend time with creatures who wouldn’t judge her, wouldn’t think she was a terrible person.… But she couldn’t go there now. Not when there was even the slightest chance that Ben might be there.
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