“There are forty-eight in a box,” the geeky clerk said.
Sullivan shrugged. “So?”
“Done,” the clerk said, setting everything in front of him. “That’ll be forty-eight dollars.”
Sullivan pulled the wrapper off a root beer float lollipop, stuck it in his mouth and looked at me.
I dug into my wallet and pulled out one of Dad’s hundreds. Luke had paid for just about everything in Switzerland, so I was able to cover it. Not that I wanted to.
“Whoa!” Sullivan said, eyeing the bucks in my wallet. “We’re going for pizza next!”
~ ~ ~
By Sunday afternoon, it had gotten to be too much, and I decided to go looking for him. Maybe if I got a peek at him, I could, you know, function.
“Where are you going, sweetie?” Dad asked from the couch. For once I was glad he reads Writer’s Digest more than he reads the newspaper.
“I’m going to Lilly’s,” I said. “Is that okay?”
Dad looked at me over his magazine. “Will her parents be there?”
“Mrs. Jacobson’s a housewife,” I reminded him. “What are the odds she’s not?”
He flipped a page and turned his attention back to reading.
“So can I?” I asked through the silence. I thought having to ask for permission to visit my friend in the middle of the day was ridiculous, but then, so was my dad.
“Fine,” he mumbled. “But it’s a school night. Be home by nine.”
“Okay.” I put my shoes on and walked out the door.
It was a warm, sunny day, about thirty degrees out. I loved the freshness of the air, and the warmth of the sun on my hair. Chirping birds fluttered about. Surely that meant spring was just weeks away; even if sometimes it snows in June.
I was at Luke’s door ten minutes later. Or should I say I was at Lilly’s door, since I had to pretend I was there for her!
“Hi, honey!” Mrs. Jacobson wiped her hands on her apron and gave me a warm hug. “How are you?”
“Miserable,” I wanted to say, but I stuck with,
“Okay.” I hung up my coat.
She wore a cheery yellow housedress and white apron, and her hair was tight in a bun. The necklace Luke bought her hung around her neck. “Good! Lukasz is not here right now. He went to give some ski lessons this morning, and he just called and said he is at the Barone’s restaurant.”
“Oh. I was actually here for Lilly.”
Mrs. Jacobson smiled. Of course she knew I was lying, I could see it in her eyes. “Lilly is out with Troy. She should be back any minute!”
“Troy…?” I asked, perplexed.
She nodded and led me into their living room. “Yes, would you like to sit and wait?”
I sat beside her on the cool leather couch. The room was bright and cheerful, of course smelling of potpourri. I watched the fish swim about in their fish tank coffee table.
“Those are adorable,” I said, wishing my parents allowed pets. My parents are so anti-pet, I can’t even have a fish.
“They are beautiful,” she said of the black and red bubble-eyed goldfish.
“So how are you and Lukasz?” she asked, pouring me some coffee and adding a few cubes of sugar.
I took a sip and set the cup down on the coffee table. “He still won’t talk to me,” I admitted, but I sensed she already knew that.
“Hmmm,” she said, mixing a cube of sugar in her cup. “He’s not talking to you, but he’s always talking about you.” She smiled and tapped my hand. “He loves you, don’t worry.” Her eyes fell on my ring, and she did a double take, but she didn’t look surprised.
“What does he say about me?” I prodded.
“Lately, he just mopes,” she said with a soft smile. “But usually, he talks about seeing you, skiing with you, moving with you, or about how wonderful you are.” Her eyes settled on my ring. “He was really scared to ask you, he was afraid you might say no.”
I stared blankly. “Why would I say no?”
Mrs. Jacobson shrugged. “He’s a silly boy.”
We chuckled.
“So, when do you plan to get married?”
“Sometime,” I breathed. “As long as that’s all right with you…?”
She leaned forward and hugged me again. “There is no one on this earth I’d approve more of, honey!”
My eyes teared as I hugged her back. “Thank you, Mrs. Jacobson.”
She hugged tighter, and I could hear her cry. After a moment she kissed my forehead, and moved some hair out of my face. “Lukasz has good taste in girls. I am very proud of him!”
I laughed at how silly that sounded, referring to me.
The front door opened. A light draft swept through the living room. After removing their coats and shoes, Lilly and Troy appeared, and they looked kind of stunned to see me there.
“Hi,” Lilly said. “What’s up?” She wore a light pink tee shirt and black flare jeans. Troy wore blue jeans and a partially unbuttoned long-sleeve black shirt.
And although I was there, he still couldn’t seem to peel his eyes off my best friend.
“Where were you!” I asked casually, closing in for a hug.
She held up a grocery bag. “We went out for ice cream!” She motioned for her mom, who took it from her and hurried to the kitchen.
“Lukasz is skiing,” she said as soon as her mom was out of the room.
“Yeah, your mom said he’s at the Barone’s restaurant now.”
She furrowed her brow. “Weird. I’d picture him more at a pizza joint.”
“Do you mademoiselles want to go back to the restaurant?” Troy offered, grinning at us.
“No!” Lilly blurted, like the idea scared the hell out of her.
I can’t blame her, since the last visit landed her in the newspaper.
He laughed. “You think too much, eh?”
“Were you there when we got dumped?” Lilly asked, half smiling.
He nodded. “Yes, I was quite amused. You are very creative!”
Lilly and I laughed.
“You don’t look down on us?” I asked, hands on my hips.
He shrugged. “It was a bit mean, but girls do it all the time. I knew a few who did it more than once just to scare their boyfriends. It’s not uncommon.” He ran his hand through his hair. “And it’s not your fault they threw you a baby shower before you even saw a doctor. They kind of jumped the gun, eh?”
“Awww,” Lilly said, wrapping her arms around his bicep. “You’re so sweet!”
He chuckled and licked his lips at her. “Ah, it’s just my opinion. While it was bad in a sense, it was also kind of funny.” He winked. “Sorry.”
Lilly let go of his arm when she saw me looking at it. “Should we go skating?” she asked.
Only if we can skate at an Italian restaurant.
“Sure,” Troy said, glancing at me.
And that’s what we did.
I could tell those two were digging each other—it was plain as day. But as I watched them ice skate, she also looked a bit sad—conflicted—and in a way, he looked nervous just being there.
At least he didn’t fall into her chest, or drag her down after him. The guy skates better than we do, it’s insane!
I sat under a heater in the pizza parlor and watched them in the rink. So focused on them, I didn’t even notice Jenna and Karma on the ice; not until Jenna showed up at my table.
My heart raced when she seated herself, uninvited, across from me. I bit my tongue.
“Hi,” she said, like she was doing a chore.
“Hey.” I took another bite of cheese pizza.
She sighed and looked down for a moment. “Oh my God, this is so difficult!”
I stared at her, hoping she’d get to the point quick so I can start breathing again.
She rubbed her face. “Karma offered to talk to a reporter. I’m sorry I even commented, that was like, mean of me.” She looked solemn. “I don’t like what you said about me in class, but I think I was als
o like, way out of line with my comments—a lot of people told me so. And honestly, if gossip ended up in the paper that I cheat on my boyfriend I’d, like, flip.”
“You cheat on your boyfriend?!”
She bit her lip, and her eyes got big. “As an example,” she added, after some alarm.
“Oh,” I said.
“Karma’s transferring back to her old school. She went to talk to your ex after class and like oh my God, it ended in disaster! I can’t even convince her to go back on Monday, after what Luke said. It didn’t help that you humiliated her in class.”
“That’s good,” I wanted to say, watching Karma on ice. She looked really down and alone, and not only did she deserve it, but I secretly loved it.
“It’s kind of late in the school year to transfer,” I noted. Then again, she enrolled really late, too.
“This isn’t her area school. They’ll let her leave anytime.”
Too bad she didn’t leave sooner!
“So what do you think?” was the next thing I heard.
“What goes around comes around!” I blurted.
Her mouth hung for a moment and she looked up. “Oh my God, like, I get it!”
I cleared my throat and took another bite of pizza. “I think what she did was rude, hurtful and unforgivable. And I don’t like him being referred to as my ex-boyfriend,” I added.
Jenna pursed her lips. “Like, isn’t he?”
“Not to me he’s not.” I raised my eyebrows and showed her my ring.
Her mouth hung. “Oh,” she breathed, brokenhearted.
“What did he say to her, anyway?”
She shook her head. “If I said it, I would just humiliate her more, and she’s been through, like, enough. Let’s just say he wasn’t happy about anything.”
“I insist.”
Jenna nervously glanced at Karma. “Well from what she told me, Luke told her that after what she’s done, she’s, like, lucky she’s a girl.” She bit her lip. “And he’d rather sleep with a blender.”
My eyes widened, and I couldn’t hide my smile.
Jenna sighed. “Don’t tell her I told you.”
Like I’d want to talk to that slut, anyway!
“Well thanks for the apology,” I said, and hoped she planned to apologize to Lilly, too.
I got up, tossed my food and joined Lilly and Troy on the ice.
~ ~ ~
When I dropped them off at 8:45, Luke’s Jeep was parked in the driveway. Lilly and Troy hurried towards the house, and all I could do was sit in my car, staring at his window as he stared back at me.
“I’ll see you tomorrow!” Lilly called back to me, and Troy waved. The door opened and someone let them into the house.
And Luke was still in the window, looking down at me.
I don’t know how well he saw me, but at least he couldn’t see the tears well in my eyes. Why couldn’t he just come down and talk to me?
I couldn’t bring myself to leave, even as the clock struck nine; because part of me thought he’d head down any second, and I’d be driving away on him.
I thought I saw his lips move, like he uttered something. In my heart it would be, “I love you” or “I miss you” or “Come to me.” But then I thought it’s probably something more pressing, more realistic, like,
“You just missed your curfew, dumb ass.”
Okay, maybe without the “dumb ass”—I knew he didn’t completely hate me.
I put the car in reverse, kept on the brake and still waited, glancing up at him every now and then. When it was clear he wasn’t coming down, I backed out of the driveway and left.
Mom wasn’t home at a quarter after nine, and that really sucked, because Dad can get unruly when she’s not there with the leash.
“You missed curfew, young lady,” he said sternly, crossing his arms in the foyer.
I nodded and hung my coat. “Sorry, Daddy.”
That’s when he did a double take. His eyes ballooned, because they’d fallen on my ring. “What is that?” he asked, like he was afraid of the answer.
“It’s a ring,” I stated, not wanting to go into detail. Surely he would figure it out, with that overactive imagination of his.
“Why’s it on that finger?” he asked, practically wheezing. “Did you put that there, or did Luke put that there?”
It’s like the man even forgot about curfew.
Or so I hoped.
“What do you think, Dad?” I said, choked up.
He looked stunned. Speechless. And clearly lacking oxygen.
“I want to marry him, Daddy,” I managed, a tear streaming down my face. And when I could no longer bear his stare, I turned and went up to my room.
I took my sweet time in the shower, letting near-scorching water spray me down. It was so hot, the room was steaming.
After a while I began to feel faint, but it sort of numbed the pain, so I stood under it until the very last minute.
Wrapped in a towel, I fell on my bed. The air was cool, my comforter was cold, and my cell phone beeped. I’d missed two calls.
I’d missed two calls!
I stared at the caller ID in anguish. He’d called twice. No voice mail, just calls, a mere three minutes apart.
I dialed his number, and it went directly to voicemail. After a long minute I did it again, and it went to voicemail a second time. Unwilling to leave a message—not knowing what to say—I hung up. He’d probably turned his phone off.
I laid back in bed and thought of him, so much that I thought I could smell him. My eyes shut and I could practically feel him there, his face brushing mine, his mouth nuzzling my ear, breathing that forceful “I love you” that made my heart flutter and my knees weak.
Eventually, I found sleep, lonelier than I’d felt in a really long time.
XIX
You’d think Dad would say something in the morning. You’d think he’d put his caffeine habit aside and question me. You’d think he’d give me some input along with that stare.
You’d think he’d ground me for freakin’ life.
He didn’t say anything, though, as he watched me gather my granola bars and pour my juice.
When it was clear he had no interest in talking, I went to the foyer. As I put on my shoes, Sullivan trampled down the stairs. He stopped and looked at me for a moment, kind of funnily.
“What?” I asked.
“You look different,” he said, still staring at me.
“How’s that?”
He shrugged. “You look kind of miserable.” A smile crept upon his lips. “I kind of like it!”
I rolled my eyes. “I’m sure you do.” What an attitude! And after I bought him forty-eight tooth-rotting lollipops!
My brother’s so ungrateful!
Since Dad still hadn’t talked to me—or to be more precise, lectured me—I gripped the doorknob and said, “Bye, Dad!’
~ ~ ~
Lilly met me by my locker. I got there early, hoping Luke would be there, but no such luck.
We looked around warily. To our relief, only a handful of people were left pointing, laughing, or shooting us looks. It was considerably better than Friday, and no one was holding a newspaper.
“Troy can really skate,” I said, for the sake of saying something. I also kind of hoped she’d tell me if there’s anything up between them, because I was starting to think that there should be.
“Yeah,” she said, looking thoughtful. “He’s really good.”
“So?” I asked, hanging my coat in the locker. “What’d you guys do last night?”
“We watched a movie. Then he went downstairs and I went to bed.”
“That’s too bad!” I teased.
She hugged herself, her cheeks growing rosy. “What else was there to do?”
“I’m sure you could’ve thought of something.”
She bit her lip in a lousy attempt to hide her smile.
“Luke called me last night,” I breathed, straightening my hair.
“W
hat did he say?”
I shrugged. “I was in the shower and he got my voicemail. He didn't leave one.”
“That sucks.”
The door opened, and the guys entered, once again accompanied by Troy. They looked like one amazing trio, and I wasn’t the only girl in the hall who thought so.
Before long, Gino stopped before us, Troy a few feet behind, and Luke stopped halfway to talk to one of his teachers.
“Hey, how you doin’ today?” Gino looked at me. His hair was sleek, his eyes were fresh, and his clothes were of a different shade—he wore tan pants, a white tee shirt and his jacket.
I smiled. “I’m okay, I guess.”
He nodded and turned to Lilly, who hadn’t even cheered up yet. “Look, I wanted to thank you for what you did for my parents.”
“What?” She furrowed her brow and looked from him, to me, to him.
He chuckled. “We had to set up take-out this weekend because we ran out of tables. The waiting line trailed into the parking lot. Luke had to help out yesterday because it was chaos. We’re more than tripling our staff… it was just crazy publicity.”
Her eyes were wide. “Really?”
“Yeah. It started Friday morning, when everyone seemed to realize our restaurant existed.” He leaned into her cheek.
“What about your grandmother?” Lilly said, looking crushed. “She must hate me.”
“You know, she told me some stories last night about when she was young. She understands, and she said you’re too beautiful to stay mad at.” He shrugged a shoulder. “She’s lived a good life, she doesn’t hold grudges, and I think she’ll be okay.”
Lilly’s head fell.
“Honestly, I want to maybe try for medical school,” Gino confided. “That’s why I didn’t want to move to Hawaii.” His eyebrows gathered and he wrapped his arms around her. “Will you move with me?”
She smiled, her spirits lifting; until her eyes fell on Troy, who was watching them. After a hesitant glimpse, her smile returned. “I’d love to move with you!”
Gino glanced at Troy, his face growing dour. “That’s awesome,” he breathed, gripping her tight.
Then he picked her up, pinned her against the locker, and their mouths locked.
Lilly Jacobson may not like backseats, but she clearly doesn’t mind making out in a public school.
Book of Luke (Book 2) Page 16