“Hello, ladies.”
I opened my eyes. They were wearing their swim trunks and sweatshirts, which had been speckled by rain. Jesse set down a gym duffel bag and then pulled his sweatshirt off and tossed it on the lounge chair next to mine. Morgan discreetly squeezed my hand because he looked so freaking hot. Then he planked over me on the lounge chair and gave me a kiss on the lips. When he started pulling away, I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled him back down to kiss me again, hoping Wes would be watching at that very moment.
“You’re in a good mood,” Jesse said, and then lifted me up, his hands locked under my butt. I shivered at how suddenly close we were. I was still wet from the last dip in the water, and also, it was like we were practically naked. I think Jesse could tell that it startled me, because he slowly let me slide back down to the chair.
Jesse opened up his duffel bag and looped a whistle around his neck.
“Are you on duty?”
“I figured this would come in handy for games.” He took out a set of speakers to plug into his phone. “Where’s Elise?”
I nudged my chin across the pool. She’d spent most of the good-bye party sitting at a table with her parents, a fluffy bathrobe cinched tight around her. I didn’t get it. Elise was all about this party, the planning, carefully selecting who to spend her last hours with, but now she was being completely antisocial.
I said, “Morgan and I agreed that we shouldn’t monopolize her time, since we’re having a sleepover after, but now I’m wondering if that was a bad plan.”
“Totally a bad plan. She needs to be rescued from herself. She’s going to think back on this night and be completely bummed that she blew it.” He picked up his duffel bag and then took my hand. “Come on.”
We walked right past the hot tub where Wes was, and I knew he was watching me and Jesse. We stopped in front of Elise’s table.
“Keeley and I wanted to give you this parting gift.” Out of his duffel, Jesse lifted up a huge mesh bag of Florida oranges. It was so big and heavy and ridiculous, at least twenty pounds of oranges. Elise started laughing and then crying. I watched Jesse carefully unclip the snaps on the mesh bag so when he presented it to Elise, the oranges tumbled out and rolled into the pool.
Jesse blew his whistle. “Rescue! Rescue!” He jumped in feetfirst, dragging me along with him. And we dove to grab the oranges. Zito jumped in next, but not before he lifted Morgan up off the lounge chair and dropped her in the water. Suddenly the place was alive.
Jesse got out of the water and stalked over to the table. He was dripping wet, and Elise saw him coming for her. “No! No!” she started screaming, but you could tell she was loving it. Jesse lifted her up and carried her down the steps, bathrobe and all, into the water. Like a baptism or something. Smiling for the first time, Elise hugged Jesse and then he let her swim free.
I basically became Jesse’s fun assistant for the rest of the night. Anything he suggested to make a good time, I seconded. Chicken fights? I climbed on his shoulders. We took second place, but only because we let Elise and one of her guy friends from church take us down in the championship. Marco Polo? I offered to be it first. We even got everyone to push around and around to make a whirlpool.
Wes and his friends lingered around the side of the pool. They were ready to leave. At some point, they’d changed out of their bathing suits and into dry clothes. Elise climbed out of the pool to say good-bye to them.
“I’m cold,” Morgan said, passing me in the water. “I think I’m going to get out for a bit.”
“You want to go in the hot tub? Now that Wes and his friends aren’t hogging it?”
I meant it as a joke, but Morgan barely smiled. “Nah.”
She walked over to our chair and wrapped herself in a towel. She was trying not to look at Wes, but I know she was aware of him as much as I was. I think she was making herself available for him, if he did want to talk or apologize.
“You keep looking at that guy,” Jesse said. “Are you trying to make me jealous? Because he seems like a weenie.”
“No. Absolutely not.” But I was glad he was getting jealous. “That’s Morgan’s ex. And . . . I hate him.”
“Enough said.”
Jesse called out to Zito and started to swim toward him, but I noticed that as he did, he started kicking harder than he needed to. Then he and Zito began to wrestle in the water, trying to dunk each other, and Jesse kept angling his body to make sure his wild splashes were going in Wes’s direction. Wes took one step back, and then another, and finally turned around and walked out.
Morgan, I think, was a little shocked. Shocked and disappointed that he hadn’t tried to talk to her. I felt bad for her, actually. But if Wes was going to let a little spray of water stop him from making things right with Morgan, well then, he wasn’t worth pining over. I really hoped she saw that.
• • •
Later, after everyone went home, the three of us went up to our hotel room. Elise’s family had reserved a second room especially for us, with two double beds. I already assumed how the sleeping arrangements would go. Morgan and Elise in one bed, me in the other. Which was fine.
Elise yawned. She must have been exhausted. I glanced at the clock on the nightstand. It was 10 p.m. I felt bad that we hadn’t made it up here earlier, got to spend more time together. I think we all felt the night closing in on us.
“Order anything you want from room service,” Elise announced. Morgan and I glanced at the menu. It was all expensive. But maybe not to Elise’s family, now that they had all that money. “Seriously. I want this to be the best night. Something we all remember forever.”
So we ordered three French fries, a hamburger, two plates of chicken fingers, a club sandwich, three Cokes, and three ice cream sundaes.
“Look what else we have to drink,” Elise said after she hung up the phone. She opened the mini-fridge and pulled out two bottles of champagne.
“Whoa!” I said.
“I made friends with one of the bartenders at the lobby bar, and he let me charge two bottles of champagne to the room, but he put them down on the receipts as steaks.” I wondered why he’d do that, but she explained, “He used to live in Aberdeen.”
We popped them both open. What began as a slightly awkward sleepover became us at twelve years old. Unguarded, silly, crazy. Drunk.
About twenty minutes later, there was a knock at the door. We quickly fell to a hushing heap on the bed.
Morgan whispered, “Oh, we’re in trouble. I bet someone complained to the manager!”
“No, dummy!” I said. “It’s the food we ordered!”
There were a few more knocks.
Morgan said, “Keeley! You open the door! Just in case it is the manager!”
I was still in my bathing suit and a hotel robe. “Why me?”
Meanwhile, Morgan was trying to wrestle my robe open so it would hang loosely over my bikini. “Because you are brave. Go be cute and get us out of trouble!”
“I don’t want to!”
Elise snapped, “One of you open the door already.” Where she’d been smiling and having fun a moment ago, now she seemed suddenly annoyed. Morgan and I both noticed.
I tried to bring things back to fun. I sauntered up to the door, and Morgan laughed in a gingerly way, but Elise didn’t.
I opened the door, sticking my leg out first, as if I were a burlesque dancer. Morgan flopped down on the bed next to Elise and nudged her. But again, Elise didn’t laugh. In fact, she wiped her eyes.
“Umm . . . hey,” came a voice slow and unsure from the other side of the door. “I have your food.”
It was the room service boy. He looked nervous. I said, “This is a special friendship night for Elise. She’s moving to Florida, and we’re going to miss her terribly.”
She laughed dryly. “I doubt you will, Keeley.”
The boy blushed. I wasn’t sure what I had done wrong, but Elise was fuming. And drunk.
The three of us were quiet
then, until he pushed the white cart in, lifted the silver caps from all our trays, and poured each of our Cokes from the glass bottle into a glass full of crushed ice, with a flourish.
He was taking forever, but I never wanted him to go. I knew as soon as he left, things were going to pop off. And they did. Right after the room door clicked closed.
“Can I get something off my chest?”
I nodded, but only because I didn’t have any other choice.
“I think it’s pretty crappy that you never told me yourself about what’s been going on with your dad. Instead, I had to hear it from everyone else that he’s trying to single-handedly save Aberdeen. Oh, wait, except for the one time you slipped and mentioned the rally in front of me and looked all guilty about it.”
“Elise. Come on.”
“If you had given me a heads-up if we had known that maybe Aberdeen was still going to be around, maybe it wouldn’t have been so easy for my uncle to talk us into Florida. We could have waited. We could have built a new house here.” She looked over at Morgan, and a tear ran down her face.
It stung, knowing what this was really about. It wasn’t that I hadn’t told her, it was about losing Morgan.
“Elise, I had no idea that what he was doing might actually work! Also, I didn’t want to say anything because I didn’t want to upset you.” That was the honest truth. “And look. Who knows! If my dad is able to break this whole thing apart, maybe your family can figure out a way to stay.” I dropped my head back and stared at the ceiling.
“Keeley, you know that’s not going to happen! Why would you even say that to me!” Then she added, “It’s like, you aren’t even sad that I’m leaving.”
“That’s crazy.”
“Is it? Because you seemed to be having such a great time tonight despite knowing I’m gone tomorrow.”
“I was trying to have a good time for you.”
“I don’t want to have a good time, okay?” Elise dove onto the bed and sobbed. “And you made me feel like there was something wrong with me for that. Like I was being some kind of spoiled brat at my own party.”
I looked at Morgan, my hands up. I did not want to fight with Elise. I went out of my way to avoid talking about this stuff with her. She was the one hell-bent on dragging it up. I wanted Morgan to defend me.
But Morgan just held Elise and patted her hair.
Even though I was right next to them, I sent Morgan a text.
Should I go?
No. Definitely not. She’s not mad at you.
I was glad she said that, but I still wrote back, Umm . . . yeah. I’m pretty sure she is.
She’s upset that she’s leaving. Just give her a minute.
But Elise cried herself to sleep, and then Morgan fell asleep too, holding Elise in her arms.
I stayed in the other bed, by myself, and watched the TV on mute until I passed out.
25
* * *
Monday, May 23
Morning clouds, giving way to afternoon sun, high of 66°F
* * *
I woke up hoping that the tension from last night had disappeared as the champagne had worked its way out of our bloodstreams, or that Elise would be able to push it aside for the sake of our good-bye. I lifted my head off the pillow. Elise was already dressed and picking up things like her phone charger and bathing suit and shoving them inside a backpack. She kept passing our room service dining cart, full of the food we’d ordered but hadn’t touched. And it was as if she made it a point to always keep her back to me.
Morgan was up and dressed too, watching Elise from the other bed. When she realized I was awake, she turned and gave a weak smile.
“Hey, Keeley. I think we’re going to go grab breakfast.” Morgan said it in a way that told me I wasn’t welcome to join. Elise ducked into the bathroom, and Morgan mouthed Sorry and I shook my head, like Don’t worry about it.
“You two go on ahead,” I announced. “I’m not hungry.” I tried to make it sound like there actually was an invite, and that it was my choice to stay behind. “I’ll take a shower and meet you both in the lobby.”
So that’s what I did. I showered and got dressed for school and then ate a couple of cold French fries. I took a picture of the bathroom telephone, mounted to the wall next to the toilet, and sent it to Jesse with the caption Hello? Nature, is that you calling? You’ve got great timing! Then I took the elevator downstairs to the lobby.
Elise and Morgan weren’t there, they were probably still eating, so I wandered into the gift shop. After looking at a selection of travel neck pillows, I started pulling some things together for Elise to take with her on the plane. I bought her a variety of sweet and salty snacks, all the new gossip magazines, a bottle of water, a neck pillow that looked to be made from the skin of a pink Muppet, and a bracelet that supposedly prevented motion sickness. I spent all the money in my wallet on her.
By the time I returned to the lobby, Elise and Morgan were sitting on the edge of a decorative fountain near the front desk. Elise was crying again, and the sound filled up the whole space. Her parents had just come down, and they were headed into the restaurant to have breakfast, her two brothers lagging quietly behind them. Their flight to Florida wasn’t until later that afternoon.
“You should go,” Elise said, though she gripped Morgan tighter. “You’ll be late for school.”
“Call me when you get to the airport, okay? I don’t care what class I’m in. I’ll pick up.”
Elise nodded. “Okay.”
Morgan pulled back and guided Elise’s bangs behind her ear. “And we can video chat tonight, after you land.”
Elise took a deep breath and closed her eyes, like she was trying to gather all her strength to hold it together. “Well, I guess this is it,” she said, her voice breaking. “Love you.”
“Love you, too. And I’ll talk to you in a few hours.”
After another long, gripping hug, Morgan stepped out of the way and put a hand on my back.
It was my turn.
I reminded myself that even though Elise was angry with me, we were still friends. Maybe not as good friends as she and Morgan had come to be, but friends nonetheless. I would miss her. And I knew she would miss me too. We deserved a nice good-bye too.
“Got you a few things for your flight,” I said, handing over two big plastic bags. And to my great relief, she smiled just a bit. As she dug around, I added, “There’s some fun stuff in there. I got that grape gum you like. Four packs of it.”
I leaned in to hug her and whispered, “I’m sorry,” as she pulled away, and though I wasn’t sure for what, that didn’t stop me from saying it. I didn’t want her to be mad at me. I didn’t want her to leave like this, with us on bad terms.
“It’s fine, Keeley,” she said. Not exactly forgiveness, but close enough.
• • •
Our ride back to Aberdeen was relatively quiet. Morgan wasn’t exactly crying, but every minute or so, a tear would roll down her cheek.
I leaned forward and held my finger over the radio button. “Want to play Guess That Song?”
She nodded and wiped her cheeks with her sleeve. “Okay. You go first.”
I turned the radio dial, heard the song, and vaguely recognized it, but not enough to call it. I hammed it up, though, sang the lyrics I knew, mumbled and garbled the ones I didn’t.
• • •
Things felt better when we got to school. Morgan and I had a nice long hug before we parted ways for first period. Jesse had left me a surprise in my locker. One of those stolen trophies. A 1986 tennis championship golden girl with her racquet held high. But he’d covered up the plaque with masking tape and had written Miss Aberdeen, MVP. A few kids even some of our teachers stopped me in the halls to say that their parents were behind Dad 100 percent.
In some ways, it felt like the worst was over. I had my best friend back all to myself, and the boy of my dreams, and there was a decent chance that we’d be able to save Aberdeen. I weirdly
had a lot to be happy about.
I texted Morgan from honors science, where everyone in class was popping popcorn over a Bunsen burner because Mrs. Ambridge was the best. Want to go out for lunch? See if Mineo’s is open?
She didn’t write me back, even when I threw in My treat! but it was fine. I’d see her eventually in Nutrition. Nutrition was my only elective and, far and away, the easiest class on my schedule. In fact, I’d only taken it because Elise and Morgan wanted to and I wanted to have at least one class period with them besides lunch.
But Morgan wasn’t there when Coach Dean took attendance.
I texted her again as soon as Coach Dean put on a movie. Where are you?
Halfway through the period, she wrote back.
Sorry. I just dropped Elise off at the airport.
Wait, what?
She texted me when we got to school, wanted to know if I could cut class, come back and drive her, so she wouldn’t have to ride with her parents.
Why didn’t you tell me? I totally would have gone with you!
She asked me to come alone. :(
I imagined it all. Morgan driving behind Elise’s parents in their minivan. Both of them crying. They were squeezing all the friendship they could out of their last minutes together. And there wasn’t anything left over for me.
• • •
The first five houses Levi and I cleared that afternoon were unremarkable. For Levi, it was business as usual. But these empty houses were starting to get to me.
Dad’s protest rally had gone so well, and yet every block in town had a couple of red Xs. If he did save Aberdeen, it was hard to imagine what it might look like. Would it be half empty? Would the people who left move back into their old houses? Or would new people from new places buy them?
Either way you sliced it, Aberdeen would never be the same town it had been.
• • •
When we walked through the front door of the sixth house, Levi looked around as if he had crossed into some alternate dimension.
The Last Boy and Girl in the World Page 22