He's With Me

by Tamara Summers

  father.”

  “Mistake?” Lexie repeated.

  “Starting to date him right before his birthday. Trying to come up with the

  perfect gift when you barely know a guy – it’s terrible!”

  “I wouldn’t say I ‘barely know’ Jake,” Lexie pointed out.

  “Of course, dear. And he must be easier o shop for than your dad. I can’t

  even get that man a tie without earning a lecture on appropriate colors for the

  office.”

  “Well, I thought the orange was cool,” Lexie said loyally. Dad had had to

  buy all his own ties since that Christmas.

  “Think about what Jake likes,” Mrs. Willis said, “and what he’s interested in.

  Something personal is always better than something expensive.”

  Then they had to stop talking because the woman on-screen was explaining

  a position called the “downward dog” which, as far as Lexie could tell, was named

  that because it brought her mom’s face down close to the flood, where Thorn and

  Alanna could easily lick it.

  She thought about what her mother had said. What did Jake like?

  If only the answer was me...

  Chapter 10

  Bree wasn’t taking any chanced. At lunch on Wednesday, she sat down

  across from Lexie and Jake, even though Sally was on the other side of Lexie. Sally

  and Lexie exchanged glances. Bree hadn’t spoken to Sally since the incident at the

  movies, but Sally still seemed to think they’d make up soon. Lexie wasn’t sure

  where she’d gotten that idea, since Lexie had never seen Bree forgive anyone, but

  Sally kept cheerfully saying, “Oh, Bree will come around.”

  “Sally’s an optimist,” Colin had said when Lexie had told him about that.

  “She can’t tell when people are genuinely evil because she’s too nice to be evil

  herself. That’s exactly the kind of person the genuinely evil types like the best.”

  “What on earth are you talking about?” Lexie had answered.

  “It’s in plenty of movies,” Colin said with a shrug, keeping his eyes on their video

  game. “Sally’s like Queen Amidala in Star Wars. She couldn’t tell Anakin was going evil until it was too late, because she was too good a person herself.”

  “Queen Amidala?” Lexie said. “Sally had way better fashion sense than her.

  But perhaps Colin was right about Sally’s people sense. When Bree sat

  down, Sally said, “Hey, Bree, how’s it going?” and held out her bag of Mini Oreos.

  “Want one?”

  Bree ignored her.

  “Where’s Riley?” she asked Lexie.

  “I’m not sure,” Lexie said, glancing at Sally.

  “Oh,” Bree said. “I thought you might know.”

  Why? Lexie wondered. “Mr. Giambi probably kept him to help find the

  tennis balls he knocked into the bushes,” she said. “He seemed kind of mad about

  that.”

  “Oh, Lexie, dear,” Bree said, all sugary and fake. “That reminds me. Don’t

  forget to come by and borrow that book tonight.” She winked in a really obvious

  way. “I should be home by six. So don’t forget. It’s very important.”

  “What book?” Jake asked. Lexie could understand his confusion. For one,

  why would Bree be lending Lexie a book? Why would Bree even own a book?

  “Um,” she said. Bree narrowed her eyes and smiled at Lexie, leaving her to

  flounder through a lame explanation. “Um,” Lexie said again. “It’s – it’s about

  volleyball, water volleyball, you know, for the tournament.”

  Sally choked on her soda and got up quickly. Lexie could see her shoulders

  shaking with laughter as she hurried off to the bathroom.

  “They have books about pool volleyball?” Jake said skeptically.

  “They do,” Bree said, “and Lexie is going to borrow mine.”

  “Okaaaay,” Jake said. “Anything to give us a competitive edge. We’re going

  to win this thing, right, Lexie?”

  “Absolutely,” she said, and he stole a carrot stick from her, grinning.

  Lexie glanced across the table at Bree, but the blond girl was delicately

  crunching a piece of celery and didn’t look like she was going anywhere. And

  really, the whole point of Lexie’s present for Jake was to prove her girlfriend

  status to Bree, so she might as well give it to him in front of her, no matter how

  awkward it made her feel.

  “Here,” she said, pulling a wrapped gift out of her shoulder bad and

  handing it to Jake. “Happy birthday!”

  Jake looked surprised. “But –”

  “I know we haven’t been dating long,” Lexie said, trying to communicate,

  Shut up and open it, with her eyes.”But hopefully you’ll like it.”

  They’d already had a mini-birthday breakfast that morning, at Lexie’s

  house. Her mom had made banana pancakes for her and Jake and Colin and

  they’d stuck a candle in one and all sung “Happy Birthday” completely off-key.

  Jake had probably thought that was the extent of his birthday celebrations. Boy,

  was he going to be surprised.

  “Wow, thanks,” he said, pulling off the ribbon. “You didn’t have to do this.”

  “Of course she did,” Bree interjected. “She’s you girlfriend, Jakey.”

  “Yeah,” Lexie said. “Exactly.”

  “Oh,” he said. “Ah.” Then, as he ripped off the wrapping paper: “Wait, is

  this...Tupperware?”

  “Cool, right?” Lexie said. “You can put food inside it, and it’ll stay fresh. Isn’t

  that a great idea? And look, the container is purple.”

  Jake gave her a puzzled look and she shook her head at him, laughing. “No,

  I didn’t give you Tupperware for your birthday. Open the container, doofus.”

  He peeled back the plastic lid, and his face it up exactly the way Lexie had

  been hoping it would.

  Inside, nestled in rows across the bottom, were eighteen small chocolate

  cupcakes. On the top of each one, Lexie had written a letter in white chocolate

  frosting, so they spelled out HAPPY BIRTHDAY JAKE!

  “Oh my God,” he said. “Lexie, this is amazing. It’s much too cool to eat.”

  “I hope not, because I’m planning to help you eat them.” Lexie said.

  “What?” Bree said impatiently. “Let me see.”

  Jake tilted the container toward her so she could see the cupcake message.

  He had a cute triumphant-looking smile on his face. Lexie guessed that she had

  played her part perfectly.

  “Cupcakes?” Bree said. “How... sweet. What a clever way to save money,

  Lexie. I’m sure Jake appreciates your... thriftiness.”

  “It’s the best present I’ve ever gotten,” Jake said, seeing Lexie start to

  deflate. He took the first mini cupcake out, peeled away the cup, and bit off half

  of it. Then he held out the other half to Lexie.

  “Thanks,” she said, turning pink. He batted her hand away and made her

  open her mouth so he could pop it in.

  Colin and Sally had helped her bake them with her mom supervising. Lexie

  suspected more chocolate had gone into Colin and Sally than into the cupcakes,

  but at least they’d ended up with eighteen good enough to give to Jake.

  “So what else did you get him?” Bree asked. “Anything... lasting?” Her

  expression seemed to be saying, Or is your relationship going to be as short-lived as there cupcakes?

  “I hope you didn’t get me anything els
e,” Jake said. “This is perfect enough

  for me.”

  The truth was Lexie did have another present for him in her pocket. But she

  was less sure about that one. She’d bought it a while before because it had made

  her think of him when she’d seen it, but she’d never found the opportunity to give

  it to him. But then, the day before, she’d shown it to Sally, who was convinced

  that he would love it. If he didn’t, there was no way for Lexie to get it back. And

  she kind of liked hiding it in her show box, next to the origami whale.

  “I – I thought I’d give it to him later,” Lexie said.

  “Oh, in private?” Bree said snidely.

  Lexie nodded.

  “Uh-huh,” Bree said. “I’m sure.” She clearly didn’t believe that Lexie had

  anything else, but Lexie didn’t want to prove it badly enough to give Jake this

  present in front of her.

  “Well,” Bree said, collecting her lunch remain, “you can tell me what it is

  later, Jakey, see you at six, Lexie, dear – of, and try to be punctual, will you?”

  She swept off, evidently feeling that she’d seen enough. Lexie felt sick just

  thinking about the evening. Who would Bree have invited? How would Jake

  react? He didn’t love big gatherings of people any more than she did, although he

  was better at navigating through them. She wished there were a way to get out of

  it, but she hated the idea of a bunch of people standing around Bree’s house

  wondering where they were and blaming Lexie for ruining the party.

  “You don’t have to give me anything else,” Jake said seriously, taking her

  hand. “I really love the cupcakes.”

  “And Bree was convinced, don’t you think?” Lexie said. “That was

  girlfriendly of me, wasn’t it?”

  Jake looked down at their hands. “Yeah, it was,” he said. “Good job. You,

  uh, nearly had me fooled too.”

  “I do have something else,” Lexie said.”But it might be kind of stupid. I

  don’t know if you’ll want it. If you don’t want it, just give it back to me.”

  Jake grinned. “I’m sure if you picked it, it’s awesome.”

  Hesitantly, she pulled a small cloth bag out of her shorts pocket and placed

  it in his hand. He untied the strings and poured out the contents onto the lunch

  table. A leather cord slithered out, and the small white whale strung on it made a

  clicking noise against the wood.

  Jake touched the little white whale, his smile growing. Lexie thought it was

  made of whalebone or shell; anyway, it felt smooth and was polished to a shine.

  Its little tail was lifted in a happy way, and tiny flippers were carved in the side.

  “It’s a necklace,” Lexie said, “but it’s supposed to be a guy’s necklace. That’s

  what the salesperson told me. But you don’t have to wear it; I know it’s weird to

  get a guy jewelry. I thought Bree might make fun of me if I gave it to you in front

  of her. But it made me think of you, because of the origami whales, but if you

  don’t like it I can totally take it back –”

  “Lexie, I love it,” he said, interrupting her babbling. “Will you put it on me?”

  She blinked at him as he lifted the leather cord around his neck. “Really?”

  “Yeah, of course,” he said. “I want to show off my girlfriend’s awesome

  taste.”

  He scooted around with his back to her, so he didn’t see her face as she

  took the ends of the cord. She felt so strange, finally giving this to him. What if he thought it was just a pretend present? What if he had no idea that it actually

  meant something to her? How could he know? She had always imagined giving

  this to him and telling him at the same time that she’d liked him for ages, and that

  she’d been saving the necklace all that time. But she obviously couldn’t tell him

  that now. He thought they were only pretending.

  She tied the ends of the cord in a knot, carefully keeping a finger between

  the knot and his skin so she wouldn’t catch any of the soft golden brown hairs on

  the back of his neck.

  It looked perfect on him. The whale hung just below the hollow of his

  throat, and it didn’t look girly at all, which Lexie had worried about. Jake just

  looked ever more handsome, like he’d walked straight out of some CW beach

  show.

  “Thanks, Lexie,” he said, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her in

  for a hug. She rested her head on his shoulder and felt the muscles in his back

  below her palms. “This is the greatest birthday,” Jake said.

  I hope you still think so after tonight, Lexie thought.

  Chapter 11

  “Have I mentioned that I don’t get this?” Jake said as they parked their

  bikes at the bottom of Bree’s long driveway. “Tell me again why you’re borrowing

  a book from Bree?”

  Lexie shrugged. “It seemed easier than saying no to her.” Well, that part

  was true. Luckily, Jake had insisted on coming with her; he didn’t want to leave

  her alone with Bree, which she appreciated.

  “I guess,” Jake said. “Man, her house is huge.”

  They locked their bikes to the fence beside the driveway. The path up to Bree’s

  front door was made of neat zigzagging bricks and wound around several flower

  beds before reaching the tall marble columns and gigantic gilt-encrusted

  doorway.

  “Isn’t this a little weird?” Jake whispered to Lexie as they followed the path. “Like

  they’re forcing their guests to take the scenic route and admire the flowers? What

  if you just want to get to the door already?”

  “Maybe it’s a test to make sure that you really want to get there,” Lexie

  joked.

  “I’m guessing they don’t have many visitors then,” Jake said with a smile.

  Lexie rang the doorbell. There was a long pause, and then the curtain

  because the door was whisked aside and a nervous female face – red-haired, bid-

  nosed – peeked out before getting yanked back.

  Another pause. The door opened.

  The redhead was standing there bobbing and bowing, looked terrified. She

  was wearing a shapeless maid’s uniform and an apron that she kept twisting in

  her hands.

  “Oh, get out of the way, Greta,” Bree snapped, popping out from behind

  the door. “How hard is it to let a guest in? I mean, seriously. Hello, Jake!”

  “Hey,” he said, taking Lexie’s hand.

  Lexie felt instantly awkward, as she was sure Bree had intended. Lexie was

  still wearing her bathing suit from earlier that day, with a white T-shirt and red

  shorts over it. Bree, on the other hand, was wearing a sleeveless, formfitting

  white sheath dress that had side slits all the way up her legs and an oval cutout

  from her neck nearly halfway down her chest. Her shoes were very high white

  espadrilles. She looked like she’d just stepped out of a movie. Lexie glanced down

  at her sneakers, embarrassed.

  “Come on back to the pool,” Bree said. She pushed her sleek blond hair

  back and waved her hand, leading the way through the cavernous house.

  “I guess her obsessions are genetic,” Jake whispered to Lexie. The whole

  house was white – white leather couches, white marble staircases, white silk

  lampshades, white bearskin rugs. The only art on the walls were large black-a
nd-

  white photographs of Bree, her older sister, and her parents, all in perfect frozen

  poses with perfect frozen smiles. Lexie got the impression that if she touched

  anything, she’d either break it or leave dirty fingerprints all over it.

  Bree flung open the double doors to the patio, whirled around, and cried,

  “Surprise!”

  “Surprise!” yelled the crowd of people gathered outside. There were about

  thirty people scatted around the pool. Lexie recognized most of them from

  school, but she wasn’t sure she’d ever spoken to half of them. She wondered if

  Jake had. Jake’s mouth dropped open.

  “Happy Birthday, Jakey,” Bree cooed. She wrapped her hands around his

  arm and tugged him away from Lexie. “Come on, say hello to everyone. They’re

  here to celebrate you! Lexie can have you back later.”

  Jake gave Lexie a baffled look and she spread her hands helplessly. “It was

  Bree’s idea,” she said.

  “Of course it was,” Bree said. “I just love throwing parties. And Lexie didn’t have any idea what to do, so I thought I should help.” She dragged Jake down the

  patio steps to the edge of the pool, where a group of sporty types started

  slapping him on the back and offering him drinks.

  Lexie glanced around and, to her relief, spotted Colin off by himself on a

  lounge chair.

  “Thank God you’re here,” she said, sitting on the edge of the chair next to

  him.

  “I can’t believe you talked me into this,” he muttered, poking the ice in his

  glass with a small pink umbrella.

  “Hey, this is all your fault, Mr. Bright Ideas,” Lexie said. “You’re the reason

  Bree is out to get me, so the least you can do is show up to one party.”

  “You should have seen the look on her face,” he said with a grin. “When

  she opened the door and saw me there – I seriously thought she was going to

  pretend I was invisible and just slam it shut again. But I was like, ‘Hey, Bree,

  thanks for throwing the cool party,’ and walked right in.”

  “You didn’t!” Lexie said, impressed.

  “I did. She kind of harrumphed and waved in this direction. So I came out,

  got a soda, and I’ve been sitting right here ever since.”

  “Do we know anyone else here?” Lexie asked, drawing her legs up on the

  chaise lounge.