Finally, DJ picked out an outfit that Eliza had suggested would be good for their date tonight. Still, DJ wasn’t sure. This outfit involved a print skirt that flared out slightly then stopped a few inches above her knees. The problem was that DJ hadn’t worn a skirt in…well, like, forever. Still, she decided to try it on. And she had to admit that it didn’t look half bad. And it did have a nice feeling when she moved around the room, kind of swishing around her legs. Next she put on the top combination that Eliza had liked with this skirt. It began with a lace-trimmed, coffee-colored camisole that was topped in a silky shirt in a soft mossy shade of green that Eliza had said looked classy and brought out the green in DJ’s eyes. And it did look nice with the skirt. And feminine too. All in all, she thought she actually looked pretty good. Still, she wasn’t sure what shoes to wear. Maybe she’d ask Eliza about that.
“Well, now,” said Casey as she came into the room. “Don’t you look nice. What’s the special occasion? Oh, let me guess…a date?”
DJ looked evenly at Casey now. She felt like she’d had enough. If she and Casey were going to share this room for a whole year, they might as well deal with this…this…whatever it was. “Okay, Casey, let’s get whatever is eating you out in the open. Why do you have it out for me? What have I done to deserve being treated like this?”
Casey just shrugged and then slumped back down onto the window seat.
“Come on, Casey. We used to be friends. We used to tell each other everything.”
“Well, you’ve changed.”
“I’ve changed?” DJ could hear the shrillness in her voice now. “Have you seen yourself lately, Casey?” Then she reached down, grabbed Casey’s hand and pulled her up so the two of them could stand in front of the mirror. “What about you?”
“Fine. We’ve both changed,” admitted Casey as she frowned at their reflection.
“Right. And people change.” DJ stared at Casey now. She looked so totally different from DJ. So dark and somber in her dark clothing and clumpy boots, even though it was summer. Not to mention she was slightly scary with those safety pins through her eyebrows.
“I liked you better before,” said Casey.
“Ditto back at you.” DJ held her chin higher now.
“But you’re becoming just like the others,” said Casey. “Like a Stepford teen.” She pointed at the skirt. “Look at you, you used to hate dresses.”
“Look at you,” said DJ, pointing to a safety pin. “You used to cry if you accidentally got poked by a rosebush thorn.”
Casey almost smiled now. “Yeah, well, you’re right. People change.”
“Why?” asked DJ.
“I don’t know.”
“I think you do.”
“It’s a long story.” Casey turned away from the mirror. “And you have a date tonight.”
“Not for a—”
“And I need to use the bathroom.” Then Casey clumped off into the bathroom, firmly closing the door as if to signify the end of the conversation. And maybe that was just as well since it was a little past six now. DJ went over to Eliza’s room and knocked on the door. Kriti answered then smiled. “Don’t you look pretty.”
“Thanks,” said DJ. “Is Eliza around?”
“In here,” called Eliza from the bathroom. “Just doing some last-minute primping.” She emerged and clapped her hands. “Look at you!”
DJ did a little spin, then felt embarrassed for doing it. “But I don’t know what shoes to wear.”
Eliza studied DJ for a moment. “I have just the thing.” Then she scurried off to her closet and returned with a pretty pair of sandals, the same shade of brown as her camisole. “And you need some jewelry. Are your ears pierced?”
“No way,” said DJ as she remembered the safety pins in her roommate’s eyebrows.
Eliza laughed. “Well, then the necklace will have to do.” She came around from behind DJ and fastened a necklace. “Go and check it out.”
DJ stood in front of their mirror and smiled. “That’s nice.”
“You look great,” said Kriti.
“Thanks,” said DJ. “It’s totally different from what I’m used to.”
“We’re aware of that,” teased Eliza.
“But it feels pretty good.”
“Cool.” Eliza turned away. “Now, I better finish up. You’re going to be some serious competition tonight, girlfriend.”
DJ wanted to say that she didn’t want to compete with anyone when it came to looks, but it was too late—Eliza had closed the door behind her.
“Tell Eliza I’ll meet her downstairs, okay?”
“Sure.” Kriti held up the book she’d been reading last night. “I’m halfway done now.”
“Wow, you’re fast.”
“It’s a compelling book,” said Kriti. “And a good way to learn some American history.”
Just as DJ was going downstairs, she heard the dinner bell ring. Fortunately, they’d already informed Grandmother of their plans. But DJ was curious as to how her grandmother would react to this outfit. For that reason, she decided to make an appearance in the dining room.
“Oh, Desiree,” gushed her grandmother. “You look very pretty.” She came closer to examine her hair. “Val did a good job.”
“It was lighter than I wanted.”
“I think it’s perfect.” Grandmother stepped back as if to study her. “But stand up straight, dear.”
DJ complied.
“Better.”
“And you remember that Eliza and I are going out tonight?”
“Oh, yes, I forgot to tell Clara two fewer places. Oh well.”
The girls were starting to come in for dinner now. Taylor eyed DJ with hostile suspicion, but said nothing. Probably because Grandmother was in the room. Rhiannon gave DJ a smile and a thumbs-up. DJ wanted to ask how she was faring with her cranky roommate. Too bad she and Rhiannon couldn’t swap. Then again, DJ wasn’t sure she wanted to hear that much about Rhiannon’s religious beliefs. As difficult as Casey was being, at least she didn’t preach at her. Not that Rhiannon preached exactly. But sometimes the things she said sounded a little too high and mighty, a little too good to be true.
Then Eliza came to get DJ, saying that the guys were already there. They told the others good-bye and then, feeling like quite the socialite, DJ followed Eliza out to the foyer where Harry and Conner were waiting.
“Don’t you girls look gorgeous,” said Harry.
Conner seemed slightly surprised when he saw DJ, but then smiled. “You changed your hair.”
DJ nodded. Then as they went outside, she explained that between her grandmother, Eliza, and the hairdresser, she hadn’t really had much choice. Yet even as she said this, she thought it sounded pretty lame. Like she had suddenly turned into the victim. And that irritated her.
“It looks good,” he said, and she thanked him.
“You girls okay to ride in the Jeep?” asked Harry. “Or would you rather take your car?”
Eliza considered this then reached in her bag and handed over her keys to Harry. “My car. We want to be treated like ladies tonight.”
He grinned. “No problem.”
DJ felt a little uneasy getting into the backseat with Conner. For some reason it seemed to drive home the fact that this was a date. A real date. And her first one. Not that she planned to let that cat out of the bag.
DJ was surprised to find out that Harry had made reservations at South Port, the fanciest restaurant in town. He explained that he’d had his dad do it for him, since the restaurant owner was a friend. “And being that it’s Saturday and Labor Day weekend, they were booked. Or so they told me when I tried to get a table. But then my dad stepped in, and it was like no problem.”
DJ felt completely out of her element as they were seated at a white cloth-covered table next to the window that overlooked the bay. But then she looked across to where Eliza appeared totally relaxed. And that’s when DJ decided that she would simply imitate Eliza. When Eliza put her lin
en napkin in her lap, DJ followed suit. When Eliza opened the big menu, DJ did as well. She tried to be inconspicuous about it, but it got so bad that when Eliza wiped her mouth with her napkin midway through the meal, DJ did the same.
Finally, the meal was over. Eliza thanked Harry for dinner, and DJ did likewise with Conner. But as she did this, she noticed something in Conner’s expression that worried her. He seemed a little less interested in her than he had been the day before.
“Want to walk down the docks?” asked Conner. “We have about twenty minutes before the movie starts.” They all agreed, but no sooner were they on the wooden docks when DJ realized that she had a problem. The sandals that Eliza had loaned her had spike heels that kept getting caught between the boards. Eventually DJ was walking like a penguin just to keep from falling on her face. Eliza was lucky to be wearing platform sandals, and she was walking just fine. She and Harry were almost to the end of the dock by now.
“Maybe we should go back,” suggested Conner.
“Yeah,” agreed DJ. “Maybe so.” She considered simply removing the sandals and going barefoot. But the idea of putting her dirty feet back into the borrowed shoes seemed wrong. So she toughed it out.
Back on solid land, Conner leaned his head back, looked up at the sky, and let out a big breath.
“Everything okay?” she asked.
“Huh?” He turned and looked at her. “Oh, yeah. I was just thinking about school starting in three days…and soccer and stuff.”
“Oh.”
And then they just stood there without talking until Harry and Eliza came back. “We saw the funniest boat,” Eliza told them. “It was like a combination of a submarine and a boat, like something that someone had put together himself.”
“It looked like something out of a bad James Bond movie,” said Harry. “You guys should go see it.”
“Maybe later,” said Conner, glancing at his watch. “If we want to catch the beginning of the movie, we should go.”
The movie was okay…or maybe just so-so. But it was a relief to be able to just sit without talking. DJ was feeling more and more uncomfortable with this whole dating thing. She wondered why everyone acted like it was so cool. Even her dinner was starting to feel like a lump of hard clay in the pit of her stomach. More than ever she wished she’d been like Kriti, home with a good book.
After the movie, they went outside and walked the couple of blocks back to the car.
“What a gorgeous night,” said Eliza happily. Then she pointed toward the bay. “And look, there’s supposed to be a full moon tonight. I think I can see the light beginning to appear.” She grabbed Harry by the hand and began hurrying to the car. “Let’s go someplace where we can watch it come up over the water.”
So they hopped into the car, and Harry drove a few minutes away where he parked in a wide-open space that faced the bay, and they sat there and watched as the round white moon cut a bright white stripe through the water.
“Isn’t it beautiful,” gushed Eliza.
“Not as beautiful as you,” said Harry as he reached over and pulled her face toward him. Then, right in front of Conner and DJ, they began to kiss. And for some reason this just made DJ mad. If those two wanted to clean each other’s teeth, it seemed like they could’ve taken a little stroll and done it privately. She was tempted to say something, but it was just so awkward. She wanted to look at Conner and see how he was reacting, but she was worried that he might think she was hinting for him to do the same thing. And, at the moment, she was not interested. Not that she didn’t want Conner to kiss her again. She definitely did. But not like this. Not like they were simply imitating the moonstruck lovers in the front seat.
DJ folded her arms across her front and leaned back in the seat. If this car had back doors, she would most certainly have gotten out and marched away, hoping that Conner would follow. As it was, without making a complete spectacle of herself by hopping over the side of the convertible, she would have to endure this.
“Hey, maybe you guys should get a room,” said Conner finally.
Harry and Eliza slowly peeled themselves apart. “Sorry,” breathed Harry. “Guess the moon got to me.”
Eliza giggled. “Me too.”
“Want to take a moonlight stroll?” asked Harry eagerly.
“Certainly,” said Eliza. “That way we can give DJ and Conner some privacy.”
And before anyone could say anything, Harry and Eliza were out of the car and taking off down a trail.
“Well, that’s a relief,” said DJ, loosening her arms from her front and relaxing a little. “I’m not really into watching couples making out.”
“Me neither.”
Then they sat there in silence for a while. Finally Conner slipped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer to him. He looked down at her with a curious expression. “You’ve changed, DJ.”
She tried not to feel exasperated. “So I’ve heard.”
Then without saying another word, he kissed her. Then he kissed her again. And she kissed him back, and before long they were going at it just as vigorously as Harry and Eliza had been. And for a brief blurry moment, DJ wondered if she was still imitating her friend. Then she blocked that thought out and simply got lost in the arms and kisses of Conner. She felt her heart racing and all sorts of amazing sensations that she had never felt before. And, although it was a little scary to feel like this, it was exciting too. And, although she wanted him to stop, so she could come up for air and gather her wits, she wanted him to just keep going too.
Finally, as if in a dream, she pushed him away from her and tried to catch her breath. “That’s enough,” she gasped. Harry and Eliza were coming back now, holding hands and singing a silly song. DJ pushed her rumpled clothes back into place as they got into the car.
“Looks like someone enjoyed their privacy,” said Eliza, turning to smile at them.
Conner sat up straighter, acting as if nothing whatsoever had just happened. And DJ was asking herself, what really had just happened? Everything had moved so quickly. One moment he was passionately kissing her, and then his hands were wandering all over her. And she hadn’t even stopped him.
“Well, if we’re going to make curfew, we better head home,” said Eliza.
“When’s curfew?” asked Harry.
“Eleven on weekends,” said Eliza. “Unless we have permission to stay out later.”
“Do you?” asked Harry hopefully.
“Not tonight.”
So Harry drove Eliza’s car home, and the boys walked them up to the porch were “proper” good-night kisses were exchanged, and then they went their separate ways.
“Wow, you guys were really getting into it in the backseat,” whispered Eliza after the front door was closed.
DJ glanced around the dimly let foyer, curious as to whether anyone was around to overhear, but all was quiet and most of the lights were off. It seemed everyone had gone to bed. Still, she didn’t say anything.
“You didn’t actually do it, did you?”
DJ looked at Eliza with a shocked expression. “You mean it, as in have sex?” she whispered.
Eliza giggled and nodded.
“No way.”
“Oh, that’s a relief.”
“How about you?” asked DJ with concern as she remembered the condoms in the Hermès bag that Eliza had given her. The same bag she was using tonight. Perhaps those really were Eliza’s.
“Are you kidding? On a first date? Never.”
DJ felt slightly relieved. But she still wondered what that meant. Did Eliza do it on a second date? Third? What were the rules about such things anyway? And who should DJ ask? Then, just as they started up the stairs, DJ heard a creak and noticed that library door was moving slightly. Perhaps it was just the shifting of old house, or perhaps something more. Whatever it was, DJ felt too drained to figure it out just now.
17
“EXcuse me,” SaID Mrs. Carrer to the girls around the table as she set down her c
offee cup with a clink. They were just finishing breakfast and DJ had noticed that her grandmother had been unusually quiet this morning.
“Desiree,” said Grandmother in a stern tone as she stood. “Come to my office, please.”
“Does anyone want to go to church with me?” offered Rhiannon as the others began to excuse themselves from the table. But the girls just said “no thanks” or made jokes.
As DJ left the dining room, she felt sorry for Rhiannon who was doing her best to befriend these girls. But at the same time, DJ didn’t want to go either. Not that she particularly wanted to go to her grandmother’s office. DJ had a feeling she’d done something wrong and was about to get into trouble, although she couldn’t remember doing anything too serious. As she followed her into her office, she wondered if perhaps church might be better than a lecture from her grandmother.
Grandmother closed the door to the office now. Not a good sign. “Please, sit down, young lady.” Using the term young lady was an even worse sign. Her grandmother definitely sounded irritated.
“What’s wrong?” asked DJ as she sat in the chair across from her grandmother.
Now Grandmother frowned so deeply that DJ was convinced that the Botox injections must’ve completely worn off. “I have been informed that you did not behave yourself in a respectable manner while on your date last night, Desiree.”
DJ was stunned. “What? How did you hear something like that?”
“Let us just say that a little bird told me.”
DJ remembered how Eliza and Harry had discovered her and Conner in a slightly compromising position—not that they’d actually done anything seriously wrong. Still, DJ wasn’t proud of herself. But, surely, Eliza wouldn’t report this to her grandmother. And if she had, DJ could easily accuse Eliza and Harry of as much and possibly more.
“What exactly did this little bird say?” asked DJ in a controlled voice.
Grandmother cleared her throat. “She said that she was worried that you might be engaging in…how do I put this delicately?”
“Why don’t you just spit it out?”
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