The Way to Game the Walk of Shame

by Jenn P. Nguyen

  How long had he been standing there? Did he hear us talking? Suddenly noticing how close Brian and I were, I awkwardly slid a few inches away from him. “Hey, what are you doing here?”

  “I wanted to see if you needed a ride home. I could come back and pick you up.”

  Brian crossed his arms and straightened up, almost standing. “No, it’s all right. I can drive her home later. It’s on my way. Don’t want to bother you or anything.”

  Evan’s smile widened. “No, it’s cool. Taylor could never bother me.”

  “But—”

  “Uh, guys?” I waved my hands in both of their faces to get their attention. “I already made plans to go home with Carly. We’re going to the mall later, so neither of you have to drive me.”

  “Oh.” Brian sat back down.

  “Okay, I just figured I’d ask.” Evan flickered a sideways glance at Brian before coming forward and planting a quick kiss on my cheek. “I’ll talk to you later, then.”

  “Okay.” I echoed, feeling like I’d missed something. I wished Carly were here to explain what just happened, because I had no clue what was going on.

  * * *

  My physics homework was literally driving me crazy.

  Biology was easy to understand, because it was something I could see—although I hated the guinea-pig dissections. I even understood chemistry to an extent. But physics? How was I supposed to see the relationship between the acceleration and mass of an object, much less calculate it?

  It didn’t help that I had a sucky teacher, either. Mr. Higgens was famous for two things. One: his pop quizzes. And two: his love for his son, Adrian, the famous doctor. All you had to do was ask about his son, and he’d talk the entire class period. Getting him to shut up was the problem.

  I poked at my faded navy tights and watched my parents garden through the kitchen window. Mom played with the watering can and pretended to shower Dad. He shook himself like a dog, making her squeal with laughter. Oreo darted around and barked at their antics.

  Despite being married for eight years, they were still lovey-dovey like a couple of teenagers. Although I was reaching the end of my teenage years, and I’d never acted like that.

  My gaze turned to my reflection in the shiny window. I gathered my hair into a ponytail and turned my head from side to side. The simple hairstyle emphasized my face, and not in a good way. It made my face look longer and narrower. My lips seemed to swell in comparison. And my dark hair looked plain and lifeless as it hung straight down. Why couldn’t my hair be a little curly or wavy, so it could have a natural bounce in it like—

  Darn it. I was doing it again. I’d been subconsciously comparing myself to Lauren since Evan told me about their relationship. And the sinking pit in my stomach appeared every time I imagined them together.

  “I’m not jealous. And I don’t like Evan,” I chanted out loud like a pledge. “This is just a business arrangement. No feelings or emotions are allowed. At all. It’s in the contract.”

  Out of sight, out of mind. Today was my day off from the eyes and ears of everyone at school, and I was going to take advantage of this.

  I chewed on the top of my pen and was deep in determining at what speed a 6-gram ball would hit the ground at a free fall off a 7-meter-high building, when a car door closed. My mind didn’t absorb any information other than the fact that the noise was outside.

  The next few minutes were quiet again, so I didn’t think about it anymore. Until I saw my mom frantically waving for me to come outside while some guy talked next to her.

  My eyes widened until they felt like they were going to fall out of my head. What was he—why was he—I shot out of my seat and was outside within seconds. I’d know those shoulders and spiky blond hair anywhere. But what the hell was Evan doing in my backyard, and why was he talking to my parents?

  “Taylor, your friend Evan came by to visit. Isn’t that sweet?” Mom exclaimed when I skidded to a stop in front of them.

  “Yeah, sweet.” I hoped my face wasn’t as strained as it felt. My cheeks were stiff rubber bands that were still brand-new from the bag. I reached up to push my bangs out of my eyes, only to realize that the sleeves of my baggy gray sweatshirt flopped over my hands. I shoved both sleeves up my arms. “What are you doing here?”

  His smile was wide and natural, as though there was nothing weird about him suddenly showing up at my house and chatting up my parents. Kimmy was plastered by his side, beaming up at him like he was her very own Prince Charming. I could practically see the bubble hearts shooting out of her eyes. “I was in the neighborhood and figured we could hang out. It’s such a nice day that I assumed you’d be outside. Sorry if I’m intruding.”

  Mom linked arms with him. “No, that’s fine. Taylor never has people over because she’s always studying. To be honest, I didn’t even know she had other friends besides Carly and Brian, although he never comes over. Even if Taylor wanted him to.”

  “MOM!”

  Her blue eyes were wide and innocent when she looked over at me. “What, honey? It’s true. There’s nothing to be ashamed of.”

  Oh yeah? Then why did my cheeks feel like they were about to melt with humiliation? She was killing me, one embarrassing comment at a time.

  Before I could answer, she turned back to Evan, flipping her hair over her shoulder like an infatuated teenager. Flick. Swish. Between her and Kimmy, it was like the start of the Evan McKinley Fan Club. “Why don’t you and Taylor go inside? I think there’s still some freshly squeezed lemonade in the fridge.”

  “Actually, I drank it all,” I admitted before she shot me a disapproving look.

  “Well, there’s still some cola at least—”

  “That’s okay.” Evan flashed his shiny smile that I knew cost Brandon a steep seven grand. His stepfather got the last laugh. Evan had told me the extractions hurt like hell, and he’d had to endure three years of braces. You wouldn’t be able to tell if you looked at him now, though. At least I didn’t. I just thought that he was one of those annoying naturally beautiful people.

  “Actually, I wouldn’t mind helping you weed.” He shoved his hands in his pockets and tilted his head to the side. “If that’s okay with you.”

  Okay, I had to be dreaming. Not only was Evan McKinley at my house, but he wanted to do yard work. Offering to be free manual labor.

  Dad pounced on him. “Well, I’m sure as hell not going to say no to that.” He wrapped an arm around Evan’s shoulders. “You could finish up this patch right here. Want me to show you how it’s done?”

  “That’d be great.”

  Mom moved closer to me while they talked. “So how well do you two know each other?”

  I pretended not to understand what she was asking. “Not that well. We’ve gone to school together for a while now but never had any classes together.”

  Just then Oreo trotted over to Evan and rolled over to lie against his side. Still listening to my dad, Evan squatted down and scratched Oreo’s belly. His tail excitedly thumped against the grass.

  She crossed her arms and gave me a knowing look. “Really? Because Oreo seems to disagree.”

  My face flushed, and I swept my hair up in a ponytail to give myself something to do. “That’s great, Mom. You’d rather believe the dog than your own daughter.”

  “Well, Oreo doesn’t know how to lie. And you do. You’re a teenager, after all.” She swept a couple of strands behind my ears. “At least I think you are. I’m not sure how old you are sometimes.”

  “Ha-ha.”

  Mom gave me a half smile. “Come on, Cole. I’m sure they can handle it. It’s weeding, not rocket science.”

  “But it’s very complicated—”

  “How complicated could it be? You pull everything but the grass. I think even Taylor might be able to handle that,” she teased, nudging my shoulder with her left elbow. “Come on, Kimmy.”

  Dad laughed. “You’re right.” They both moved a few feet away to the big teapot fountain they’d b
ought in Chinatown, dirt-smeared hand in dirt-smeared hand. Oreo raced over to join them. Kimmy gave us a sad look, but she followed Mom and Dad.

  “What are you doing here?” I hissed through my thin smile.

  Evan’s grin brightened even more under the sun. “You got to meet my parents, so I thought it would only be fair that I meet yours.”

  “I met yours by accident.”

  “Technicality.” He patted the patch of grass beside him. “Now, are you going to help me or not?”

  I was tempted to, but I shoved that urge down. “I’m busy,” I said, jerking my thumb over my shoulder at the house. “I still have to finish my physics homework.”

  “Aw, come on, you can finish that later. If you want, I could tutor you.”

  “You?”

  Evan raised an eyebrow. “Yes, Ms. Know-It-All, me. I’ll have you know that I have a knack for physics. The A I have in that class is the only thing that’s saving me from my C in Spanish.”

  “You have a C in Spanish?”

  “Oui. Hard to believe, huh?”

  That’s for sure. Stifling a laugh, I shuffled my weight from side to side before giving in. Oh, what the hell. I could use a break. The formulas weren’t sinking in anyway. And it really was a nice day. Sunny, but still cloudy enough to give shade. There was even a light breeze that came by every few minutes. I sank down beside him and pulled at the weeds.

  “So…” He scooted closer. “Brian never came over before?”

  “No.”

  “Funny, he seems like the type of guy you’d want to bring home to your parents.” The smugness in his voice was obvious.

  His words rang in my head. I jerked around to look at him, and he had an amused, satisfied look on his face. “You overheard our conversation yesterday?”

  Evan rolled his eyes. “Well, it’s not like you guys were whispering.”

  Not knowing what to say, I just ducked my head lower and pretended to be absorbed in digging out the roots.

  “Don’t get me wrong, Brian would be the better guy to bring home. He’s perfect. Nauseatingly perfect.” His voice grew softer. “Maybe you could start something up when we’re done with ‘our little thing.’”

  This wasn’t something that I hadn’t thought of nearly a hundred times over the years. Brian hit every point on my list of the perfect guy. But I always figured that would happen later. “Yeah, maybe.”

  His eyes grew a little thoughtful at my answer. He stared at me for another minute or so before a huge grin crossed his face. “But you still won’t work out in the end. You can’t.”

  I didn’t want to ask, but my curiosity got the better of me. “Why not?”

  “Because you’re both too smart. And I mean, too smart. Like any kid you have would be an evil genius who would end up taking over the world or something.”

  I snorted so loud that Mom and Dad looked over at us. I moved closer to Evan so they wouldn’t hear. “I never thought of it that way.”

  “It’s true. In fact, you’re saving the world by being with me instead of him.”

  “Yeah, well, just call me Wonder Woman, I guess.”

  Now it was his turn to snort. “I wouldn’t mind seeing you try on the costume.” He looked me up and down in my oversize sweatshirt and tights and gave me a fake leer. “Definitely something to think about for next Halloween.”

  I sat back and pulled my knees up to cover my chest. “You’d just have to come up to New York to visit me at Columbia and see for yourself. Unless you’ll be somewhere nearby anyway?”

  “Yeah. Maybe.”

  Evan turned away and focused on the weeding, effectively ending the conversation like he always did when I brought up college.

  I leaned my chin against my knee and rocked back and forth. Who would have thought that I, Taylor Simmons, would be weeding with Evan McKinley? Wasn’t this what old married couples do?

  Even though every girl at school lusted after him, I never did. Okay, I did appreciate the great male specimen that he was, but he was too … burly. My eyes scanned his features. Although there’s no denying that he looked good in his jeans and sweatshirt digging in the dirt.

  He looked up and caught me midstare. Crap. I immediately dropped my eyes and attacked the weeds in front of me as though they were Lauren’s hair. Or they had made me fail a class. He laughed under his breath, but he didn’t say anything, Thank god. Still, I didn’t dare look up again until my face stopped burning.

  Having green thumbs clearly wasn’t hereditary, since both Mom and Dad loved to garden, while Kimmy and I barely knew the difference between wet dirt and mud. But the weeding itself wasn’t that bad. It distracted me. I just focused on the task at hand. See a weed and yank on it until the roots come loose. Mom was right. It really wasn’t rocket science.

  It wasn’t long before Mom and Dad dusted off their hands and got up. “I think we should call it quits. It’s starting to get dark,” Dad said, already gathering the spades and shovels on the ground.

  “I’ll start dinner. You’ll stay for dinner, won’t you, Evan?”

  “Sure, Mrs. Simmons.”

  When they left, Evan stood up and stretched. Despite my determination not to, my eyes couldn’t help watching him roll his shoulders to get the kinks out. He stooped over, picked a dandelion from the trash pile, and tucked it in my hair. I never would have thought that gesture would be romantic, but my knees got a little weak. No one had ever given me flowers before. “Come on. Let’s hang out for a bit.”

  “But my homework—”

  “Will still be there in twenty minutes.”

  I stumbled to my feet and followed him to the hammock beneath the oak tree on the far end of the yard. He jumped on like it was a trampoline. It swung back and forth dangerously, but with his arms braced outward, he was able to keep his balance. When it finally slowed enough, Evan flopped backward. His right leg was propped up against the tree, pushing against it ever so slightly, while his other leg dangled inches above the ground.

  At first I sat beside him, but the swaying kept knocking me over, and I ended up lying next to him, arms folded across my chest.

  He let out a low chuckle. “You don’t do this very often, do you?”

  “What? Garden?”

  “Let loose. Not be so uptight all the time.”

  “I’m not uptight.”

  “Oh yeah?”

  Suddenly, Evan reached out and swept a dirt-smeared finger down my cheek. I froze. I knew he expected me to wipe it off. But I was more aware of his hand on my face than the dirt and dust that was filled with germs and the remains of various bugs and worms—okay, so maybe I was more than a little grossed out by it.

  I rested my cheek against his shoulder, deliberately rubbing it against his sweatshirt. He chuckled but didn’t move.

  We rocked back and forth on the hammock. Side by side. Nothing touching other than our pinky fingers. Still keeping my eyes glued to the sky, I edged my hand even closer and nudged him. Out of the corner of my eyes, I could see him give me a sideways glance before hooking his pinky with mine, linking us together as though we were promising to keep a secret. Which in a way, we were.

  * * *

  After dinner, while Evan and my mom were getting chummy over the dishes, I sat at the counter and peered out the window. There was only a sliver of pinkish-orange hue on the horizon beyond the fence. The stars were already starting to peek out.

  Evan sniffed at the air a few times. “Okay, I swear I was going crazy all through dinner, but I have to ask. Is there apple pie or something somewhere? I keep smelling it.”

  Mom laughed and handed him the dishes she had just washed so he could dry them. “No, I wish. I can’t bake at all. I just love the smell of apples and cinnamon.”

  “Me, too. Although I wouldn’t say no to apple pie, either,” he said with a grin. “But dinner was awesome. Thanks, Mrs. Simmons.”

  She waved a soapy hand in the air. “I’m glad you liked it! Come over anytime you want.”
/>   Dad and Kimmy plopped down on either side of me with their bowls of ice cream. “Seriously, come every day if you want. We don’t get to eat as well when you’re not here,” Dad said with a grin.

  Mom shot him a dark look. “Are you saying I don’t usually cook well?”

  “No, just not as well.” His grin widened. “I love you.”

  She rolled her eyes and turned back to the sink.

  Kimmy fiddled with her curly brown hair. She had this weird dreamy look on her face. “Yeah, Mom, you made the potatoes all whipped and fancy, ’cause Evan said he likes mashed potatoes like that. I like picking out the lumps you usually have—”

  Getting up from his seat, Dad rubbed the top of her head to interrupt her before Mom went nuts. “Well, lumps or no lumps, I thought it was delicious.”

  “I agree.” Evan dropped the dish towel on the counter and strolled over to me. To my surprise, he took off his green-and-gray sweatshirt and wrapped it around my shoulders. “You looked kind of cold. So, ready for some physics fun?”

  My mouth curled into a smile so wide that my cheeks hurt. “I’ve never heard the words physics and fun together in a sentence before.”

  “I thought we already established that you don’t even know what the word fun means?” he quipped, dropping into Dad’s seat next to me. He grabbed my notebook and textbook from me.

  “Taylor?” On my other side, Kimmy tugged on my arm. Her big blue eyes blinked up at me, a startling shade of blue that was so different from my dull brown eyes. They sparkled with excitement. “Is he your boyfriend?”

  I peeked over at Evan, but he was busy flipping through my physics book with a pencil in his hand. His forehead was kind of scrunched up as he read through the assignment. I looped my arm around her shoulders and leaned toward her.

  “Yeah, he is,” I finally whispered, not caring that she was probably going to tell Mom later. Or that Mom was going to go berserk on me.

  Or even admitting to myself how nice that sounded.

  12

  -Evan-

  Valentine’s Day.

  Usually a day I avoided like the plague. Not only because of the sickening couples making doe eyes at each other all day, but because single chicks would be on the prowl. Not always a bad thing, unless you hooked up with one of them on Valentine’s Day. Then they’d think it was fate or some shit like that and get even clingier. Trust me.