Chapter Thirty-Three
West
Saturday morning, my dad made French toast, which was my mom’s favorite breakfast. He hummed as he cooked, and I did my best not to think about why he seemed so happy this morning. There are some places your mind shouldn’t go.
I opted for grabbing a packet of Pop-Tarts and heading back to my room to read a book because that made living in denial a little easier.
I’d been reading for about an hour when a text from Nina popped up on my cell. Are you busy? My mom cooks when she’s annoyed. We have enough hash brown casserole and banana bread to feed the entire block.
Sounded good to me. The Pop-Tarts I’d eaten were long gone. I texted back that I’d be right over.
Nina greeted me at the front door with a smile and a quick kiss. She whispered, “Don’t mention Valentine’s Day, or my dad.”
I nodded to show I understood.
Gidget trotted over and looked at me expectantly. I reached down to pet her head. She leaned into me and dog fur drifted through the air. “This can’t be normal.”
“It’s normal for her,” Nina said. “Watch this. Gidget, do you want hash browns?”
The dog proceeded to stamp her front feet, dancing around like a toddler on Red Bull.
“Again,” I pointed at Gidget. “Not normal.”
Nina laughed. I followed her into the kitchen. “Help yourself,” Nina said. “While I take care of my furry beast.”
Jason was already seated at the table. He nodded at me and then went back to shoveling food into his mouth. The savory scent of cheese and bacon made my mouth water. I grabbed a plate and scooped out a large helping of what looked like hash browns mixed with eggs, cheese, and bacon. That couldn’t be bad.
Nina dropped a small glob of hash browns in Gidget’s bowl. The dog wolfed it down in five seconds and then came to stare at me with the intensity of the sun as I took every bite. “Is that really necessary?” I asked Gidget. Her tail swooped back and forth.
“She’s already had some of mine and some of Nina’s,” Jason said. “So you’re the next logical target.”
“Can’t blame her,” I said. “These are amazing.”
“Thank you,” Nina’s mom said from the stove where she stirred something in a pan.
I ate two helpings and then leaned back in my seat. “I need a nap.”
Jason yawned. “I believe that’s next on my agenda.” He put his plate in the sink and then headed toward the stairs.
Nina grabbed our plates and put them both in the sink. “Let’s go sit on the couch and try not to fall asleep.”
“Okay.”
Nina turned the television on and then whispered, “Apparently, my dad didn’t interpret the flowers strewn across the front yard correctly. He thought it meant please come to the door and plead your sorry-ass case. My mom refused to even open the door because he might’ve thought that meant he was welcome to come inside, which he totally is not.”
“Not to be rude, but is he stupid or delusional?” I asked. “Because I can’t think of a person alive who’d forgive that kind of betrayal.”
“You have no idea how relieved I am that you understand.”
We watched television for a while as her mom banged pots and pans around in the kitchen. After yawning for the third time, I said. “That’s it. We’re going for a walk or something because if we keep sitting here I’m going to fall into a carbohydrate and fat-induced coma.”
“I know exactly what you mean.” She stood and we headed out the front door. When we hit the end of the driveway, Nina reached for my hand. It felt natural to lace my fingers through hers, which was kind of frightening. That was another one of those things it was probably better not to think about.
A breeze lifted her hair and sent it flying around her face. She released my hand and pulled a band from her wrist, which she used to put her hair in a ponytail.
“Are you always armed with ponytail holders?” I asked as she slid her hand back into mine and we continued down the street.
“Yes. You can normally count on me to have ponytail holders, a book, and a fair amount of dog fur,” she said. “What are you always carrying?”
“My keys and my cell.” I thought about it. “That’s about it, unless I’ve spent time at your house.” I pointed at my right pant leg, which had a disturbing amount of dog fur on it. “Gidget leaned against me for like ten seconds. I don’t understand how this is possible.”
Nina grinned. “She’s a giver.”
We walked around the block, making small talk. It was comfortable. By the time we made it back to our driveway, I was awake. Going back to Nina’s house didn’t sound like a great plan. Of course we couldn’t go to my house, which left the BBQ court or the shed. I knew which one I’d pick. “Where to now?” I asked.
Her cell buzzed. She checked the text and frowned. “Crap. I forgot that I told Lisa we’d hang out today. What’s up with Matt, anyway?”
“Those are two separate topics,” I said. “What time are you supposed to meet Lisa?”
“In an hour,” she said. “Now what’s up with your cousin?”
“I have no idea.” And that was the truth. I wasn’t going to repeat what Charlie had said about Matt being into someone who wasn’t available because that could cause all sorts of problems, especially if Nina figured out who it was.
“Not helpful,” she said. She texted Lisa back and then said. “I better go help my mom clean up the kitchen before I meet Lisa. You’re welcome to join me for dish duty if you like.”
“No, thank you. I have books to read.” I walked her to her door and kissed her good-bye. “See you later.”
…
Nina
I met Lisa at the bookstore so she could pick out a new book boyfriend. We both found a few books that sounded interesting, and then we browsed the adult coloring book section.
Lisa showed me a coloring book with butterflies. “This one looks cool.”
“I like the ones with geometric patterns better.” I flipped through a few and found what I was looking for. I held it out to Lisa. “See, I can color these however I want.”
“I’m getting the butterflies. They seem so optimistic.”
We browsed the clearance area. “Hey, look. Sparkly gel pens are on sale.” I waved the package at Lisa.
“Didn’t you buy a package of those last weekend?” she asked.
“You can never have too many sparkly gel pens.” At least that was my theory. “And they’re 60 percent off, so your argument is invalid.”
Lisa rolled her eyes. “Fine.”
After paying for our treasures, we headed back to the cafe for caramel lattes.
My cell beeped with a text. I read it and grinned. “Guess who needs to design a poster for the Keep the Hilmer Library Open campaign?”
“I’m going to go with us,” Lisa said.
“You are correct, because the library ladies managed to get us permission to hang posters all over the school and around town. We even have a small budget to make copies.”
As we drank our coffees, Lisa and I worked at coming up with slogans for the campaign.
“Nothing too cutesy,” I said. “Because we want guys to agree with us, too.”
“So I guess, Keep the library open because book boyfriends are better than real boys isn’t an option,” Lisa said.
I laughed. “Probably not.” I took a sip of my latte. “What about, Save the bookworm’s natural habitat?”
“I’m not sure everyone would understand what that meant,” Lisa said. “Maybe we should keep it simple.”
After tossing out and shooting down a dozen more ideas, we settled on, Keep the Hilmer Library Open. Recycle a Different Building.
“It’s not super imaginative, but it gets the message across loud and clear,” I said.
“We should go pick up some copies of the official petition and ask students to sign it to show their support,” Lisa said. “Let’s go back to my house to work on this. We don’t want West to know what we’re up to.”
“Good idea.” West probably wouldn’t be thrilled, but I think he understood now that this wasn’t an attack on him. I just had a different opinion, which I was entitled to. I was never going to be one of those girls who agreed with everything a guy said. And if I was going to be a grown-up about it, I had to admit that he was entitled to his opinion, too.
After we created the poster and had copies made, we had one more problem. “When are we going to hang these?” I asked.
“I bet we could get into the building super early tomorrow,” Lisa said. “And hang them before anyone else comes in.”
I groaned. “I hate super early. It’s a terrible time to go anywhere.”
“It’s for the library,” Lisa reminded me. “And bragging rights after we beat West.”
“Since it’s for the library, I’ll tell West I’m helping you with something so I won’t need a ride to school tomorrow.” Would he be willing to give me a ride home from school once he saw the posters? That was another question.
Lisa picked me up psycho-early the next morning. We spent an hour taping posters onto every flat surface in the school building. When we were down to half a dozen, I checked my cell. West should be showing up soon. And I knew just how I wanted to greet him.