All the Ugly and Wonderful Things

I stood there like an idiot for a minute, while my brain tried to come up with a reason that Joshua would be standing at our door asking for Wavy. How did he even know her name? Had she actually introduced herself to him at the party?

“Sure. Come in.”

I parked him on the couch next to my essay-writing mess, and went to get Wavy. She was in her room, typing, with her Spanish dictionary open on the desk. I think she had a Spanish Lit essay and some kind of Quantum Mechanics final left.

“Joshua’s here to see you,” I said.

Wavy shook her head and waved her hands at me in baffled horror. Under stress, she still defaulted to silence. While I waited to see what she would do, I had several unkind thoughts. If Joshua was attracted to fragile, ethereal Wavy, I’d never stood a chance with him. The nicest things I’ve been called are exuberant and earthy. Anyway, I was the one who invited him to the party. Where did he get off coming around to see my roommate?

“Not here,” she finally said.

“Too late. I already told him you were here.”

I stood there, enjoying the panicked look on her face, until I really thought about Wavy for a minute. Kellen was serving a ten-year sentence. What was she going to do—wait for him? He was never going to be not too old for her, and now he was a convicted felon. She needed to move on with her life.

“What could it hurt to talk to Joshua?” I said. “He’s nice. He’s funny. Plus, he’s gorgeous. Seriously, have you looked at him? He’s like a pre-med Adonis.”

Wavy made the face that meant, “Do you know what it’s like being me?” I honestly didn’t want to know, because she was pretty fucked up. I liked to play at tragedy, but she drank it out of her baby bottle.

“Just go talk to him,” I said. “I’ll save you if it gets too awkward.”

Wavy stood up, and I thought she was going out to the living room. Instead, she walked over and shut her bedroom door in my face.

6

WAVY

I closed the door, but Renee opened it back up. We glared at each other until she said, “You’re a coward, Wavonna Lee Quinn.”

I didn’t fall for that trick in sixth grade. I wasn’t going to now. I flipped Renee off and tried to close the door, but she held her ground.

“Pot calling kettle,” I said.

“That is such bullshit. Show me one time I was a coward.”

Renee thought recklessness was the same thing as bravery. I stepped past her into the hall and walked toward the kitchen. She came after me.

In the front room, we passed Joshua, who looked confused. Not a Kellen kind of confused, where he always worried he’d misunderstood or done or said something wrong. Joshua thought someone else had made a mistake.

I stopped in front of the refrigerator and Renee was under such a head of steam that she bumped into my back. At the party, she had written Darrin’s phone number on a napkin and said, “Yeah, I’d love to go out with you.” The napkin was still stuck to the fridge. She hadn’t called him. He wasn’t her type. Not good-looking enough and probably too nice to break her heart.

“Are you seriously going to wait for a guy you haven’t seen since you were fourteen? How do you know he even still wants you?” she said.

I jerked Darrin’s number off the fridge, sending the magnet flying. When I pinned the napkin to Renee’s chest with my forefinger, she made a surprised little O with her mouth.

“Coward,” I said.

She smirked.

“Tell you what. I’ll call him after you talk to Joshua. And you have to try, Wavy. You can’t sit there like a stone until he gives up. You have to try or it doesn’t count.” Renee knew me. When I let go of the napkin, she stuck it back on the fridge.

I walked into the living room, feeling nauseated. Not because I was nervous about talking to Joshua, but because my stomach was full of the poison of Renee saying, “How do you know he even still wants you?” How did I know?

“Is something wrong?” Joshua stood up from the couch.

“No.” I took a deep breath and sat down on one end of the couch. Joshua sat down in the middle. Closer than I liked.

“I was in the neighborhood and thought I’d drop by, since I didn’t have your phone number,” he said.

“Hey, I’m gonna go downstairs and get the mail,” Renee said. On her way to the front door, she gave me a warning look.

“So, Wavy. I think your name is so cool. Kind of hippy, but not in a goofy way. Not like Moon Unit,” Joshua said, once we were alone.

What was I supposed to say to that? I’m glad you like my name. The man I love gave it to me. That probably wasn’t what Renee meant when she said I had to try. That was me being impossible. Aunt Brenda said that about me. You’re impossible! Most days I was impossible. Like a unicorn.

“Short for Wavonna,” I said.

“Really? I never met anyone with either of those names. So that’s pretty cool. I mean, I have a pretty common name, so it’s neat to meet people who have unusual names.”

Joshua’s teeth were perfect. He must have had braces. Renee talked about him like he was a statue. David standing naked in a museum in Italy. I thought he was more like a mannequin in a department store. He smelled like a mannequin, too. Soap, deodorant, cologne, mouthwash. How was I supposed to tell what he smelled like under all of that?

“So, what’s your major?” he said.

“Astrophysics.” I didn’t want him to panic, but as soon as I said it, his eyes got bigger.