Chapter 9
Over the days that followed, I tried to suppress the knowledge that my mom had called. I dove into my essays and studies. Especially since next week we’d have our first exams in literature.
Smoke was practically coming out of my ears. And given the countless books and notes strewn on the coffee table and floor, it was no wonder my inner alarm was going off.
Dawn heaved a deep sigh. She stretched out her legs under the table and leaned back on her arms. “I don’t think I can cram anything more into this head of mine. It’s full. No room on the hard drive,” she said and closed her eyes for a moment.
“Me, too.” I raised my knees, leaned my head against the seat of the couch and stared at up the living room ceiling.
“Maybe we should call it a day?”
As if to back me up, the apartment doorbell rang. I struggled to my feet, walked to the hallway and looked through the peephole. I startled: Monica and Ethan were cramming their grinning faces in front of the tiny window.
“Hey, you two,” I said, opening the door.
“Allie!” Monica threw her arms around me. Before letting go, she took a deep whiff of my hair. “I’m telling you, Kaden is exaggerating! She doesn’t smell bad at all.”
I drew back with a gasp. “He says I stink?”
Ethan nodded with mock seriousness. Then he bent over me and took his own deep breath. “But it’s not true, in case that’s comforting.”
Resigned, I shook my head.
“Spencer and Kaden will be here shortly. We wanted to spend a nice evening as couch potatoes.” Monica stood on tiptoes and looked past my shoulder to Dawn, who waved from the floor in front of the sofa. “You are both cordially invited.”
“Oh,” I hesitated. I was pretty sure that Kaden would have withdrawn this invitation on the spot if he had been in the apartment.
“Hey, I see my hiking boots!” She pointed to the shoes, planted alongside Kaden’s in front of the wardrobe. “Are they doing the trick?”
“Yes, thanks again,” I said with a smile.
Monica squeezed my arm and walked into the living room to introduce herself to Dawn.
I began collecting my stuff.
Since our hike Kaden and I had kept out of each other’s way, and I preferred to retreat before he got back. But just as Dawn was bringing the last loose-leaf binder into my room, Spencer and Kaden arrived in the hall, carrying large, flat boxes.
“Hey, Allie,” Spencer said, when he spied me in the living room.
“Hey, Spencer. How’s it going?”
“Can’t complain. I’ve passed all my exams so far, and there are two left to go. Keep your fingers crossed!” He and Kaden greeted Monica and Ethan, then dropped off the boxes on the kitchen counter.
“Good luck!” I said and hustled off to my room.
“Where do you think you’re going?” Kaden called after me.
I stopped and looked back over my shoulder at him. He was just about to grab plates and napkins from the closet.
“Dawn is here to study with me,” I explained. “We didn’t want to disturb you.”
He frowned and opened the first box. “That’s too bad. We bought pizza for you.”
I opened my mouth and closed it again. Was this a peace offering from him? My mouth started to water, as the scent of pizza began to fill the apartment. “Really?”
Kaden shoved the first pizza on a plate and handed it over the counter to Spencer, who set it down on the table in front of Monica and Ethan.
More relaxed, I went into the kitchen just as Kaden opened the next box. “Ah, here we go. Pepperoni and anchovies. By far the most disgusting pizza they had on the menu. I thought it was just the right thing for you and your warped sense of taste.”
I couldn’t believe my eyes. Suddenly I felt a strange emptiness in my belly. Kaden scooped out a piece of the pizza and slid it onto a plate, which he held out to me expectantly.
And then the most embarrassing thing happened.
I started to sob.
“Not again,” groaned Kaden setting down the plate with a clang on the countertop. “I was joking about the anchovies. Rule one, dammit!”
For a moment I stared at him, frozen. Then I turned on my heel and fled to my room, shutting the door so I could let the tears flow.
“Allie,” Dawn called out and leapt off the bed. “What happened?”
I remained standing with my head against the door, trying to catch my breath.
“Kaden brought pizza,” I said in a trembling voice.
Dawn blinked at me, perplexed. “That asshole. What was he thinking?”
I laughed and wiped the corners of my eyes. Then I sank into my sofa bed with a sigh. “That’s not what I mean.”
“So what is it? I want to hate him but at the moment it’s not easy,” Dawn said, leaning against the wall. “‘Cause I can smell the pizza, and it’s making me hungry.”
I looked up, as the burning in my eyes began to fade. “We never ordered pizza at home.”
Dawn’s eyes grew round. “What?”
“We never ate fast food. My mother was so obsessed with detox and dieting, that she counted calories constantly. She didn’t want me to gain weight and made up a nutrition plan for me every week, including a strict exercise program.” I shrugged. “The only pizza I ever ate was in Rome during a family vacation.”
Actually, that was only part of why I was upset. I was still unsettled over my mother’s attempt to phone me. When Kaden had held out the pizza to me just now, I heard her voice in my ear again, warning me about calories and accusing me of letting myself go. I hated that she was still so present in my life.
Dawn’s eyes told me she was trying to grasp this.
“Allie, you can’t be serious!” she erupted in anger.
I took a deep breath. “You don’t know Sharon Harper, Dawn. She is a dictator. Even now she’d like to be controlling my entire life. My college courses, my friends, my eating habits.”
Dawn shook her head in disbelief and walked over to me. “Allie Harper,” she began, dead serious. “We’re going out there right now and you’re going to scarf down this pizza. If you have to moan before you enjoy, that’s fine. If you have to cry, super!” She bent down toward me and looked me in the eyes. “You are free, Allie. You’re in charge. Got it?”
Tears rose in my eyes again. I blinked them away and swallowed down the lump in my throat. “Okay.”
“Great! Now let’s go,” Dawn said, opening the door and leaving the room without checking to see if I followed.
“This is Allie’s first take-out pizza!” announced Dawn.
I rolled my eyes. Good, now everyone knew.
I ventured into the living room, and was relieved to find that the others didn’t seem to notice me. Either they didn’t know I’d fled the room, or they were tactful enough not to speak.
“Go for it, people,” Spencer said, his mouth already full.
I sat next to Dawn on the floor and took the napkin that she held out. Grateful, I smiled up at her. Music was playing in the background. I took the slice of pizza that Kaden had selected for me and fought for a moment with the dangling threads of cheese. I felt Dawn’s eyes on me as I took the first bite.
I chewed carefully. It was delicious. The combination of sauce, cheese, pepperoni, and anchovies. Yes, anchovies. I took another bite and moaned with pleasure.
Dawn laughed, and even Kaden let out a chuckle.
“I think you chose well,” Spencer said. Kaden just shrugged his shoulders and took another bite.
“I can’t imagine life without pizza anymore,” I sighed after a while, and everyone laughed.
“You have seriously never had a pizza before? I mean, that’s kind of weird,” Ethan wondered aloud. Monica gave him a light punch in the arm.
“None of us is really normal, Ethan,” she said. “Just look at us. I’m fascinated by fingernails.”
“I’m obsessed with red hair,” Spencer said, his mouth full. Dawn stiffened next to me. “I’m serious, if a woman has red hair, she’s ten times hotter in my eyes.”
I laughed.
“You’ve lost it, man.” Shaking his head, Kaden leaned back and wiped his mouth with a napkin.
“What? Monica is right. None of us is really normal,” Spencer retorted. “You have relationship problems, for some reason Allie never ordered pizza, Monica loves nails, and Dawn … has red hair.” Spencer blinked several times.
Everyone snorted with laughter except for Dawn, who was blushing.
“I don’t have relationship problems,” Kaden said. “It’s my choice to avoid a relationship.”
“Yeah, and look what you miss,” Monica chuckled, pointing to herself. “Exhibit A.”
Kaden just rolled his eyes.
“You’re an ass, but you know what? I still love you!” She jumped up and hugged him. He grimaced as she kissed his check and tried half-heartedly to disentangle himself from her.
I wasn’t the only one who saw him smile.
The following week I spent a lot of time with Kaden and his friends. Dawn always came over the moment her roommate was entertaining a man—which happened quite a lot—and we tried out all the delivery services in the area.
Living with Kaden was getting easier. He even started letting me use his TV when he wasn’t there. And when he was there, he didn’t kick me off the couch, but let me stay and watch series with him.
This afternoon we watched a superhero flick. In the morning I had finished my last literature exam, and to celebrate we ordered a huge box of sushi.
The doorbell rang, and I jumped.
“Are you expecting someone?” Kaden asked.
I shook my head and got up, since he was still eating. I went to the door and peered through the peephole.
No. No way. I caught my breath.
It was my mother.