Chapter Twenty-Five
Nina
I watched West walk away from me.
“Emotionally stunted jerkwad,” Lisa muttered.
“I was thinking more along the lines of idiotic jackass, but jerkwad works, too.” I took a deep breath and blew it out. “I don’t get it. Why would he kiss me like he cared about me and wanted me to be his girlfriend if he wasn’t really interested?”
“Because he’s a guy?” Lisa said. “I’m pretty sure the identity of the person they’re kissing or doing other things with doesn’t matter as much as the fact that they are involved in those activities.”
“I sincerely hope that isn’t true. There must be guys out there looking for the one special someone they want to spend the rest of their lives with. Right?”
“Maybe males in their late twenties,” Lisa said. “But I doubt there’s a single guy in high school who isn’t looking to hook up with as many girls as possible.”
“For someone whose mom is a therapist, you are really jaded.”
“Maybe that’s why I’m jaded,” she said. “I grew up playing in her office. I’ve seen way too many examples of how things can go wrong.”
Lisa’s dad had bailed before she was born. He was that special breed of asshole who took off when his wife became pregnant. Like suddenly, the demands of impending parenthood made marriage seem overwhelming. There was probably a designated area in hell for men who abandoned their pregnant wives. Next to the section for lying polygamists.
My cell dinged. Had West grown a conscience? I checked the text. Nope it was from the Hilmer Library committee. “Guess what we’re doing this weekend?”
“Going to the bookstore,” Lisa said.
“That’s a given,” I said. “But we are also going to the Hilmer Library to join the picketers protesting closing the library before the new one is ready. It’s for a good cause, and it will annoy the ever-loving crap out of West.”
“Then it’s a win-win.”
That night after school, I sat on the couch, trying to lose myself in a book, but my brain wasn’t willing to let the question of West go. A cold, wet nose bumped my arm. Gidget wagged her tail with her eyes full of hope and a Frisbee clamped between her teeth.
“Do you want to play Frisbee?” I asked, just to see her reaction.
Gidget jumped up and down, doing a furry tap dance. Blonde fur flew in every direction and floated through the air. “You’re the best dog.”
I headed outside to the backyard to throw the Frisbee. Gidget ran and caught every throw. Watching her had me repeating my mantra. Be more like the dog. Be happier in the moment.
I tried to prevent my gaze from traveling to West’s house. Not easy to do since I was less than one hundred feet away. As usual, the whole house was dark. No. That wasn’t quite right. Stark white light shone through the kitchen window, and a woman was standing there smiling at me. I smiled and waved at her. A look of panic crossed her face, and she disappeared from view.
Well, crap. I hadn’t meant to traumatize her. It was just a wave. West’s whole family must be mental.
I threw the Frisbee a dozen more times until Gidget lay down with the Frisbee by her side. “All done, girl?”
She panted in reply. I stretched out on the grass next to her and thought about West. He had tried to speak to me today, but that didn’t make up for him ditching me, after kissing me like he wanted me as his girlfriend. I should have known this story wouldn’t have a happily ever after. Brooding hotties didn’t fall for bookworm hippie chicks. And bookworm hippie chicks shouldn’t waste their time on boys who weren’t emotionally available.
…
Over the next couple of days, I acknowledged West with a nod when I saw him, just like I had done before any of this mess ever happened. He nodded back. So the universe might be back in balance, but I didn’t love the situation.
Saturday afternoon, Lisa and I met a dozen other people outside of Hilmer Library. We stood on the wide front steps of the building, passing out literature and collecting donations for the effort to keep the library open until the new building was complete.
“How many signatures do we need?” Lisa asked one of the organizers.
“As many as we can get,” the woman said. “I’m hoping to stall the rehab until we can find a benefactor willing to help us speed up the completion of the new library. Excuse me, I see someone I need to talk to.” The woman walked away.
Lisa frowned at me. “The odds do not seem like they are in our favor.”
“At least we’re trying,” I said.
“Don’t look now, but a certain jerkwad is coming your way.”
I thought about asking which jerkwad she meant, but I knew who it was, even without Gidget there to bark at him.
“What’s all this?” West asked, waving his hands around to indicate the dozen people handing out fliers and holding picket signs.
“This is free speech in action,” I said. “I’m not the only one who thinks the library should stay open.”
“The rehab date is set for next week,” West said. “This is a waste of time. You’re not going to stop it.”
“Maybe if I chain myself to the front doors…” I was sort of joking.
“If you love this building so much, then why don’t you help my friends and me salvage the woodwork? Then you’d be saving part of history without impeding progress.”
Behind West, his cousins Matt and Charlie plus a few other guys I didn’t know stood holding all sorts of tools. I recognized the crowbars and the saws but wasn’t sure about some of the other stuff. Unfortunately, what they planned to do with those tools was clear.
“You can’t just stroll in there and start ripping the place apart.”
“Actually, we can. Mr. Stanton received notice that the books worth keeping have been boxed up and moved to storage, so we can start taking out the wainscoting and the doorframes.” He pulled an envelope from his back pocket. “Who’s in charge around here?”
“The lady in the blue jacket,” I said.
West went over to the lady and showed her the letter. Her shoulders slumped in defeat and then she cleared her throat. “Everyone, these young men have a work order that allows them to salvage the contents of the building. We have to let them pass.”
“Can we follow them inside?” I asked.
“As long as you stay out of our way,” West answered.
“Don’t mind us; we’ll just be sitting on the floor in front of the wainscoting…maybe leaning on doorframes. I’m sure you’ll be able to work around us.” I smiled at him. “If anyone else wants to come inside with us, I’m sure we won’t impede their progress.”
A grandmotherly woman with steel gray hair turned and walked up the steps, taking her travel chair with her. She set the chair in the threshold of the doorway. “Oh, dear. I don’t feel well. I better sit,” she announced in a voice worthy of a soap opera.
Blue jacket woman carried her own chair up the steps and plopped down beside the other woman, effectively blocking the entrance. “Don’t worry. I’ll sit here with you until you feel better.”
Both women looked at West. “Sorry. You’ll have to find another entrance into the library.”