Is He Or Isn't He? (13 page)

Paige bit her lower lip. Like Anthony had said, it was only for one weekend. She would think of it as acting. Yes, acting! And she would be playing a part. After all, she'd had small parts in some of Anthony's other films. She could do this. She'd just pretend it was another role.

“I guess so,” she finally said.

Bianca rolled her eyes in exasperation. “
Such
enthusiasm! Stop! Please!”

“Paige!!!!” Rachel wailed. “Come on! This is going to be fun!”

“I'm nervous, all right?” Paige admitted. “I've never done something like this before. You know, aggressively gone after a guy.”

“Well it's about time you did!” Bianca exclaimed. “Your problem is you worry too much, Paige. You're always afraid of what other people are going to say or think. Forget them! We're not going to steer you wrong. And we're going to be with you the entire weekend.”

“All we have to do is shake things up a bit,” Colleen said.

“How?” Paige asked, trying not to sound nervous.

Colleen's grin grew. “Three magic words that every girl knows: Daddy's credit card!”

 

Luckily, Paige's father was home that weekend. He'd gotten back to New York on Friday night after spending a week in Paris, but would be heading off to Amsterdam the following Wednesday for two weeks. He was working in his study when Paige knocked on the door and asked if she could borrow his credit card for some shopping. He'd given her the card without question, said hello to her friends, and told her to have a good time.

“Your father is a fox,” Rachel said, after he'd given them his American Express gold card.

“Ew, gross!”

“No, seriously,” Bianca said. “How come he never got remarried?”

“One word: Camille. She traumatized him for life. If he even hears wedding bells, he goes into hiding. Why are you two always asking about him?”

Bianca shrugged. “No reason. Just seems like a waste.”

“I keep telling you he's like thirty years older than you. And he doesn't go for brunettes. Oh, and need I mention again that he's my dad?! The last thing I want is a stepmother who's the same age as me!”

“Don't worry, Paige,” Rachel said. “Even though we like older guys, we don't like them
that
old!”

“Speaking of Camille, how is America's favorite daytime diva?” Colleen asked.

“I saw her yesterday on one of the Saturday morning talk shows,” Rachel said. “Were you at the studio with her?”

“Camille's still Camille,” Paige said, not wanting to discuss her mother. “We can talk about her later. Right now we've got something more important to focus on.” She waved the American Express gold card in the air. “Shopping!”

 

They started at Victoria's Secret.

“Think of it as building a house,” Colleen said as she and Paige walked through the store. “You need to have a strong foundation. You need to feel sexy in the underwear you're wearing. Nothing makes you feel sexy like something from Victoria's Secret.”

“But Max isn't going to be seeing what's under my clothes,” Paige pointed out.

Colleen smirked. “Are you sure?”

“Yes! I'm not that type of girl.”

“Well, anyway, the underwear isn't for him. It's for you. It will make you feel confident.”

“Try these on,” Bianca urged, handing a stack of bras to Paige. “They're push-up bras, but without any padding! They
make the most of what you have!”

“And Max is from the land of California blondes,” Rachel chimed in. “That means one word: boobs!”

Paige resisted the lurid colors that Bianca and Rachel kept pushing on her. Instead, she settled for peaches and pinks and slipped into a dressing room. She had to admit, starting at herself in a full-length mirror, she did look good in the undergarments. And they felt fabulous! Silk was so much nicer than cotton!

And as much as she hated to admit it, Bianca and Rachel were right. They
did
make the most of what she had!

After they finished at Victoria's Secret, they decided to tackle shoes.

“Enough with the flats,” Rachel exclaimed. “I don't think I saw one pair of heels in your closet. We need to get you a couple of pairs.”

“And some boots!” Bianca added. “There's nothing hotter than a pair of boots!”

“Oooh! Let's go buy some Jimmy Choos or Manolo Blahniks! Please?” Rachel begged. “Pretty please?”

“Why not both?” Bianca suggested.

“Excellent idea!” Colleen exclaimed. “A girl can never have too many pairs of shoes.”

“Or boyfriends,” Bianca quipped.

Their first shoe stop was Jimmy Choo where the sales clerk brought out box after box of gorgeous shoes. Naturally, Bianca and Rachel had to try on a few pairs as well.

“These pinch my feet,” Paige complained as she walked around the store in a five-inch crocodile sandal.

“Beauty is pain,” Colleen said.

“Besides, look how long they make your legs look,” Rachel said as she tried on a pair of pink python pumps. “Absolutely gorgeous!”

Paige admired her legs in a full length mirror. She hated to admit it, but Rachel had a point. The shoes did make her legs look good.

But the price!

“These are way too expensive,” Paige said.

“When was the last time you splurged on yourself?” Bianca asked, trying to make up her mind between a pair of crystal jeweled sandals with a four-inch heel and a pair of beaded slides. In the end, she decided to take both.

Paige took another look at herself in the shoes. They
were
growing on her.

“Okay, I'll take them,” Paige said quickly, before she changed her mind.

After Jimmy Choo, Paige resisted the urge to go to Manolo Blahnik. Instead, she and the girls went to the more reasonably priced Nine West where they found a pair of black boots, a sexy high-heeled sandal that laced up the leg and a pair of platforms. After that, they headed down to SoHo and went from one designer boutique to another, loading Paige down with skirts, blouses, tops and jackets in a wild array of colors and fabrics.

“I can't wear these clothes!” Paige wailed, inspecting herself as she tried on one outfit after another. Each outfit had the same thing in common. It was short and tight. “Anthony would call this designer white trash.”

“No, he wouldn't,” Colleen said. “Trust me.”

“He wouldn't?” Paige asked skeptically.

“He'd call it
Eurotrash!
” Colleen exclaimed.

“That's just as bad!” Paige wailed.

“Are you crazy? What are you talking about?” Bianca asked. “You look hot! Hot, hot, hot!!! We'd wear something like that, wouldn't we, Rachel?”

“Absolutely,” Rachel agreed. “You're just not used to showing off so much of yourself.”

Paige took another look at herself in the mirror. “Colleen? You'd tell me the truth, right?”

“You're the daughter of daytime TV's number-one maneater. Some of that has gotta be in your genes! But if you don't trust me, here.” Colleen held out a cell phone with a video screen. “Ask Anthony.”

“Paige!” Anthony scolded from the video phone. “Our love lives are in your hands. Buy whatever the girls tell you to buy.”

“But this isn't
me
!” Paige whispered.

“Why are you being so difficult?” Anthony moaned. “Bianca and Rachel have dated half the guys at Peppington Prep. From seniors to freshmen! They know their stuff.”

Paige took another look at herself in the mirror. “You really think this outfit looks good on me?”

“The truth?”

“Yes!”

“Personally, as a gay guy, it does absolutely
nothing
for me. However—”

“So you
do
think it looks bad!”

“You didn't let me finish! A straight guy is going to feel differently. This outfit is gonna rock his world!”

“Is Anthony still trying to talk you into this outfit?”
Colleen moaned. “Come on, Paige! Make up your mind. Either you're going to take it or you're not. We've still got other stores to go to.”

Paige turned back to the cell phone and stuck her tongue out at Anthony. “All right. All right! I'll buy it!”

“Bye!” Anthony said before disconnecting.

In the end, as they went from store to store, Paige allowed herself to be talked into the outfits the girls kept recommending. After all, when it came to acquiring boyfriends, Bianca and Rachel were the undisputed queens. Every other month, they had a hunky new guy. There was no arguing with success.

But Paige wanted more than a piece of arm candy. She wanted someone she could fall in love with. Even though Bianca and Rachel were always going out on dates, she really didn't think they cared about the guys they were dating. Otherwise why would they be going through boyfriends so fast? Why not take things slow? Try to get to know the person or at least work things out if there were problems? It was almost like they were flaunting their dates in their father's face. As a way of proving that they mattered to someone else.

After clothes shopping, the girls headed to the nearest Sephora and MAC shops, where they scooped up the latest lipsticks, mascaras, blushes, eye shadows, powders, lotions and perfumes.

“Now that I'm loaded down with everything I need for battle, I need to figure out a game plan,” Paige said while they tried to hail a taxi.

“That's easy,” Bianca said.

“It is?”

“Sure,” Rachel said, looking away from her compact as she was applying a fresh coat of lipstick. “After all this shopping, you're ready to make your move. All you have to do is slip into one of these outfits and biology will take care of things! Max doesn't stand a chance!”

T
he following morning Paige was at her locker when she felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned around and found Max standing behind her, his arms hidden behind his back.

“Hi!”

“Hi.”

“How was the rest of your weekend?” she asked.

“Okay. How was yours?”

“The girls and I went shopping yesterday. We bought a couple of things for this weekend.”

“Like?”

“You'll just have to wait and see.”

“I did a little shopping, too.”

“You did?”

Max gave her a mysterious smile. “Uh-huh.”

Okay, something was up. “What'd you buy?”

“This.”

Max held out the tiny pink shopping bag he'd been hiding behind his back.

“For me?” Paige was touched. “Max, you didn't have to do that.”

“I know I didn't, but I wanted to.”

“What is it?” Paige asked, rustling through the white tissue paper inside the bag.

“You'll see.”

“Oh, he's adorable!” Paige cried, pulling out a small stuffed beagle.

“You seemed kind of bummed that you couldn't have a dog of your own because of your allergies. I figured this might be the next best thing.”

“I love him.” Paige gave Max a hug. A tight-hold-you-close hug and not a quick squeeze. Anthony would be proud of her. Then again, when he found out that Max had given her a gift…“Thank you.”

“He even has a name. It's on his collar.”

“Quincy,” Paige said, reading his dog tag. “Thanks, Max. That was really thoughtful of you.”

The bell for first period rang.

“I'm not going to leave him in my locker,” Paige said, popping Quincy into her shoulder bag. “I'm going to take him to class with me. That way when I look at him, I'll think of you.”

“Thanks again for inviting me this weekend. I'm really looking forward to it.”

“Me, too,” Paige said, remembering Rachel's comment about biology as she decided which sexy new outfit she was going to wear on Friday night. “Me, too.”

“Where'd you get the pooch?” Anthony asked as he took his seat next to Paige in homeroom that afternoon.

Shoot! She'd forgotten to close her bag. She hadn't wanted Anthony to know about Quincy because she knew he'd get upset. She'd been trying to find the right time to tell him.

“It was a gift.” She paused. “From Max.”

Anthony stared at Paige in shock. “Max?
Our
Max gave you a gift?” His voice started to rise. “And you're telling me
now
? How many classes have we had together today?”

“Anthony, calm down.”

“Calm down? Calm down? How can I calm down when he gave you a gift? For a teenage guy, that's like getting down on one knee and proposing.”

“It is not.”

“It is too and you know it. Guys only give gifts when they're serious.”

“Well,” Paige said, shrugging, “I guess Max is serious.”

Anthony shot daggers at Paige. “I guess so.”

“Please don't be mad at me!” Paige begged.

At that moment there was a hissing sound outside the window Anthony was sitting next to. “Ssss! Psst! Ants!”

Anthony left his seat and stuck his head out the second floor window. Standing outside the building was Max.

“Catch!” Max called, tossing a wrapped package up to Anthony.

Much to his surprise, Anthony caught the square wrapped box. “What is it?”

“Something I thought you might like. I came across it yesterday. I'll talk to you later. My mom's picking me up in five minutes. Dentist appointment.”

Anthony slid back into his seat and started unwrapping the present from Max.

“What is it?” Paige asked.

Anthony gasped in delight. “A copy of
Bad Movies We Love
! I've been trying to get a copy of this book for years, but it's out of print.” Anthony eagerly flipped through the pages. “There are hundreds of good-bad movies in here that we've never even seen and now we can hunt them down!”

Anthony gave Paige a smug smile. “Like you said. Guys only give gifts when they're serious.”

“I wouldn't be too smug if I were you,” Paige shot back, giving Anthony a smug smile of her own. “There's still this weekend.”

 

Biology didn't take care of things that weekend.

Mother Nature did.

The Friday they left for the Hamptons, it rained. And not just a light spritz, but buckets and buckets of cold gray rain. Max and Paige didn't get to talk much on the drive up because he was driving and she was too busy giving him directions so they wouldn't get lost. In the backseat, Bianca and Rachel were loudly complaining about being booted from the reality show “Working Girls” earlier that week.

“What happened?” Colleen asked.

“We refused to wash dishes,” Bianca said, holding up her hands. “Do these hands look like they should be soaking in greasy, sudsy water?”

“Ever hear of rubber gloves?” Colleen asked.

Bianca stuck her tongue out at Colleen. “We asked and they wouldn't give us a pair.”

“Then what did you do?”

“We threw the dishes out and bought a new set at Saks,” Rachel said. “Limoges.
Très
expensive! They were trimmed in gold.”

“And the problem with that was…?”

Bianca waved a hand dismissively. “Apparently the dishes we threw out were family heirlooms. They'd been in the family for like, I don't know, fifty years?”

“Sixty,” Rachel corrected.

“But you should have seen them!” Bianca wrinkled her nose. “All chipped and faded. They came on a boat with the grandparents when they immigrated from Ireland.”

“The dishes we bought were
much
nicer,” Rachel said. “I don't know what the family was getting so upset about. They acted like we'd murdered their firstborn or something the way they were crying.”

“I think it's called family history,” Colleen said. “Memories. Tradition. Those are things that are irreplaceable.”

“Whatever,” Rachel said. “Our thougtfulness got us cut from the show.”

“Don't you mean thought
less
ness?” Colleen asked.

“If those dishes meant so much to the family, they wouldn't have taken a check for $25,000 from the producers for the so-called mental anguish and distress that we caused,” Rachel said.

“So much for family history!” Max laughed from the front seat.

For the rest of the car ride, they listened to CDs, as well as Bianca and Rachel strategizing their next career move.

“I think we should get invited to a movie premiere and have a wardrobe malfunction,” Bianca said. “That would get us some attention.”

“Great idea!” Rachel shrieked. “But it's got to be an event that's televised live, or what's the point?”

After a while, Paige tuned out the twins. As he was driving, she had the urge to place her hand on Max's shoulder—just as a way of letting him know she was there for him—but she didn't. It seemed like something a girlfriend would do.

Paige studied Max's profile. He seemed unaware that she was watching him, so intent was he on making sure they arrived safely. He really was a handsome guy. What would it be like to kiss him? Would he be a gentle kisser, or would his kisses be hard and demanding? Some guys liked to go slow when they kissed while others seemed insatiable. It usually depended on the guy's personality. In her experience, jocks were impatient. They wanted to get the kisses over with so they could move on to other activities (not that she allowed the other activities that they often wanted to pursue). Guys who were more into arts and culture took their time with kissing. They enjoyed it, savored it and made sure the girl they were kissing was as into it as they were.

Paige suspected that Max would be a very slow kisser. She could see kissing him for hours and hours. He'd probably even set the mood. If it was indoors, there'd probably be candles. Flowers. Or maybe an afternoon on a park bench. Red and gold autumn leaves falling from the trees. Small children running around with dogs barking and nipping at their feet. Couples walking hand in hand. And then the rest of the world would fade away as Max leaned closer, taking
her face in his hands before leaning forward and…

“What are you thinking?”

Paige blushed. She'd been so preoccupied with thoughts of kissing Max that she hadn't been aware that they were in line to pay a bridge toll. Thank God it was dark inside the car!

“Nothing,” she answered.

“You sure?” Max asked with a naughty grin, as if he could read her mind.

“Just daydreaming.”

Max pulled up to the toll booth and paid the attendant. “Must have been a nice daydream. You were miles away.”

Paige blushed again. “It was.”

From the backseat, she could feel Colleen pressing her foot into the back of her seat, signaling her to make some sort of move. But what? They were in a car! With three people in the backseat! She ignored the nudge and turned the volume up on the CD player.

Three hours later—the bad weather had made the ride longer—they finally arrived in East Hampton.

“Where can I park?” Max asked.

The driveway leading up to the house was being repaved so Max had to park at the bottom of the driveway and they had to carry their suitcases up to the house in the rain. By the time they got inside, they were all soaking wet. It didn't help that the house was as cold as a freezer. The first thing Paige did was turn on the heat while asking Max if he would start a fire in the fireplace.

“We're going to go upstairs and slip into some dry clothes,” Paige told Max. “Your room is at the end of the hall
to the right. My room is on the left. If you can't find it, just call out.”

“Will do.”

“This is the perfect opportunity to wear one of your new outfits!” Bianca whispered excitedly as they walked upstairs.

“Are you insane?” Paige said, her teeth chattering. “I'm freezing! All I want is a pair of thermal underwear, some thick socks and a sweater!”

Rachel pouted. “That's not going to get Max's attention.”

“Look, Rachel, there's no way I'm going to be parading myself around in short little skirts and skimpy blouses in this weather. You think I want to get pneumonia?”

“We should have thought to put together a backup wardrobe,” Colleen said. “But the weatherman didn't say anything about rain this weekend.”

“Maybe it'll be sunny tomorrow,” Paige said.

“Well, if you're going to insist on wearing a sweater tonight, then go braless!” Bianca said. “Boys like girls who bounce.”

“I will not!”

Bianca threw her hands up in the air as she and Rachel headed for their room. “Hopeless. Absolutely hopeless!”

“It's only one night,” Paige called after them as she followed Colleen into their bedroom. “I'm sure the weather will be better tomorrow. When it is, I'll be able to show a little more skin. But tonight I'm covering it all up!”

“Can I give you some advice?” Colleen asked as they started unpacking.

“What?”

“Listen to the twins. They know their stuff!”

“You're saying I should go braless?”

“No! But you must have a low-cut fluffy sweater in one of your drawers.”

“Actually, I do,” Paige admitted, opening a drawer and taking out a violet sweater made of angora.

“Nice! Fabulous color! You're going to look
so
cute in it.”

“But the sleeves are short! And it's cold!”

“Hey, we all have to suffer for beauty. Now put it on!”

“Okay, okay,” Paige grumbled, pulling her head through the sweater's opening.

After changing, the girls headed back downstairs to the living room, where Max had a roaring fire going. He'd also changed out of his wet clothes into a green turtleneck, brown pullover sweater and brown corduroys. His wet hair was slicked back and his cheeks were red from the heat of the fireplace. He looked like he'd stepped right out of an ad for Ralph Lauren. At that moment, all Paige wanted to do was snuggle up to him.

“You know what we need to set the mood?” Colleen said. “Some hot buttered popcorn and cocoa!” She grabbed Bianca and Rachel by the arms and headed in the direction of the kitchen. “We'll be back once it's ready.”

Paige wanted to kill Colleen. Could she be any more obvious that she was leaving them alone on purpose?

“Nice house,” Max said.

The décor of the summer house was very relaxed and laid-back. Lots of sheer draperies, pine and blond wood furniture, light green rag rugs scattered on hardwood floors, walls that were painted cream and yellow and eggshell white. It was like having a little bit of the beach indoors.

“Thanks. My dad does a lot of entertaining out here during the summer.” Paige sat down on the couch, hoping Max would join her. Instead, he remained sitting on the floor next to the fireplace. Should she join him? But then she'd be invading his personal space. And she'd already sat down. It would look strange if she got up and joined him, wouldn't it? Why hadn't she thought to sit next to him on the floor?

“Are you hungry?” Paige asked. “We can order in. I can call Nick & Toni's or Della Femina. And Citarella has takeout. I'm going to call them to deliver some groceries in the morning.”

“I'm not really hungry.”

Even though Max had started a fire, the room was still cold. Paige walked over to the fireplace and threw some more wood on top of the fire. She shivered while watching the flames grow. Why had she listened to Colleen and worn this stupid sweater?

“Hey, are you cold?”

Before Paige could answer, Max was by her side, taking off his pullover. “Here, put this on.”

“Thanks,” Paige said, slipping into the sweater.
And thank you, girls! I'll never turn down your advice again!
The sweater smelled like Max. Citrusy and soapy. They were standing so close together, their noses were almost touching.