SVH08-Heartbreaker (8 page)

Elizabeth stared down at her plate. "Not yet."

"This is getting truly ridiculous. You've got to talk to him."

Elizabeth groaned. "I can't. Don't you see? I just can't. Oh, Enid, it would just be too humiliating to have him tell me what I already know."

"Aren't you forgetting one thing?"

"What?"

"That you might be wrong?"

"You didn't see them together," Elizabeth maintained stubbornly.

"Doing what? Sounds like all he was doing was rubbing suntan lotion on her back. What's the big deal?"

"It was the
way
he was doing it."

"Maybe you imagined that part."

"Am I imagining the fact that Patsy is gorgeous and sophisticated and that he used to be in love with her before he met me?"

"He
used
to be in love with her," Enid emphasized. "It doesn't necessarily mean he is now."

"But Jessica said--"

Enid frowned. "What did she say?"

"She said they spend an awful lot of time together at rehearsals."

"I'm surprised she noticed. From what I hear, Jessica spends all her time baiting poor Bill."

Elizabeth seized the opportunity to turn the subject away from her and Todd. "I think Bill may have competition before long," she said.

"Who?"

"It's my guess it's a toss-up between Richard Gere and Sylvester Stallone."

Enid giggled. "Knowing Jessica, she'll want them both. I'll bet she's got her heart set on winning an Oscar, too."

"I just hope she isn't disappointed."

"Me, too." Enid knew what Jessica was like in one of her royal rages; anyone who came within firing range was target for her anger. "For all our sakes."

***

Enid is right,
Elizabeth said to herself as she stood at her locker after her last class.

She owed Todd a chance to explain. She couldn't go on avoiding him forever. She had to know the truth--even if the truth was that he was in love with Patsy. Determinedly she walked down the crowded hallway to Todd's locker.

She wasn't prepared for the scene that met her eyes. But this time there was no mistaking what was going on.

Todd had his arms around Patsy, and she was clinging to him in a way that left no room for doubt in Elizabeth's mind about their feelings for one another.

Hot tears flooded her eyes and scalded her cheeks. Her insides were churning. She felt as if she was going to be sick.

They didn't see her. Todd was stroking Patsy's back and murmuring something in her ear.

He's
probably telling her he loves her
--the way he used to tell me.

Elizabeth couldn't stand it any longer. It was like a nightmare coming true. She had to get away. She had to escape before they saw her. But she couldn't move. It was as if the air had turned to ice, freezing her body inside it.

Then, in a sudden flash of hot anguish, Elizabeth found herself pushing through the kids who were standing at their lockers or

hanging around in small groups, talking. She wanted to put as much distance between herself and Todd as possible.

At that moment a million miles wouldn't have been far enough.

Ten

"Can I talk to you for a second, Jessica?" Bill caught up with her at her locker after the last bell.

"What is it?" she asked with an edge of impatience.

Swallowing the last remnants of his battered pride, Bill forced himself to speak. "I know you're busy and all, but, uh, I was wondering--" He gulped against the sudden tightness that was squeezing his throat.

"Yes?" Jessica tapped her fingernails impatiently against her locker door. "Listen, Bill, I don't mean to be rude or anything, but I'm in a big hurry. What is it you wanted to ask me?"

Bill managed to get the words out despite his humiliation. After all, this might be his last chance to win Jessica over.

"I was wondering if you might want to go to the cast party with me on opening night."

He stared down at his feet. Talking to Julianne had never been this hard: Why did he always get so tongue-tied around Jessica? "I thought-- well, since we're the leads and all, it might be the thing to do."

"Sorry, Bill," Jessica said, "but I already have a date for the party. Tom's taking me."

"Oh." Bill hung his head in disappointment. "Well, I just thought I'd ask. I guess I should've known you'd be busy."

Jessica flashed him an insincere grin. "I
am
pretty busy, but don't worry. I'm sure you won't have trouble getting another date for the party. Why don't you ask DeeDee?"

"DeeDee?" Bill looked down at the floor.

"Sure. I'll bet she'd go with you in a minute."

Blushing even more furiously, Bill muttered, "I'll think about it."

Jessica scooped up her purse and books. "I'm late. Got to run."

Bill watched forlornly as she darted down the hall toward Tom McKay, who was leaning against the wall and grinning at Jessica.

Bill felt as if he'd been kicked in the stomach. Any last tiny hope he might have nourished that Jessica would ever go out with him was permanently dashed. Obviously she couldn't care less about him. It was hopeless, completely hopeless. She'd even encouraged him to take DeeDee instead.

Well, maybe he would. Maybe he'd show Jessica. And maybe he'd even enjoy taking DeeDee. At least with DeeDee he didn't have to feel awkward and foolish. He could relax and not worry about whether the things he said sounded dumb. His flattened spirits rose slightly when he realized he was looking forward to surfing with her this afternoon. Even if he was doomed to be unlucky in love for the rest of his life, it was nice to know there was at least one girl he liked who liked him back.

"Paddle faster!" Bill yelled above the pounding surf. "You've got to pick up speed so you're in the right position to shoot into the curl. Here, let me show you."

He angled his board as he paddled furiously into the next wave. DeeDee watched in admiration as he glided down the green slope of the swell with seemingly effortless grace. The wind tore the top off the wave, flinging speckles of foam back at her. That day the swells were larger than she'd ever seen them--almost scary. DeeDee fought hard to keep her balance as the choppy sea rolled beneath her board. The water seemed colder, too. Even in her wet suit she was shivering.

Nevertheless, nothing could have induced her to trade the challenge of the ocean and these precious moments alone with Bill for the

safety and comfort of shore. DeeDee was never happier than when she and Bill were surfing together. The waves were Bill's domain, and he had invited her to be a part of it. Not even Jessica would dare come between them out here on a rough day like this.

But DeeDee knew Bill was thinking about Jessica, and she couldn't do anything about that. At least he was trying hard not to let his misery show. She would have to be satisfied with that, and learn to accept the fact that Bill would never see her as anything more than a friend.

But the truth was that it hurt, no matter how hard she tried to convince herself it didn't. DeeDee longed to have Bill look at her the way he looked at Jessica. But that was hopeless, wasn't it? She would never be even half as beautiful or popular as Jessica. Not in a million years.

The wave had leveled into swirls of foam. Bill touched down, then turned to wave at DeeDee with two fingers held high in the victory sign. DeeDee's chest felt tight. It was no use denying she was in love with Bill. The trouble was, he would always be too blinded by Jessica to see it.

"Your turn!" Bill shouted out to her over the churning, gray-green expanse.

A new set of swells was rolling in. They were enormous. DeeDee was scared, but she didn't want to let Bill down. He was counting

on her to do her best. If she acted like a baby now, what chance did she have of placing in the championship?

Ignoring the knot of fear in her stomach, she dropped down flat on the board, propelling herself forward with a flurry of frantic strokes. Then, suddenly, she was no longer moving under her own momentum. The swell picked her up, flinging her forward. DeeDee lifted herself quickly into a low crouching position as Bill had taught her to do. She flexed her trembling knees, fighting to hold her balance as the board shook and swayed underneath her.

The wave was much bigger and more powerful than any she'd ever ridden before. She was having trouble staying on her feet. She blinked. The icy spray stung her face like handfuls of sand. Bill was a distant, blurry speck. The shore seemed a thousand miles away.

The board tilted up at the nose. Foam was boiling wildly all around her.
Your timing is off!
she could hear Bill saying inside her head. She entered the wave a second too late. It was breaking over her instead of underneath her.

DeeDee fought desperately to stay on, to keep from flying out of control. She opened her mouth to shout to Bill, but the sound was lost in the surging thunder. The board shot out from under her and flipped over in the air. She tumbled backward, catching a glimpse of gray sky tilted at a crazy angle before she went under.

Then she was thrashing and spinning helplessly in the churning surf. Panic closed over her in a tight, wet fist. She couldn't breathe. Sand was being ground into her mouth and eyes. Something hard struck her in the temple, and a brief buzzing filled her head before everything went totally black.

Bill was so lost in his misery over Jessica, it was several crucial seconds before he noticed that DeeDee had vanished from sight. His first thought was that the wave had washed her in farther down the beach. Then he saw her board. It bounced over the waves and skimmed to a stop on the sand. Bill stood frozen as he scanned the horizon.

OK, he told himself. She
had
to be OK. At the same time, he knew how easy it was for even a good swimmer to be sucked into an undertow and lose control. A friend of his had once been knocked unconscious by his board and had nearly drowned. Bill was gripped with guilt. He should never have taken her out on a day like this. The surf was just too unpredictable. She wasn't experienced enough to handle it. If anything happened to DeeDee ...

He caught a glimpse of her, and he gave a sigh of relief. It was a second or two before he realized that she wasn't swimming, that she was facedown in the water.

Instantly Bill was galvanized into action. Every other thought except that of rescuing DeeDee was blotted from his mind as he dove into the crashing surf. He had to save her. He couldn't let her drown. Suddenly the idea of losing her was too unbearable to imagine.

Bill was a strong swimmer. Less than a minute more had passed by the time he reached her. She was unconscious. Fie might already be too late, he realized sickly. She didn't resist as he slipped an arm about her rib cage, supporting her against his chest the way he'd been taught in the lifesaving course he'd taken the previous summer.

"Don't worry, DeeDee," he gasped, "you're going to be OK....You're going to make it....."

She wasn't responding. Terror washed over him. He couldn't even tell if she was breathing. Her face was a frightening blue-white color. The bruise on her temple where her board had struck her stood out like a smear of red paint on a white canvas.

Bill swam harder than he ever had in his life. It was almost as if there were someone outside him, guiding his arms and legs, giving him a strength he didn't know he had.

He swam blindly, struggling to keep DeeDee's head above water. His eyes were stinging so badly he could scarcely see. He wasn't sure

if it was the salt from the water or from his tears.

Then he had her stretched out on the wet sand. He pressed down hard against her stomach with the heel of his hand to push out the water she'd taken in. The bruise on her temple was darkening to an ugly purple.

Please be OK, DeeDee, please, please, please....

As if in answer to his prayers, DeeDee stirred weakly and coughed. Bill felt his hopes surge. As he bent close to administer mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, he became aware of how pale her skin was next to the dark, wet swirls of her hair. How come he'd never noticed before how pretty she was? Even the freckles that stood out sharply on the bridge of her adorable snub nose seemed precious to him.

Unlike the rest of her, DeeDee's lips were warm. Warm and soft. He felt them move gently against his mouth as he lowered it to hers.

He knew now that DeeDee was very special to him. The feeling must have been there all along, tugging at him like an undertow beneath the calm surface of their friendship.

DeeDee's eyes fluttered open. Brown. They were a beautiful buttery-toffee brown. How come he'd never noticed that before, either? As Bill stared into her eyes, he suddenly felt as if
he
were the one who was drowning.

Eleven

A set of blurred features swam in front of her for a moment before she focused on a pair of concerned blue eyes and a mouth that hovered inches from her own.

"Bill ..." DeeDee murmured weakly.

She was stopped from saying any more by the warm, gentle pressure of Bill's lips against hers. DeeDee forgot that she was half drowned and shivering with cold. She forgot that her head was throbbing as if she'd charged straight into a brick wall. The only thing she was aware of was the wet, salty warmth of Bill's kiss.

Heat flooded through her. Her frozen toes and fingers tingled as they thawed. She sighed--a long, shuddery sigh--as Bill gathered her to him in a sandy embrace. With her cheek pressed to his strong chest, she could hear the steady hammering of his heart. A strange, floaty feeling crept over her. None of what was happening

seemed real somehow. Was she dreaming it?

His lips were moving over her hair, gently brushing against her cheek. His mouth closed over hers once again. At that moment they were caught in a sudden surge of white water. It swirled around them, sending up fans of foamy spray. DeeDee forgot how threatening the sea had seemed such a short while ago. Now the water felt teasing and delicious as it fizzed over her body, mingling with the salty taste of Bill's kiss.