The Real Me (11 page)

"Well, you surprised me, too." Walt took a napkin, knelt down, and wiped the punch off my shoes.

I went along with the Gone with the Wind scene. "Why, whatever do you mean?"

"Oh … never mind. Want to dance?"

"Sure." I scrutinized Walt's face for some clue as to what he meant, but I wasn't going to press the issue. The less said about my evening's activities, the better. "Looks as though the crowd is thinning out already."

"Well, we are approaching the bewitching hour."

"Really? I can't believe it's that late. The time just flew by." Gah. I was sounding like Scarlett O'Hara again!

"You know what they say about when you're having fun." Walt led me into a back-bending dip.

Upside down I saw Selena leaving with George. It looked as if George winked at me, but I couldn't be sure from that position. "Let me up, Walt. My blood is rushing to my head."

"So much for my grand finale." Walt pulled me upright. "I guess it drove everyone away."

I looked around. Walt and I were alone. Erwina must have gone upstairs to say goodnight to everyone else. "Let's help clean up. It'll be good practice for after the prom."

Immediately I regretted mentioning the prom. I didn't know if Kevin and Nicole were actually going together. If they weren't, I'd have to act quickly. But, meanwhile, the fact that I still didn't have a date was a subject I'd rather not discuss. "Hey, here's Erwina and Ross," I said too eagerly. "We'll have help cleaning up."

"You guys can head out," Erwina said. She squeezed Ross's hand. "We don't need chaperones." Then, as an after thought, she added, "Oh, do you need a ride home, Mattie?"

"I can give Mattie a ride," Walt said.

"Thanks." I felt as if I were being rushed out the door. In the car I turned on some loud music. I wasn't in a mood for conversation. But Walt turned the volume way down.

"Nice party, wasn't it?" There was a mischievous tone to his voice.

"Uh huh."

"You seemed to have a good time."

"Mmm-hmm." I stared at the white line on the road.

"You looked really great tonight."

"Thanks."

"But I guess I wasn't the only one who noticed."

"I think I'll turn up the volume."

"Let's just turn it off." Walt stopped the car and turned off the engine.

"Why are you stopping?" I peered out the window. "What are we doing at the dock?"

"I thought you might want to watch the submarine races."

Huh? I wasn't sure what he was talking about, but it didn't sound good. "It's late. I've got to get home."

Without a word, Walt started the car.

We rode on in silence.

As the car pulled up to my house, Walt said, "Sorry I stopped the car before." He slid across the seat toward me. "I … I just wanted to kiss you."

I forced a small laugh as I struggled with my seatbelt. "Walt, quit kidding around." I got out of the car.

"Who's kidding?" Walt said as he stumbled out of the car after me.

I left him behind as I ran into the house and straight up the stairs. In my room I dropped my clothes in a corner. I pulled on my nightgown and sank into bed. My mind whirled, but I didn't want to think about the party. I'd never get to sleep if did. All I wanted to do was sleep. I could sort things out in the morning.

But as my head hit the pillow one thought inexplicably crossed my mind.

George had not called me Chunk once the entire evening.

Chapter
Eleven

As I woke up, I heard rain tap on the window. I yawned and stretched, then curled up again. A good feeling floated inside me. I burrowed my face in my pillow as I drifted into a delicious embrace with Kevin. I touched my lips to his. Music swirled around us and carried us on wisps of light into our own private world.

My stomach tightened. There was something else. George kissing me … and Walt, somewhere on the edge, watching ….

I sat up. It came back to me. It wasn't a dream. It was Erwina's party! I slid under the covers and threw them over my head. I would stay in bed all day! All week!

I couldn't face anyone. I wouldn't. They had all seen me. They must have. Walt did, I was sure.

I took a deep breath. I had to be calm. I hadn't done anything wrong. I had kissed Kevin. It wasn't as if he were married.

But what about George? I'd kissed George, too! It wasn't as though I'd planned it. But I had responded. Still, who would know? George, of course. Well, so what? It didn't mean that I liked George. I liked kissing. I was human.

I pulled the covers off my face. I took a deep breath. Okay, I was human--but what would people think? What would Kevin think? Would he be jealous if he knew I'd kissed George? Angry? Did he have a right to be? He took Nicole to the party, after all. No one forced him to date her. He could ask me out, if he wanted to.

He'd said he would call. Would he? Maybe he was just trying to make Nicole jealous! Summer was coming and that meant that Craig would soon be on the scene. Maybe he just wanted to give Nicole a taste of her own medicine.

I shook my head. No! Kevin wasn't like that. He cared about me. He said he would call. He would call.

By mid afternoon I could no longer stand waiting for the phone to ring. I put on an old parka, got a bucket from the garage, and headed for the beach. There I took off my shoes and walked barefoot along the water's edge. The water was cold, but I didn't care.

The light sprinkle slowed to a drizzle as I searched the sand for shells. I had more than enough shells in a box in my closet. But looking for shells gave me an excuse for walking on the beach on such a damp, dreary day.

A speck of blue near the jetty caught my attention. I scooped it out of the sand and cleaned it off. It was a piece of glass worn smooth by sand and water. I turned it over in my hand. I decided to save it. It was too pretty to throw away.

All of a sudden there was a cloudburst. I ran to the Snack Shack through the pouring rain. The door was locked and the serving window was boarded up, but I could stay on the covered deck. I brushed sand off one of the benches and sat down to wait until the rain let up. A fishing boat in the harbor cut through whitecaps on its way back to the dock. A buoy clanged and bobbed in the distance. I examined the piece of blue glass.

"So there you are." A tall, dark figure dripped water on my knees. "What's this?" he said, taking the piece of glass from my hand. "Buried treasure?"

"Kevin. You're soaked."

"It was hardly raining at all when I left my house."

"What are you doing here?"

"I forgot to get your phone number. When I stopped by your house, your father said he thought you went to the beach." Kevin sat down next to me.

"Oh."

Kevin held up the piece of blue glass. "Is this a good luck piece?"

"No." I took it from him. "Just something I found that I thought was special."

Kevin put his hand over mine. "Last night was special."

"Yes. It was." I wished I hadn't agreed so quickly.

"You look beautiful with the mist clinging to your hair." Kevin leaned closer. "It's like a halo."

I looked up into Kevin's eyes. It would be so easy to fall into his arms. Instead, I gave him a playful shove. "Your hair is dripping wet."

"Yours would be, too," Kevin said, running his fingers through his hair and flicking water at me, "if you'd just run through the pouring rain without a hooded jacket!"

"Cut it out!" I laughed and covered my face with my hands. "You're getting me wet!"

"Why should you be dry when I got soaked just so I could see you?" Kevin swooped me up and carried me across the beach.

"Where are you taking me?" I kicked and squirmed, but Kevin held me tight.

"I'm going to drop you into Long Island Sound!" Kevin started walking out on the jetty.

I stopped wriggling. With as straight a face as possible, I pretended to be serious as I said, "I have complete faith that you're only joking."

"Oh, you do, do you?" Kevin paused, then said, "Well … you're right."

"So, now what?"

"Now … now I carry you to my secret hideout--just as soon as I find one." Kevin carefully picked his way down the other side of the jetty until he reached a cave like space formed by the rocks. There was plenty of shelter from the rain and wind. He gently put me down on the sand inside the cave, then sat next to me and put his arm around my waist.

Waves sloshed onto the shore. Rain dripped from the overhanging rock. I wrapped my arms around my knees, feeling cozy and warm.

We sat for a while without speaking. Then Kevin whispered, "Penny for your thoughts."

"I'm thinking I'd like to stay like this forever," I confessed.

"Me, too." Kevin stared out at the harbor.

"Unfortunately, we have to go out and face the world," I said. "And everybody in it."

"Yeah." Kevin stepped out of the cave. He offered me his hand. "It's not raining any more."

I took Kevin's hand, pulled myself up, and brushed the sand off the seat of my pants. I decided I wouldn't wait any longer for Kevin to take the initiative. I had spent most of my life hoping someone else would make the first move. It was time for me to take charge. "Kevin, do … do you have any plans for the prom?"

Kevin picked up a stone and threw it into the water. "Yes. I I'm going with Nicole."

"Oh." I noticed he didn't exactly say that he'd invited Nicole.

"Are … are you going?" Kevin asked.

"Yes."

"Really? You're going?"

"Don't sound so surprised!"

"Sorry. I just thought--"

"That I was about to ask you?" I lifted my chin and placed my hands on my hips. "In fact, I was. So … I don't have a date, but I'll be there to supervise serving the refreshments."

"I wish … I wish you'd asked me sooner."

"I was hoping you would ask me!"

"Seems we've both been afraid to make the first move."

"All my life I've been afraid to make the first move! What's your excuse?"

"What? Because I'm a guy, I can't be afraid?"

I sat on a rock. He was right. Females had no corner on the fear market. "I I'm sorry. I have no right to snap at you."

Kevin sat next to me. "I guess it was a fair question. I really have only two excuses--neither of them very good, I guess." He took a deep breath, then said, "First of all, I take Nicole everywhere and call her every night because if I don't she pouts or whines or cries. I know it's mostly an act, but it gets to me. She has helped me find my way around Waterside ever since I moved here."

"All right. That's one excuse." Kind of weak, I did not add. "What's the other?"

"I've never asked a girl out," Kevin said. "Or broken up with one, for that matter."

I looked at Kevin, wide eyed. "You've never asked a girl out? Yeah, right. You've dated Nicole practically since the day you moved here."

"That's the way it's always been," Kevin said. "I've always been the new kid at school. Believe it or not, that can be overwhelming. But some girl has always been there to show me around. It's much easier to keep going out with someone who's always suggesting where we should go and what we should do than it is to actually ask someone for a date."

"And you've never had to break up with a girl because you always just moved away?"

"Right." Kevin breathed what I think was a sigh of relief. "You know, once I found out we'd be staying in Waterside long term, I wanted to ask you out. But I just didn't know how to break away from Nicole without hurting her feelings. Besides, usually when I tried talking to you, you seemed kind of, I don't know, distant."

I hesitated, then said. "I wasn't being aloof. I was trying not to look over eager. I was afraid I'd make a fool of myself."

Kevin took my hand. "You know, I remember the first time you ever really talked to me. It was after that tournament game that we lost. You tried to let me know you thought it wasn't my fault we lost the game. After that I got the feeling that maybe you liked me and I … I kept hoping you'd say something, do something. I'm such a dork."

So Kevin thought he was a dork! I was going to argue the point, but then decided I didn't want to get into a fight about dorkdom. Besides, maybe things would work out better if we were both dorks! "And I kept hoping you'd say something, do something." It dawned on me that it wasn't that Kevin had noticed that I'd lost weight that night after the game--he was just glad that I had talked to him. Maybe he never minded my weight in the first place!

"Hmm. We wasted a lot of time wishing and hoping, when we could have been doing."

"Let's do something to correct the situation," I said. "I'll start by asking you to save me a dance at the prom."

"Consider it done," Kevin said. He took both my hands in his. "Mattie, would you … would you have brunch with me the morning after the prom?"