This One Time With Julia (8 page)

“I really think I’m getting used to you,” she said.

“I hope so.”

“Okay, goodnight Joe.”

Julia came over and gave me a hug. I put my hands on her back and held her against my chest, waiting for her to let go. She didn’t let go. This was the fifth time I had touched her, and two of the other times were only handshakes, and this one lasted by far the longest. It felt like an hour. Maybe it was only a few seconds. I have no idea how long it was. Just when I thought she was going to let go, she squeezed me even tighter and said, “I feel so much calmer now.”

“That’s good.”

Suddenly she pulled away, smiling, and turned a little red. Then she blew into my eyes. “Made you blink,” she said.

Just as I realized we were about to kiss, we did. Nobody really started it. We just both came closer until it was happening. I think kissing Julia had been on my mind since I’d first seen her in the lobby of Alvin’s hotel, but I had no idea what it would feel like and no way to imagine it, because I’d never felt another person’s tongue before. Her lips tasted like cherry candy but her mouth was minty. At one point she laughed when I accidentally swallowed her gum. Of all the things I’d tried in my life so far, this was already my favorite. I kissed her for maybe five minutes, and then we lay down on her bed and kept kissing.

“I’m cold,” she said. “Warm me up.”

We cuddled underneath the covers and I put my face into her chest. Her shirt still smelled like bagel pizzas. She squeezed me again, even harder this time. Then she wriggled out of my arms and started messing with my forehead. “You have a zit.”

“Where?”

“Right here.”

“What are you doing?”

“Popping it. Hold still like a man.”

The zit was right over my eyebrow, and it took her a few seconds to pop it. It hurt a lot more than I thought it would. When it was over she kissed my forehead, and hugged me again.

“We’re just keeping each other company,” she said.

“I can’t believe I kissed you.”

“Why not?”

“Because I wanted to so badly.”

I was only trying to keep the conversation going while we waited to start kissing again, but right away I knew I’d said something wrong. Julia put on this little worried frown and pushed my chest away.

“We’re probably both feeling a little lonely, Joe, but it can’t mean anything, okay? You have to promise.”

“I promise.”

“You can’t like me too much.”

“I won’t.”

“Kissing isn’t supposed to be a big deal anyway. Ginger and I had a kissing competition when she came with my family to Quebec last summer. I kissed nine boys, and Ginger kissed thirteen. It’s not like we fell in love with all those boys. How many girls have you kissed before me?”

“Two.”

“Come on.”

“It’s true.”

“I don’t believe you.”

I hadn’t thought about either one of those girls for a pretty long time, but I could still picture them both pretty well. “I kissed the first girl on the school bus in eighth grade. I kissed her on the lips, but only for a second. The second girl sold ice cream at the basketball court about three years ago. She really liked Alvin, but she tried to get his attention by pretending to like me. I only ever kissed her on the cheek. Anyway, I wish I’d never kissed either one of them.”

“Why?”

“Because then this would be my first time kissing anyone.”

Julia’s whole body went a little stiff, and again I knew I’d made a terrible mistake. She didn’t push me off the bed or anything, but I could tell she sort of wanted to.

“We should probably get to sleep,” she said. “We have another long day of driving tomorrow.”

“Okay.”

“I’ll sleep on the sofa bed tonight.”

“I was just talking,” I said. “I don’t even know what I said.”

“I’m sorry, Joe. I just can’t be falling in love with any boys right now.”

“I take everything back.”

“We should probably go to sleep now.”

It didn’t matter what I said. Julia was starting to climb out of the bed, but I stopped her and took the sofa bed myself. And just like the night before, it took me forever to get to sleep. All night there were planes zooming over our hotel room as I thought about where I’d gone wrong. I was still awake an hour later when Julia sat up in her bed with her eyes wide upon, climbing an imaginary ladder. By now I basically knew what to expect.

“There’s not going to be enough breakfast,” she said. “There never is.”

I sat up. “You’re just sleeping,” I said, even though I knew she couldn’t hear me. “We already bought all this cereal and fruit. Plus, they have breakfast in the lobby.”

She wouldn’t look at me. “I’m scared.”

“There’s nothing to be scared of.”

“I’m scared to go to college,” she said. And I’ve been eating too much pizza, and now I’m starting to feel fat.”

“We just have to get you back to sleep,” I said.

“I used to go jogging every day, but now I can’t because of my foot. I’ve been to so many foot doctors, and they’re all full of it.”

“What’s the problem with your foot?”

“I think I might have another cavity. I noticed it this morning. And I think I might have an allergy to wheat.”

“Please,” I said. “Just try to relax.”

“I don’t understand your clothing,” she said. “I think your pants are way too big. I hate almost everything I’ve seen you wear.”

I climbed out of bed and went over to her. “Don’t you want to lie down again?”

“It’s dangerous for you to fall for me,” she said. “We come from two different worlds. We’re not made for each other.”

I sat down on the bed. I knew she couldn’t hear me, but I didn’t care. “You don’t know that,” I said. “I could change.”

“It ended so badly for Alvin.”

“Maybe I’m different.”

“I’ll have to go back to my real life, and I can’t take you with me.”

“What can I say? You’re not going to hear me.”

She wasn’t moving anymore, just sitting up against the wall and staring into space.

“Alvin is never coming back,” she said.

“Of course he is.”

“Tomorrow, when I’m awake, I won’t be able to say it. But I know he never went sailing. And I know he’s never coming back.”

“Where would he go if he didn’t go sailing?”

“You must feel it too. You just won’t admit it yet.” Julia’s arms started to move, and then her legs. She was climbing her ladder. “We can’t just have toast every single day,” she said. “There has to be a real breakfast.”

I knew there was no point in asking her any more questions. All I could do was talk to her in an extremely soothing way until she calmed down. “Don’t worry,” I said. “I’ll make it right now. We have everything we need.”

Finally Julia closed her eyes, and soon she was sleeping normally again. I climbed back into my sofa bed and listened to her breathing while I remembered the whole day one more time: beating Marcus at basketball, Alvin in his sailing hat, running out of gas with Julia, and then that feeling of dropping off a cliff as I drove away from Los Angeles. I realized that I’d forgotten to tell Francisco that I was moving to Tennessee, or to tell Marcus that Alvin had gone sailing around the world. Just before I fell asleep, it occurred to me that I’d left that apartment forever, and I was a little surprised how sad this made me feel, considering that I didn’t live there very long.

CHAPTER FOUR

The next morning we
woke up early and I drove for half a day. We stopped for lunch just one more time, and then Julia took over, and I fell asleep for a little while, and when I woke up we were in Tennessee. I remember it being a pretty clean city, but not so different from what I was used to, just more people working, eating, talking on their cell phones. The air in the streets smelled a little more like smoke than I was used to, and I saw some cowboy hats and boots, but not as many as I expected, and there was country music playing everywhere.

“Wake up, Joe. We’re in Nashville.”

We crossed a river on a huge retractable bridge, and passed a football stadium, I think, and then Julia pulled the car into the garage of this enormous department store.

“Where are we going?”

“Have you ever interviewed for a job before?”

“Not recently.”

“I did about a million college interviews last year. According to my dad, the way you dress is half the battle. No matter what job you’re applying for, he says the secret of an interview is to always wear a suit.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever worn a suit.”

“Houston will be interviewing you, and he’ll definitely feel the same way. He likes manners. He likes to feel like a southern gentleman. Respect is a big deal to him.”

“He’s your boss?”

“Houston is my brother. I guess he’s my boss too. My father is really the boss, but he’s having some legal problems, so Houston is in charge of both hotels. He spends most of his time in the city, so I’m running the front desk at Oakwood, until I go to Vanderbilt in the fall.”

“What do I need to say to him?”

“Well, I wouldn’t mention Alvin, first of all. Houston wasn’t Alvin’s biggest fan.”

“What else?”

“It’ll be a piece of cake. He’ll notice the suit, and he’ll see that you have a good face, and then if he has a job he’ll give it to you. And I’m pretty sure he does. Since when do you get nervous?”

It wasn’t so much that I wanted a job, but it seemed important to Julia. And if I didn’t get one, I thought I might have to go back to Los Angeles, and I wasn’t sure when I’d ever see her again.

“It’s not like I’m doing it on purpose.”

“There’s nothing to be worried about, Joe. I’m going to put in a good word for you.”

I’d never worn a suit before, but I didn’t mind the idea too much, especially since I knew now that Julia hated all my clothes. The men’s clothing was on the top floor of this beautiful department store. I must have tried on ten different suits that day, while Julia and the tailor stood around giving me their opinions. I remember that the tailor’s hair was always wet but that his skin was very dry. I’d never tried on a suit before, or any nice clothes at all really, so I had no idea how much I would enjoy it. They all had such soft, smooth material, and I loved the way they smelled. The tailor loved most of the suits I put on, but Julia always seemed to find some button or stripe or problem with the fit that ruined almost everything for her. After about an hour they finally settled on this beautiful dark blue suit with very thin white stripes and these amazing, smooth lapels that I could never get tired of rubbing. The tailor said the fabric went nicely with my skin, and Julia agreed, and said it made me stand up straighter, and that I also seemed more mature.

The tailor picked out a dress shirt to go with it, and a matching blue silk tie, and a couple of pretty nice shoes. After I put on everything, they put me in front of a mirror to see the final effect.

I guess I hadn’t been looking in the mirror much, because I’d sort of forgotten what I looked like. My hair was a lot darker than I remembered, and my eyes were a nice dark brown too. I think that suit really did make me look taller, and definitely older, and maybe a little smarter. Compared to the last mirror I had seen, I was pretty happy with what I saw, though I couldn’t quite believe it was me.

“Well, what do you think?” asked Julia.

“I love it,” I said. “I feel perfect.”

“Excellent,” said the tailor. He started to help me take the jacket off, but I wasn’t having it.

“No, I think I’ll just leave it on,” I said.

“It’s only for the interview,” said Julia.

“No. I think I’ll just wear it all day long.”

“But I have to take it in,” said the tailor.

“What?”

“You have to take it off so I can fix it.”

I almost strangled him right here, I think. I don’t know why, but for a second there I just really didn’t want to take off that suit. I got myself together pretty quickly, though, and the tailor marked up the whole thing with chalk before he took it off me. Julia gave him her father’s credit card and he told us to come back in an hour.

“Perfect,” said Julia. “That’s just the right amount of time to get you a nice haircut.”

“A haircut?” This was the first I’d heard about this. “Why?”

“We’re just going to clean you up a little bit. It’s not that I hate the moppy look, but I can barely see your eyes. You have such a high, noble forehead, but you don’t let anybody see it.”

“I like my hair the way it is.”

“It looks a lot like Alvin’s haircut.”

“So what?”

I could tell she didn’t really want to answer me, but finally she did.

“I’m just trying to make sure you get this job,” she said finally. “It’s not like it’s a big deal. I just think you’re better off if nobody knows you’re Alvin’s brother.”

“Why?”

“I think it looks strange. My ex-boyfriend is gone less than a week, and here I am recommending his brother for a job.”

“You said we don’t even look alike.”

“There’s still a resemblance. Look, I might as well just say it. Alvin wasn’t the most popular guy around here. He didn’t leave on the best terms. You know how he is. Always messing with people.”

This wasn’t hard to believe. Most of the people who knew Alvin were angry at him most of the time.

“I’m just saying, why not make a completely fresh start? Isn’t that what you’re looking for?”

“Of course.” I honestly hadn’t thought of it, but now that I heard Julia say it, a fresh start sounded like a good idea.

“You don’t want everyone to think of you as Alvin’s brother, do you? Don’t you want to be known as your own man?”

It wasn’t that hard to convince me. An argument will usually work on me no matter what it is. Julia had a lot of good reasons, and the only reason I had was that I liked my hair the way it was. But I wasn’t the one who was going to have to look at it.

It turned out to be the shortest haircut I’d ever had, so short that you couldn’t even part it, but I had to admit I liked the way it felt. It made my head cooler, and it made me feel lighter and faster. And besides, Julia said she loved it. While they were cutting and washing my hair, she had decided to get her hair dyed to this very light blonde color so I had to wait around a while when I was done. I missed her old hair, and I told her so, but she said this blonde was actually the original color of her hair, and that the fiery red I loved so much had been an artificial dye. It seemed so strange to me, the idea of dyeing your hair back to its original color. She said they matched her natural color pretty well, but not perfectly, so I guess I never did get to see the real color of Julia’s hair.

I couldn’t stop rubbing my head while we picked up my suit and then got back in the car and left the city behind us. Soon we were driving down a one-lane road with beautiful forest on both sides. It was getting to be late afternoon as we turned down a little dirt road that went right through the forest. We still had to get rid of the car, because it was the last connection between me and Alvin, so we hid it under a tarp in the woods and walked the rest of the way on a little dirt trail through the trees, around a little pond, and then I think along this old abandoned logging road until we finally arrived at the Oakwood Hotel. It was a big brown wooden building with a pointed roof, three stories high, with maybe twenty rooms on every floor. You could tell that half the building had been a barn a long time ago, because the wood was so old, but the rest of it looked as new as the buildings in Los Angeles. There was a huge lawn next to the gravel parking lot, and this tiny restaurant where nobody ever seemed to eat, and a swimming pool about the size of Marcus’s apartment. The hotel was surrounded by forest on all sides, and the whole place smelled like tree sap all the time.

I guess Houston hadn’t arrived yet, so Julia went upstairs to her room and left me in the lobby rubbing my new haircut until he showed up. I was expecting him to look like Julia, but his skin was much darker. He didn’t have any of the little freckles that she had, and his hair was totally black and straight like a horse’s. He wasn’t wearing any suit—just blue jeans and a short-sleeved collared shirt—but it definitely still felt like he was totally in charge. Being around Houston, you got the feeling that he was the only one who knew exactly how everything worked and how to fix it when it broke. He was used to everybody doing what he said. Later I found out that he’d only been out of college a year, but he was more of an adult than Marcus, because Houston always talked and acted like a man twenty years older than he was. Just like Julia, he’d worked in hotels his entire life.

I made sure my first handshake with him was extremely firm, and I looked straight at his eyeballs while I did it, just like I’d practiced with Julia in the car. Then he took me into this tiny office behind the front desk, where we sat across from each other at a little wooden table with three different phones on it. Before we started talking, Houston just sat there looking at me for a minute. I was already sweating through my suit, because I knew he was looking at my face and that my chances of getting this job probably depended on what he saw there.

“Coffee?”

“I don’t really drink it.”

“That’s good. You’re lucky. But I’m going to have a cup.”

While he made the coffee, I realized that my hands were shaking. Houston sat down again with his coffee.

“Where’d you grow up, Joe?”

“I moved around a lot.” This was true, although we had only really moved around a lot inside Los Angeles. Julia had helped me memorize a bunch of lies—how I’d moved to Tennessee with my mother, and met Julia in a church—but I didn’t want to use them if I didn’t have to, because I felt like Houston would know. Luckily he never pushed me very much on where I came from.

“Julia certainly speaks highly of you. She tells me that you’re looking for a job.”

“That’s right.”

“Any job in particular?”

“Not really. Just whatever you need me to do.”

“Well, I’m not sure if she mentioned it, but our most urgent needs right now are at the swimming pool. Any experience with swimming pools?”

“Just the basics, mostly. But I’d be excited to learn.”

“I’m talking about standard maintenance and cleaning duties. You’d also be responsible for the hot tub and the equipment shed, as well as the pool laundry. The job involves some picking up after guests. Are you still interested?”

“Absolutely. Yes.”

“Now, for whatever reason, pool men have always been a tricky hire for me. Don’t ask me why, but the job tends to attract the worst kind of people. Antisocial and disruptive people. We’ve had a few terrible pool men. So if you don’t mind, I’d like to ask you a couple of questions, just to get to know you a bit. I can’t stress enough that none of the questions have right answers, so you can just relax and tell the truth.”

“Okay.”

Houston took out this pad of paper from the drawer under the table. “What’s your biggest weakness?”

I couldn’t believe he started with such a tough question. It definitely wasn’t one that Julia and I had practiced, and plus I didn’t like being interrogated, and I was already starting to go on tilt pretty badly. But just when I was starting to give up on the entire interview, suddenly an answer just came out of me.

“I feel pretty confused almost all the time,” I said.

Houston chuckled, and made a little note on his pad. “That’s a good one, Joe. Don’t we all.” I was surprised at how much he seemed to like my answer, because I thought it sounded pretty awful when I said it.

“Are you punctual?”

“Yes.”

“Do you drink?”

“No.”

“Drugs?”

“What?”

“Are you a loyal man?”

“Yes.”

“And what are your ambitions?”

“Ambitions?”

“What are your plans beyond this job?”

“I haven’t thought about it.”

Again I felt like I’d said the wrong thing, but Houston seemed to like that answer even more than my first one. He was the opposite of Marcus in a way.

“You don’t have any plans? You’re not looking to move on to something better?”

“No.”

“Any interest in college?”

“Not yet.”

“How old are you?”

“Eighteen.”

“That’s nothing to be ashamed of. I was a fine pool man at fifteen, if I do say so myself. Our father made sure we learned every job in the hotel. Did you graduate high school?”