Chapter Nine #2
Alex raised his eyebrows. “If the thing you’re talking about is the thing I think it is, then yes.”
I looked between Alex and the girls. What were they talking about? Alex grabbed his keys from nearby, tossed them to Greyson, and the girls disappeared before I could question them.
“What thing?” I pointed my spoon at him again.
He passed me the bowl of custard and backed away. “No offense, but they’re scarier than you, and I can’t risk pissing them off.”
A few minutes later, we met the girls in the living room.
Kitty ripped open a large manila envelope and dumped a mess of colorful cardboard pieces onto the floor.
I watched from the couch (where I sat with an entire cushion between me and Alex) as Kitty and Greyson fit one piece of cardboard into another, unsure what I was looking at.
But a few minutes later, a life-sized cardboard cutout of Zac Efron as Troy Bolton stood before me.
Kitty explained she’d gotten it from someone on Craigslist but hadn’t wanted to tell me in case it didn’t arrive on time.
“Wow.” I stood to inspect the cardboard Zac. If I’d thought Alex had gone all out on the food, it was nothing compared to the girls and their decorating. Nina and Ollie were the only real guests, but the girls had wanted to make a big thing of it anyway.
“We thought it would be great in your pictures for the blog,” Kitty said.
“I love it,” I said, and pulled Kitty into a hug.
“You shouldn’t be on Craigslist, you know.
” I was reminded of Nina’s many Craigslist adventures.
There’d been a year when, every Friday, Nina would respond to the most “unique” Craigslist ad she could find, just to see what would happen.
She’d bought the ugliest bicycle I’d ever seen, become friends with a lonely old lady who wanted someone to see the new Star Wars movie with her, and had nearly gotten arrested rescuing black-market guinea pigs.
“You should be proud of me,” Kitty said. “The seller wanted to meet in person, and I was like, No way, you could be a murderer.”
“She really did say that,” Mia said.
Greyson jumped up and down as she spoke. “And the guy was totally offended and didn’t want to sell it to us. So Dad had to call him on the phone and offer him double the money. And then—”
“Everything was completely normal, and I definitely didn’t have to listen to him tell me about his bearded dragons for over an hour,” Alex said.
“It’s great,” I said, moved that they had put so much thought into this. “Thanks, girls. And Alex.” I scanned the living room. “Where should we put it?”
A timer went off, and Alex excused himself to the kitchen. Moments later, Nina stepped inside, decked out in a ringleader costume complete with a top hat.
“You know this isn’t a costume party, right?” I asked. “Technically, it’s not even a party.”
Nina strode over to cardboard Zac. “It is now. I make a great P. T. Barnum, and a girl has to look nice for her best friend’s blog.” She kissed cardboard Zac’s cheek. “This is just as amazing as I expected.”
“You knew about this too?”
“We needed her expertise,” Mia said.
“I helped them find it. You know I’m always up for a Craigslist adventure.”
I rolled my eyes and grabbed Nina by the shoulders, steering her in the direction of the box of decorations Greyson had set on the coffee table. “Make yourself useful at least.”
“I’ve got more supplies in the car,” she said, and sprinted out the door.
An excited buzz ran through the room as we set up various Zac Efron–inspired displays.
There was the High School Musical station on the coffee table, with basketball napkins, plates, and a toy microphone.
The Greatest Showman station on the side table had a deck of cards and a top hat along with animal figurines.
The Hairspray station in the dining room had, well, a lot of different hairsprays.
They weren’t real hairsprays, but sprayable foods we decorated to look like hairspray: Cheez Whiz and whipped cream, mostly.
The girls hung red and white streamers around the room, and by the time we were done, Alex’s condo had become a literal shrine to Zac Efron, thanks to Nina, who’d printed photos and stuffed them into thrifted frames.
When Greyson called Alex out of the kitchen to see our work, he picked up one of the framed Zac photos Nina had put on the coffee table and examined it, his expression serious.
For a moment I worried that this was all too much, that I’d let the girls get carried away, despite everything Alex had told me about his hippie parents and learning to go with the flow, but then he looked up at us with a grin.
“I love it so much I think I’ll keep it up year-round.” Our eyes met for what felt like a moment too long, and he looked away, turning to Nina. “You’re a big thrifter, right?”
Nina blinked. “That would be correct.”
“My parents sent me a box of some of their old clothes from the sixties and seventies. They want me to try to sell them, see if they’re worth anything. I was wondering if you would lend me your expert knowledge and take a look?”
“Uh, sure.” Her eyes darted to me as she followed Alex to what I assumed was his room.
I sat on the couch and watched as Greyson taught Mia and Kitty one of the dance routines from High School Musical.
Whenever Greyson paused the music, I could hear the tone of Alex and Nina’s conversation through the open door.
Nina said something, and Alex laughed, and I tried to ignore the flicker of disappointment beneath my ribs.
Not disappointment for me, of course. I was sorry for Alex.
For all his good qualities, there’d be no hope for him with Nina, not when Ollie was still coming around.
As if I’d summoned him, a voice outside mumbled curses and there was a knock on the door.
“You made it!” I said when I opened the door and found Ollie. I hadn’t seen him since his last day, and though Alex was a good replacement (maybe too good), I missed my foulmouthed Irishman. Lurching forward, I wrapped him into a tight hug.
“I wouldn’t miss your party,” Ollie said.
“It’s not a party.”
Ollie followed me into the living room and took the seat beside me on the couch, waving to the girls, who greeted him back before immediately ducking their heads together to gossip.
Ollie scanned the condo. “She’s in there.” I pointed down the hall to Alex’s bedroom, where Alex and Nina’s laughter floated through the door. Ollie raised his eyebrows, bristling beside me.
Maybe inviting Ollie wasn’t such a great idea after all. I cleared my throat. “How’s Il Gabbiano?”
Ollie rubbed his chin. “It’s . . . different. Grand. A lot more cooks in the kitchen, though.”
Alex and Nina left the bedroom and sat at the dining room table. Alex called us over, and Nina’s expression soured as soon as she spotted Ollie.
“So that’s the new fella,” Ollie said as we stood from the couch. “He’s pretty.”
“Don’t be jealous,” I said, though maybe I was talking to myself too.
“What’s Nina wearing? She’s touched, isn’t she?”
“That’s why we love her.”
After I introduced him to Alex, Ollie turned his attention to Nina. “Hey, Neen. You look good.”
Nina ignored him and turned to me. “What is he doing here, Josephine?”
“Are Mia and Kitty calling me?” I cupped a hand around my ear and backed out of the dining room. Nina might act mad about Ollie being here, but I knew she’d thank me for it eventually.
Back in the living room, I pulled out my phone to take photos for the blog. This was definitely the strangest way I’d checked off an item, and I wondered what my readers would think of it. Weird? Funny? Both? I snapped photos of the decorations and the girls with cardboard Zac.
“You’re up next.” I looked behind me, and there was Alex with his hand outstretched.
“All right, all right.” I handed him my phone and stood beside cardboard Zac.
“At least look like he’s your celebrity crush,” Alex said.
I put my arm around cardboard Zac’s shoulders. “Chris Evans is my celebrity crush.”
Alex shook his head. “Typical.” He held up the phone. “On three say, Damn, Chef Alex, you’re a yachtie hottie.”
I turned to cardboard Zac. “Did he just use the phrase ‘yachtie hottie’?”
“Don’t fight it, Jo. I’m going to earn the nickname Hot Yacht Chef, even if I have to dress as a sexy George Washington again for the Fourth of July charter.”
“Dress up as a sexy George Washington again? What kind of yachts have you been sailing on, Chef Alex?”
Alex grinned from behind my phone. “Never mind that, Florida Girl. One, two . . .” Predictably he took the photo on two, as I was still laughing.
“You didn’t give me time to rearrange my face!”
“I don’t see why you’d want to rearrange it.” He passed my phone back to me. The photo was better than I expected, even if my eyes were crinkly and my mouth was half-open. I looked happy. Real happy, not stew-smile happy.
I slipped my phone into my pocket and looked back at the dining room, where Nina and Ollie seemed to be in the middle of a heated discussion. “Did you need to escape the drama that is Nina and Ollie?”
Alex raised his eyebrows and let out a low whistle. “That is some . . . unresolved tension.”
“See why she hated you so much?”
“Hard to say.” Alex looked over at them. “I think hate and love look like the same thing with her.”
Was he talking about Nina and Ollie, or how Nina had felt about him that first week? Maybe he really did have a thing for her. And why wouldn’t he? She was exciting, gorgeous, creative. Maybe Nina sensed Alex’s feelings for her. Maybe that was why she’d been so persistent in pushing him at me.