Chapter Nineteen
A dull chatter began to run through the basement as the sun became more pronounced in the sky.
Vader appeared with doughnuts, orange juice, and bagels for everyone who had stayed the night.
His hosting prowess was honestly impressive.
Two doughnuts and half a bagel later, I felt awake enough to think about going home.
“Hey, I think Liv and I are gonna head out,” I said.
“Yeah, I gotta get home here in a minute too. You’re sure I can’t drive you?” Zack asked.
“I’m sure. I’m on edge enough as it is. I don’t wanna have to come up with a story about how you ended up picking me up at Kim’s.” I was already dreading the inevitable questions from my parents.
“Got it. Well, I had fun last night,” he said, those dimples coming out momentarily.
“Me too. I’ll text you later?”
“Yeah, sounds good.”
He kissed me, and I let him despite the morning breath. At least the taste of doughnut overshadowed it.
Grabbing my things, I let Liv pull me out into the morning air after her own goodbye to Vader. I heaved myself into the Jeep, hoping the heat worked quickly, but I almost jumped out of my skin when Liv attacked me.
“Ow!” I cried as my friend clutched my arm tightly, her nails digging into my flesh.
“Tell me everything, oh my god, like don’t leave out even one moment. Was it amazing? What did he say? What did you say? How did you do it? Was it so awkward? How is he—”
“You are cutting off the circulation to my hand!”
“Oh, yes, sorry. But not really. Because tell me.” She loosened her grip, but only slightly.
“You’re deranged. It was good, I guess. I don’t have anything to compare it to.”
“Well, he certainly seemed to think it was decent,” Liv replied, finally putting the car into gear and pulling onto the street.
“Ummmm, and how would you know that?”
“He wasn’t exactly discreet when he came out of that room. There may have been fist bumping involved.” She told this story without emotion, as if she were reciting the dining hall menu.
“ What ?”
“I mean, he didn’t like, say anything in particular. Just, I don’t know, it was kind of obvious.”
“Uuuggggghhhhhhhh, that is so humiliating.” My thoughts were swimming; I put my head between my legs and tried to breathe normally. “So everyone knows…”
“I don’t know, I’m just telling you what I saw. It’s not like he wasn’t going to tell his friends anyway, though, I don’t see what the huge deal is. I just wanna know if—”
“I am not talking about this anymore right now. I may throw up from mortification.”
“I don’t know what that means. Like you’re dying? Like a mortician?”
“No. Mortification. Embarrassment. And yes, I’m dying. Just kill me and put me out of my misery.”
I put my pink hood on and tried to strangle myself with the strings. It wasn’t going well. The look I’d gotten from some of the guys playing poker after…well, they took on a new layer of yuck now that I knew they knew.
“Don’t be so dramatic,” Liv mumbled, apparently coming to the realization that there would be no sordid details handed out from me.
“Just talk about something else,” I muttered from beneath my hood.
“Vader wants to be my boyfriend. I told him I’d think about it. I don’t know if I can seriously date someone named after a Star Trek character.”
“Congratulations,” I replied flatly. “It’s Star Wars . And it’s Garth, not Vader. Like Garth Brooks.”
Liv abruptly pulled over to the side of the road, and her gaze swung to me, her glare almost frightening.
“You let me go to homecoming with someone named Garth ?!” Her eyes widened in genuine horror. “Well, that is absolutely settled. No. Just… no. ”
A laugh escaped my mouth despite my mood. Liv’s dramatic reaction to this revelation was too absurd not to be funny. Within seconds, we were both laughing uncontrollably. My sides hurt, and tears streamed down my face, but it was the release I needed.
“You’re a little crazy. And coming from me? That’s saying something.”
“You might be right,” she agreed, pulling back onto the road.
When Liv dropped me off, I spotted the painters’ truck alongside the contractor’s vehicle.
Finally!
I practically tumbled out of the car and raced to the basement.
The newly stained floors were covered with brown paper, but the transformation was already stunning.
The main room was mostly white to showcase my art collection, but the largest wall now featured a turquoise and gold metallic quatrefoil pattern that felt like papyrus beneath my fingertips.
“So, you like it?” Mike asked, wandering into the room.
“It’s perfect,” I marveled. “Can I see the bedroom?”
I followed him and nearly gasped at the marshmallow-white walls and the metallic accents. The thin metal canopy bed had already been painted gold and assembled. Everything was coming together exactly as I’d imagined—off-white, gold, pops of jewel tones for drama.
“I should probably be thanking you! Shots of this remodel will go a long way in client meetings. If you ever become a designer, let me know,” Mike said, probably in jest, but my heart swelled at the compliment.
“A girl can dream,” I replied, unwilling to admit how much that was exactly what I wanted.
“Looks great down here, V,” my dad’s voice came from the living area.
“You really think so?” I asked excitedly, hopping back into that room.
“Absolutely. Mike here says it should all be done by middle of next week. Can’t wait to see it.”
“Does that mean I can start unpacking boxes and hanging things up?” I was practically salivating looking at the drill on the table.
“Unpacking, yes, but just set things around the room where you’d like them hung, and Mike will do that for you. I don’t want eight million holes in the walls.”
“Hmpf,” I huffed. “Can I at least help?”
“Sure thing,” Mike promised. This appeased me. Plus, it was difficult to dampen my mood anyway.
I spent the rest of the afternoon with a box cutter, ripping open boxes and staring in awe at the beautiful things that would soon occupy the space.
I was grateful for the project. It kept my mind solidly occupied and not over-analyzing last night.
I forgot to eat. Or shower. But I wouldn’t have traded that afternoon for anything.
Dinner finally rolled around, and my parents dragged me to the table for something green and leafy. I was starving and already envisioning a late-night trip through Wendy’s drive-thru.
It wasn’t until then I realized I hadn’t heard from Zack. Or maybe I had? I had lost my phone somewhere during my unpacking extravaganza.
Or you put it behind a pillow so that you wouldn’t keep checking it. Same difference.
“So how was the dance? We haven’t even seen you above ground all day,” my mom asked at dinner. The dance seemed like it took place eight years ago. I cleared my throat, trying to make the dance part of the evening sound like the most important part of my night.
“It was good! I danced, took some pictures, the decorations were pretty. All in all, a good time.”
“Sounds like a homecoming,” my dad answered, shrugging.
My pleasantly distracted mood continued throughout dinner, and then fatigue set in. My late-night Frosty run would have to be postponed. I grabbed my bag from the night before, my phone from behind the couch pillow, and I ventured up to my room for the first time all day.
My phone screen was full of messages. I had texts from Liv, from Kim, even one from Luke that was a picture of a horse, but there was nothing from Zack. My heart slowed some, but I realized I told him I would text him before I left Vader’s that morning. Hoping he wasn’t mad, I shot off a message.
V: Hey, sorry I didn’t text you before now. I’ve been unpacking everything in the basement—it’s almost done! You have to come see it this week. I had so much fun last night. Thanks for a memorable homecoming ;).
I threw my phone on the bed and showered quickly, wanting the warmth and comfort of my own bed.
Zack hadn’t responded by the time I was about to pass out, so I set my alarm and told myself I’d see him in the morning.
That rational thought, however, didn’t stop a pit from making itself known in the center of my stomach wondering what he was thinking, or who he had talked to about last night.
Maybe you should have been clear that you weren’t comfortable with him advertising your…whatever.
Another part of my brain hit back with the notion that I shouldn’t have to make that clear…because obviously?
But maybe for guys it’s not the same?
I fell into a fitful sleep wrestling with those questions.
* * *
“Vanessa Roberts, get up before you’re late for class,” my mother’s voice stated sternly as she shook me awake.
“Huh?” I rubbed my eyes, confused and disoriented.
“Your eight AM? That class you have every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday? It’s almost seven fifteen.”
“What?!”
I jumped up, throwing clothing from my closet onto my bed.
Five minutes later, I was being ushered into the car with a piece of toast in my hand, hair in a messy bun, and barely enough mascara to look alive.
I made it to class seconds before the professor closed the door, only to be greeted with a pop quiz I was completely unprepared for.
Just perfect . Who the fuck gives a quiz the Monday after homecoming?!
I closed my eyes and willed the whole morning to be a dream, and I’d wake up with plenty of time to look presentable and ideally look over the problem set I should have done while decorating.
It was possible I got two of the eight questions right. Visions of the campus tutoring center being forced upon me by my academic advisor danced around my head.
“Are you okay?” Kim asked on our way out of class .
“Other than looking like some zombie extra from a B-movie and failing a quiz? Yeah, I’m good.”
“Really? I thought…I don’t know, that after Saturday you might be…”
“What do you mean ‘after Saturday’? What happened on Saturday?”
Besides the obvious . But Kim didn’t know that. Fear shone in my friend’s brown eyes.
“Spill, friend.”
“I don’t know. I guess nothing? I must have heard incorrectly.”
“Well, tell me what you heard incorrectly, because I’m really not having the kind of morning that inspires patience.”
“Just that Zack and Jenna had…I don’t know, reunited?”
“Stop saying you don’t know and just spit it out.”
“I’m sorry! Sarah, the girl across the hall, was at the party and said she saw them in a compromising position when she went to her car to go home, but I don’t know her well, she could be completely misinformed. Obviously. You know how the rumor mill in this town gets—”
Anger surged from somewhere deep. It was enough already.
“Could you just stop being so fucking interested in what everyone else has going on? I seriously don’t know how you ‘hear’ this shit anyways.
Are you lurking around people with actual lives?
Just let it go, okay? Zack was with me all night on Saturday.
I can’t even believe you’re throwing this at me right now. I’ve gotta go.”
I could feel the blood rushing through my body, and I knew I left Kim in the hall with her eyes full of tears, but I felt no guilt at the moment. I just couldn’t take any more stupidity from anyone.
That is completely ridiculous. There’s no way…
I shoved any doubt that threatened to creep up down deep in my gut. My hand itched to grab my phone and send Zack a string of texts demanding that he explain. But I’d played that card a few too many times, and it never seemed to go well for me. So, I decided to breathe until I saw him at lunch.
My next class passed without incident, and the reality of what I’d said to one of my closest friends started to settle over me like a thick layer of dust. It was suffocating. Replaying the scene back in my head, I knew I crossed a line. An apology was forthcoming, but I didn’t have the words yet .
Instead, I slinked into biology, willing myself to be invisible. I had never shown up to class this unfortunate-looking, not even after early morning cheer practices.
Luke wasn’t in class, which was odd in and of itself, but I would have welcomed a comedic reprieve, even if it was at my own expense.
Professor Lessing began his lecture on the respiratory system or something, and I just couldn’t follow.
You’ll have to watch The Magic School Bus later , I thought, knowing Ms. Frizzle had to have something in the way of the respiratory system.
The classroom door swung open, and as if mesmerized by this occurrence, the whole class refocused their eyes at the back of the room.
Luke sauntered in, his usual grin gracing his face, but it didn’t reach his eyes.
This was mostly because one of his eyes was covered by the wrapping of an ice pack pressed against his cheek.
“I trust you’ve all seen a human walk through a door before.
If we could please continue on…” the professor scolded.
Luke sat down next to me and got out his notes.
I grabbed his notebook and wrote Are you okay?
on the corner of the page. Peachy, he wrote back, and I just grimaced and attempted to focus on the lecture.
While everyone was packing up, I asked again. “Hey, what happened to you?”
“Nothing” he answered with a cold smile.
“Okay? What’s the deal here…I thought we were cool?”
He sighed. “We’re fine, V. Nothing happened. I got elbowed in the face this morning playing two-on-two at the gym. That’s it. Just embarrassing. Even more so having to come in late with a god damned ice pack on my face.”
“Oh. I’m sorry. It’s not that noticeable,” I lied, looking at the darkening bruise along his cheekbone. Something about his story just didn’t ring true, but it wasn’t my business.
Even though he has no problem being up in your business . Whatever.
“Sure,” he laughed as we walked out. I didn’t try to keep up with him. I had to figure out what the hell I was going to say to Kim before I saw her at lunch.
This is going to be brutal .