Chapter 45 Nellie
Nellie
Pine needles crunch under my Keds, looking like tinsel scattered across the ground.
The party is in less than an hour, and I’m racing around, getting things ready. I’ve picked this particular spot behind the garage, on the far side of our property, because the woods here are thickest.
It’s the perfect place to make out, stash beer. Of course, I’ve been here before with Dustin, but now I’m anxious to bring Luke out here. Away from everyone. I tuck a picnic blanket behind a wide tree trunk, wedging in a six-pack beneath it.
Shivers run all over me as I think about getting Luke all to myself.
Mom said I was allowed to have him up in my room, but I don’t trust her not to spy, not to snoop. Plus, my room is so frilly with my Madonna posters and my flowery wallpaper, I’d honestly be embarrassed for him to see it. He’d think I was a teenybopper loser.
It’s steaming today; I just got out of the shower, and my hair was still wet when I walked out here, but it’s already dried, the sun blazing through the trees, mosquitoes nipping at my skin.
I look back at our house, our mansion, try to imagine it through Luke’s eyes.
Will he be impressed, like Mom thinks he will?
The only reason she talked me into doing this bash was saying she thought it’d be smart to get Luke on our own turf, to let him see what we’re all about.
And the opportunity to see him again so soon—not at the swimming hole or at the Circles with those losers—was, well, I mean…
But now I’m all twisting myself into knots, thinking about his reaction.
Will he just stick me in the rich-bitch category?
Not that that seems to bother him as far as Blair is concerned.
Will all this nauseate him? Or will he think it’s cool?
Like maybe Dad’s toys—his four-wheeler, his golf cart, his rifle collection, his archery target, all just a few steps from where I am right now.
The house looks like it’s dressed up for a wedding: the valets out front in black tuxes, red, white, and blue ribbons tied from our long white columns, the fountain out front bubbling with water. A giddy feeling comes over me—it kinda is like a wedding in a way: mine.