7 Library #2
My heart made a weird flutter. “You couldn’t wait six days to see me?” I smiled. The panic dissolving as quickly as it had arrived.
“Six days? No chance. Way too long, Doc. I’ll have forgotten what you look like by then. Your little turned-up nose, the way your hair tries so hard to escape from behind your ears, that freckle on your left cheek. Gone. Wiped. Willa who?”
I bit my lip. “Well, maybe this week I could swing by after school.”
“Good.” He nodded like we’d just signed a contract. “And I’m going to come to your house sometime and look at those beams, okay?”
My heart swelled and dropped at the same time. That meant Pop meeting him. It meant walking down Main Street together and opening myself up to questions from anyone I’d ever known. And my house? He’d see everything. The rotting beams, the chipped paint, how small my life really was up close.
I shook my head. “You don’t have to.”
“I want to.”
“Okay,” I whispered.
Then we heard the unnaturally loud jingling of keys from Jo’s desk and smiled at each other.
“We’d better go.”
Pop was asleep on the couch when I got in, and I was relieved. I didn’t want to relive our fight.
I went into my room as quietly as possible and took out Mom’s notebook, picking out a random page.
Lisa May called from Prague today. 2 a.m. her time! She was drunk on cheap wine and laughing about getting lost in some castle. She said she met some guy from Australia. Or maybe it was Austria, hard to tell with the connection.
She asked when I’m coming to visit. I told her maybe next year even though we both know that isn’t true.
Willa’s asleep beside me right now. She has her little fists balled up by her face, like she’s ready to fight the world, even in her dreams.
Why would I ever want to leave?
I closed the notebook and held it to my chest. Like she’s ready to fight the world, even in her dreams.
I was ready to fight the world. To fight my way out of this place and see the world.
I thought about Theo, about the kissing, and how much I needed to tell Lennie all about it.
There was an ache in my gut when I thought about how much I missed her already.
But also … was Lennie right? I remembered what Theo had said about change.
Maybe I had made her feel uncomfortable, maybe I had been talking too much about Theo and about London, and maybe I hadn’t been listening when she was talking.
I guess I’d always been an Oak Falls cheerleader.
She was the one who always wanted out of this place.
So maybe, maybe for Lennie, my change of heart was kind of out of the blue?
I missed her so much. I swallowed my pride.
Me: SOS!
Me: I’m so so so so sorry … x
She didn’t make me wait even ten seconds.
Lennie: SOS!
Lennie: Me too … x
Me: I seriously miss you, and I don’t ever want you to think I don’t care about your life. That I don’t care about you and Sara. I’m so happy you’re happy …
Lennie: I know. Like of course I know. I just got freaked out that I was going to lose my best friend
Me: You could never lose me Len x
Lennie: Good, because I don’t think I can cry any more x
Me:
Lennie: So tell me, what’s been happening in your life? I want to know everything!
Me: Same! Every detail ? And there kind of is one thing …
Lennie: WHAT?!
Me: We kind of kissed … a lot
Lennie: You and Theo?
Me: Me and Theo …
Lennie: OMG! WILLA! This is so exciting! We need to hang out. Little Acorn early morning? ?
Me: Wouldn’t miss it for the world. I’ll skip my run. Coffees on me xx
Lennie: Can’t wait ? x
And I couldn’t either.
The next morning, I took a shower and let my hair dry naturally, the normal way.
Not to try to look British, or French, or anything else I wasn’t.
I just wanted to look like me again. I pulled out my favorite green sweater, threw on my jacket, and walked to the Little Acorn.
I couldn’t stop thinking about Theo as I walked along Maple Street.
The way he kissed me. Soft, but firm, and completely addictive.
I breathed in the earthy early-morning air.
I was meeting my best friend, and I had a hot guy into me. Life couldn’t get much better.
The little bell dinged as I walked in. I ordered two pumpkin spice lattes and sat at the seat in the window.
“There she is,” said Geoff’s kind, soft voice. “How are the studies going? London School of Journalism? Very fancy.” He nodded in approval. “They won’t know what hit them.”
It was nice that everyone knew about it now.
Somehow it seemed less like a dirty secret.
I’d told Krista and Avery first, and they were so sweet about it, asking tons of questions.
And I guess because Krista knew, most of the town knew too.
For once I didn’t mind the gossip, but it did add some extra pressure.
Now I actually had to pass the exam and go. But maybe that was a good thing.
My eyes landed on someone else coming out of the storeroom. Tall, dark-haired, square-jawed, my age … no, a bit older. Handsome. Really handsome.
Geoff caught my gaze. “Willa, meet James. My son. I mean, of course you would have met years ago, but James has been out of the house for a while now, so you might not recognize him.”
Geoff smiled, and James looked up briefly. “Hello,” he said.
“Hey, nice to meet you,” I said. Of course I remembered James, but mostly for bad reasons …
When Pop and I used to come into the coffee shop after school, the older two boys, Sam and Kyle, would take me outside and swing me around, making me laugh until my stomach hurt.
But James, he was different. Standoffish, intense.
Then when I was like eleven he’d kissed me under the Kissing Tree.
My first kiss. I remember being outraged that he didn’t ask, and our names never got carved in the bark …
“Dad, I’ll be in the back with the books if you need me.”
“Okay, thanks, son,” Geoff said. He looked so proud. I remembered him once saying something about James’s fiancée, how James didn’t come home much, and I got the impression it was all kinds of complicated. But maybe whatever it was had all worked out.
James disappeared, and Geoff brought over two cinnamon rolls.
“He’s been such a great help since he’s been back.
” Geoff nodded in the direction James had gone.
“I don’t want to count my chickens, and I’d never say anything to Lana, but I really think he might stay in Oak Falls.
” Geoff all but squealed with excitement, and I couldn’t help smiling along with him.
“I’m so glad you’ll have someone to pick up the slack,” I said. I had been feeling pretty guilty about leaving him short-staffed.
“You enjoy these on the house. Just don’t tell James.” Geoff held a finger to his lips and winked.
Just then, Lennie burst through the door like a rainbow. Multicolored scarf in her black hair, fluffy blue sweater, and sparkly green Doc Martens. She rushed over to me and I stood up, hugging her. I breathed in her scent. The familiar spicy, citrusy Lennie perfume.
“Let’s never fight again,” I pleaded.
“Never.”
Lennie wrapped her fingerless gloves around the latte. “Thanks for this, I’ll get the next one. So tell me, everything. Forget everything I said about always talking about Theo, now I want to know. I need to know.” She wiggled her eyebrows, and I laughed.
“No. Tell me about Sara first!”
Lennie burst into even more vibrant life. “Well, like we’re actually going out now. And she asked me! We’re hard-launching at Krista’s Halloween party.”
“Oh my God, seriously? What are you going as?”
“Robin and Vickie from Stranger Things.”
“Awesome.”
“Willa, it’s so weird. I mean, not weird, it’s amazing, but like I’ve never had anybody who gets me like Sara.
I mean, apart from you. It’s like she knows what I’m going to say before I say it, and we like the same things, and it’s just …
I don’t know, easy? Like I’ve been waiting my whole entire life to feel like this and I didn’t even know.
Does that even make any sense?” Lennie smiled, then looked embarrassed.
“It makes total sense. I’m so happy for you, Len.” I reached over and squeezed Lennie’s tiny hands in mine.
“Tell me about the Weatherman. Like how much making out have you been doing?” Lennie made a face. “And has it only been making out?” She lowered her voice for the last part.
“Lennie!” I acted shocked. “Of course it’s just been making out. But a lot. And in the library.”
“You harlot!” Lennie laughed.
“And we’re still doing tons of studying—”
“Of each other’s tonsils,” Lennie added. “Now I know why you didn’t want me to help you with the studying …”
And then we dissolved into giggles like we were twelve again.
“But no, seriously. It’s a lot.” I bulged my eyes out for emphasis. “And I’ve only got a few weeks left before this exam.”
“I have total faith in you, Will,” Lennie announced. She leaned over to hug me, and I couldn’t have been happier to have my best friend back.