9 Library
OUR KISS IN THE RAIN had been like something from a movie.
I couldn’t count the number of times I played it over in my head, round and round, and each time I remembered more details.
Like where Theo’s hands where, the feeling of his fingers on my waist, the way his cheekbones popped under the streetlight in the shine of the rain.
When these thoughts came to me at school, I literally bit my tongue to get them out of my head.
I hesitated before I sent the message to him now. I really—really—wanted to see him. But I had learned from my mistakes, and I needed to put in the time with Lennie.
Me: Hey. I just wanted to let you know that I won’t be able to come to the library today ?, I’m meeting up with Lennie, we’re really getting our friendship back on track. Don’t work too hard without me x
I typed and deleted the x a thousand times. Was it too much? Should I have added another one? Then I got frustrated and just hit Send.
I felt my phone buzz during government, so I slid out my cell and hid it under the desk. The buzz wasn’t a message at all. Just a thumbs-up emoji.
I stared at the screen as stealthily as I could, waiting for the message to follow.
Theo is typing …
And then he wasn’t …
Theo is typing …
And then he wasn’t.
“Are you with us, Ms. Taylor?” Mr. Schade looked at me skeptically.
“I am, sorry, Mr. Schade, I was just turning off my cell.” I smiled and made a big thing of dropping the phone into my bag as Mr. Schade went back to talking about some president.
There was still no message after class. Just that stupid little thumb sitting there, saying a million different things that I couldn’t decipher.
I was mega-irritated by the time I got to the coffee shop.
After all the time we’d been spending together?
After that last kiss? All I got was a thumbs-up?
The familiar smell of the coffee shop couldn’t calm me down today.
Lennie had stayed after school to talk to a teacher, so we were meeting at the Acorn, where I’d promised to grab our favorite table before the afternoon rush.
I ordered hot cocoa and some pumpkin cookies, hoping the sweet, rich chocolate and serious sugar overload would make a difference.
“Oh my God, why so angry?” Lennie dumped her bag on the floor and sat down opposite me. I hadn’t even seen her come in, since I was just staring at that goddamn thumb on my screen.
“How’d you know I was angry?”
“Psychic.” She grinned. “Or maybe those little lines between your eyes.”
“Well, you’re not going to believe this.” I was really pissed.
“Try me.” Lennie propped her chin on her hands as I told her everything.
“It was literally the most perfect kiss. Like seriously. It was a movie kiss, in the pouring rain in the middle of the street. I mean, I’ve been spending all my time with him.”
Lennie snorted in agreement. “Yes you have … But you can’t just thumbs-up after a kiss. And definitely not after a kiss like that …”
“I don’t get it. At all. I thought … I don’t know, I kind of thought we were really together or something? And now I feel like I’ve totally misread the situation.”
Lennie looked at me sternly. “No. This is not your fault, not one bit, so you will not go around thinking that. Okay?”
“Okay.” I nodded, but I was unconvinced.
“Maybe … he was just super excited to see you today and now he’s sad?”
“I don’t think that’s it.” I stuffed my cookie in my mouth.
“Look, it must have been a big deal for the Weatherman to go all soft and gooey with you. I can’t believe I’m the one saying this—you must have taught me well—but why don’t you give him the benefit of the doubt?
Invite him to Krista’s party? He’ll have to answer the invitation either way.
Ooh—you can wear something hot. Like you can theme up with me and Sara if you want?
Stranger Things? I think you might have missed that whole convo.
You could be Chrissy the cheerleader from season four?
Or Max? You’ve already got the red hair! ” Lennie had a million ideas.
“I don’t know …” Would it be weird to ask, after the thumb?
“Let’s draft a message and then you can decide if you want to send it.” Lennie held out her hand for my phone and starting typing like mad.
Me: Oh, btw, Lennie was just telling me about our friend’s Halloween party on Friday if you wanted to go with me?
My finger hovered over the Send button. If I sent this message and he said no, or gave me a thumbs-up, I didn’t know if I could handle it. That kiss had been movie-perfect, and now he’d what? Panicked? Changed his mind?
I could still feel the rain on my face. His lips on mine …
“Send it! He’d be lucky to go to a party with you!” Lennie insisted. So I inhaled and hit Send, deliberately not looking at the stupid thumb as I did.
Theo is typing …
Theo is typing …
I held my breath. And this time an actual message popped up on-screen.
Theo: Sorry can’t, I’ve got plans then.
With a lump in my throat, I showed Lennie the screen. I knew it, I knew the real Theo was an ass. I should have trusted my instincts, because first impressions always count.
“I didn’t even tell him what time it was.” My voice was shaking in anger.
Lennie was disgusted. “Okay—I’m changing my mind. Screw this guy, you don’t need him at all.”
“You’re so right. I don’t need him! I’ll get into the program without him too.”
“Obviously.” Lennie took the phone from my hand and put it face down on the table. She squeezed my hands and looked into my eyes. “You’re Willa Taylor. Stunning Queen of Fire. You do not need some stupid weatherman-child distracting you from your destiny.”
And just like that, something snapped. “You’re always right, Len. I’m going to focus on me. I don’t even remember his name,” I said, almost convinced.
“Whose name?” Lennie played along.
“Exactly.”
James, Geoff’s son, brought two more lattes to the table. “My dad is trying to give you these for free, but this isn’t a charity, so I’ll have to ask you to pay.”
Lennie reached into her pocket and pulled out a ten-dollar bill. She handed it to him without saying anything. When he left, we laughed.
“Begone miserable boy energy,” Lennie declared.
By the time the Halloween party rolled around, the gang had convinced me to join in their group costume, and I decided I’d dress up as Max from Stranger Things. All I needed were jeans, sneakers, and a T-shirt, and I found exactly what I needed in the thrift store on Main Street.
“What do you think?” I asked Pop, posing with a peace sign.
“I think I’ve gone back in time, because your mom had an outfit just like that,” he said, then smiled.
“She bought the shirt in a thrift store too. She loved finding treasures like that.” His voice got softer.
“That’s what she called them. Treasures.
She always said that the best things had history, that they lived a life before they got to you. ”
He blinked and laughed. “The life of a shirt.” He shook his head like it was ridiculous.
“I love that,” I said, playing with the hem.
“I do too,” admitted Pop. “She saw the world her own way …”
I finished getting ready for the party, and I shoved Theo out of my head every time he tried to slink in. I was a Queen of Fire, whatever that was.
I had just finished with my hair when the doorbell rang.
“Pop, can you get that?”
But there was no answer, so I sighed and walked to the door. I opened it to find two little vampires. Vampires I recognized as Theo’s niece and nephew.
“Trick or treat!” they said together. I pretended to be scared before grabbing the basket of candy beside the door.
Alfie and Hadley Carmichael were standing at the bottom of the driveway, waiting.
“Hey.” I waved cheerily. As if Theo was the last person on my mind.
“Just one each!” Hadley came up the path to stop Elsie and Cohen from raiding the basket. “Sorry, Willa, I’m not sure where their manners have gone. How are you, honey?”
“I’m great, thanks. Heading out soon,” I said.
Hadley smiled. “Going out. Oh, I remember those days.”
Elsie and Cohen ran back to Alfie to show him their stash, but Hadley stayed behind. “Theo says he’s been running into you at the library?”
And there it was. The fast heartbeat, the palms that pricked with sweat, the desire to slam the door in her pretty face.
“Yeah …” I tried to sound like we hadn’t kissed right there on the street where his niece and nephew were playing.
“Let me tell you, he was such a grouch until he met you.” Hadley smiled and I looked at the ground.
“I don’t know about that …” I forced out a weird-sounding laugh.
“Well, whatever you’re doing, please don’t stop, he’s much more pleasant to live with since sweet Willa Taylor lit up his life.
But look, I better go, those two are trying to get to every house in Oak Falls before bedtime.
” Hadley rolled her eyes, then leaned over and hugged me. “I can see why he likes you so much.”
“Hadley?” Alfie called from the street, where he was being dragged away by the kids.
“Coming! See you later, Willa, and thanks for the candy.”
I closed the door, then leaned on it, just about stopping myself from sliding to the floor. No. I didn’t care if he was nicer to live with, he wasn’t being nice to me. I needed to focus on myself. And the party.
Pop appeared in the living room, and I actually smelled him before I saw him.
“Is that cologne?” I asked, sniffing the musky air.
“Is it too much?” Pop asked, a little embarrassed. “I was just trying it out. But listen, Willa, I got a message from Jo, and she said Theo’s at the library on his own. Did you think of maybe asking him to this party you’re going to? He seems like a great boy.”
I snorted. “He’s at the library?” I said under my breath. So much for those plans he had.
“That’s what Jo said.” Pop filled up the half-empty candy basket beside me.
“But wait, hold on. Are you and Jo, like, a thing?” I asked. Pop with a social life was kind of fun.