Aries Rising (16 page)

 

20

WHEN YOU FIND YOURSELF IN UNFAMILIAR TERRI-
TORY, DRAW UPON THE STRENGTH OF YOUR SUN SIGN.
IF YOU ARE FIRE (ARIES, LEO, SAGITTARIUS), BE FEAR-
LESS. IF YOU ARE EARTH (TAURUS, VIRGO, CAPRI-
CORN), BE STEADY AND STRONG. IF YOU ARE AIR
(GEMINI, LIBRA, AQUARIUS), ASK QUESTIONS, COM-
MUNICATE. IF YOU ARE WATER (CANCER, SCORPIO,
PISCES), RELY ON YOUR INTUITION.

 

 

 

 

 

Ask
question. I needed to remember that today. It was still dark when we arrived in the city. Chili’s dad had given us a loaner to drive. And to Andy Chiliderian, a BMW was just that. He was furious about the damage to
Chili’s Spyder and maybe even more so about what had happened to her costume. Andy adored his only daughter, and I knew whoever broke into the car would be in big trouble.

“It had to be Kat and Dina,” Chili said. “No one else hates us like that.”

“You never know,” I told her. “Since I found that astrology book last spring, I’ve learned a lot about being hated.”

“Make that being envied,” Chili said, and glanced in the rearview mirror. “Paigie, I am so glad you are going to be wearing the Aphrodite costume.”

Like most Geminis, she was a nickname person. But she hadn’t called Paige that since middle school.

“You’re okay with your own costume, aren’t you?” I asked her.

“Thanks to you two, I can pull it off. Who knows? Maybe Alex is into minimalist.”

Alex is into you.
That’s what she wanted me to say and what I wished I could say, but I couldn’t. He was a wandering too-old Sadge, and I had witnessed his wandering in a certain hotel not so long ago.

Silence filled the car louder than music, even Arianna Woods’s music, which is what happened to be playing. So Paige must feel the same way I did about Alex. The only difference was that I had a reason neither of them knew about.

“I really care about him,” Chili said.

“I know,” I said. “Sometimes really caring can suck.”

“It doesn’t suck for me.” She continued looking straight ahead. “Have you ever considered that the reason you
distrust Alex so much is because of Jeremy’s disappearing act?”

“Chili,” Paige said. “Please, let’s not go there.”

“Chili is right.” Just like that, I knew I had been avoiding what had been clear to everyone else. “Jeremy has dumped me, and I just can’t accept it. Once I finally called, all I got was his answering machine, with a girl’s voice on it.”

“He found someone in Ireland?”

“She didn’t sound Irish. But she was on his phone.”

“Call him again,” Chili said.

“You need to find out.” Paige squeezed my shoulder from the backseat. “It could have been his sister.”

“He doesn’t have a sister,” I said.

“Well then, maybe you should call him.”

I knew Paige was right. Knew Chili was right. But I was still as much in love with Jeremy as I had been in Monterey. My friends were basically telling me to choose between my fantasy of love and reality. I couldn’t keep pretending.

“Okay, here goes.” I took out my phone and pressed the keypad.

The phone’s ringing sounded like chimes. Once. Twice. Then, “Hi. This is Tori.”

It was the same voice I had heard before, and it made me feel sick, cold, and clammy all over.

“Could I speak to Jeremy?”

“Who’s calling?”

“Um, may I just speak to Jeremy.”

“I asked you who’s calling. I’m his girlfriend. Who are you?”

“Logan,” I said. “His other girlfriend.”

For a moment, I felt the world freeze between us.

“Logan?” She paused. “He was supposed to tell you.” Her voice was soft now, almost a whisper, but I could still hear the pity in it. “Didn’t he tell you that we’re together now? I’m so sorry. I ...”

My phone went dead.

So did I.

“Is it bad?” Chili finally asked.

“Bad,” I said. But I didn’t cry. “Let’s talk about it later, okay? We have enough to deal with right now.”

“Logan, you have to tell us.”

“I can’t,” I said, cold all over now, frozen to the bone. “Let’s just say that the mystery is solved, and I no longer have a boyfriend.”

So now I knew for sure what I had suspected all along. Jeremy had found someone else and hadn’t cared enough to let me know. I couldn’t deal with it yet, though. Chili dropped me off at the hotel. From there, they would go to the Chiliderians’ place in the Embarcadero. I wouldn’t see them again until they walked in, fully costumed, tonight. And in Chili’s case, minimally costumed. But Paige could perform miracles, and Chili could pull off just about anything.

“I know you’ll both look hot,” I said. “You already do.”

“So do you.” Paige hugged me. “Don’t feel bad. You’ve got a killer costume and friends who love you.”

“I really do like my Sherlock,” I told her.

“You work that Sherlock. It rocks.” She gave me a conspiring Pisces grin. “And you were right about what you said.
You know, how I always take up the rear. I’m warning you right now that if Graciela likes my costume, I’m riding home in the front seat on Sunday.”

“You’re going to ride up there anyway,” I said, “regardless of what happens.”

My friends. I watched them pull away into that fine, chaotic energy of San Francisco. I could get through this breakup with Jeremy. Somehow, I would do it. And tonight, I’d work my Sherlock, and no one, not even my best friends, would know what was going on inside me.

“Hey, Logan.”

I turned to see a girl in jeans, an oversized
Mellick
tee and a baseball cap. No makeup, but I had no problem recognizing Arianna.

“Hey.” I said. “You look like everyone else.”

“That’s the point.” She rushed up to me. “I just got here.”

“Me too.” She looked sober. That was a good thing.

“Aren’t you with someone?” I asked. Where were her people? I was certain they would have her on a short leash today.

“Dude. I’m with the only person I need to be with.” She smiled with such hope that I felt like hugging her.

“Josh?” I remembered how it felt to believe the way she must be right now. How had I ever gotten more cynical than Arianna Woods?

“He’s the one. You were right about Gemini and Capricorn. We’re working it out.”

“You can handle the Earth sign of Capricorn,” I said, “Especially with that Aries Moon of yours. He can calm you down.”

“Aries Moon?” she asked. “Where’d you come up with that?”

“Your astrology chart,” I said. “You have an Aries Moon, don’t you?”

She shook her head. “Based on that astro stuff you told me to check out, my Moon is in Leo. Which explains why I like performing so much, right? And makes Josh and me an even better match.”

For a moment, I couldn’t figure out how to reply to her. Then I asked, “How do you know that your Moon is in Leo, Arianna?”

“Dude, because it just is. Want to see my chart?”

“No,” I said. “I believe you.”

“Well, I owe you. Until that day we talked, I knew my Sun sign, but that was about it. Now ...” That blissed-out expression again.

“My offer is still good,” I told her. “If you want me to do a compatibility chart for you and Josh, I mean.”

“I’ll let you know if we need one.” She gave me that in-love look again. “We’d better get up there. The service elevator is busted again, but the regular one is okay. No one’s going to recognize me.”

“You use the service elevator?” I asked, remembering Alex Keen, and that night in the hotel that I had watched him go into her room.

“Oh, yeah.” She pulled the cap down over her eyes and shoved some strands up into it. “Dude, I’ll be okay. Just stay close to me. Josh promised to meet me upstairs. I understand what you were trying to tell me about him. He’s an
Earth sign, and I love his stability. He makes me feel safe.”

“Good.” That was about all I could say to her Air sign barrage of words.

The elevator dinged. No one seemed to be paying any attention to us, so, the moment the doors opened, we stepped inside.

“Look.” She turned and pulled down her jeans. There, on the tanned rise of her butt, was a tattoo, a V-shape, but the right side swirled into a kind of spiral. Of course. It was a glyph of the Capricorn goat.

“Cool,” I said.

“I have Gemini on the other side. Check it out.”

“Later,” I said. “The door’s going to open any second. Are those new?”

Good for me. I’d lost the boy I loved but had another astro convert. Make that Gemini astro convert. The problem was, that was all I had. I had been tricked into thinking Arianna was the one in danger. Now, all I could think about, as I pretended to admire her tattooed testimonial to Josh, was that I had been worried about the wrong Gemini.

The wrong Gemini.
That was it. Arianna wasn’t the double Gem with the Aries Moon. Actually, her Moon was in Leo.

So who was the in-trouble Gem with the Aries Moon? I had a pretty good idea. And I really should have figured it out sooner than this.

 

21

YOUR SUN SIGN IS WHAT YOU ARE, AND YOUR ASCEN-
DANT (RISING) SIGN IS WHAT PEOPLE SEE. THE MOON
COLORS AND INFLUENCES THE TRAITS. BE CAREFUL
WHEN GUESSING SIGNS. IT IS EASY TO SEE THE MOON’S
INFLUENCE AND BELIEVE IT IS THE SUN SIGN. DON’T
MAKE THIS MISTAKE.

 

 

 

 

That’s what I had done. I had guessed a Sun sign based on observed behavior. And I had done it more than once. Stacy, not Arianna, was the Gemini with the Aries Moon. I had ignored the obvious communication skills and focused on her need for success. She wasn’t a spotlight-grabbing Leo. She was a Fire-influenced Gemini eager to take on any task she was handed. And her need for success was really
a desire to be admired and to have the world revolve around her. Some astrologer I was. I had picked up on her Aries Moon and completely missed her Gemini Sun.

I found her in the kitchen. She had pulled her dark hair back and tied it with a multicolored scarf. At first she didn’t notice me, too busy walking through the place with Bobby, the art director, who had finally changed into some khakis and a pale green shirt. He carried a plastic Jack in the Box head, which I feared he actually planned to wear. But maybe not. Maybe it was just his idea of California atmosphere.