Blue Eyes and Other Teenage Hazards (8 page)

A few minutes later, Josh came out of the house. Elise followed after him. She wobbled into the back seat of the car, reeking of beer. “Well,” she mumbled, “if it isn’t the three Musketeers come to save me from myself. At least I think there are three of you. If you stopped waving up and down I could count.”

She laughed, but I didn’t. This time she was laughing at me.

Without saying anything, Josh put the car in drive and went down the street.

I twisted in my seat to face her. “Why did you tell your parents you were with me?” She lay down across the seat. “Because Josh has told them about you. They think you’re a good influence.” She pushed some hair away from her face. “Although obviously not a good enough influence tonight. I think I’m going to throw up.” She waved a hand in Josh’s direction. “Can’t you drive without making the car sway around?”

Josh unrolled the back windows, letting in a blast of cold air. “Don’t you dare throw up inside my car.” Elise moaned for a few moments. Then, moving faster than I’d thought her capable of, she jerked upright and leaned out the window. Her body shuddered and her hair whipped around in the wind. After a minute she pulled herself back inside. Even in the dark, her skin looked blotchy. She wiped at her mouth with the back of her sleeve, making faces at the taste in her mouth.

“So,” I said, “this is how you have fun?”

“It beats sitting at home babysitting while I wait for the Bobs of the world to ask me out—which reminds me, how was your date?”

“Fine.”

“Just fine?”

“Yes. Fine.”

“Think you have a future together? Maybe settle down and raise some little Bobbets?” Josh let out a disapproving grunt. “Elise, stop being a jerk.”

“Oh, so now you tell me how to talk to my friends. I shouldn’t be surprised. You know how to do everything better than me, don’t you?” Josh gripped the steering wheel hard. “Shut up, Elise.”

She flipped him off. He turned the radio on, and they ignored each other and me for the rest of the ride. I didn’t say anything either. Even with the heater blasting, it felt cold in the car.

Finally Josh pulled up in front of my house. “See you guys later,” I said, and got out of the car.

I hurried toward my house, only stopping at the porch when Josh called, “Cassidy, wait up.” He had gotten out of the car and was striding toward me. Everything about him was tense: his walk, his expression, the set of his jaw. I had the sudden desire to give him a hug and tell him he was a good brother, even if Elise didn’t appreciate it at the moment.

I didn’t. It seemed too forward.

It wasn’t until Josh reached me that I remembered I still had his coat. “Oh,” I said, slipping it off my shoulders. “I forgot I was wearing this. Sorry.” I handed it to him, but he didn’t turn to leave. “I didn’t come for the coat.” His words were soft. The tenseness that had been there moments before had drained away. “I just wanted to say thanks for helping me. I’m sorry I got you up and dragged you around town.”

“It’s okay.” I glanced back at the car to see if Elise was watching us. She was lying down with her feet propped up on the window. “That’s what friends are for.”

I had meant I was Elise’s friend, but Josh reached out and gave my hand a squeeze. “I’m glad you’re my friend.” He smiled, then turned and walked back to his car.

I put my hand on the doorknob, watching him for another moment.

Josh considered me his friend. The phrase glowed inside me. It made me think of standing next to him in the photo line when he’d said, “You’re great the way you are, Cassidy. I wouldn’t change anything about you.” Funny how that was the highlight of my first date.

I went inside my house and saw the kitchen light was on. I stood in the entryway and considered my options. Was it possible to sneak upstairs unnoticed? Maybe it was only a stray parent who’d wandered into the kitchen for something to eat. Maybe, if I walked up the stairs quietly, my parents would remain blissfully and unangrily ignorant. Then again, maybe they were waiting for me. Maybe they knew I had gone, and trying to cover it up would only bring down parental wrath.

As I debated, my mother called, “Cassidy?”

“Yes.”

“Would you come here, please?”

She knew. I swallowed hard and went to face her.

Mom sat at the table, flipping through one of her art magazines.

“Mrs. Benson called five minutes ago. She said Josh had driven here to pick up Elise and hadn’t come back.” Mom shut her magazine forcefully. “It would have been nice if I’d known what she was talking about. As it was, all I could tell her was that I hadn’t seen Elise or Josh, and I didn’t know where you were either.”

“Sorry, Mom.”

“I’m not finished.” She glanced at the kitchen clock. “In fact, I don’t think I’ll be finished for quite some time.” I shifted my weight. “I only left so I could help Josh track down Elise.”

“Did you find her?”

“Yes.”

“Is she all right?”

“She’s drunk.”

“I suppose her parents will deal with her behavior. I’ll deal with yours.” Mom’s voice raised several decibels. “Since when did you start thinking it was acceptable to leave in the middle of the night without telling your parents?”

“I knew if I told you, you wouldn’t let me go.”

Another decibel. “If you knew our opinion, you certainly shouldn’t have gone!” I let out a resigned sigh and wished she could understand my position. “Elise is my friend. I wanted to help find her.”

“That’s her family’s responsibility. Not yours.”

“But I know where her friends live. Josh didn’t.”

“Then you should have given her parents a list of names. You didn’t have to go off alone with him in the middle of the night without telling us.” I sat down at the table, too tired to argue about it anymore. “I’m sorry, okay? I don’t know what else you want me to say.” She looked at me, paused, and her voice came out gentler. “I won’t ground you this time. It’s hard to be mad at you when I know you were trying to help someone. At least I hope that’s why you went. I hope it wasn’t for an outing with Josh.” I glanced down at my sweatshirt and exercise pants. “It wasn’t for an outing with Josh. If I’d been trying to impress Josh, I wouldn’t have gone at all. Look at me. My hair is uncombed, my nose is swol en, and I have no makeup on.” Suddenly it hit me how terrible I must look. I had sat across from Josh for half an hour looking like I’d been the one who’d hung my head out a window. I let out a groan. “How am I going to face him again when he’s seen me like this?”

“You’ll find a way somehow.”

I put my chin in my hand. “I guess it doesn’t matter. I’ve given up on dating anyway.” Mom smiled now. “I remember you telling me that.”

Neither Mom nor I made a move to get up. I sat and stared at the table. Mom sat and stared at me. Finally I said, “Elise said she didn’t want to sit at home and wait around for the Bobs of the world to ask her out.” I thought of the mess my night had been, of everything that had gone wrong. “Is that the only kind of guy that’s going to ask me out?”

Mom shook her head. “You’ll be asked out by a lot of different types of boys. Some you’ll like a lot, some you’ll like a little, and some you won’t like at all. But you know what? Most of the time you won’t know which guy fits in which category until after you date him for a while.”

“I’m pretty sure I know which category Bob fits.”

Mom laughed. “You may be surprised, Cassidy. Give the guys in high school a few years. The guys at Elise’s parties will have partied themselves out. Bob, on the other hand, will make something of himself. He’s a bright—if not coordinated—young man.” I pushed my chair away from the table. “I’m glad parents don’t arrange marriages anymore.”

“You wait and see,” Mom insisted. “Eventually his social skills will catch up with his academic skills. Then you’ll be dazzled.”

“He’ll still have hair that sticks up.”

“He’ll probably be a doctor or an attorney. He’ll be able to afford a decent haircut.”

“He wants to study bugs.”

Mom sighed nostalgically. “You might not believe it, but your father wasn’t always a supreme specimen of male perfection.”

“He still isn’t, Mom.”

“He is too.” Mom stood up, and we walked toward the stairs together. “Don’t worry, sweetheart. If a boy is worth having, he’ll realize what a wonderful girl you are. If not, then he doesn’t deserve you.”

It was such a mom answer. Unfortunately high school was already brimming with guys who didn’t deserve me.

Mom kissed my cheek. “I love you, dear. It’s been a long night for both of us. Let’s get some sleep.” With a smile still on her face, she said, “And Cassidy, if you ever leave during the night again, you’ll be grounded for the rest of your life.” Chapter 10

I didn’t hear anything from Elise on Saturday or Sunday. When I climbed into Josh’s car Monday morning, Elise held up one hand. “Don’t even say it. I’ve had enough lectures at home. When Mom ran out of breath, Dad picked up where she left off. They propelled each other along for hours.”

“Sounds like you had a fun weekend.”

“I had a massive hangover, had my phone confiscated, got grounded for a month, and had to clean every window in our house. And on Saturday morning, my older brother made as much noise as possible to purposely drum more pain into my already-pounding head.”

“Mom told me to vacuum,” Josh said. “It doesn’t have a quiet setting.”

“You took two hours to do a twenty-minute job.”

“I’m very thorough.”

“And what about you?” Elise asked, turning to me again. “How did your date go?” I must have looked at her oddly because she said, “What?”

“I already told you.” I could tell she didn’t know what I was talking about. “In the car. On the way home from Kaylee’s.”

“Well, I don’t remember much of that part of the evening. What did you tell me?”

“It went fine.”

“Were you more detailed when I asked you the first time?”

Josh said, “If you’d been sober you would have remembered.” We’d come to a stop sign, but Josh didn’t drive forward even though no other cars were around. He fixed his gaze on Elise instead. “Someone is going to take advantage of you if you keep drinking like that. There are guys out there who will do bad things to you.”

Elise looked up at the car ceiling. “I already heard it from Mom and Dad all weekend. Next time I won’t drink so much. Okay?” Josh drove forward again, but he shook his head, unconvinced.

I changed the subject, and Elise and I talked about our Antigone assignment until we got to school. As luck would have it, Josh pulled into a parking spot right next to Bob. He saw me and waited so he could walk with me. Elise and Josh hung back a little, but I knew they were close enough to hear our conversation.

Bob looked me over. “How’s your nose? It doesn’t look broken.”

“It’s fine.”

“Did the blood come out of your dress?”

“Yes.”

“How about the soy sauce?”

“It came out too.”

“I’m sorry about all that.”

“It’s fine, Bob, really.”

We walked in silence for a few moments until we came to the school steps. “Well,” Bob said, “I’ve got to get some things done before my first class, but I’ll see you around.” He hurried away after that.

When he was out of earshot, Josh and Elise caught up with me. “What was that all about?” Elise asked. “Soy sauce stains? Your nose doesn’t seem broken or anything? What did you two do?”

“He . . . sort of . . . accidentally hit me in the nose at the dance.”

“With a soy sauce bottle?”

“Um, no. That was at dinner. He knocked the soy sauce into my lap. I had to go home and change.” Elise quirked an eyebrow up. “And you told me your date was fine?”

“Fine in a general manner of speaking.”

“Meaning what? There were no casualties?”

I shifted my backpack uncomfortably. “Well, it could have been worse.” Actually, it was worse, but I didn’t feel the need to tell her about my indoctrination into the insect world.

I noticed Josh out of the corner of my eye. He was laughing. He tried to hold it in, but didn’t do a very good job so he was disguising it as a coughing attack.

At another time I would have joined in with him, but now I thought he was just adding fuel to Elise’s opinions. I sent him a cold look. “And I don’t suppose you’ve ever had an accident while on a date?”

“Not one that could be considered assault and battery.” Josh’s coughing attack got worse. People turned and looked at us.

Elise shook her head. “That’s the most pathetic thing I’ve ever heard.”

“Okay. So it wasn’t the best night of my life. But at least I remember all the details.”

“Yeah,” she said, “but why would you want to?”

She had a point. I couldn’t think of a rebuttal.

It didn’t take long for stories of Elise’s exploits at the party to spread around school. Apparently she hadn’t just been drinking. She and Cole Rider, a junior on the football team, had been kissing on the couch in front of everybody.

She didn’t seem to care very much that Cole didn’t pay attention to her after the party. All sorts of other people took notice of her now. She was an instant “in” with Kaylee and her gang. They followed her around the hallways like an entourage. Over the next few weeks she ate at their table as often as she ate at mine.

My table always seemed too quiet when she wasn’t there. It was odd how quickly I’d come to depend on Elise for energy. She had a way of making any situation feel like it could veer off into something fun. It made me wonder if there was actually something to her carpe-diem attitude to life.

I saw myself as smart and competent—someone on the right track to making the right choices. But maybe I was like one of those boring characters in coming-of-age movies. Repressed. Stuffy. Someone who hadn’t learned how to live yet.

The thought nagged at me. I didn’t start going to parties, and I didn’t shamelessly flirt with the upperclassman. But I did find myself Elise-izing things, making snarky comments, looking for things to laugh at.

Elise didn’t talk about guys when Josh was around, but sometimes I went over to her house to study, and then guys were her favorite subject.

“What do you think of David Hunsaker?” she asked. “He flirts with me all the time.”