Building on Lies (16 page)

“ True. But Ana said she last saw you stumbling out like you were drunk. She couldn’t reach you on time to stop you. I was worried about you," Ro said.

“ I wasn’t stumbling. Maybe bobbing and weaving a bit?” I took the bread out of the toaster, and buttered it.

Ro looked at me, sternly. “ Not cool, Nellie”.

“ I pulled over and called Chan to get me, so I only drove under the influence for like half a block," I said. “ So…you and Tommy do anything interesting last night?”

“ Interesting like what?" Ro asked, innocently.

“ Interesting like sex," I said, taking a bite out of my bread, and licking my lips.

“ No," Ro sighed. “ Tommy wants to wait”.

“ Really? He and Chan must be on the same drug, because Chan turned me down too. Go figure!”

Ro looked at me with interest. “ Wait, what? How far did you and Chan get?”

I shrugged. “ Not too far. Under the shirt, but over the jeans. But I was so ready to take my jeans off, Ro!”

“ You bad girl!” Ro poked me.

“ I know, right?” I giggled.

“ So, what happened?" Ro asked, curiously.

“ What happened is Chan’s having a conscience, that’s what happened. I was kind of tipsy, and he said he’d rather wait for a time where I was able to remember his name afterward. His words, exactly”.

“ Aw, that’s sweet," Ro cooed. “ It’s so hard for me to hate him when he does nice things like that”.

“ Oh!" I said, jumping out of my seat. “ Speaking of nice things…wait right there”.

“ I wasn’t planning on going anywhere," Ro said, taking my piece of toast.

I ran up the stairs, to our bedroom. I’d put my new jewelry in my dresser drawer. I flipped open both boxes to give a quick peek of admiration, closed them again, then ran back downstairs.

Ro looked impressed even before I opened the boxes. “ Whoa. Those are some elegant little boxes”.

I waved them in front of her. “ Aren’t they? Wait until you see what’s inside ‘em!”

Ro took them from me, and opened the bigger box first. Her eyes widened when she saw the pearl necklace, which looked even more exquisite and golden in the sunny kitchen. “ Nellie. Wow.
Isso é lindo!
This is beautiful!”

“ I didn’t even want to accept them, Ro. I’ve never owned anything so pretty in my life," I said.

She lifted the necklace out of the box. “Is this a pearl?”

“ Yup. It’s a South Sea pearl. That’s why it’s not white. Or something like that”. I’d never been a big fan of pearls, but the golden sheen of the pearls was really beautiful.

“ You know what they say?” Ro swung the necklace gently back and forth. “Pearls bring tears”.

“ Oh, nice, Ro!" I snorted. “I thought you were going to say pearls are for classy ladies or something NICE like that”.

Ro bit her lip and looked apologetic. “ Aw, Nellie, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it like that. That was really rude of me!”

“ You think?” I rolled my eyes at her. “ But open the other box, Miss Doom and Gloom”.

She laughed and gently opened the smaller box. “ Oh, the matching earrings! How beautiful! Gosh, these are just so gorgeous.”

“ And I thought the ice cream maker he bought me was cool! Honestly, he never has to give me a present again in his life. This jewelry is more than I ever expected”.

“Sheesh, maybe I need to snag me a rich A-boy," Ro said, teasingly. “ What was the occasion, anyway?”

I closed the boxes, and sighed. “ He wants me to wear them to Winter Dance”.

“ Oh, no, Nellie! He does know you’re going with Joaquim, right?”

“ Yeah, he knows," I said. “ He’s going with Samantha. But he wants me to wear them to show him I’m thinking about him. Even when I’m dancing with Joaquim”.

Ro pursed her lips. “ Hmmm. I don’t know if I should laugh or cry at that statement.”

“ Ro. Please," I begged. “ I don’t want to hear it”.

“ What? I can’t help it, I have to say what I feel. I think it’s so sad you two have to sneak around. You’re in love, just be open about it”. Ro shook her head in an “end of story” way.

“ Didn’t I explain to you why he can’t leave Samantha?" I reminded her, impatiently. “ Or did you forget?”

“ I remember, I remember”. She sighed. “ But how long is this going to go on? Trust me, you guys won’t be able to keep this up forever. It’s going to blow up in your faces, no matter how careful you think you’re being”.

I rolled my eyes at her. “ Ro. Stop. Change of subject starting now!”

The weekend was actually one of the best I’d had in a while. My mom was so busy with the holiday customers she was only at home to change her clothes. Then she was off in her van, making Ro and I promise we’d be good.

Which meant Ro spent the weekend with Tommy, while I hung out with Channing. It was harder for me though because Channing spent the afternoons and evenings with Samantha. But, he came by for me around ten, and brought me back around three in the morning.

We spent a lot of time experimenting in his bedroom, and I seriously don’t know how I left his house with my virginity intact with all the fooling around we did. But Chan never crossed line, and the worse thing that happened was we left each other covered in hickeys.

“ Shit," I cursed on Monday morning, as I tried to cover a huge one on my neck with concealer and foundation. Ro had tried putting ice on it, but it only made it look worse.

“ Watch your mouth, Nellie," Ro said.

“ Ro, what the heck am I going to do? It’s huge! How am I going to hide this from my Mom?" I wailed, as I dabbed more foundation on it.

“ Forget Daisy. What about Joaquim?" Ro pointed out, handing me a scarf.

I grabbed the scarf, a long knit scarf may as well have screamed, “Look at me! I’m trying to cover up this hickey!”

“ Forget the scarf. I’m going to have to wear a hoodie." I sighed, after failing to make the scarf look stylish.

“ I think you should just stick with the scarf. You haven’t worn hoodies to school in forever," Ro said.

“ What do you mean?" I asked, walking to my closet and pulling out my red cotton zip up hoodie.

“ I mean ever since you started dating Channing, you go to school dressed like you’re about to go club hopping. Hoodie Nellie was replaced by halter top Nellie," Ro replied.

“ Ro, have I ever told you sometimes you suck as a best friend? You never sugarcoat things. Best friends should sugar coat things!”

She laughed. “ Just wear your dressy black pants and boots with a turtleneck. That’s a happy medium. I hope Channing doesn’t have a hickey on his neck. How would he hide that from Samantha?”

“ He doesn’t have one on his neck," I said, going over to my accessory box, and pulling out my long black beads. They would make the turtleneck look a little more stylish.

“ Where does he have one?" Ro asked.

I winked at her mischievously. “ You don’t want to know”.

“ Nellie!" Ro gasped. “ You're terrible.”

“ How do I look?” I twirled in front of her.

“ Good enough. Let’s go”. She pretended to slap my hand as we walked out to my car.

I caught a glimpse of Chan as Ro and I walked into school. He was sitting with a group of A-boys. Our eyes met briefly, and my heart skipped a beat when he winked at me.

“ Hey, Nellie, hey Ro!" Ty called out to us, as we walked past.

I just smiled awkwardly, but Ro acted as if she hadn’t heard him. Cove girls did not talk to A-boys. At least not the decent Cove girls.

Ty followed us inside, strolling beside Ro.

“ I said hi, Ro," he said, patiently.

“Um, hi ?" Ro said, looking at me in confusion.

“ Um, how are you?" he said, imitating her confused tone of voice.

“ I’m fine, Tyler. How are you?" she asked, frostily.

“ I’m fine, Romina.” He kept walking beside us, whistling, and smiling.

“ What are you doing?" Ro asked, after a while.

“ I’m walking. What are you doing?” he asked.

“ I’m wondering why you’re walking right next to us," Romina said, stopping to stare at him.

“ Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize my walking was making you uncomfortable. Does walking make you uncomfortable?” He stopped to stare at her as well.

“ Yes, it does!" Ro snapped.

“ Oh.” Ty furrowed his brow, then cupped his hands over his mouth. “Attention Lincoln High students! We have a situation here! You guys all need to stop walking! Stop walking to class, stop walking to the bathroom, stop walking to your lockers! Just stop walking! Walking makes Romina here very uncomfortable! Just crawl or run or skip to class, but whatever you, don’t walk!”

My jaw dropped as did Ro’s, as every student in the hall stopped walking to stare at us.

Ty bowed in front of Romina, then patted her shoulder. “ I hope you can forgive me for making you uncomfortable. But look, no more walking! See? I’m going to run! I’m running to class!”

And he did just that. He sprinted down the hall like a marathon runner, high-fiving some of his friends as he zoomed past, almost plowing into a confused teacher as he turned down a corridor.

“ What the hell was that about?" I asked Ro, shaking my head, as kids around us laughed, and shook their heads, too.

“ Watch your mouth, Nellie," Ro said, looking annoyed, but I noticed she couldn’t take her eyes off of Ty as he sprinted away.

Fortunately, no one noticed my turtleneck. The weather had gotten so chilly most everyone was wearing sweaters. My palms went a little sweaty when Joaquim found me after third period, and kissed me on the cheek. He didn’t notice anything, though.

“ Ro, I heard Ty Sutton had everyone laughing this morning because of you. What happened?" Joaquim asked, looking amused.

“ I have no idea. The boy is weird," Ro replied, rolling her eyes.

Beside the Ty thing, the day was pretty uneventful. It seemed like all anyone could talk about was Winter Dance, though. It was the last school event before the holiday break. It was also the first time a high school dance was to be held at such an elegant and expensive locale like the Ardsley Park Hotel. It had a lot of the Cove kids nervous, as that was definitely not our part of town.

“ I’m thinking I should forget about going in my Dad’s truck and just rent a limo," Joaquim said, after school. We were standing in the student parking lot, hanging out before we had to head home. “ What do you think, Nellie?”

“ No way, Joaquim. It’s only one night. And it’s not like it’s junior prom or anything. Your dad’s truck will be fine”. I didn’t want Joaquim to spend money he didn’t have.

“ Maybe we could all pitch in," Tommy suggested. “ I think a limo would be nice”.

“ That’s not a bad idea if we all pitch in together," Ro said. “ We could ask Ana and Thiago, Emanuela and Steven if they want to ride along with us”.

“ Well, if all of us pitch in, then okay. But I don’t want you to even think about footing the bill yourself, Joaquim," I said.

“ You’re going to make a great wife, Nellie. You’re already trying to save me from spending my money recklessly!" Joaquim joked.

“ Funny," I said, sticking my tongue at him.

“ Speaking of which…this weekend, we tell your Mom, Nellie," Tommy said, smiling ear to ear. I looked over at Ro, and she looked ecstatic.

“ What? This weekend?" I gasped.

“ Yeah. My brother Seb loaned me the rest of the money I needed to get Ro’s ring. So, I pick it up Friday, and then I’m going to formally ask for Ro’s hand on Saturday”. Tommy held Ro tight, and kissed her hair.

I felt like it was all happening so fast. Ro had only told me about it two days before! I didn’t know if I was ready to watch my best friend become a teen-aged bride. Tears formed in my eyes, and I blinked them away.

“ Aw, she’s so happy for us, she’s crying," Tommy said, and he came over to give me a hug, too.

I laughed, and tried to pretend they were happy tears as I hugged him back. But Ro gave me a look. She knew me better than anyone, and she knew I was upset.

“ Nellie, Tommy’s grandparents house is not even five minutes away," she reassured me as we drove home later. “ You can walk there on a nice day!”

“ I know, I know," I said, sniffling. “ It’s just…you’ve been living with me for over five years, Ro. I can’t imagine not having you around”.

“ Like I said, I won’t be far. And you have Daisy. Rumor is your mom is getting serious with Eduardo Pereira. You know, the guy who owns the Cozinha Portuguesa where all the old guys play dominoes?”

“ I know where the Cozinha is. And since when did my mom and Eduardo get serious? She's been dating a few guys, but I didn't know she was that interested in Eduardo." I asked, incredulous. “Is he nice?”

“ Since the end of summer, sweetie. And yes, he’s very nice," Ro replied. “You’ve just been living in this world where only you and Channing exist, so I’m not surprised you haven’t noticed anything. You really think all the staying out of the house Daisy’s been doing is just for business?”