Envy - 2 (13 page)

“We’l take care of it, I promise. The box said it washes out in twenty to twenty-five shampoos, right? So al we need to do is wash your hair twenty-five times in a row, and that should be that.”

“That’s a lot of showers….”

“Do you
want
to go to school on Monday looking like a stalk of broccoli?” Harper asked wryly.

Miranda looked appal ed at the thought. “Hey, it’s not like we’re in the middle of a drought or anything,” she said, reconsidering. “Bring on the shampoo.”

“Uh, actual y, we’re going to need to go get some more of that,” Harper reminded her. They’d used the last of it the night before in their drunken beauty school efforts. But perhaps the less said about that, the better.

“We?” Miranda squawked. “Did I mention that I am
not
going out in public like this? Which part of that did you not understand?”

“Chil out—I’l go to the drugstore and get more shampoo. Just let me throw on some clothes.”

“Fine,” Miranda sulked. “I’l jump in the shower. Might as wel get started.”

The two of them scampered upstairs, Harper to hastily throw on some clothes and Miranda to single-handedly bring on a drought. As she pul ed on a T-shirt, Harper idly picked up her cel phone and noticed she had a text message waiting for her from Kane.
1:37, elementary school playground. Be there. Bring Adam
.

Cryptic much?
Harper thought grouchily. It was definitely too early in the morning for riddles.

She cal ed Kane immediately.

“What are you talking about?” she asked, without saying hel o.

“Can’t talk now—
Beth
and I are studying,” he said meaningful y. “Just trust me—you won’t want to miss this.”

“But what—?”

“Can’t
talk
now,” he repeated. “Just be on time.”

He hung up, and Harper sighed, casting a glance toward the bathroom door, where the water in the shower had just turned off.

“When you’re out getting the shampoo, can you grab us some lunch, too?” Miranda cal ed from behind the door.

Harper cradled her head in her hands. Real y, what was she supposed to do? Jeopardize the whole plan just because Miranda was having a hair crisis? It wasn’t even a tough cal —she’d just need to come up with a good excuse.

“Rand, change of plans—I’m going to need to run you home,” she said casual y.

Miranda swung open the door and popped out, towel hastily wrapped around her dripping body.

“What? I must have heard you wrong, because I thought you said you were abandoning me.”

“Rand—”

“But that can’t be right. Not you, my best friend, who just ditched me five days ago and promised never to do it again and who—”

“Rand—,” Harper helplessly tried again.

“
Who
, by the way, turned my hair
green
!” She grabbed some clothes and went back into the bathroom, slamming the door behind her. “So, lunch,” she said. “I’m thinking pizza?

Or Chinese food?”

“Stop acting like a baby, Miranda. I have to take a rain check. It’s an emergency.”

Harper waited in silence for several minutes, until final y a ful y dressed—though stil dripping—Miranda emerged from the bathroom.

“What kind of emergency?” she asked suspiciously.

“Wel , not an emergency exactly—I mean, it’s not life threatening,” Harper hedged, thinking fast. “It’s just, you remember that tooth problem I was having? That was the dentist on the phone—he says he can fit me in for a fol ow-up, but only if I come right away. Some kind of last-minute cancel ation.”

“Fol ow-up?”

“Yeah, my tooth is stil kil ing me.” Harper brought one hand to her jaw, hoping that Miranda wouldn’t remember which side of her mouth the fake toothache was supposed to be on, since Harper no longer had any idea. “Of course, if you real y need me, I guess I could just suffer through the pain….” Miranda heaved an exaggerated sigh.

“No, I can take a shower—or thirty of them—al by myself. I’m a big girl, after al .”

“I’l come over tonight and we’l do final damage control, I promise.”

“I can’t wait to see the look on my mother’s face when she sees this one,” Miranda said with a sudden smile. “You know, it’l almost be worth it.”

“You see? There’s a silver lining after al .”

Miranda shot Harper her patented Look of Death. “I said,
almost
.”

“It’s such a beautiful day,” Kane had mused. “Why don’t we do this study thing outside?”

Beth had reluctantly agreed. It’s not that she didn’t want to go outside—in fact, on a day like this, with a light breeze blowing and only a few wispy clouds in the sky, the last thing she wanted to do was sit inside and stare at fractions. But they had a lot to get through, and not much time. Being outside would be a distraction.

It was just so hard to say no to him.

They ended up in the playground of their old elementary school, stretched out on a picnic blanket between the swings and the jungle gym. The playground served as a park on the weekends, and laughing children swarmed al around them.

Stil , Kane stayed focused. More focused even than Beth, who kept looking around at the playground equipment with something akin to longing. She came here by herself sometimes, at dusk, to sit on the swings and watch the sunset. It was a good place to think—surrounded by memories of a simpler time, al those games of tag and four square, the races she’d run, the games she’d lost and won, the swings she’d been on constantly, whooshing through the air as if she could fly.

She’d be going to col ege in a year, and there were very few parts of the town that she’d be sorry to see go. She’d been born here, grown up here, knew it inside and out. There were a few people she never wanted to leave behind—Adam, of course, her family, and—she looked at Kane—new friends too, the ones she’d missed getting to know al these years.

But the town itself? She was ready to leave Grace in the past, never to be seen again. Al except the playground. It was a special place.
Her
place.

And real y, it was al that remained of her childhood.

Kane yawned and stretched himself out on the picnic blanket, preening in the sun like a lazy and self-satisfied cat.

“Late night last night?” Beth asked sarcastical y, trying her best not to admire his impeccable physique.

“I know, I know, Heather’s a little—”

“Hilary,”
Beth corrected him.

“What?”

“Her name was
Hilary
,” she reminded him with a reproachful glare.

Kane at least had the grace to blush.

“Ah, yeah. Hilary’s a little—wel , she’s not like you. She’s just … fun.”

“So I’m not fun?”
Why do I even care what he thinks of me?
she asked herself.

“You’re fun and so much more, Manning,” he said languidly.

“And that means what, exactly?”

“It means you’re cute when you’re mad—anyone ever tel you that?”

“You’re changing the subject,” she pointed out, ignoring the compliment. That was just the kind of thing Kane said, after al , she reminded herself. Just the kind of guy he was. It didn’t mean anything.

Kane sighed. “It means that you’re fun, but that’s not al there is. Girls like Heather—”

“Hilary.”

“Whatever—they’re a dime a dozen,” he explained. “Girls like you? There aren’t so many.”

Now it was Beth who blushed. “I just hate to see you wasting your time, Kane. You deserve so much more.”

“I can’t believe this is coming from you, of al people.”

“Why me, ‘of al people’?”

“Come on, Beth,” he said, looking away. “I know how girls like you see me. You think I’m a sleazy flirt. Not worth your time. Girls like you think I’m worthless.”

“Not al of us,” she murmured.

“What?”

She was suddenly struck by the unusual sincerity, the urgency in his voice. And she didn’t like it.

“Let’s just—uh—let’s get back to work,” she suggested, bending back over her notebook. “So, when the exponent is in the denominator, you want to …” The problem was, she didn’t know
how
she saw him anymore—but she suspected it was time to stop looking.

Adam had been surprised when Harper cal ed suggesting they take a walk down to the old playground. Reminiscing about the past wasn’t usual y her thing—Harper was al about living in the moment.

But neither of them had anything better to do, and it couldn’t hurt to go visit the site of some of their best exploits. Just because Beth was off somewhere studying with Kane,
again
, didn’t mean he needed to sit around the house al day sulking. He needed to take his mind off of things—and no one did that better than Harper.

“Why do you keep checking your cel every five minutes?” he asked her, just after pointing out the spot where Danny Burger, fifth-grade stud, had wet his pants. In fear of ruining his too-cool-for-school rep, he’d promised the witnesses three packs of basebal cards each in return for their eternal silence—and then run the whole two miles back to his house. “Are you expecting a cal ?”

“No, I left my watch at home and I just want to see what time it is—I have a dentist appointment later. Let’s walk a little faster,” she suggested.

As they reached the gate of the smal playground, Harper pointed toward a couple by the swings.

“Isn’t that Beth? And Kane?” she asked.

Adam squinted at the couple—it was them, al right. Kane was pushing Beth higher and higher, and he could imagine the exuberant look on her face as she stretched her toes closer and closer to the sky. He’d seen it enough times himself.

Harper raised a hand to wave, but he grabbed it and stopped her.

“No, let’s just—just wait, okay?”

She gave him a cryptic look, but shrugged in agreement. So they just stood at the fence and watched.

“What are they doing here, anyway?” Harper asked. “I thought they were studying.”

Adam’s stomach clenched. “Yeah, so did I.”

“We should real y get back to work now,” Beth complained, breathless with exertion.

Kane checked his watch. One thirty-five.

Harper had better be out there somewhere
, he thought.

It was the perfect setup—the picnic, the romantic frolicking on the swings. And that whole heart-to-heart on his dating life? Talk about an unexpected pleasure. So Beth was paying attention, was she? He’d been unsure of how to play it last night—too much macho pig with al the leering and groping? Would it erode al the hard work he’d put into changing her image of him?

But as soon as he’d seen the look on her face, he’d known he had her. She was disgusted, sure—but she also, for a split second, wanted to
be
Hilary, wanted to forget al her uptight, repressed, do-gooder rules and restrictions and just fal into his arms. It was a look he’d recognize anywhere.

One thirty-seven. Time for the coup de grâce.

“Just a couple more minutes, sarge?” he grinned down at her—and, surprise, surprise, she couldn’t resist. “Just once down the slide,” he suggested.

“Okay,” she conceded. “But you first.”

Perfect.

He slid down, waving as he went and then tapped her lightly on the shoulder. “Your turn, teach.”

She climbed up the narrow ladder and stood paused at the top, looking down at him dubiously.

“This is a little higher than I remember,” she said nervously.

“What are you, chicken?” he cal ed up to her. “Five-year-olds slide down this thing. Don’t worry, I’l be down here at the bottom to catch you.” He waited for her, and watched as she slid down the rusty and pitted metal, her blond hair cascading behind her, a grin of delight il uminating her flushed and open face. Kane had been with a lot of girls, but he’d never known any who could be made so happy by so little. In fact, he usual y ran a little more toward the high maintenance end of the spectrum, girls who could accept a gold bracelet with an upturned nose and a faint “Thanks, I guess.” But Beth—he shook his head in bemusement. Give her a freshly baked chocolate chip cookie, swing her through the air, it would be enough. She’d be happy. And it was real happiness, the kind that spil s over its borders, pours into everyone around you.
That
he’d never seen before.

She slid with a squeal into his arms, and the momentum knocked them both backward onto the scraggly bed of grass, where they lay tangled in each other’s arms, heaving with laughter. For a moment Kane even forgot why he was there, what he was doing, who was watching.

Then he remembered—and felt a sudden stab of an emotion so unfamiliar he barely recognized it: guilt.

Adam stood motionless, his face impassive, carved in stone.

Harper reached a tentative hand out toward him.

“Adam, I’m sure it’s just—”

“Don’t, Harper. Just—don’t.”

He was clenching the chain link fence so hard that his knuckles turned white, and Harper could see a smal muscle twitching just above his jawline—but those were the only exterior signs of whatever was churning within him at the sight of Beth and Kane rol ing around on the ground in each other’s arms.

“I’m sure it’s nothing,” he said quietly. “They’re just taking a break. Nothing wrong with that.”

Harper stayed silent, waiting for him to give her some sign of what to do next. Final y he pul ed himself away from the fence, turned his back on the playground.

“Let’s go,” he said shortly. “Let’s just go.”

Harper hated to see Adam in pain, much less to know that she was the one responsible for it—but in this case … wel , wasn’t it better for him to suffer a little pain now, if it would help him avoid a much greater pain later on, when he final y realized on his own that Beth was the wrong girl? Or when
she
left
him
, for col ege or for another guy or for no reason at al ?
Just look at her
, Harper thought in disgust. Running around with Kane, throwing herself into his arms. The timing might have been a trick, but what they were looking at? That was real. That was betrayal.

And when you looked at it that way, she was doing Adam a favor. Just helping a good friend see the light.

Miranda had snuck into her house as quietly as she could.