Eternal Spring A Young Adult Short Story Collection (27 page)

“Pretty cool,” Bowie says from behind me. His breath is warm
on my neck, and I’m surprised how much I enjoy the sensation.

“How many decades do you figure it’s looked just like this?”
I ask, certain I’d seen old movies from the fifties that showed precisely this
view.

Bowie exhales. I shiver. “Centuries, more like it. You know,
except for the motor boats and cars.”

I’m forced to wait until the entirety of the MacArthur group
has collected on the second observation deck before I can hunt down Stacy. My
palms are moist and my knees are weak but they manage to hold me up while I
circle the deck in search of her.

I find her looking out across the Seine, nestled under
Mark’s arm as expected.

I pull in a deep breath, proud that I don’t shudder as I do
so, and tap Stacy’s shoulder.

The smile she wears when she turns falls away instantly when
she sees me. “I’m not speaking to you, remember?”

“Yes, I remember,” I say, forcing my voice calm, telling
myself not to back away from the venom in Stacy’s eyes. “But I’m not here to
talk to you. I’m here to talk to your boyfriend who doesn’t want me to call him
an idiot or tell you how I threw myself at him which of course I would do
because I think he’s so amazing and irresistible, right?”

Mark drops his arm from Stacy’s shoulders and turns his back
on Paris. “Look, I already told Stacy what happened, how you begged me not to
tell her what you did, ok? Now just leave us alone.”

More than anything I want to do as I’m told and slink away,
but I’m afraid I wouldn’t be able to live with myself. “Okay, good, that’s
good, I’m glad you told her your side of the story. Because you tell her
everything, of course. Which means you told her about the hooker, too, right? I
just want to be sure about that because, you know, I’d hate for you to give my
former best friend any kind of disease you may have picked up.”

His face contorts - eyes narrowed, teeth bared. “You bitch.”

“So I’ve been told.” I cut my gaze to Stacy. The hatred in
her eyes sends an ache through me. “If being honest makes me a bitch, I’ll live
with it. But I won’t live with a friend who thinks so little of me she’d
believe I would lie to her.” My throat is raw with impending, pain-filled
tears. “I’ve told you what happened at the museum, and now you know what I saw
last night and I tried to tell you this morning. Whoever you choose to believe
is your decision.”

Without waiting for a response, I back away, pushing through
the little audience we attracted. My eyes sting with tears and my vision blurs.
Through the fog I make out Bowie reaching a hand to me. I lace my fingers with
his, his grip warm and solid, and let him lead me to the opposite side of the
deck.

I know I need to track down a chaperone and beg a room
change. I know Stacy will never believe me over Mark. I know it’s going to be
some time before I can think of the friendship we lost without wanting to cry.
But right now, I’m in a crowd of classmates. I’ve just handed them a story to
whisper about and embellish from one side of the ocean to the other. I don’t
want to add my personal display of heartache to their tale. The most important
thing for me to do is take a breath, take control, and look at Paris.

We find a vacant section along the railing and I release
Bowie’s hand, lean my elbows against the curved metal and gaze out over the old
city. Squat stone buildings with rounded roofs line up in neat rows on either
side of a swath of green grass park bisecting the roads. A traffic oval sits at
one end, while the other end seems to point to the surprising sight of a
skyscraper, point to the future.

“You okay?” Bowie asks when the silence has gone on too
long.

I nod, not trusting myself yet with words.

“Good, because there’s something I want to talk to you
about.” He sidles closer to me, his chest inches from my shoulder. “I’m
thinking when this trip is over and we’re back home, I’m going to ask you out.
And I was wondering if, you know, you might say yes.”

An unexpected
giggle
bubbles up
within me and escapes as a snort. Before he has time to take offense, I rush to
reassure him. “I might say yes. That is, yes, I would say…yes.”

This time his smile is not broad, not showy,
not
sad. It’s a smile of sly pleasure, and I am powerless to
stop my own smile.

“So, given that fact,” he says, “and I realize this is out
of order, but…isn’t this a great spot for a first kiss?”

The giggle escapes as a proper giggle. A tiny piece of me
marvels
at how easily Bowie has turned my mood, and how
grateful I am for that.

“ ‘cause, I think it’s a pretty good spot.” He leans in -
just a little, just enough - and brushes my lips with his, soft and tentative. He
slips his arm around my waist, hold me loosely as the kiss grows confident.

The hollow feeling I experienced earlier slips away,
replaced with a sense of possibility. Before I can get used to this new
sensation, Bowie pulls back, just far enough to allow us to see eye to eye.

“Good spot,” I say.

He nods, smiles. “What’d I tell you? Paris is for wish
fulfillment.”

He leans in to kiss me again. And on the observation deck of
the Eiffel Tower, during my first ever trip to Paris, I have a sudden memory of
fluorescent lights shining through stones, illuminating the secrets within,
proving that under the right conditions, something unexpectedly wonderful can
be revealed

***

Jennifer McAndrews is a 2010 Golden Heart Finalist® in the
Young Adult category and author of the time travel adventure
Braving The
Titanic
. Her most recent latest release,
Deadly Farce
, is a humorous mystery
featuring Hollywood hunks, pizza, and murder. A lifelong resident of New York,
Jennifer is a mom to three dogs, four cats, a mouse, and two actual humans.
Find her on twitter: @jenmcandrews
http://www.jennifermcandrews.com/

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Off Balance

By

Renee Pace

What the hell? Is that Jen pushing a stroller?

Shit, after all the frigging time I spent writing her those
stupid letters, after she dropped me like a used cigarette, I can’t believe
she’s the first person I see on my leave. That’s the type of karma I’m having
these days. First I find out that Eje’s going to be late returning to Halifax,
and now this. I glance around and wonder for a second if I can walk past her
like she doesn’t exist. That’s probably what she’ll do. I never thought of her
as being that cold, but not once did she respond to my letters. All I wanted to
know was why. Why was it over? I get that a long-distance relationship is hard,
but it’s not like I was going to be away for freaking forever. Maybe she’s
seeing someone else. Christ, the thought of that makes me want to puke up the
donair I wolfed down faster than a souped-up car.

With my palms sweaty I feel more nervous walking toward her
than my first day at boot camp, which sucked. For once the movies got something
right. Boot camp is downright ugly. It was all running, learning how to
function on little sleep, and forcing
yourself
to eat
crappy sludge military food. That was the first week. Then it became more
running, which alternated between pushing your sorry legs through large
motherfucking knee-deep water the Sergeant called puddles—I swear to God,
if he said that one more time, I was going to drown him in one of those
so-called puddles—and lots of time spent cleaning weapons. After
fourteen weeks of the same routine, with the only deviation being waking up
earlier and earlier and learning to heave your tired, beyond-achy body past the
breaking point, it was hit-the-books study time.

“Wow, guess who I get the pleasure of running into.” I hate
that when I look at Jen, my heart drops to my feet. She’s changed but the same.
She’s skinner than I remember and there’s a wary deer-in-the-headlights look in
her eyes that makes me want to check over my shoulder. I resist that urge and
hope to God I’m not drooling. Her chestnut-colored hair is pulled back in a
ponytail, but wisps of it frame her pixie-like face. Her cheeks look flushed
and she smells like fresh, clean air.

“Nice to see you, Charlie.”

Nice to freaking see me
. It’s on the tip of my tongue to shout at
her, but one thing the military ingrained in me is that it’s always best to
keep my big mouth shut. The few times I did speak up, I paid for it with sweat,
and there’s nothing fun about working out when everyone else has gone to the
barracks.

“Yeah, great to see you too, Jen.” I’m so lame. Small talk
was never my strong suit. I find myself shuffling my feet and I don’t want to
keep walking. What I want more than anything is to sweep Jen into my arms and
kiss her like I fantasized about night after night.

“So, how is the military?” she asks, making sure to keep the
stroller moving. She must have taken a nanny job. Funny, I never thought of her
as suited to clean poopy diapers and all. I’m glad the kid’s asleep and
oblivious to us.

“Great.” The kid, a baby I realize, starts to squirm around
in the stroller. I attempt to peek in but Jen moves the stroller forward. I
can’t see the baby.
Fine. Whatever
. With expertise, Jen pops the soother back in the
baby’s mouth and then turns to face me.

“So you really like the army?” she asks, again. I nod. “It’s
hard though. Lots of physical work, and the school stuff is a lot harder than
the stuff taught in high school. But yeah, guess I really do like it.” I know
now I’m rambling but hell, she was the one who asked. “So, what have you been
up to?”

For a weird second her eyes dart back to the stroller, and
then she looks up at me. “Not much. Stuff,” she says, which is so unlike Jen I
think I must be making her uncomfortable.

“Well, I was supposed to meet Eje tonight, but since he’s not
in town yet, are you interested in getting together? You know like old times.
I’d really like to see the gang.” Sweet Jesus, I must be nuts. Why not put a
bullet through my heart while I stand? I honestly can’t believe I blurted all
that out.

Jen looks down at her sneakers and for a second I let myself
hope. “I can’t tonight. Sorry, Charlie.”

“Oh, okay, that’s fine. Listen, I’ve got to go, but it was
really great seeing you again, Jen.”

She nods but doesn’t say anything. I force myself to walk
away from her and feel more than ever that I should run back and kidnap her.
What we had felt special. Where did I go wrong? What did I do to make her hate
me so much?

Oh my God. I think I’m going to be sick. Of all the people
to run into, Charlie. God, he looked so good he made me want to cry. Instead I
acted like a fool and said nothing. I can’t help but glance over my shoulder to
see if he’s still there, but he’s gone. Out of my life for good and he doesn’t
know. Maybe I should have told him. Would it have made a difference? Who knows.

Danny starts to cry and for once I like the distraction. I
turn the corner, put the stroller in park and pick him up, holding him tight.
At six months now, he’s looking more and more like his father. The man I let
walk out of my life for good. I cuddle Danny close, amazed at how bright his
wonderful, big brown eyes are. He’s got light cinnamon-colored skin, thick,
dark curly hair and eyes so alert and intelligent he makes my heart soar.

“You, my little man, must be getting hungry.” I watch his
mouth suckle hard on his soother. It will take me three more blocks until I get
to my sister’s place. Tucking him back into his stroller, I make sure the baby
blankets keep the chilly September day from his body.

Shame you didn’t do one of your famous cries for your daddy
. The
mere thought of Charlie holding Danny unlocks something I’ve tried hard to keep
closed for months. I fight the tears wanting to fall. Months ago I willed the
emotional side of me to shut off. The words my father screamed at me still
haunt me. I made my bed and now I’ve got to lie in it. A giggle escapes me. At
least I get to hold Danny in that bed.

I haul the stroller up the two flights of stairs and open
the door. Ella, my big sister, is there, holding the door open for me. I don’t
know what I’d do without her. Unlike my father, she’s been my rock. When Dad
found out I was pregnant, he hit the wall, literally. Things got worse from
there so a few weeks before I delivered Danny, I took up my big sister’s offer
and moved in with her. She hasn’t asked me for rent yet and when I offered to
pay what I could, she told me not to worry about it. Thank God she’s got a big
paying job at the bank because the truth of the matter is, I don’t have much
money saved.

“Did the walk calm him down?”

“Yeah, the minute we hit the street he conked out as usual,”
I say, moving the stroller into the living room. No way am I taking him out of
that until he wakes up screaming for his food. His last feeding frenzy meant
three nights of no sleep, and my breasts are still sensitive. Maybe I should
start him on a bottle soon.

“Your friend Shannon just called. You really should go out
with her.”

I look at Danny and give a silent chuckle. “Can’t.”

“Well, when you’re ready I’ve got formula and bottles for you,
and maybe when he wakes he’ll be so hungry he won’t miss you.”

“Why do I get the impression it’s you who wants him to take
the bottle more than me?”

Ella walks over to the stroller and adjusts one of his
blankets. At the age of twenty-six she’s still single and I have no idea why.
She’s dated lots of men, but according to her, none have met her criteria. I
should have drawn up a list of must-haves too. Maybe that would have helped me
resist Charlie. I feel heat creep up my flushed cheeks and hope my sister
doesn’t notice.