Famous (16 page)

Brielle nodded hard.

“I'm over the fact that you went out with each other. You had every right to. I was a student at Canterwood, and I wasn't in a relationship with Taylor.”

Taylor took a sip of his Diet Coke, and his green eyes looked back and forth between Brielle and me.

“Taylor, once you got here, I wish you'd told me. It would have been a hurdle that you and I would have to get over, but we would have. As
friends
. I need you to really, truly understand that I'm with Drew. You and I can't go back to the way things were.”

Taylor cleared his throat. “I hear you. I apologize for continuing to push myself on you, Lauren. I should have been happy enough with the fact that we were friends.”

“Thank you,” I said.

I looked over at Brielle. “Bri, you started your time at Canterwood with a
giant
lie. But you came to Canterwood to get a fresh start, just like me, and I wish you'd trusted me enough to tell me the truth. It was a major breach of BFF code.”

“I trust you with everything, Lauren,” Brielle said.
“That was never it. I was furious with myself for what I'd done. I hoped I could keep it a secret, shoulder the blame with Taylor, and make sure you never found out. That was wrong. I'm so sorry.”

I stared into my best friend's eyes, and I knew she meant it. We'd been friends long enough that I could read Brielle pretty well. Taylor, too. Neither of them seemed proud, like they'd almost gotten away with something. They seemed depressed.

“There's so much history among all of us,” I continued. “At first I was willing to throw it all away because of this. But I talked to a lot of people and got some good advice. Finally, I followed my gut and called you here. I don't want our friendships to end. If you're in, let's take it slow and rebuild them. Learn to trust each other again. Be the Lauren and Taylor and Lauren and Brielle we used to be.”

Their posture changed. Brielle and Taylor glanced back and forth at each other, then stared at me. Then back at each other again before both shaking their heads, eyes wide.

“Are you saying—,” Brielle started, and stopped. She had an expression of
wanting
to be hopeful, but being afraid to be.

“I'm saying, I want you both to be my friends again. Life is too short for grudges, and everyone makes mistakes. I hope when it's my turn to mess up that you guys don't automatically cut me out of your lives.”

“Oh, Lauren!”

Brielle was across the cushion in a flash. She wrapped her arms around me, and a few tears dripped onto my neck.

“I'm so, so sorry,” Brielle said, sitting back as Taylor handed her a tissue from the coffee table. “I've missed you so much. I've been
miserable
without you. I promise my words aren't empty. I'll show you that you can trust me again.”

I reached over and squeezed her hand. “I believe you. I love you, Bri.”

“I love you, Laur.”

At the same second, we both remembered Taylor. We glanced at him on his seat.

Ever so slowly, a wide grin spread across his face.

“Lauren Towers, I've never been sorrier than this. Not in my entire life. For you to have the capacity to forgive me and want to be my friend . . .” Taylor ran a hand over his hair. “I almost don't know what to say or do. I'm the happiest guy on campus right now. Like Brielle said, I
won't tell you all the ways I'm going to make it up to you. I'll show you. My life didn't feel complete without you in it.”

We stood, and I darted around the coffee table, flinging my arms around Tay. His body was so familiar and his hug comforting.

“Three-way hug!” Brielle said after a minute. Taylor and I opened our arms and welcomed Brielle into our happy circle.

SATURDAY EVENING I STEPPED OUTSIDE
of Hawthorne's entrance door, where a smiling Drew waited, leaning against the iron railing. He looked as excited as I felt about going to Dragon Palace for Chinese food.

“You look beautiful,” he said, his face lit up by the overhead lights.

Tonight was a few degrees warmer than normal, and I'd left my coat open to reveal my outfit. It had taken me hours to narrow down the possibilities from my closet. Then I'd recruited Khloe to help me narrow it down to three outfits and, finally, to one.

I'd decided on a sparkly light-and-dark-striped pink sweater with a ruffled black skirt. Under the skirt, I wore crisscross-pattern black tights with tall boots that went
up to my knees. They were flat, so no worries of tripping. I'd accessorized with a Cartier knockoff bracelet that I'd found on eBay. It was silver and made to look like a nail that blacksmiths used to shoe horses. I carried a cross-body metallic silver purse just big enough to fit money, my cell phone, and student ID.

Khloe had picked out silver-and-pink dangly earrings. “It's Saturday night, LT,” she'd said. “You're going to a place called ‘Dragon Palace' for the first time with Drew. We've got to make sure your look slays the evil beast!”

The memory made me smile. After clothes and accessories, Khloe had done my makeup. Sheer champagne-colored eye shadow, Lip Buxom gloss from Sephora, a barely there dusting of powder across my T-zone, and a highlighting application of NARS blush on my cheekbones.

“I had a lot of help from Khloe,” I said. “Thank you. You look great too.”

Under an open wool coat, Drew wore a black V-neck sweater, jeans, and high-tops.

“Ready to go?” Drew asked, holding out a hand.

“Ready!”

After a brisk
walk across campus, we walked inside the welcomed warm restaurant. Canterwood was adding new
food places all the time, and Chinese was the latest. I had my fingers crossed for Indian next. The wide selection of food made me miss New York City a little less.

“Welcome to Dragon Palace,” a waiter said. “Party of two?”

“Yes,” Drew said.

“Follow me, please,” the waiter answered.

I kept my eyes focused on Drew—it would be easy to lose him in here. Candles were lit along every wall, and the overhead lights had been dimmed low. We passed a waterfall with a koi pond, and I peered inside at the fish.

The smell of Chinese food made my mouth water, and I hoped Dragon Palace had speedy service!

The waiter seated Drew and me at a great table near an ascending row of candles along the wall.

“My name is Wei,” the waiter said, smiling. “To start, what can I get you to drink?”

“Root beer would be great,” I said. “Thank you.”

“I'd love the same,” Drew said. “Thanks.”

Wei nodded and disappeared.

“This place is so cool!” I said. “Thank you for bringing me here.”

Drew glanced around, nodding. Most of the tables were
filled, and waiters zipped around with food and drinks. “One question,” Drew said. “Where's the dragon?”

“Ooh, yeah,” I said. “Where is it?”

We both looked behind us, over each other's shoulders, toward the exit—everywhere.

“Uh, Laur,” Drew said. “Look up.”

I did as he said. A giant, intricate red-and-yellow dragon was painted on the ceiling. Smoke and fire blasted from his nose, and he was exactly the type of dragon I associated with the Chinese culture.

“Wow,” I said. “That's gorgeous.”

Drew didn't take his eyes off the ceiling. “It's amazing. Someone worked really,
really
hard on that.”

I looked back down at the table, opening my menu. “It's been way too long since I've had Chinese food! Before I moved to Union, I ordered it at least once a week when I lived in Brooklyn. I've missed it so much at Canterwood.” I scanned the menu. “They have
everything
! Ahhh! You're going to have to help me choose.”

Drew looked at his own menu, playing with the corner. “Confession time,” he said. “This is the first time I've ever had Chinese food.”

“What?!” I slapped my hand over my mouth. “Drew, that was so rude. I didn't mean to make it worse. I was
surprised because you seem like the kind of guy who's tried everything.”

He smiled. “Everything except this Asian cuisine. Would you, um, help me order?”

“Of course! No big deal at all. Usually, when I get Chinese food with my friends, we split a couple of appetizers and then get bigger dishes to share. There's always so much food, and it's not too expensive, if you want to do that with me.”

Drew nodded. “I'm game.”

“For appetizers,” I said, scanning the list, “I think you'd like a spring roll. When I suggest something, read over the description and say yes or no based on whether or not you like what's in it.”

“Spring roll is a go,” Drew said.

I reached back, grabbed a pen from my purse, and started writing down our order on my napkin.

“Another great dish is cold noodles with sesame sauce. The sauce is peanut buttery, and it doesn't sound the greatest from the description, but if we get it and you don't like it, then I would be shocked.”

“Add it, please,” Drew said.

Together, we went through the menu. We'd just finished when Wei appeared with our root beers.

“Ready to order?” he asked.

“Yes, please,” I said. “Can we have two spring rolls, one cold noodles with sesame sauce, a small kung pao chicken with white rice, and an order of pork dumplings with extra soy sauce?”

Wei scratched down our order and read it back to us. “It'll be ready soon!” he said.

“Thank you, Lauren. I'm sorry I had to make you order and do all of the work.”

“Stop,” I said. “I was happy to do it, and I know you're going to do the same for me one day.”

“So,” Drew said, swirling his straw in his soda. “How did last night go?” He still looked a little embarrassed.

“Better than I could have hoped for,” I said. “I really took to heart all the advice you and everyone else gave me about forgiveness and giving people second chances. Just because I told Brielle and Taylor we could be friends again does
not
mean I'm dropping my guard back to where it used to be.”

“I think that's smart,” Drew said. “I don't want you to get hurt.”

“Me either. Until they both prove that I can trust them, my wall has to stay up. But I'm so, so happy, Drew, to have them back in my life. I missed them. I think I BBMed you that I called Ana, too, right?”

He nodded a
yes
. “I'm happy that Ana seemed to have learned a hard lesson but is so grateful to be your friend again. Honestly, from what you told me about these guys prior to this mess, I don't see any of them hurting you like this ever again. If they do”—Drew made a face like the Hulk and rubbed a clenched fist again an open palm—“it's on.”

“I wanted to ask you something, and please be honest with me,” I said. “Are you mad even the tiniest bit or bothered that I wanted Taylor back as my friend so bad?”

“Not for a second,” Drew said, not even hesitating. “I know where your feelings lie, Lauren. You didn't want to befriend Taylor to win him back as your boyfriend. You did it because he
has
been a good friend to you for a long time. In this crazy world, I think we need all of the good friends we can get. I promise you that it doesn't bother me at all.”

I beamed as Wei stepped up to our table carrying a huge tray of food. He placed it in front of us with speed and precision.

“Here are your chopsticks,” Wei said. He reached into his apron and pulled out two plastic-wrapped pairs of wooden chopsticks. “Enjoy, and I'll be back to check on you.”

“All right,” I said. “Something else I get to teach you tonight! Chopsticks.”

“A fork and knife are totally cool for me,” Drew said.

“Nope.” I leaned over and swiped his silverware off the table.

“Whoa, Towers,” he said, laughing. “I guess it's chopsticks or my fingers then!”

“It's easier than you think, and it's fun. Plus, we're at the
Dragon Palace
. We've got to go all in here.”

Drew looked up, then glanced down at me, his expression serious. “I think you're right. If we don't follow all ancient Chinese traditions”—he leaned closer to me—“we might release the dragon!” he said in a whisper.

I giggled. “Open your chopsticks. At least that'll give you a weapon if the dragon gets loose.”

We unwrapped our plastic.

“Put one in each hand and rub them together like this,” I said.

Drew watched me for a few seconds, then mimicked me.

“Perfect,” I said. “Now, here's how you hold them.”

I walked Drew through the demonstration three times before asking him to try. He came
so
close that I told him where to place his last finger.

“That's it!” I said. “Awesome job! Before you try
picking up food, try to grab something on the table. Use your fingers like this. . . .”