Flat-Out Love (12 page)

Julie flew out of the station and raced to Celeste’s school. She pulled into the pickup lane, nearly empty now, and slammed on the brakes, causing the Volvo to squeal loudly. Celeste was nowhere to be seen. She could hear Matthew’s voice echoing loudly in her head.
She’s rather regimented…You can’t promise anything
. Who knew what might happen because Julie was so late? She still hadn’t identified what had upset Celeste the other night in Finn’s room, but being this late and off-schedule would surely be a bigger deal.

Julie got out of the car and rushed to the sidewalk in front of the building. “Celeste?” she called. She ran her hands through her hair as she scanned a group of girls who sat on the lawn. God, she could feel her heart racing. How ridiculous that she was panicking about being a few minutes late to give someone a ride home. A few straggling students walked past her. “Celeste!” she said more loudly. “Hey!” She grabbed a boy with spiked hair and a ripped Nine Inch Nails shirt by the sleeve. “Have you seen Celeste Watkins?”

“The loser chick with blond hair who talks weird?”

Julie narrowed her eyes and squeezed his shirt in her hand. “I’ll accept your insulting description only because I don’t have time to argue with you. So, yes, spiky boy who likely has a behavioral problem and outrageously disappointed parents,
that
Celeste. Where is she?”

“Sitting up there.” He nodded in the direction of the covered walkway that ran alongside the building. “But you could
blow her off and hang out with us.” His friends whooped with laughter and made idiotic catcalls.

“That sounds highly entertaining. Really. I’m attracted to you in the most powerful way, but the odds that I might twist your mouthy little head off with my hands is increasing by the minute. So I’m gonna pass.” Julie released her grip on his shirt and turned away.
Idiot
.

She held her hand up to her eyes to block the sun as she walked away in search of Celeste, eventually finding her sitting on one of the concrete benches. Her hands were in her lap, and her head hung down. This was worse than Julie thought. If Celeste was having some kind of nutty meltdown, Julie would never forgive herself.

“Celeste!” Julie waved. “Celeste!”
Oh, no
. Celeste wouldn’t even look at her. Julie kept walking closer. “I’m so sorry. Stupid Matt didn’t put gas in the car, so that’s why I’m late, and—”

Julie stopped, a proud smile slowly taking over her worried face. Celeste was not, in fact, collapsed in a depressive state; she was listening to Julie’s iPod. And tapping her foot. Talk about worrying needlessly.

Eventually Celeste looked up. “Oh! I’m sorry, Julie!” she screamed. “I like this playlist that you created for me!”

Julie giggled and put a finger to her lips. “Shhhh,” she said.

“Oh.” Celeste removed the earphones. “I imagine that I was talking too loudly just now, wasn’t I? I’m sorry. I had the volume at a very high level, and the world sort of disappeared.” She paused, smiling. “It was rather nice.”

“Don’t worry about it. No one is around.” Julie grabbed Celeste’s bag. “Come on. There’s a coffee shop I saw near your house that I want to check out. Big comfy chairs, weird art, mystical brews. It’ll be cool.”

Celeste stood up slowly and began to follow Julie to the car. “Perhaps you can take me home first and then visit this place yourself?”

“Nope.” Julie kept walking. “The three of us are going in.” She heard Celeste’s footsteps quicken behind her. “Yes, the three of us. There’s nothing to worry about. Move it, or you’re paying for drinks.”

“You have a very unusual approach, Julie.” Celeste caught up to her. “But I am willing to play along.”

“Good. So is Flat Finn.”

Matthew Watkins
“All one word” should be spelled…Oh, never mind. This joke is stupid
.

Finn Is God
Considering taking freelance job titling potential porn movies. Working on title involving “Oh, Susannah,” and “Pie for Me.” Thoughts?

Julie Seagle
Attempting to perfect tricky Boston accent, but currently sound more like Robin Williams than Matt Damon. Dammit. Success is elusive
.

Julie leaned against the counter and looked up at Java Genius’s chalkboard menu. “I need a type of icy, frothy, coffee-chocolate concoction,” she said leadingly.

The guy behind the counter crossed his arms. “Do you mean a Frappuccino?”

Julie clicked her tongue. “Close. A little less powerful. Something more like…I don’t know….”

He sighed. “A Dunkin’ Donuts Coolatta?”

“Bingo!”

The barista set his forearms on the counter and leaned in to Julie, smiling. “We have a Mocha Heatbuster that I think you’ll like. Anything for your friend? Or friends?” The coffee
guy pointed to the couch by the window, where Celeste sat upright on a couch with Flat Finn standing next to her, facing the open room. At least nobody else was here for now, and Flat Finn could easily pass as some sort of garish advertisement for vitamin-enhanced water should other people show up.

“Yes, two smoothies. A mango yogurt for him and a chocolate banana for her,” Julie said, straight-faced.

He looked into Julie’s eyes, his own glistening as he tried not to smile. “Will that be it?”

“For now. One of us may need another drink in a bit. In fact, one of us may
really
need a drink in a bit. Those two are a lot to handle, but we’ll try to keep it down.”

“I’m used to it. We get all types in here. This is Cambridge, after all.”

Julie watched as he made their drinks. He had nice arms, and she involuntarily lowered her gaze when he turned around.
Oh, my
. He had a lot of nice parts. The styled black hair and green eyes didn’t hurt either.

She reached inside her purse, but he stopped her and tipped his head toward Flat Finn. “Don’t worry about it. Your special guest entitles you to free beverages.”

Julie flinched. Goddamn Flat Finn was making for a perfectly weird flirty exchange. “Thank you, um…?”

“Seth.”

“Seth. Thank you, Seth. I’m Julie.” She cleared her throat and tried to come up with an excuse as to why she was out for coffee with a flat boy. Telling him that a thirteen-year-old girl needed to cart around a flat version of her brother for a mysterious reason probably wouldn’t fly. “I’m doing an experiment for my psych class. Recording people’s reactions to the presence of a life-sized cardboard cutout in various situations.”

“Sure you are.” He stepped back and held his hands out to the side. “In that case, how am I doing? C’mon, what’s the assessment? Am I passing?”

Julie tucked her hair behind her ears and tried to look serious. “It’s not a question of doing well or poorly. It’s just an objective collection of data.” She picked up her drink and couldn’t help grinning. “But you’re doing well so far.”

“I’m relieved,” Seth said. “Do you want help carrying those drinks? That guy you came with doesn’t look very helpful. Chivalry is dead these days, I guess.”

“He has his moments. Now doesn’t seem to be one of them. And he’s not actually
my
guest.”

“So does this mean there’s any chance you’re single?”

She winked at him. “I think it’s too soon for you to ask me that.”

“Fair enough.”

Celeste was poised stiffly on the end of a purple velvet couch, a bustle of leaves from a potted ficus tree dangling just above her head. Seth set the chocolate banana drink on the coffee table in front of her and held the mango smoothie out. “What should I—”

“Just put that one down,” Julie advised.

“OK. Hi,” he said as he held his hand out to Celeste. “I’m Seth.”

Celeste was breathing audibly, but she took his hand. “Celeste.”

“Mind if I sit down?”

Celeste sized him up. “I think that decision is up to Julie. You are interested in her romantically, correct?” she said robotically.

“I think it’s too soon for you to ask me that,” he said. It was his turn to wink at Julie. “But yes, I am.”

“Let’s let him stay. I’m sure he’ll have another customer any minute, and then we can talk about him behind his back.” Julie sat down next to Celeste and tried her drink. “As blended coffee beverages go, this one is not bad.”

“Maybe you’ll be a regular customer then?” Seth dropped into the cushy armchair in front of them. “Maybe all of you will? I would not complain if two beautiful women with a non-threatening guest wanted to stop in every day.”

Julie pretended to pout. “Celeste, I think he’s hitting on you.”

Celeste blushed nearly scarlet red and hurriedly reached for her drink. The pins in her hair had held up, and with the decent outfit on, she not only looked her age, but also looked especially pretty. “
Julie
,” she scolded softly, but the tone of her voice had lightened. She couldn’t hide her obvious enjoyment at being complimented.

Seth laughed and slouched over, resting his arms on his legs. “Ah, if I were only a few years younger, then definitely. As it is, I’ll have to settle for shamelessly hitting on Julie. What do you think, Celeste? Do you think she’ll go out with me?”

Normal color had returned to Celeste’s cheeks, and she looked seriously at him. “How old are you?”

“Nineteen.”

“Do you work here full-time?”

“I’m a sophomore at BU. I work here a few afternoons a week and sometimes weekends. I’m majoring in political studies,” Seth said, accepting that an interrogation had begun.

Celeste began firing off questions. “Where do you live?” “Do you have misbehaved roommates?” “Do you have any pets? Do you have any misbehaved pets?” “Are you a good driver?” and on and on.

Seth, to his credit, answered every question thoroughly and respectfully. He lived in one of the dorm rooms and had one roommate, who was a transfer student from Nebraska and so far had not proven to be misbehaved. No pets, as the college wouldn’t allow it, but one day Seth would like to have a potbellied pig. He had only had one speeding ticket (forty in a thirty-mile-an-hour zone), and he had paid the ticket promptly and had never had a car accident. “No accidents in Boston is a big deal, so I want extra credit for that.”

“Noted,” Celeste said.

“OK, that’s plenty.” Julie cut off the line of questioning. She couldn’t help noting the irony of Celeste assessing anyone’s emotional stability. “I think we’ve determined that Seth is not a psychotic nut.”

“He doesn’t seem to be,” Celeste agreed. “I think you should go out with him.”

Seth clapped his hands together. “Yeah? OK, I have one vote for yes. I just need one more…one more! What’s it gonna be? What’s it gonna be?”

“Sure, why not?” Julie agreed.

“Yes!” He threw his hands up in victory. “Friday night? Seven o’clock?”

“OK,” she said.

“This is going to be a real date, I assume?” Celeste asked. “You are not going to take her to a tawdry, rambunctious college party, are you?”

“No. Definitely not. I promise I will take Julie somewhere nice. Dinner and then something else respectable to be determined.” The front door swung open, and a flood of customers came in. “I have to go take care of them, but can I call you?” Seth pulled his cell from his pocket and programmed in Julie’s number. “I’m glad you both came in today. You two are much
cuter than the stuffy English professor and her mother who were here before you. Julie? I’ll talk to you soon.” He returned to his job behind the counter.

Huh. Julie had a date. She smiled and put her feet up on the table. Seth was probably going to want an explanation regarding Flat Finn, but he seemed nice, and she could picture him tolerating Celeste’s issues. Julie still wasn’t quite clear on the scope of Flat Finn’s purpose. Well, at least he was an attractive enough cardboard brother.

“We could come here and do homework together in the afternoons. It’s pretty quiet here,” Julie suggested.

“It is something to consider.” Celeste rose and examined the paperback books that sat on a shelf. “Do you think you will fall in love with Seth?”

“I have no idea. I’ve known him for twenty minutes. That’s not something you know immediately. At least I don’t think so.”

“You said that you didn’t want ordinary. How do you know that he is not ordinary? Maybe he will turn out to be dull and uninspiring. Or worse, maybe he will make you adore him and then suddenly disappear and break your heart.”

“Nice positive attitude you have,” Julie said, frowning. “Those are all possibilities, but I think I’ll give him a chance anyway. It’s worth the risk.”

“I do not know about that.”

Julie sunk further into the cushy couch. “I’m no expert. What the hell do I understand about boyfriends and love anyway? The only way I’m going to learn is by trying.”

“I think that is valiant of you. Fearless.” Celeste took a book of short stories from the collection and sat back down to read. “I find it a good sign that they have reading material here. This is an inviting atmosphere.”

Julie pulled out her phone and checked her mail. “Hey, Finn wrote to us. With pictures.”

Celeste leaned over excitedly and stared at the screen. “What did he say? Quick! Where is he now?”

“It seems he’s on the scuba-diving leg of his trip. Look.” Julie angled the screen so Celeste could see the photos of Finn dressed in a full wet suit, snorkel, mask, and air tank. He was saluting the camera in one and falling off a boat in another. The third was taken underwater, and he was surrounded by a school of fish.

Dear Celeste and Julie

In a rush right now, so you both get the same message. Deal with it! You can now refer to me as Scuba Man. My new name entitles me to superhero status, so I expect both of you to give me the appropriate respect. My skills include cutting myself on barnacles, swimming at an Olympic pace to evade sharks, and collecting sand in uncomfortable places in my wet suit. Don’t be jealous; not everyone can be as powerful as I am. Future powers to be determined
.

–Finn

Celeste beamed. “Isn’t Finn funny? I love him.”

“Does he ever call the house so you can talk to him?” Julie asked.

“No. Absolutely not,” Celeste said sharply. “I asked him not to. It makes it easier for me. I would rather just wait to speak with him in person.”