Landry in Like (16 page)

“She's having too much fun to even come over here, and I'm sure he'll understand if you're uncomfortable here…” she trailed off, and I knew she was wondering what girls would be all over him if we left. But was that a good enough reason to stay somewhere where I felt so out of place?

Vladi walked over then. “You okay?” he asked.

“It's just… well… this place is so loud, and dark, and did I mention loud? I kind of want to call my friend's dad and go,” I said hoping he wouldn't think I was a boring little kid.

“I get it. Not your scene. That's cool, but will you dance with me once before you go?” he asked.

Fate was on my side because they were playing a slow song, and it was less awkward to slow dance in front of people.

“Sure,” I said and made sure Peyton had someone to sit with while we danced.

As I followed Vladi to the dance floor, I realized that although I wouldn't have to worry about those other girls talking about the way I danced, this would be my first slow dance with him. I was a little nervous and a
lot
excited. Vladi put his arms around my waist and rested his cheek against mine. Okay, so maybe this part was worth putting up with the pulsating (and headache inducing) lights by the stage, the annoying music, and the judgmental stares. Although not the death glares in the bathroom — nothing was worth going through that again.

“Maybe next time we can figure out a way to let your mom agree to you and me going to a movie together or something,” he said.

I nodded. “I'd love that.”

As soon as the song ended, I called Mr. Allen. He hung up on me and then called me back asking, “Landry, is it party time?” all serious.

I started to laugh. “Yes, how's the party?”

“Okay, I'm on my way. Actually, I'm in the parking lot across the street. I'll pull up, so meet me outside.”

“What's up?” Peyton asked.

“Don't tell India, but her Dad was right across the street this whole time.”

“I figured,” she said. “The first time we all went to the mall on our own, he did the same thing. I mean, I'd hate it if my dad did that, but I'm super glad
her
dad did, if that makes sense.”

“Total sense,” I said nodding. “I would die if my dad was out there waiting, but it's nice to have somebody's dad out there.”

Peyton went to tell India and Devon we were leaving early. I didn't want to make a big deal about it in front of Ashanti and her friends, so I just sent a text that we were going. She was probably having too much fun to read it.

We said good-bye to Liv and Kendall, and I went to hug Vladi good-bye when he stood up.

“We're gonna walk you out and wait with you until your ride gets here,” he said.

“You're leaving, too?”

“Yeah, I'm not letting you wait outside by yourself. Come on,” he said, putting his arm around me. We walked outside and I took a deep breath of cool, crisp air as soon as my foot hit the pavement. It felt so good to be out of that place.

India's dad pulled up right then, and Vladi squeezed my hand as he walked us to the car. Mr. Allen got out and asked if they needed rides. Steve said they were parked over in Lot L.

“”Hop in,” Mr. Allen said. “I'll give you a lift to the parking lot.

Vladi sat in back with Peyton and me and held my hand the whole time. He gave my hand another squeeze as he thanked India's dad for the ride.

“That was nice of those boys to wait with you,” Mr. Allen said, pulling away from the curb. “So how was it? Anything weird or salacious going on?”

I tried to hide a smile. “No, just wasn't our thing, I guess.”

Mr. Allen asked Peyton what she thought. “I might go again, but I can't see spending every weekend here or anything,” she said.

“You still spending the night at my house?” she asked me. I nodded, and she asked Mr. Allen if he could go to my house first so I could get my overnight bag.

After I picked up my things, he dropped us off at her house. All I wanted to do was change out of my uncomfortable tight jeans and into my favorite sleepy puppy pants.

“Okay, I'm putting on the puppy pants. Please do not answer your front door until we are one-hundred percent certain Valine Sachs is not standing out there,” I said.

Peyton started to laugh. “I have been dreaming about taking my stupid jeans off all night. Mine aren't even half as tight as that girl Liv's were, but I just cannot take it anymore.”

“You know what's weird? After being in there, I can feel my makeup clogging my pores,” I said. I leaned over and stared in the mirror. “Look, I was right. You can see it. It's settled into my pores. My pores are so huge. Do you think people wonder what's wrong with me that they're that huge?”

“Yours are fine, but one day I checked out Devon's magnifying mirror and I never realized how big mine were.”

“That's how I noticed mine the first time, too. Her stupid magnifying mirror,” I said.

“That thing is evil. I glanced in it, and I think I saw what I'm going to look like when I'm fifty.”

I nodded. “I need to wash this makeup off my face. It just feels like an oil slick right now.”

“Yeah, I feel kind of dirty, too.”

“That bathroom smelled like cigarettes and now my hair sort of does,” I pulled a strand of my hair to my nose.

“Valine had cigarettes in her purse. I saw it when she pulled her lip gloss out.”

“Oh wow. She smokes?”

“I know. Apparently she missed all the years of commercials and warnings about smoking and cancer,” Peyton said.

“You know, Liv's not as scary when she's away from Valine,” I said.

“Yeah, I noticed that, too. She seems okay and I like Kendall a lot. She seems protective of you. I thought she was going to chew that girl out for being all flirty with Vladi.”

“Ugh, don't remind me.”

“He must like you a lot that he was pretending you guys were texting to get away from her,” she said.

I shrugged. “Hope so.”

We were both exhausted so we got ready for bed, and I fell asleep right away.

I
woke
up the next morning with Peyton's dog trying to get under my blanket.

“Hey, Truffles,” I said, snuggling the dog. She sniffed my hair and then ran out of the room.

“Your dog fell out of love with me because of my stinky hair,” I said.

She laughed. “Hold on, India's texting me. She wants to know if we want to meet them at the Carlisle for lunch and then go swimming in the indoor pool. She said her dad can get us passes.”

I bit my lip. “Who all is going?”

Peyton texted her and said, “She says Devon, Valine, Kendall, Liv, and these guys they met last night are all going to be there.”

My mouth dropped open. “They invited boys to go swimming at the country club with them?”

“She says it came up that they were all members, so that's why they planned to meet there.”

The thought of being in a bathing suit in front of the high school girls was bad enough, but now to add these guys to the mix? I couldn't think of anything more awkward and uncomfortable.

“I'm kind of worn out from last night, so I can call my mom for a ride if you want to go,” I said, avoiding her eyes.

“Yeah, okay, that's cool,” she said.

Great, Peyton would probably meet her dream man and next year she'd be in with Valine's group and I'd be on my own, and the only time anyone would ever mention me would be to say, “Can you believe that girl once went out with Vladi Yagudin?” to the disbelieving stares of anyone in earshot. But Peyton was one of my best friends, and she deserved the truth.

“Honestly, I'm just scared to go and that's why I'm flaking on you,” I said.

“I was seriously just thinking, ‘Landry's going to let me walk in by myself in a bathing suit to a pool with high school guys in it?'” Peyton said. “Going with you or Devon or India would be one thing, but that whole walking in alone? I'd probably poo myself as I walked through the door.”

I nodded. “When did that all change? I remember being so excited to go to the pool. Swimming and having fun. When did it get all awkward and become about what we look like in bathing suits or with our hair wet?”

“Oh, I know. Now I wear a cover-up until I'm right at the pool's edge, then I slide it off and slip directly into the pool hoping no one notices me,” she said. “But I do know when it all changed for me.”

“What do you mean?”

“India and I went to the pool last summer. You know how she looks like a swimsuit model as it is? Well, she got into the water and, like, every teenage guy was splashing around her. So I get in and I'm not saying I was invisible or anything, but she was definitely the one they were into. Anyway, we were playing volleyball in the water and the ball went way over my head. I swam out to get it and I heard this guy say, ‘Okay, I'll do you a solid. This time you get the hot one and I'll distract her friend so you can get her number.' And then that guy came over to me, so it was pretty obvious I wasn't the hot one they were talking about.” Peyton pulled her knees up to her chest. “I felt so blah next to India after that. It was humiliating, and I never told her that happened.”

“But Peyton, you are gorgeous. How stupid was that guy to say that?”

She shook her head. “I felt pretty good about myself until that day, and now every time we hang out, I feel like India's less-cute friend.”

I sat next to her and put my arm around her shoulders. “You are nobody's ‘less-cute friend.' That guy was a superficial jerk. I'm so sorry you had to hear that. People can be so mean sometimes, but I don't think they even realize what comes out of their mouths.”

“Thanks. I've never told anybody that happened. I wanted to tell you, but you have all that modeling stuff going on, so I didn't even know if you'd understand what that felt like.”

I told her the things I had overheard Yasmin and Arianna saying about how I was only picked to model because I was tall and thin.

“They are such jealous jerks,” she said. “Do not listen to them. Yasmin is so jealous of you being with Vladi that she'd say anything to make you feel inferior.”

“It's like she just wants to say she's with him.”

Peyton's mom came in then to tell us she had breakfast ready downstairs.

“I'm so hungry,” Peyton said. “We didn't snack or anything. We're so lame we fell asleep at eleven o'clock last night.”

Her mom laughed. “I told your father it was odd I didn't hear any giggling, and he said we should check to make sure you guys didn't sneak out. And there you two were — snoring away.”

“I snore?” Peyton said shrieking.

“No, I'm teasing you,” her mother said. “Now come down and eat your waffles before they get cold.”

Peyton texted India that we were too tired to go swimming.

We went down to breakfast, and I realized Mrs. Urich had made us homemade waffles. They were huge and fluffy. I had never seen any like these before and, after I smoothed them in butter and syrup, they melted in my mouth.

“These are the best waffles ever,” I said.

Mrs. Urich gave me a big smile and offered me some bacon to go with them. She had thick sliced bacon with pepper on the edges. I felt like I was in heaven.

“Do you want to see if anyone wants to come over and play the Skylar game with us?” Peyton asked.

I nodded and texted Ashanti.

Ashanti:
I spent the night over at Halle's and we're going shopping with Yasmin. Hope you guys have fun though.

“Is she coming?” Peyton asked.

I shook my head. My amazing breakfast suddenly wasn't sitting so well.

I
got called
down to the office during social studies. The secretary gave me a death glare as she told me my mother was on the phone.

“Hi, Mom, everything okay?” I asked.

“Yes, I need you to be ready right when school gets out and meet me in the front. I'm taking off of work to come get you because your agent wants you to fill in for some girl who was too sick to do a photo shoot.”

“It's so last minute,” I said, fighting a yawn. I was still sleepy since I had stayed at Peyton's house playing Skylar games until nine p.m., and then when I got home, I realized I had over an hour's worth of homework to catch up on.

“Well, you want to look professional and eager, don't you?” Mom said. “I'm not encouraging you to take the job. I'm just passing on the info.”

I sighed. This was the first job I had gotten offered in a long time, and it was only because some poor girl had a migraine.

“Yeah, okay. Tell them I'll do it.”

Mom picked me up after school, and we went straight to the clothing store where they were going to take the pictures. We walked in and they showed us what I'd be wearing. Mom went to sign the paperwork, and I checked out the clothing rack.

This was weird… a veil? Wasn't I way too young to model wedding stuff? I put on the white dress that was on the hanger and stared at myself in the mirror. The dress seemed far too short to be a wedding dress. Then it hit me… like a truck. It wasn't a bridal gown at all. It was a first communion dress. No! This could
not
be happening. Little kids made their first communion, not fourteen year olds. My mother, with her amazing timing, chose then to walk into the dressing room.

“Oh, honey, you look so precious,” she said. “Where's my phone? I need a picture of this.”

“Mom, no.”

“Aw, so cute. Look, all pouty just like you were as a little girl. I'm sending this one to Dad,” she said.

“Don't you dare! I do not need my humiliation on record.”

“Oh look, he wrote back already. Yup, he thinks you're adorable, too. He said it reminded him of how you spilled chocolate ice cream all over your first communion dress, and we tried everything to get it out,” she said. “If I remember correctly, Grandma Dombrowski soaked it in milk and that's what worked. Those old country tricks are tried and true, you know.”

“Mo-
ther,
” I said gritting my teeth. “I cannot go through with this. What if someone sees these pictures? I'm fourteen. I am not a little kid.”

“Landry, some people make their first communion later, so it's perfectly acceptable for an older child or a teen to wear this.”

“Seriously? The veil? And c'mon, this is like a party dress. There are ruffles everywhere and a bow on my butt.”

“Seriously? Turn around. Oh, it's even cuter from the back,” she said as I heard her camera phone make a clicking noise.

“You did
not
just take a picture of my rear end, did you?” I asked alarmed.

“Well, technically I took a picture of the bow… that was covering your little tushie. Oh, you're so cute.”

“I hate my life right now. So,
so
much.”

“Hey, it's a modeling job and it's a paid one, so chalk it up to experience and something to put in your portfolio. Plus, now I have ammunition,” she said.

“What do you mean?”

“Instead of grounding you as a punishment, I can now threaten you with sending this photo to Vladi. That'll ensure that you will be good,” she said smirking.

“You wouldn't!”

“You just toe the line, little lady, and it won't be a problem.”

The photographer's assistant came back and called me to come to the set. I made a face at my mother, who lifted her phone to take another shot.

The assistant made a face when he saw me and called someone over to fix my hair. She came over with the biggest can of hairspray I had ever seen and proceeded to spray it right in my face.

“Ooh, my eyes,” I said, putting my hands up.

“Don't! You'll smear your mascara,” she said.

“I have hairspray in my eyes.”

She rolled her eyes. “You're fine.”

“They're stinging.”

“I've used this spray to set girls' makeup before.”

“Can you check the can to see if there's a warning about blindness?” I asked.

She threw up her hands and walked away from me. The assistant walked up to me and told me to blink repeatedly and roll my eyes back and forth in my head.

“We do this all the time and no one's ever gone blind,” he said in the same fake soothing tone Mrs. Urich used on her dog when it was time to go to the vet.

They had me sit on a little perch. The photographer didn't like the way the veil was on my head, but the stylist said my hair wasn't thick enough to place it higher up. He gave her a grunt and a glare, and she began backcombing my hair and spraying it. Then she put about a million hair pins in it to where my scalp felt like a pin cushion.

“Ow, um… can you see if I'm bleeding?” I asked, trying to make it obvious she was hurting me.

She stopped and stared at me. “Don't get blood on the dress and veil.”

Well, then don't stab me. This stupid veil was giving me the worst headache and I was sure my hair was going to be knotted for life after this.

After what seemed like an eternity, she was done torturing me and the photographer started shooting pictures. I was thrilled when he said we were done until that woman came to take the veil off my head. There was so much of my hair still stuck in the headpiece after she removed it. I went to the mirror and my scalp was so red, you could see it through my hair. Gross. My eyes were super red, too, from the spray, and I heard the photographer complain he would have to fix my irritated eyes in his photo editing program. Well, buddy, then maybe don't have your assistant mace me next time.

We left and I felt like sleeping for days. As soon as we got home, I crawled into bed and pulled out my phone. I saw a text from Vladi saying he had just watched my cable access show appearance.

Vladi:
You were great! I just showed it to the guys during our water break at practice. You did amazing. I'll get home too late to call you tonight, but I'll call you tomorrow. You were awesome.

I noticed there was a square at the end of the text like he had intended to put an emoticon in there, but it didn't show up, so I had no idea which one it was. It could be a smiley face or something, which was no big deal, but what if it was something more important? Should I ask him what it was supposed to be or let it go? Curiosity got the best of me, so I texted back that the picture didn't show up. I thought he'd ignore it or say it was no big deal, but he texted back a picture instead and it was of… a heart. A little yellow heart. I immediately called Ashanti, who said she was putting “yellow heart” into a search engine to see if it had a deeper meaning.

“Maybe he just did yellow because pink is so… you know, lovey,” I said. I had questioned why it was yellow, but I never thought to look it up.

“Yeah, or maybe it means something,” she said. “We have to be sure.”

Oh man, what if it meant his heart was feeling sickly now or something. Would that even make sense?

“Okay, one site says it means, ‘pure honest love,' one says, ‘heart of gold,' and another said… it just means love for a friend,” she said.

“What do you think?”

“We need a third opinion on this and I can't ask Jay because I don't want him to know I overthink stuff, which I do, but he doesn't need to find that out. So we could three-way call with someone else.”

Devon would read into it. Plus, she was open and didn't hold back, so she'd bring it up in front of people. Nope. No good there. India might be helpful, but then she'd tell Devon.

“Peyton?” I asked.

“Good choice. Call her.”

Peyton could only talk for a minute because she was practicing for her piano lesson, but her mom let her get on the phone. We filled her in and waited for her response.

“Well, I've never had an actual boyfriend, but… from what I get from guys, I don't think they overthink stuff like that, so I think it was just a heart. Like, I like you, but it wasn't pink because he didn't want to be all serious and say, ‘I'm in love with you,' and all, so with yellow it's as if he's saying… he's ‘in like'.”

“I think she's right,” Ashanti said. “He's saying he's ‘in like'. This. Is. Major.”

“Well, yeah, he asked me to be his girlfriend, so I know he likes me.”

“No, Landry,” Ashanti said. “Not that kind, but the like-like kind. The step before you say the other l-word. He's not saying he
just
likes you, he's saying he's ‘in like' with you.”

Oh wow. That
was
major, but was she right?

“Peyton?”

“I think it's what this means, too. He doesn't seem like the kind of guy who randomly texts hearts to girls, and he's never done that with you before, right?” she asked.

“Nope. I got a smiley and stuff, but never, ever a heart.”

“My sister knew her boyfriend was into her when he started texting her hearts,” Peyton said.

“Yup, Vladi stepped it up. He's ‘in like',” Ashanti said. “This confirms it.”

I suddenly lost control of my mouth muscles and I started smiling all big and stupid. I wanted to believe what they were saying and, after all, Peyton didn't just say stuff meaninglessly. I was going to be smart about this, but it just made me realize how much I liked him, too

“So what did you write back?” Peyton asked.

“Um… well, nothing. I called you guys.”

“Oh wow, I wasn't thinking about that! How much time has passed?” Ashanti asked. “You have to write back or else he'll wonder what you're thinking and if he, you know, said too much too soon.”

“What do I say? I don't want to write anything. Can I just put a smiley?” I asked.

“Do you
want
him to break up with you?” Ashanti asked.

Peyton had to get back to her lesson but wished me luck.

I had no idea what to text back. Another heart? Suddenly my own heart was beating a million miles per minute.

“What are you gonna do?” Ashanti asked.

“I'm just going to write what I'm thinking. I'm going to text back, “Aw, cute,” so it's like I'm acknowledging the heart and showing I'm not scared off or anything by it.”

“Perfect.”

I texted Vladi back and he must have had his phone nearby because he wrote me back immediately.

Vladi: Glad you liked it.

He had a bunch of those smileys that blushed next to it.

He was “in like.” I was “in like”. Life. Was. Perfect.