Landry in Like (22 page)

Mom glanced up from the TV show she was watching. “You're home so soon, sweets. Everything okay?”

“Yeah, no one we knew was there, so we decided to leave early and play Skylar games,” Ashanti said.

“Okay,” Mom said. “You guys want snacks? I bought some lemon poppy seed muffins for your grandparents. And there's some pastry thing. It's got icing on it and some sort of fruit filling. It looks like something Grandpa would like. Have at it.”

We took some snacks back to my room. We sat there chewing in silence, and I realized how nice it was to be able to have a comfortable silence with someone. Just knowing Ashanti cared and was there for me without having to say anything.

“Wanna solve a mystery?” she asked, picking up the game disc.

I nodded. We started to play, and Mom came in and asked if Ashanti wanted to spend the night since it was getting late. Ashanti texted her parents who said they were fine with it. Her mom said she'd drop off an overnight bag.

“Hey, did you ever figure out your grandma's mac ‘n cheese recipe?” I asked.

“Nope. Nobody knows what Dexter cheese or Waddell sauce is,” she said.

“Have your mom bring the recipe when she drops off your stuff. We can ask my grandma about it. She loves to cook and play with recipes.”

Mrs. Russell dropped off Ashanti's things, and we put our sweats on. I glanced over at my phone.

“Hoping he'll call?” she asked.

I nodded and told her how he had said he liked hearing my voice before he fell asleep.

“Wow, you guys were getting a lot closer, weren't you?” she said. “You never told me that.”

I nodded and my eyes filled with tears. “He told me I could always count on him and I knew he meant it and then all this happened.”

“He knows now though. I mean, I saw his face when you told Kyle off for insulting Thalia. The way you talked to Kyle was proof you're not into him.”

“Yeah, but Vladi has some other girl now,” I said.

Ashanti bit her lip. “Well, Kendall doesn't seem to think he's all that into her.”

“That girl sounds perfect for him, and did you see how they seemed like the perfect couple? She's the exact opposite of me — athletic, outgoing, like Amazon-ish tall, and they're both Russian. I mean, they're like a soap opera forever-couple who always find their way back to one another,” I said. “They even look like they should be on the cover of
Soap Sudsies
magazine together.”

“So they look cute together, and they have a lot in common. That's not everything. Jay trips over his own feet in gym class and likes sci-fi movies, yet I still like him even though we're into different things. And you're not into the dance scene and I couldn't beg you to try out for cheerleading, and yet you're like a sister to me.”

I hugged her. “Thanks.”

“Always. Always.”

“And if you dump me next year for that creep Yasmin, I will never, ever forgive you,” I said.

She cracked up. “Actually, I was going to see if I could hang out with Vladi's new girl and sit at their lunch table next year. I could braid her perfect hair while they hold hands.”

“Yeah, you do that. Call me over at St. Faustina's and let me know how it's going.”

We were both laughing so hard we could barely speak.

T
he next morning
, Mom came in to say Grandma Lily and Grandpa Bernie would be at the house in an hour. Ashanti said she'd call her dad to come get her, but I wanted her to meet my grandparents, so she stayed and we got ready together. I glanced over at my phone.

“Still hoping he'll call?” she asked.

“Yeah, at least to let me know we're still friends.”

“Landry, they're here,” Mom said.

I ran into the living room and Grandpa gave me a big hug.

“There's my girl,” he said. “Oh, it's been too long.”

Grandma hugged me next, pulled back, asked if I was eating well, and then hugged me again.

“This is Ashanti,” I said.

“We've heard so much about you,” Grandma said smiling at her.

Mom and Grandma took the luggage into the guest room, and Grandpa told me he was bringing my surprise in. Then he brought in a baby blue painted bookcase. It was gorgeous.

“Wow,” Ashanti said coming closer to see it. “It's your favorite color, too.”

“I made it myself,” Grandpa said. “The scalloped edges were a bit tricky at first, but I got the hang of it. Figured you needed something special for all your books.”

“I love it,” I said hugging him. “I know just where to put it in my room.”

Grandpa took the bookcase into my bedroom, and Grandma told me she had made me something, too.

“Now don't get too excited, but I did a picture for you,” she said.

It was a sketch of a vase of flowers that she had painted in shades of royal blue, pink, baby blue, and yellow.

“It's gorgeous, Grandma.”

“Notice anything?” she asked. “It matches your favorite fleece blanket.”

“It does,” Ashanti said. “It has to go above the bookcase.”

“I'm so glad you're taking the art class, Grandma” I said.

“Oh, me, too. It's much more fun than I could have imagined.”

“Hey, while you're here, can we show you a recipe for something? Ashanti's grandma used to make this famous mac ‘n cheese, and her family is having problems finding all the ingredients,” I said.

Ashanti went and got her the recipe and told her about the sauce and the cheese. Grandma's face lit up.

“Was your grandmother from Chicago?” Grandma asked.

“Um, yeah, but she only lived there until she was, like, fifteen or something. Then her family moved here.”

“Waddell sauce used to be this special condiment a local diner in Chicago used. That place went out of business when I was a teen, so I'm not surprised you couldn't find anything about it,” Grandma said. “But I know how to whip up a pretty good substitute.”

“You can make it?” Ashanti asked.

“Sure can and Dexter cheese is a brand, too. If memory serves, it's a bit like munster, colby, and jack cheese all together,” she said and then glanced over at my mother. “Any chance you have some of these items in the kitchen?”

Mom shook her head. “You know I'm not into cooking, Ma.”

“Yes, yes, and I'm some relic from the past for loving it,” she said. “Okay, take me to the nearest market and I'll get what we need. Then we are going to make some mac ‘n cheese.”

Grandma and Mom left and Ashanti started to get anxious. “This is so dumb, but I'm worried about getting my hopes up. What if it's not the same because my granny didn't make it? Suddenly I feel like everything is riding on this turning out okay,” she said.

Grandpa Bernie sat down across from her at the table. “My grandmother used to make the best pierogi in the world. Nobody's could come close to hers. I remember one time someone tried to make her potato version, and it was like they forgot to add the flavor. I seriously wished they'd stop trying, but then Landry's grandma was determined to recreate them. Even though she didn't quite get them right, the fact she cared enough to try made them the best dumplings I ever ate.”

Ashanti's eyes filled up with tears and she nodded. Grandma and Mom walked in then with the groceries.

“Dear, where do you keep your aprons?” Grandma asked Mom.

“Mother, I don't own any. Would you like to borrow a sweatshirt or a hoodie so you don't get anything on your outfit?”

“No, I'll be fine,” Grandma said. “Okay, girls. Let's start the sauce. They didn't have the Dijon mustard I prefer, so we'll wing it with this one. There was no fresh dill, so apparently we're using this dried kind… like savages.”

Ashanti giggled and Mom rolled her eyes. Grandma put Ashanti in charge of stirring up the melted cheeses, and I helped with the macaroni.

“Dear, where's your pasta strainer?” Grandma asked Mom.

“Probably wherever you put it the last time you rearranged my kitchen,” Mom said smirking.

“Well, it's hard to cook in an unorganized kitchen.”

“Mother, I have a full-time job and other interests.”

“I understand that, but I wish you would understand that
I
enjoy this and it's not a chore for me. Cooking happens to be one of my hobbies,” Grandma said.

Ashanti and I exchanged a look.

“You're right, Ma. We have different interests and I should appreciate yours more. You know I love your cooking,” Mom said.

“And I'm proud of your accomplishments,” Grandma said with a smile. “Now go drain that pasta, and let's get the show on the road.”

Grandma mixed the cheese and the sauce with the pasta and then put it in a casserole dish.

“Okay, it says add cracker crumbs on top and bake for twenty minutes. Oh, it said olives optional. Do you want them or not?” she asked.

Ashanti shook her head. “My mom never liked them in it.”

Grandma and I began cleaning up the kitchen, and I watched Ashanti rinse out the bowl and her hands were shaking. Then the timer dinged.

As soon as Grandma opened the oven door to take it out, Ashanti's whole face changed. Her eyes closed and she took a big breath in.

“I never thought I'd smell that again,” she said.

“Let's hope we got the taste down, too,” Grandma said. She scooped out some macaroni onto a plate and handed it to Ashanti who took a deep breath before putting the fork to her mouth. She chewed and then burst into tears.

“Oh dear,” Grandma said.

And then Ashanti threw her arms around my grandmother, sobbing.

“It's okay, honey. Now you have it, and you can make it in her memory whenever you want to feel close to her,” Grandma said, smoothing Ashanti's hair.

Even my mom was choked up. “Ashanti, do you want to see if your parents want to come over and have some with us?” she asked.

Ashanti nodded and called her mom and dad. They arrived and her mom cried after taking the first bite. Even her dad teared up.

“Oh, I never thought I'd have this again. It's that extra something — that sauce and the cheese. How did you figure it out?” Mr. Russell asked.

“I used to go to the same diner where they made that sauce. Frankly, I'm shocked anybody else remembered it. Your mother must have done the same thing I did — tried to figure out the ingredients on our own,” Grandma said. Then she shot a sly look at my mother. “It's nice to see some people appreciate culinary efforts.”

Mom laughed. “Yeah, yeah.”

“Honey, I think I hear a phone,” Grandpa said to me.

I got up and went into my room. It said, “Missed call: Vladi.”

Ashanti followed me in, and I lifted up the phone to show her.

“This could be the call I've been hoping for, or he could be calling to say, ‘I have a new girlfriend now and I don't think we should be friends anymore,'” I said. “Vladi's the type of guy who would never talk to an ex behind his girlfriend's back, and I'm not sure if he and I could go back to just being friends.”

“You know what I think?” she asked taking the phone from me. “You're overthinking it. Call him and see what he says.”

“But if I don't, then I can cling to the ‘what if' thing just a little bit longer.”

“Yeah, but what if he still is ‘in like' with you? Call. Oh, whoops, my finger slipped and I just dialed him back,” she said tossing the phone at me. “I'll be listening outside the door if you need me.”

“Hello?”

I almost dropped my phone when I heard Vladi's voice.

“Oh, hi. It's Landry. I saw you called,” I said.

“Yeah, I felt I needed to after yesterday's weirdness,” he said. “That whole thing was messed up.”

“Right, well I just wanted to make sure you knew I was telling the truth about everything with Kyle.”

“Like his arm around you — twice.”

“That was nothing. I promise.”

“Yup, but that one chick — I think her name is Halle or Hayley something? She came up to me after you left and told me Yasmin was blowing everything out of proportion. And then she swore me to secrecy and said I could never let Yasmin know she said that,” he said. “It just got weird.”

“Well, that was decent of her,” I said.

“That wasn't the weirdness I was talking about. I meant when the girl I was with came over.”

The perfect girl you're about to tell me you're pre-engaged to and just counting down the days until you're both eighteen and can be united in wedded bliss and would I like to be invited to the wedding? That girl?

“Oh, her?”

“Yeah, we've been seeing each other,” he said.

“Oh?”

“So I didn't think it was cool to just walk away to talk to you last night when I was out with her.”

So noble. It was hard to hate him when he was just being a nice guy.

“I hate hurting people's feelings, you know. Especially people I care about, but sometimes you have to put things in the past and move on when it's not right. I wish I didn't have to hurt someone, but I don't know what else to do. It just feels like when someone's always been there for you, that maybe they're the one you're supposed to be with,” he said.

Tears were rolling down my face now. “I understand,” I said, my voice cracking. “I have to go.”

I hung up and burst into tears. Ashanti rushed into the room.

“Oh honey, I'm so sorry. I thought for sure he was calling to get you back. Never in a million years would I have dialed his number if I thought this was going to happen,” she said hugging me. “Is there anything I can do?”

“Can you buy me some time?” I said. “Just go distract them in the kitchen so I can kind of get it together. I don't get to see my grandparents that often, and I don't want this to ruin their visit. I'm hurting so bad right now, but I—”

“Don't want to have any regrets. I get it,” she said squeezing my hand. “I'll tell them a friend called with a homework problem.”

I went to the bathroom and washed my face. The tissue box was gone, so I had to dry my face with toilet paper. My eyes were so red and I wanted to crawl into bed and cry for hours, but I also wanted to hear all about Grandma's painting class. Then I remembered the deep breathing exercises Dad told me about. I started doing them when Mom knocked on the door.

“Hon, Vladi's here to see you,” Mom said.

What? He felt the need to dump me to my face? In front of my family? I wanted to tell her to say I wasn't home, but obviously it was too late for that. Plus, she'd ask me why and I'd have to admit what a loser dumpee' I was. Ugh. Why couldn't the earth just swallow me up right now? I walked out and Vladi was standing there looking nervous in the living room while Grandma and Grandpa, the Russells, and my mother were all smiling at him. Meanwhile, Ashanti shot him a death glare.

“Um, hey,” Vladi said to me. “I tried calling you back, but you didn't pick up.”

Grandma gave me a little smile. “Do you two want some privacy? We can all go into the kitchen.”

Except for the fact the kitchen was right next to the living room and they'd hear every single word.

“We can go outside,” I said. “Come on.”

Vladi followed me outside. “I didn't know you had company — like, a lot of company — or I wouldn't have come over.”

“Well, you're here now,” I said, refusing to look at him.

“Why did you hang up on me?” he asked.

Vladi always told me he liked me because I was myself and didn't pretend to be someone else, so I told him what I was feeling.

“You said what you had to say and I—I accept it, but I don't like it.”

“You don't?” he asked.

“You told me you weren't going anywhere—” I said as my voice broke. I pretended to cough to cover it.

“And you told me I could count on you and then I heard all this mess about you with another guy and saw that picture,” he said.

“And you believed a stranger over my word,” I said.

“Because hearing that was my worst fear.”

It hit me that same thing had happened with me and Peyton a few months ago when she worried I had betrayed her, too. As upset as I was with Vladi, I understood where he was coming from.

“I'm sorry I didn't believe you,” he said.

Even though my heart was breaking, I knew I had to forgive him. He had reacted out of fear.

“I forgive you,” I said.

“It hurt me a lot when you hung up on me. You've always told me I could tell you anything. Then I shared something that was hard for me to say and you just cut me off,” he said.

“It was pretty hard for me to hear it. You said I could tell you anything, too, right?”

He nodded.

“Well, then I'm going to be honest with you,” I said. “I still like you so much and it hurts to hear you've moved on and, even worse, that you found the one you feel like you're supposed to be with. I mean—” Tears began rolling down my cheeks.

“Landry, I was talking about
you
.”

“What?” I hiccupped and then slapped my hand over my mouth.