Meadow Perkins, Trusty Sidekick (16 page)

When it was done, I moved it into my bedroom and tried to decide what to do with it. I wanted to give it to Jack, but I was hesitant to put so much of myself out there. I called Isla.

“Can you come over?”

“God. I’ve been so bored today. I’ll be right over!”

Two minutes later, she burst into my bedroom. “Hi!”

“I want to show you something.” I stood in front of my desk where the piece of watercolor paper sat propped against the wall.

She raised an eyebrow. “Okay.”

I moved out of the way so she could see. “What do you think? I painted this for Jack. Well, it didn’t start out that way but now that it’s done . . .”

Her mouth dropped open. “Wow. Please just take it to him right now.”

“I just think I ruined everything. It’s too late,” I said, whining.

“Do you know for sure that you ruined everything?” Isla glared at me with her arms crossed.

“I mean, I don’t know for sure,” I said.

“Exactly. What’s the worst that could happen?”

“Worse than what already happened? Well, he could say no!”

“I guess you will never know if you don’t try,” she said and gave me a look.

I finally gathered up my courage. Jack was my mom’s employee so it wasn’t hard to get my hands on his schedule. When the fateful day arrived, Isla gave me a pep-talk while I got ready.

“What are you going to say exactly?” she asked.

“I’m going to say I’m sorry. I screwed up and I’m sorry. I’m going to give him the painting and I’m going to—”

“Kiss him?” Isla prompted. 

“I’m going to give him a chance to forgive me first.” 

“I think kissing him would be effective,” she said and shrugged.

“I’ll consider it,” I said.

I rang Jack’s doorbell and waited. My heart pounded when I heard footsteps. When Jack opened the door, I held up the painting.

“I’m sorry,” I said, not giving him a chance to speak. “I know that there is no excuse, but I’m really new at this stuff and obviously I made more than a few mistakes. I just hope we can be friends again. Um, and this is for you.”

Jack crossed his arms and leaned against the door frame. After what seemed like about five years, he smiled. “You painted this for me?”

“Well I painted it, kind of about you, and I want you to have it. So, yeah.”

“I like it. A lot,” he said. 

“You do?”

“Yeah. Of course. No one has ever painted me anything before.”

I held my painting out to him and he took it. He stared at it for a long time. “I need some time to think,” he said finally. 

“Okay.” I waited for a moment, and when he didn’t say anything, I turned and ran. 

I cried on the way home. There’s nothing like putting yourself out there and being shut down. I held on to the small glimmer of hope I had. Jack hadn’t said, “No, never, ever.”

A day passed, and then another. I was full-on freaking out. Isla came over. 

“You have got to leave the house. Just for a little while,” she said. 

“I am never leaving the house again,” I said.

“School is starting soon. What are you going to do about that?”

I just stared at her. I hadn’t thought that far ahead.

“Come on. I have my dad’s car.”

Isla careened down through the hills at an alarming rate. My heart nearly stopped when she flew onto the freeway like we were in the Batmobile. I tried not to obviously grip the door handles while she careened in and out of traffic. 

I cleared my throat. “Where are we going?” 

“In-and-Out,” Isla said with a fierce determination.

“Oh, good.” I hoped we made to everyone’s favorite burger joint. I realized I was starving. I’d been holed up in the studio, painting and hiding from everyone in my family for a few days.

We went through the drive through and sat in a parking lot by the Marina eating. 

Isla finished her burger, which she’d inhaled, and licked her fingers. “I guess you haven’t heard from Jack.”

“Nope, sure haven’t.” I stuck a fry into my mouth and savored the taste of real potatoes.

“That sucks.”

“Did he say how long he needed to think when you talked to him?” she asked.

“Nope.”

“He’ll come around. Eat your burger.” Isla laughed.

To my surprise, I laughed too.

The next day, Isla and I swam in the morning and then she left to go to her mom’s house. I was wringing the water out of my hair and wrapped up in a towel with my dripping bathing suit underneath when the doorbell rang. I hurried to the door, dripping water everywhere. When I flung it open, Jack was standing there. 

“Oh!” I cried and pulled my towel tighter. I was totally startled to see him standing there. Ideally, I would have preferred not to be wrapped in a towel, but I was still glad to see him.   

“Hi.” He smiled. “Your mom sent me to pick up tea.” He handed me a piece of paper, a note from my mom. 

His fingers brushed mine when he handed me the note. I wanted to grab his hand and not let go. Instead, I deciphered Mom’s terrible handwriting. “Ah, Parisian tea.”

“Tea from Paris?” Jack asked.  

“Yes, special Parisian tea.” I nodded.

“Why Parisian tea?” Jack seemed astonished that people would go to Paris to buy tea.

“I don’t know.” I shrugged. “She loves it. But I wonder why it was such a tea emergency.”

“She has a meeting with someone later. I think she’s trying to impress. I spent the morning wrestling a huge bouquet into a small vase and then I had to move it fifty times.”

“Who is it?” I asked.

“Just some artist,” he said. 

“There’s no such thing as ‘just an artist.’”

“Come on in.” I led the way to the kitchen holding my towel closed. I grabbed the tea and handed it to him. We stood around the kitchen. I pretended I didn’t notice the awkwardness.

“I gotta get back.” But he didn’t leave. He lingered and passed the tea from one hand to another.

“Already?” I wanted him to say something. 

“Maybe I can stay a few more minutes and then walk really fast back to the gallery.” He looked at me finally.

“Okay,” I said, unsure of what to do.

“Okay.”

We stood in silence.

I glanced around the room hoping to be inspired by something in the kitchen.

Jack coughed. “So, do you have a room or . . .”

I blushed and did a mental scan of what my room had looked like last time I’d seen it. Not too bad. I didn’t remember leaving a pile of dirty underwear in the floor. Hopefully. “Right this way.”

He followed me down the hall to my room. 

I opened the door and did a visual sweep. Not too bad. “This is it.” I stepped inside and let him by. 

“Where all the action happens?” he teased. 

I giggled nervously. “I guess so. Hey, I’m gonna change real quick.”

I changed at lightning speed. I was incredibly aware of the fact that there was a boy in my room while I got dressed in the closet. I took a deep breath and stepped out wearing cut-off shorts and a T-shirt. I’d added a bra too.

Jack made his way around the room looking at everything. I stood by the door and tried to stop myself from yelling, “Stop!” His intense appraisal reminded me of that show that Twist used to sneak and watch on MTV,
Room Raiders
. 

“You like Salinger?” he asked, looking up from my bookshelf.

“I’m filled with teenage angst,” I said. “Of course I like Salinger.”

Jack smiled, and I hoped he didn’t see my copy of
Twilight
, but of course he did. He held it up and laughed. 

“Don’t laugh at me,” I said. 

“I’m not,” he said, laughing. “I’m laughing with you. And I have to ask, are you Team Edward or Team Jacob?” He cracked up.

“I’m not going to answer that. But I will say that I like sparkly things and I prefer cats to dogs.”  

Jack moved closer. “Meadow?”

“Yeah?”

“I’ve thought about it. Actually, I haven’t thought about much else but you.”  

Dizzy with being near him, all I could say was, “Yeah?”

And then no one said anything else because I leaned forward and kissed him. His eyes widened in surprise and then he wrapped his arms around me. I had to stand on tiptoes to reach him.

He was kind of late getting back to the gallery.

My 17
th
birthday finally arrived. School was only a few days away and I was ready to go back. I was ready to see what I could do. 

It was a beautiful day and Isla, Jack, and I were on Stinson Beach. Jack had driven us and held my hand the entire way except the really curvy part of the road that rested on a cliff. I was happy to let him drive that part with two hands.

Isla packed a picnic that included three kinds of cheese, French bread, and grapes. There were amazing cupcakes with pink icing that she’d baked herself. Jack waited thirty minutes after we ate before he went surfing.

Isla and I stayed on the beach while he surfed. I lay in the sand and let the sun cover me like a blanket. Isla was reading parts of a hilarious and insanely popular romance novel out loud.

“She liked the way he looked in his suit. Sexy and commanding.” She stopped to laugh so hard she almost choked on a grape. “I can’t read the next sentence out loud. I’ll get arrested.”

“I have seen so many people reading this in public,” I said. “Now I feel uncomfortable knowing what they were reading about.”

“You’re telling me.” A few moments later, she laughed hysterically and tossed the book into the sand. “That book is just glorified pornography. Pure smut, I tell you.” She shook her fist at the sky. Her laughter was contagious. The next thing I knew, we both clutched our stomachs and tears rolled down our faces.

Things were fine and comfortable with Isla. I wished she were going to HSA. Isla was going to Berkeley High and was excited to have a new start. Her mom was doing well and our parents, while still dating, didn’t appear to be on a fast track toward marriage. 

Twist had moved out a few days before. She’d gotten a tiny apartment with one bedroom and another small bedroom to use as a studio. I would miss her.

I turned over and let the sun warm my back. I was almost asleep when I was startled by cold water dripping all over me.

“Hey!” I sat up and turned around.

Jack shook his hair at me again and took off running.

I jumped up and ran after him, laughing. 

Summer was almost over. A lot had changed, almost all of it for the better. I didn’t know where things were going with Jack, but I knew that I was really happy. I had a best friend that actually wanted to see me happy too.

I chased Jack to the ocean and dove in after him. We splashed each other until I too was soaked. Jack pulled me close. Just when I thought he might kiss me, he jerked us both underwater and we came up laughing.

I’d finally moved out of the shadows and into the light. My sidekick days were officially over.