No One Needs to Know (10 page)

The sky’s a dark, angry black. There’s no way this storm is going to let up any time soon. I’ll just have to move quickly and dream of the hot shower I’ll take when I get home. I can’t get that soaked in just a mile, right?

Just as I step into the rain, a sleek silver car pulls into the parking lot. Between the tinted windows and the raindrops, it’s impossible to see inside.

It looks familiar. It looks …

Like Olivia’s car.

It pulls up beside me at the curb and the window glides down. “Get in,” Olivia says, hitting the unlock button.

I don’t say a word, just round the car and climb into the passenger seat. As the door slams shut and the rain drips from my hair, into my eyes, I realize how wet I am just from dashing around the car.

“Uh, sorry about the water,” I say, trying not to lean back too far and let my wet jacket touch the seats.

“Don’t worry about it. The leather holds up to just about anything,” Olivia says, putting her window back up. “Liam puked in the back seat once.”

I cringe and glance back.

“I had it detailed,” she says. “Made him pay for it.”

“Oh.”

She doesn’t put the car in drive right away. “Were you really going to walk in this?”

“No, I have a Pegasus around back,” I say. “I tied it up by the dumpster.”

She snorts. “I’m being serious.”

“I was there, wasn’t I? And do you see a car sitting around waiting for me?”

“Where’s your mom?” she asks.

“Busy,” I say. She’s probably just watching TV, but to pick me up, she’d have to get Carolyn out of bed, and I’d never want her to do that.

“Oh. Uh, so tell me which way to go.”

“South on Division.”

She puts the car into gear and heads out of the parking lot, gliding smoothly onto the street.

“Why are you here?” I ask. “Because, um, you didn’t have to do this for me.”

“I know. And besides, I was being kinda self-serving. You need to get your scene done. I want a good grade in the class.”

“Afraid your perfect 4.0 could get marred?”

She glances at me out of the corner of her eye. “I have a 2.7.”

“You do not,” I say, my mouth dropping.

“I do. I’m not actually that smart, you know. I struggle to pull Bs, and then math drags it down from there. And I just bombed another test. This assignment is important, which makes you, by extension, important.”

“Huh,” I say, leaning back in the seat as I watch the windshield wipers fly back and forth and back and forth. “So I finally discovered one tiny thing about you that’s not perfect.”

“I’d see being a bitch as a pretty big personality flaw,” Olivia says.

I stifle a laugh, glancing over at her to figure out whether she’s being serious or just mocking what I said about her.

“I mean, sometimes you’re actually pretty nice,” I say.

“Thanks.” A smile plays at Olivia’s lips. The way the street lamps and the passing headlights illuminate her, she looks kind of beautiful. For once, she’s looking at me with respect and it seems so genuine.

Olivia and genuine are not two words I’ve ever thought together in one sentence.

“Do you work this late every night?”

“No,” I say. “Nobody really works full time, so they can avoid paying benefits.”

“That’s something you should talk about,” she says.

“Benefits? No one at Burgerville is going to get benefits. It’s practically part of their business plan.”

“Yeah, no, that’s not what I meant. I meant in the assignment. There probably weren’t any benefits back then, either. No paid time off or health care.”

“Right. So I guess things haven’t changed much in a hundred years,” I say.

“I mean, some stuff has changed. You
are
in a BMW 3 Series. With the flick of a button, your butt can be warmed,” she says, tapping something on the dash. “Also you’re totally fogging it up in here.” She flips on the air, blasting it at the windshield.

“Sorry,” I say. “And thanks. I don’t think I’ve said that. Thank you for the ride.”

“You have my number now. You can always text if you need one.”

“Yeah, maybe,” I say. “Take a left up here.”

Olivia puts on her blinker, and for a while, the rhythmic clicking is the only sound in the darkness. We glide around the corner, and tiny square houses pop up on either side of the car.

“I’ve never been down this road,” she says. And then she squeezes her lips together as if realizing how insulting it was to say that. Of course she hasn’t been down this road. Her kind don’t have any reason to be down this road.

“Pretty trees,” she says, as if to make up for pointing out our differences.

She’s trying to be … nice. What a weird thing. I’m riding in Olivia Reynolds’s BMW and she’s trying not to hurt my feelings.

“Yeah, I planted them myself,” I say.

“Really?”

“No.” I laugh. “God, they’re probably like thirty or forty years old.”

“Oh. Right.”

“Why are you doing this, really?” I ask, turning away so I don’t have to look her in the eyes.

“To repay you. For the zoo.”

“You didn’t have to do that. It wasn’t a favor to be repaid.”

“I know. But it meant a lot to me.”

“Okay,” I say, leaning my head back against the seat. “As long as I’m not your project.”

“Project?”

“You know, charity case. Project. I don’t need you sweeping in and picking me up, or giving my sister your old stuff.”

“Right. Sure. I mean, I don’t really see you like that. So it’s not a big deal.”

“Really?”

Olivia laughs. “This is why you don’t have friends, Zoey. You’re too suspicious. Sometimes people can just be nice, you know.”

“I guess.”

The car falls silent for a while, the only sounds coming from the wipers as they whip back and forth. Then Olivia crinkles her nose up. “You smell like French fries.”

“I have a to-go bag in my backpack. I get a free meal after every shift.” I sigh, as quietly as possible, as I watch the rain stream down the passenger window. I reach up and paint a zigzag in the fog with my finger.

“Go left on Stewart,” I say. “My house is the third one on the right.”

And then I brace myself for her reaction when she sees it.

OLIVIA

Her house is hideous.

I can tell she’s embarrassed by how fast she grabs her bag and shoves the car door open. I try to focus my eyes on her and not the crumbling structure behind her, try to act like I don’t even notice it, but it’s hard not to.

I can’t believe it’s even livable.

“Uh, thanks again,” she says, leaning over, one hand still on the door. “For the ride.

“I mean, I didn’t want you to melt.”

Her nose crinkles up. “I’m not the wicked witch.”

I grin. “I meant like sugar, because you’re so sweet?”

“Right.” Zoey laughs. “Whatever. See you later, okay?”

She slams the door a little too hard and then rushes across the lawn. I wait, watching, until she shoves her way inside and the door shuts behind her.

Right then. Time to go home.

I turn around in an adjacent driveway and then head back the way I came. Our homes aren’t that far apart by car, but it would be a long walk. And while I’m not positive, I’m pretty sure she must have walked home that first time Liam brought her over. I don’t remember him leaving at all, but Zoey left at some point.

I leave the radio off as I pass by dozens of darkened houses, some of them boarded up. My thoughts swim in and out.

There’s something enigmatic about Zoey. She’s like a puzzle where the pieces don’t fit. One minute she’s angry and lashing out and another, like that moment when I took her notebook, she’s vulnerable. She’d hate it if I said that. I know her well enough to know that about her, anyway, even if I haven’t quite figured out what she’s all about.

Soon the houses get bigger, the paint gets brighter, the windows get larger. And then I’m rounding the bend and pulling onto Ruston Way, gliding up to our condo building.

A short elevator ride later and I’m inside our place, which is as dark as the streets I just finished driving.

“Liam?” I call out, my voice booming in the space. “Hello?”

He’s gotta be home from the beach by now. We have class in the morning.

I flick on a light, and he leaps up so fast I screech and jump backward, slamming into the wall.

“SURPRISE!” he screams, throwing his arms up.

“Jesus, you scared the hell out of me,” I say, my eyes sweeping over the thing in his hand.

A present. It’s a little box, wrapped in silver paper with a pink bow.

He gives me a toothy grin. “Sorry. I heard you coming and couldn’t resist.”

“Next time try harder,” I say. “What’s that?”

He steps forward, holding the box out. “For you. Happy birthday.”

“I didn’t get you anything.” I figured if he wasn’t even going to
see me
on our birthday, we were skipping the presents, too.

“That’s okay.”

I accept the tiny box, slipping my finger under the wrapping paper.

“I’m sorry,” he says.

I glance up. “Uh, for what?”

“For ditching you. For breaking tradition. I felt kind of bad once I was at the casino.”

“Why, did you lose all your money and have a miserable time?”

Liam pulls out a stool and sits, leaning forward and resting his elbows on the counter. “No. It was fun. It just wasn’t … it wasn’t quite right without you.”

“Oh.” Some little part of my heart heals, hearing that. Like maybe he’s not totally over hanging out with me, even if I am his tag-a-long sister.

I rip off the wrapping paper and find a little white box. When I slide off the lid, a silver bracelet stares back at me. It’s a chain of little starfish. I know without asking that he bought it in the casino gift shop; he didn’t go out of his way for me, but it doesn’t matter. He thought about me. “It’s pretty,” I say.

“You think?”

I look up at him, realizing he’s perched on the edge of the stool waiting for my response. I guess he does actually feel bad.

I sigh. “Yeah. Thank you. And I
guess
I can forgive you.”

“Really?”

“But you still owe me one,” I say.

“Why don’t we go to the cabin next weekend, then? We could leave right after school on Friday and do two nights there, like you wanted.”

“Really?” I say.

“Yeah. Let’s do it. It’s a week late, but it’ll still be fun. We can’t break our tradition.”

I smile, relief barreling through me. “Okay. I’m in.”

ZOEY

I take the elevator up to Olivia’s condo, straightening my shirt and grimacing when I see a little grease stain. I’m just raising my fist to the front door when it swings open.

“Oh, uh, hi,” I say, staring right at Liam. He’s not the one who buzzed me in—Olivia is. It didn’t even occur to me that he’d be home.

“This is a pleasant surprise,” he says. “I wasn’t expecting you.”

“Actually,” I say, suddenly feeling awkward, “Olivia and I have a project together. I came here to work on it.”

“Oh.” Liam’s voice falls.

“Why do you sound so bummed?” I say, poking him in the stomach. “Your other date cancel on you?”

He steps back and motions me into the house. “I haven’t gone out with anyone else since we met at the gas station.”

I blink. When he’d casually called me his girlfriend last week, I thought it was just part of his flirty nature. Like I was “his girl” but not his
exclusive
girl.

“You’re kidding, right?” I step into the entry, kicking off my worn-out sneakers.

“Nah. You’re basically cooler than everyone else, so there’s no point.”

I swallow and ignore the tightening in my chest, unsure of whether I’m pleased or panicked. Both. Definitely both. Liam is actually
choosing
me. Surreal. Freshman-year Zoey would have totally peed her pants in excitement over something like this.

I stand in the entryway, not sure if it would be weird to just walk away from him right now after a proclamation like that.

Before I can decide what to say, Liam speaks again. “Uh, so do you want to come with us to our lake house this weekend?”

I raise a brow. “You guys have a lake house? Why, is the Puget Sound condo not enough?”

He stops in front of me, running his hands up and down my arms and staring into my eyes. “No, this is home. The lake house is more like a cabin. We go every year in the fall, and I’m hereby inviting you.”

“Oh. Just us?”

He shrugs. “I got my fill of my friends last weekend, but Olivia will probably invite someone.”