Signs Point to Yes (17 page)

“Does Kara like Margo?”

Margo looked at her sister threateningly and ran over to her side so she wouldn't lie to her about the ball's answer. Jane flipped it back over before Margo saw it.

“What? What did it say?”

“Ask it yourself,” Jane said with a smirk.

Margo grabbed it back. “Is Jane going on a date with Teo tonight?”

Jane's eyes went wide. “Holy crap! I forgot about Teo!”

 

Chapter 18

Jane was waiting on her front steps that night when Teo pulled around the corner. She skipped over to the passenger-side door and hopped into the car.

“Hey,” Teo said.

“Hey. So what movie are we seeing?” Jane asked as he pulled away from the curb.

Teo looked confused. “I guess we never decided that detail.”

“I do this thing where I just go to the movies and see what's playing next. Sometimes I end up seeing a movie I might not have seen otherwise, and it might have more meaning in my life than I could have imagined.”

“Sounds like fun,” Teo said.

“I like to call it cinematic serendipity. Or at least that's what Margo calls it, since she's the one who named it. I'm the one who had to look up the word
serendipity
.”

“But you're the one who made it up,” Teo said. “And it's genius.”

“I'm really glad you wanted to hang out tonight,” Jane said, smiling.

“I don't know why we don't do this more often. It's weird.” He stopped there, not wanting to say exactly what he wanted to say—at least not so early in the evening.

“It is weird,” Jane said. She didn't say any more, either.

Cinematic serendipity meant that they ended up seeing an action thriller. The plot wasn't bad, but it had way more sex than either of them could have predicted. And not fade-to-black sex. Butts, boobs, and even some side penis. They were both thoroughly embarrassed by it, and their discomfort was only made worse by the main male character's penchant for really loud orgasm noises. Teo couldn't even bring himself to look at Jane.

“Oh my God,” Jane gasped as the movie couple started kissing again.

“I guess they feel like they have to take every chance they can, in case it's their last,” Teo said in a decent impression of the main character.

“But, like, how do they even do it so much? Don't they get tired after a long day of chasing bad guys?” Jane asked, laughing.

If there had been a lot of other people in the theater with them, they would have totally gotten shushed, but thanks to some bad reviews that Teo and Jane hadn't read and because the movie had already been out for a month, there was only a sprinkling of other people in theater.

“That does not seem like appropriate work wear to me,” Teo said.

“I mean, to each his own, but assless chaps in public are so last year,” Jane said.

Acknowledging what was happening on-screen made both of them feel less embarrassed about it. Teo kind of hoped that would translate into real life.

“So,” Teo said as they were walking out of the movie, “you know how things have been a little, um, awkward between us lately, beyond the obvious dad stuff? Like that time I tried to kiss you and I fell on my face?”

“Yeah,” Jane said, glancing over at him as though he was about to pummel her with a truth she didn't want to hear. “I was wondering if we were ever going to talk about that.”

“Did that movie make it better or worse?”

Jane stopped in the middle of the sidewalk, and Teo was worried that she was going to run away. But instead he noticed she was laughing so hard she couldn't walk.

“Oh my God,” she gasped, putting her hands on her knees.

“So, better?”

“Yeah, you know, I think it did make things better. Perhaps that was the serendipity of it.” Jane stood up and smiled, looking across the parking lot. “Is it weird that the movie made me crave frozen yogurt?”

“Maybe a little,” Teo said. “But I really want some now, too.”

The frozen-yogurt place was bright and cool compared with the parking lot, which still held on to the heat of the day.

“So do you have a theory on fro-yo, too?” Teo asked, bumping his hip playfully into Jane's.

“I have lots of theories.”

“But are any of them as awesome as your cinematic serendipity theory?”

“Nothing can beat cinematic serendipity.” Jane grabbed a cup and handed one to Teo.

“Well, I have a theory on fro-yo,” he said.

“Oh, I cannot wait,” Jane said.

“It's all about flavor palate and sticking to it. You could go fruit; you could go chocolate; you could go mixed nuts or cereal. You need to stick to a theme, and you will never be disappointed.”

“And I tend to disagree. I like a little bit of everything all mixed together.”

“Were you one of those kids who would put all different sodas in the same cup?”

“One of those kids? I am still one of those kids, thank you very much,” Jane said, fake indignation in her voice. “What flavor palate are you going for tonight?”

“Maybe nuts for nuts?” Teo said, surveying the flavor choices.

“You could mix some of the pistachio with the chocolate hazelnut.”

“Or I could go with cake batter and do most of the flavoring up with the toppings.”

“Boring,” Jane said.

“Well, what's your plan?”

“Peanut butter and strawberry.”

Teo narrowed his eyes, trying to understand the connection.

“Because it's like peanut butter and jelly. Then I'll do a mix of chocolate and fruit and put raspberry syrup on top,” Jane explained.

“That actually sounds delicious.”

“It will be.”

They set to work getting their yogurt and then putting on the toppings.

“But you do realize you've chosen a flavor palate,” Teo said.

Jane put a heap of gummy bears and Fruity Pebbles on top just to prove Teo wrong.

“Enjoy your weird mix of textures,” he said.

When it was time to pay, Jane grabbed both cups, put them on the scale, and paid for them.

“You didn't have to pay,” Teo said.

“I wanted to.”

The bench outside was empty, so they sat down and watched the stream of people going in and out of the movie theater.

“There's something I want to talk to you about,” Teo said.

Jane gripped her cup tighter and took a deep breath, as if preparing for some kind of major announcement. As if she was living the last moment of her life before everything changed.

Something between them had shifted during the course of the evening, and this moment had to mean that Teo felt it, too.

He touched the back of her hand, and Jane looked up to meet his gaze.

“I want to meet my dad.”

Jane's face fell a little bit, but she covered it up with a spoonful of gummy bears.

“Wow,” Jane said. “That wasn't exactly what I was expecting.”

“Yeah. I don't know what changed.”

“This is a big decision. Huge. Epic, even.”

“I know.”

“I wish I could consult my Magic 8.”

“What do you think it would say?”

Jane pretended to hold the ball in her hand. “Should Teo meet Mateo Rodriguez?” She looked over at Teo with a frown. “‘Reply hazy, try again.'”

Teo frowned.

Jane sighed.

“Hypothetically, what would I need to do? To see him?” He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye.

Jane ate a spoonful of her fro-yo and stared into space.

“You're really good at this stuff,” Teo continued. “I don't even know where to start, but I feel like you probably do.”

“Hmm, I could get contact information for you. Maybe you could write him a letter, explain who you think you might be.”

“What if I wanted to go see him?”

“That's … one idea.”

“One bad idea?”

“There are a lot of things to consider. How would you get there? Where would you stay? What if we're completely wrong about this guy and he's not related to you in any way whatsoever and he also happens to run a human-trafficking ring?”

“Let's just assume he doesn't.”

“Never assume, Teo.”

“Come on, Jane,” Teo said, his eyes pleading. “I need your help. And I don't think you're wrong. I think you've figured out something that I've spent years working on.”

“Maybe,” Jane said, shrugging.

“Definitely.”

“What if—”

“No, no what-ifs. There are too many what-ifs. I want to make this decision and stick to it. But I need your help to make it a reality. Please?”

Jane couldn't deny his enthusiasm. It was catching.

“Fine,” she said, rolling her eyes and smiling.

“So what would it take to make this happen?” he asked.

“Well, first we'd need to check his schedule. I think if you want to show up out of nowhere, maybe showing up after a class makes more sense than showing up at his house. He probably has random kids approaching him all the time at work. You won't seem as threatening.”

“Why would I seem threatening?”

“Maybe
threatening
isn't the right word. But some guy showing up at his house claiming to be his son might freak him out.”

Teo nodded. “What else?”

“You'd need to decide how you want to get there. I don't know exactly how far away it is, but you could fly there, or maybe take a bus? Or you could drive.”

“I've never driven that far. It makes me kind of nervous.”

“So driving's out.”

Teo nodded.

“We'd need to figure out a lot of stuff. If you flew, how would you get to the airport? How much does a plane ticket cost? That kind of stuff.”

“Can teenagers even buy plane tickets?” Teo asked.

“Teenagers can do anything online as long as they have a credit card.”

“I have a debit rewards card with a Visa logo.”

“Does it have enough money on it to pay for a plane ticket?”

“I have a lot of money. I'm a responsible saver.”

“Well then, if you're so independently wealthy, you probably should have paid for the fro-yo.”

Teo laughed. “So you'll help me?”

“Yeah. It makes me a little nervous, the way you want to do this, but I'll help you. Of course I'll help. I started this whole mess in the first place.”

“It's not a mess.”

“It's a mess, just like this bucket of sludge I created. The Fruity Pebbles are dissolving and creating some kind of paste with the gummy bears.”

“Mine is delicious. I appreciate the recommendation.”

“Maybe you should share yours with me.”

“Probably not.”

“It was my idea.”

“I don't think so.” Teo stood up and started walking to the car.

“Friends share food!” Jane yelled.

“Come on, Jane. Let's go home. We have a lot of work to do.”

“I think you need to sleep on it,” she said, catching up to him.

“I will. I promise. But maybe we can get together soon? To go over some ideas?”

Jane nodded.

Teo thought about kissing her—he really did, especially when he was dropping her off a few minutes later—but he didn't want to cloud the issue. He didn't want her to think he was kissing her as some kind of payment for helping him.

They chatted idly on the way home. Every word she said made him want to kiss her. He couldn't stop watching her mouth.

“What?” she asked, looking at him intently as they pulled up in front of her house.

“Nothing.”

“Is it something else about your dad? You can tell me.”

He shook his head. When it was time to kiss Jane, he wanted it to be about Jane. He didn't want it getting all mixed up with this dad stuff.

She got out of the car and then paused on the curb. “This was a lot of fun.”

“It was,” Teo agreed.

As soon as she walked through her front door, waving over her shoulder to him, he leaned his head on the steering wheel.

“I really should have kissed her.”

 

Chapter 19

On Monday, Jane and Teo tried to discuss the plan, but there wasn't much time and, as Teo pointed out, you never knew when his sisters were listening or what they were absorbing. But over the next couple of days, they managed to add more details to the plan whenever they had a moment without the girls around.

Despite Jane's reservations, Teo's inexplicable optimism triumphed, and before she knew it, she was booking a plane ticket to Champaign, Illinois.

“So there's a flight from Philly to Chicago, and then you change planes and go from Chicago to Champaign.”

“How long will it take?”

“Like, five hours if everything goes as planned. It's kind of expensive.”

Teo looked at the computer screen. “I don't care. I have the money.”

“How do you want to get from the airport to campus?”

“There are different ways?”

“Yes.”

“See? This is why I need your help. I never would have thought of that. What are my choices?”

“You could take a shuttle, or we could book a car, or you could hail a cab. Or, you know, there's always the whole getting-in-touch-with-this-guy-and-finding-out-whether-he's-your-dad-before-you-leave. And if he is your dad, I bet he'd be happy to pick you up the airport.”

“I really want the element of surprise on my side.”

“Can we talk about how you reacted to the ‘surprise' when I told you I found your dad? Do you want to do that to him?”

Teo sighed. “I don't know. It just feels like I should do it this way.”

“You realize you could ask your mom. Or just flat-out tell her you found Mateo Rodriguez and you want to know the truth.”

“That sounds like the most hellish confrontation I could ever imagine.”