Spring Fling (6 page)

Ethan couldn‟t believe what he was hearing. Danielle wanted him to come over tonight! Okay, she had been caught off guard by Ava‟s invitation, but then she had extended one herself. If she didn‟t want him to come over, she wouldn‟t have done that.

And she wouldn‟t have given him her phone number. Maybe tonight wasn‟t an
official
date, but it was a beginning! If they had a good time at the barbecue, maybe there would be a real date after tonight. Just the two of them.

“So, can you make it?” Ava asked.

“I‟ll be there,” Ethan said.

“If you have any friends that are as cute as you, bring them, too!” Lindsey exclaimed.

“Here‟s our address,” Ava said, reaching into her purse and scribbling it down on a piece of paper.

“See you later,” Danielle said as she walked away with Ava and Lindsey, who were both whispering and giggling in her ear as they stared back at Ethan.

After the girls left, Ethan glanced down at the address Ava had written.

He blinked in disbelief and his stomach sank.

It couldn‟t be.

But it was.

The address was for the house next door to his.

Which meant Danielle was one of the girls Cooper saw leaving earlier that afternoon.

Suddenly he wished he hadn‟t agreed to that bet….

“What am I going to wear?” Danielle wailed as she paced from one end of her bedroom to the other.

Lindsey, who was lying across Danielle‟s bed, flipping through a copy of
Cosmo
, looked up at her. “What do you mean, what are you going to wear? We just came back from a major shopping spree! You‟ve got a whole new wardrobe!”

“Why not wear what you‟ve got on now?” Ava asked. She was sitting at a vanity table, trying on different pairs of earrings.

“He‟s already seen me in this!” Danielle exclaimed as she rummaged through the shopping bags cluttering the floor of her bedroom.

“And it got you results!” Lindsey reminded her.

Danielle abandoned the shopping bags and stared at her image in the full-length mirror hanging on the closed bedroom door. She still couldn‟t believe that the girl she was gazing at was herself. “That‟s the problem.”

“What do you mean?” Lindsey asked, confusion in her voice.

Danielle turned around to face Lindsey and Ava. “Look at me! This isn‟t the
real
me. Do you think if Ethan had seen me this morning before I had this makeover, he would have been interested?”

Lindsey gasped. “Of course he would have.”

Ava dropped the gold hoop earrings she had been about to put on. “How can you say such a thing!”

Because guys were
never
speechless around her. Guys always knew what to say to her. But Ethan hadn‟t. All he‟d seen was a pretty girl and he‟d been scared of her! For whatever reason, he thought she was unapproachable, and that was
so
not her.

Ethan hadn‟t been seeing the real Danielle.

He‟d been seeing a different Danielle.

A Danielle who hadn‟t existed until that afternoon.

And it made her wonder.

Did she want to go out with a guy who cared more about a girl‟s looks than the girl herself?

“You‟re not giving this guy a chance,” Lindsey said. “Okay, he liked what he saw.

You can‟t hold that against him. Everything is based on appearance. It‟s what gets us to talk to people. We‟re attracted to them! After that, you get to know the person and you realize it‟s what‟s inside that counts.”

“And not everything is always based on looks,” Ava added. “Sometimes it‟s based on the way they dress or act. I once talked to a guy because he was wearing a Cookie Monster watch. I thought that meant he was quirky, and I was right!”

“I know why Danielle is freaking out and worrying about her clothes,” Lindsey smugly stated.

“Why?” Ava asked.

“She likes him!”

“I do not!” Danielle quickly answered.

“You do, too!” Lindsey shot back. “If you didn‟t like him, you wouldn‟t have told him to come over tonight, right?”

“Right!” Ava added.

“Ava‟s the one who invited him over,” Danielle corrected them.

“But you‟re the one who then told him he
had
to come,” Ava reminded her.

“Don‟t deny it!” Lindsey added.

Danielle knew there was no winning when Ava and Lindsey ganged up against her.

“Okay! Okay! I like him! I think he‟s cute and I want to look nice for him,” she admitted.

“But how can I top this outfit? It‟s like the
best
thing we bought.” Lindsey jumped off the bed and began emptying out the shopping bags. “You can‟t top it, but you
can
come up with something equally cute and fabulous. It‟s hidden somewhere in these bags. All we have to do is find it!” Ava watched from the vanity as Lindsey started mixing and matching various pieces. When it came to clothes, Lindsey knew her stuff. She was one of the best-dressed girls at North Ridge High.

An hour later, Lindsey had worked her magic. Danielle was wearing a rainbow-colored one-shoulder tank top with a short, white pleated skirt. From her own wardrobe, Lindsey had chosen to wear a sleeveless, ruffled, violet silk chiffon top and skinny black jeans. Ava thought they both looked great.

“Ethan is going to be very happy when he sees you,” Ava said.

“It doesn‟t look like I put a lot of effort into it, does it?” Danielle worriedly asked.

“I don‟t want him to think I got dressed up for him.”

“You look pretty but casual,” Ava assured her.

“What are you going to wear tonight, Ava?” Lindsey asked as she spritzed herself with some perfume.

Ava looked down at her cutoff denim shorts and SpongeBob SquarePants T-shirt.

“I‟m fine with what I‟ve got on.”

Lindsey‟s face fell. “No, no, no! You‟ve been wearing the same clothes since this morning. They‟re all wrinkly. You need to change into something new!”

“Why?”

Lindsey stared knowingly at Ava. “You know why. Hopefully, Ethan is going to bring some cute guys with him tonight!”

“And?”

“And you‟ve got to put yourself back out there. It‟s been over a month, Ava. Don‟t you think it‟s time to move on?”

“I really don‟t want to talk about this.” There was a warning tone in Ava‟s voice, but Lindsey ignored it.

“You never want to talk about it! You‟re pretending like nothing has happened, when something major
did
happen.”

“I‟m not ready to start dating again.”

“I bet Josh has started dating again.”

Hearing her ex-boyfriend‟s name, Ava glared at Lindsey.

“What!” Lindsey exclaimed. “Don‟t give me the evil eye. You know you‟re thinking the exact same thing. Danielle, don‟t you think Josh is already dating?”

“Don‟t drag me into the middle of this!” Danielle stated. “You know talking about Josh is off-limits.”

A frustrated Lindsey threw her hands up. “How is she supposed to move on if she
doesn’t
talk about it! Are we never supposed to mention Josh‟s name again? Pretend like he doesn‟t exist?”

Ava knew that would be impossible. Josh O‟Donnell had been her boyfriend for close to a year. They‟d started dating last spring after accidentally running into each other in the hallway at school. Ava had been late for her first class and hadn‟t watched where she was going. She slammed into Josh, and her books went flying everywhere, including her sketchbook for art class. When he stopped to help her pick everything up, he noticed her sketches and told her how good he thought they were. A flattered Ava had blushed, collected her sketches, and then hurried off. When she slid into her seat in first period, she realized she hadn‟t thanked Josh for helping her.

After school, after asking a senior for directions, she found Josh at his locker and apologized for not thanking him that morning. Josh pretended his feelings were hurt and then told Ava she could make it up to him by going with him to the Burger Hut.

Ava said yes.

After that, they were joined at the hip, spending all their time together after school and on the weekends. Josh even took her as his date to the senior prom at the Waldorf Astoria in Manhattan. Most of the girls at the prom were seniors; Ava was one of the few underclassmen. The fact that Josh had wanted to take her made her feel special.

Over the summer, when they weren‟t working at their part-time jobs, they went to the beach and amusement parks. Josh loved all the daring rides and was always able to coax Ava into riding them, no matter how hard she protested. But then, that was always the way it was with Josh. He made her push herself and try things she wouldn‟t ordinarily do.

Sometimes she liked it—like the time they went skydiving!—and sometimes she didn‟t—like the time they ate sushi. Blech!

Being with Josh was different from being with the other guys she had dated in the past. It could be because he was two years older and that made him more mature. More confident and self-assured. Ava really didn‟t know. All she knew was that she loved spending time with him.

Everything was perfect.

Until Josh had to leave to start his freshman year at Cornell.

Ava had known this day would be coming, but she hadn‟t expected it to come so fast.

The hardest thing Ava ever had to do was say good-bye to Josh when he left at the end of August. She‟d wanted to cry but she didn‟t. Well, at least not in front of him. She knew how excited he was to be going off to college and she didn‟t want to spoil the experience for him. She didn‟t want him to think his girlfriend was falling to pieces. So she kept her tears bottled up and let them out in front of Danielle and Lindsey once Josh and his parents drove away.

Things only got harder when classes resumed at North Ridge High in September.

Everywhere Ava looked, she had a memory of Josh. In the hallways. In the cafeteria.

Outside the school. There were so many reminders of him! It only made her miss him that much more.

At first, Ava and Josh kept in touch by phone. As much as Ava wanted to call every day, she didn‟t. She knew college was different from high school and she didn‟t want to bother Josh.

In the beginning, Ava heard from Josh at least two or three times a week. He admitted to being homesick and feeling overwhelmed by his classes. But little by little, he started to get into the swing of things and began making new friends. Now when Ava talked to him, he told her how much fun he was having, how great his classes were, and about all the cool people he was meeting. When Ava heard this, she was happy for Josh.

Everything was finally falling into place for him.

But then she started hearing from him less and less.

At first she made excuses. After all, Josh was in the premed program and had a heavy class load. Some of his classes were also at night, so when he wasn‟t in class, she was. So she didn‟t call him as often as she used to. Instead, she sent him texts and e-mails.

But they went unanswered.

The few times they did get to talk, though, Ava noticed that Josh didn‟t mention how much he missed her. She still told him that she missed him, but he never said the words back. At least not as often as he used to.

It made Ava worry.

She didn‟t think Josh was cheating on her, but she did feel he was drifting further and further away from her.

She felt he wasn‟t making a place for her in his new world.

When Josh came home for Thanksgiving, they spent the entire weekend together, and it was like he had never gone away. They picked up right where they left off and had a great time, going to the movies, snuggling before the fire, baking cookies, and getting a head start on their Christmas shopping. The same thing happened over the Christmas holiday.

But when classes resumed in January, Ava stopped hearing from Josh again. And again, she made excuses for him because she knew he had finals coming up that month.

Valentine‟s Day was what pushed her over the edge. All week, five couples at North Ridge High had been competing in the Most Romantic Couple contest. Seeing them together made Ava realize that she didn‟t have a boyfriend who cared about her. If she did, he wouldn‟t be so out of touch. He would let her know that he cared about her and was thinking about her, even if he only sent her a one-word text. Ava‟s heart always pounded with excitement when her phone buzzed and she saw Josh‟s name pop up on the screen.

It wasn‟t just the Most Romantic Couple contest. Josh didn‟t send her a card for Valentine‟s Day. And he didn‟t even call to thank her for the card she‟d sent him! When she called Josh the day after Valentine‟s Day, trying not to sound like a hysterical girlfriend, he apologized for forgetting and claimed he‟d been too busy with his new class schedule. But Ava was finished with excuses. Josh knew how to make time for himself but not for her or their relationship. So she didn‟t say anything and decided it would be better to discuss their relationship with him when he came home for spring break.

That never happened.

And spring break was what ended things.

Originally, they were supposed to spend spring break together at home. They had discussed it at Christmas. But then Josh‟s fraternity brothers planned a trip to Cancun, and Josh decided to go with them. He didn‟t even ask Ava if it was okay! He just called a week after Valentine‟s Day and told her he was going, breaking their plans without even thinking of her feelings. Deciding to tell Josh what she was feeling, Ava told him that she felt their relationship was in trouble. That they were drifting apart from each other and they needed to spend time together to see if they could get things back on track.