Ten Things We Did (And Probably Shouldn't Have) (22 page)

“You obviously need to hear it! You got chlamydia from your boyfriend!”

“Probably . . .”

“Wait. What? Did you sleep with someone else? Hudson? Please tell me Hudson didn’t do this.”

I shook my head. “It wasn’t Hudson.
Nothing
happened with Hudson. And, I haven’t been with anyone else.”

“Then what?” she asked. “You can’t get it from a toilet seat.”

I shrugged. “You don’t know that.”

She snorted. “Yeah, April, I do. Who do you think wrote the STD article for
The Issue
?”

“Well, maybe it’s from Hula.”

She closed her eyes and rubbed her forehead. “You did not just say that.”

“It’s possible,” I squeaked.

“No, April, it’s not. Is that what Noah said? That you got it from the hot tub?”

I didn’t answer.

“He’s full of it.”

“He’s not,” I said. “It is a germ-fest in there. We never remember to check the pH levels and—” What the hell was I talking about? Was I really repeating what Noah had said?

She kept shaking her head. “First of all, even if it were a germ-fest, even if you did catch it from the hot tub, which, for the record, is totally impossible, Hula wouldn’t have spontaneously produced chlamydia. You would have gotten it from someone in the hot tub. Are you saying you got it from me? Now I have it too?”

“It was a
used
hot tub. Maybe it wasn’t cleaned properly.” I knew it sounded moronic but I couldn’t stop myself from saying it.

“You’re being stupid.”

“Don’t tell me I’m being stupid!”

“But you are being stupid. Your boyfriend is lying to you. He slept with someone else, caught something, and gave it to you.”

“No. There has to be another way.”

“I know it’s hard for you to let go of him. He was there for you after your parents got divorced. And when your mom left. But you can’t stay with him because of that. You can’t be afraid to move on. He’s an asshole dragging you down. Clearly you’re attracted to Hudson—”

“This isn’t about Hudson!” I said. Yes, I was attracted to Hudson. But I loved Noah. Didn’t I?

“Stop. You’re lying to yourself. You need to open your eyes.”

I crossed my arms tightly. She had no right. “What, like you’re so perfect?”

“I never said I was perfect.”

“You’re a total control freak! You fixed up the guy you like with someone else so you don’t have to commit to him! You work out in the middle of the night! You won’t let me drive! You follow me around turning off lights! It’s worse than living with Penny. And let me tell you, being a control freak isn’t going to change the fact that your mom is a total flake. And you know what? I could have just stayed in her room, because she’s not coming back.”

Vi visibly flinched. Then she turned around and stomped over to her room, slamming the door and leaving me alone.

My chest tightened. Had I really said all that?

Never mind. She had been acting like a bitch. Just when I needed her to coddle me, she attacked me. Telling me I was stupid. Accusing Noah.

But then. What I’d said was pretty awful.

Now what? I needed to get out of here. I needed to be with someone who would sympathize with me, not scold me. I needed to vent and to hear an “everything’s going to be okay” from someone who wasn’t Noah. I needed my mom. I wanted to put my head in her lap and let her play with my hair, like she used to. I wanted her to tell me everything would be fine. But she wasn’t here. As usual.

I grabbed my purse off the floor, walked out the front door and got back into my car. I’d go to Marissa’s.

I called her from a red light. She didn’t answer.

“Hi,” I said. “It’s me. I need to talk to you. Call me when you get this?”

I kept driving. Going nowhere. I needed to figure this out. Did he cheat on me? Would he? Yes. He must have. He must have slept with Corinne. I needed proof. Who would know? Corinne. Corinne would know. Yes. I would go to Corinne’s. I made a U-turn and then a left and a right and then I parked in front of her house.

As I got out of the car, I felt sick. And excited. Not happy excited, just incredibly wound up. Colors were brighter. Sounds were louder. I had known about Corinne and Noah all along, hadn’t I? Yes, I had. Of course Corinne and Noah were sleeping together. She wanted him. She always did. And someone had given her the nasty disease and she had given it to Noah and now I had it. It was all her fault.

Heart pounding, I stomped up her stairs and rang her doorbell. Maybe Noah was here now. Maybe they were having sex and laughing at this very moment.

There was rustling behind the door. I could feel someone looking at me. And then— “April? What’s up?” Corinne, in jeans and a white tee, her red hair in a bun. Then she bit her lip. She did not look surprised to see me.

“We need to talk,” I said gravely.

She nodded. Nodded! Obviously she was guilty! She came outside and closed the door behind her, even though she was barefoot. She sat down on a step, bracing herself.

I walked to the bottom of the steps. No way I was sitting down for this. I put my hands on my hips and glared at her. “I know,” I said.

Her shoulders sank. Her head dropped. She looked like a scared turtle. “I’m so sorry.”

Oh my God. She admitted it! She actually admitted it! “Sorry’s not good enough,” I spat out. “What you did was so wrong.”

She burst into tears. “I know,” she sobbed.

She knew hooking up with
my boyfriend
was wrong. But did she know about the chlam? Did she do it on purpose? Did she try to get me sick?

That seemed a little far-fetched, I realized. So maybe she didn’t know. Maybe she had it and had no idea. Maybe I shouldn’t tell her. Let her find out on her own. One day. In ten years.

Oh God. No. I was not
that
girl either.

“You should know that you gave him something,” I told her. “You might want to go to the doctor.”

She looked up at me through her tears. “Gave him what? Mouth to mouth? I couldn’t have. I didn’t get out of the car.”

Huh? “What does that mean? You guys only did it in the car? What, did you drive around the city finding abandoned parking lots?”

Her eyebrows were knotted in confusion. “It wasn’t a parking lot. It happened right in front of your house.”

How awful could she be? “You hooked up with Noah in front of my house? Were you just trying to spite me?”

She blinked. Then blinked again. “What are you talking about? I didn’t hook up with Noah. I mean, I kissed him, a million years ago, you knew about that.”

If she didn’t hook up with Noah . . . “Then what are you so sorry for?”

She burst into tears again. “For running over your cat!”

I took a step back. “You ran over Donut?”

She nodded.

“Why did you run over Donut?”

“I didn’t mean to! Honestly! I was driving down your street and I didn’t even see her in front of me.”

This made no sense. I thought back to the night of the accident. Vi and I had been in the hot tub. I’d left the door open. Corinne hadn’t been over. “But why were you in front of my house?”

“I was just driving by,” she said, playing with her fingers.

“Corinne, I live on a cul-de-sac. There is no reason to drive by. And your lights were off.”

She closed her eyes and I watched tears stream out of the corners. “I was at Joanna’s.”

“You were at Joanna’s? I didn’t even know you were that good of friends with Joanna.”

“I’m not,” she said quickly. “I mean . . . I am.” She turned bright red.

I realized what was going on.

“You mean you’re
dating
Joanna.”

“Oh God, please don’t tell anyone.”

“Wait, hold on. I’m not going to tell anyone.” I sat down beside her. “But I had no idea. When did you start seeing Joanna?”

“I’m not
seeing
her. I’m just figuring things out. I don’t know. After the Noah thing happened I realized that maybe guys just aren’t for me. Oh God. I can’t believe I just said that.”

“But you are always flirting with Noah.”

“Not really. Well, maybe a little. But just for show. Because I’m not ready for anyone to know about me and Joanna. And girls. Whatever.”

“I thought you were trying to—”

“What, steal him?”

When she put it like that it sounded stupid.

We sat in silence for a moment.

“Can we get back to the running-over-my-cat part?” I finally asked.

She nodded. “I turned my lights off when I drove by so you guys wouldn’t see me. And after I heard the crunch—”

We both winced.

“I should have gotten out of the car. I wanted to. But I couldn’t. Then I would have had to tell you why I was driving by your house and . . .”

“Why didn’t you call someone? The animal hospital?” If I hadn’t noticed Donut was missing she would have stayed outside all night.

“I didn’t know it was your cat. I didn’t know you had a cat. I kind of hoped that maybe it was a branch.”

“Right.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know until later that week when I heard about it from Noah in class. And I felt sick. So sick. I’ll pay you back. I can’t believe how expensive it was. I bought half the punch at your party to try and pay you back!”

“Thank you,” I said. And realized I meant it.

And I thought she had been there to hit on Noah.

Noah.

What did all this mean about Noah? Did this mean . . . could he have been telling the truth? That he never cheated on me? But then how did I get the chlam? My cell rang and the call display said
MARISSA.

“Corinne, I have to go. But I promise not to say anything about what you told me,” I said gently. “Even about the cat part. It’s between us.”

“You’re the best. Thank you. Thank you so much. And I will pay you back. I promise.”

“Donut’s fine now. Don’t worry about it. The party raised enough money.” I waved good-bye as I answered the phone. “Hey,” I said.

“Hi! Happy birthday! Omigod, this morning was crazy. But it was so good to see Aaron! I’m so bummed we won’t be spending the summer together. But I had a great idea. I was thinking that maybe the two of us should spend the summer in—”

“I have to talk to you,” I interrupted. “I’ll be outside your house in two minutes.”

“Hey! What happened? Did your dad find out? What’s going on with you and Hudson?”

“Nothing,” I said. “Just come outside.”

“Are you okay? You sound weird.”

“Yeah, well, I feel weird. I need to talk. I need advice.”

“I’ll be right out.”

She was standing in the driveway by the time I got there.

“What’s up?” she asked, sliding into the passenger side. She looked at my face. “What’s wrong?”

I put the car into
PARK
and turned off the engine. “I have chlamydia.”

Her jaw dropped. “Shut. Up.”

“I know, huh?”

“How do you know?”

“I went to the doctor to get tested for a UTI. And they found it.”

“Did you talk to Noah?”

I turned to her. “He said . . . he said he’s never cheated on me. I don’t know. Vi said he’s lying. I had to have gotten it from him, right? He’s the only guy I’ve ever done anything with!”

“Yeah,” she said slowly. “It had to be him.”

“Vi says he cheated on me. But . . . I don’t know. I can’t believe he would do that. I just can’t. We’ve been so good. Like a real couple. We talk every night. We spend all day together. He couldn’t have done it. Where would he have found the time? If he did give it to me . . . I’m thinking it must have been before. When we weren’t together. Maybe when we were freshman? I know he said he had never done it but . . . you’d think if he had sex when he was a freshman he would have told someone. Everyone. I mean, what guy wouldn’t?” I knew I was rambling but I couldn’t stop. I didn’t want to stop. If I kept talking, then I wouldn’t have to think. “Maybe he got it then,” I continued. “I thought he could have slept with Corinne but I really don’t think that happened anymore so I don’t know—”

“April,” she said. She looked down at her lap.

“I’m rambling right?”

“I heard a rumor.”

“Huh?”

“I heard a rumor about Noah.”

My heart stopped. “What?”

“That he hooked up with someone else. That he cheated on you.”

I closed my eyes. “Really?”

“I didn’t believe it,” she said, her words coming out in a gush. “You guys were the perfect couple. But now . . . I don’t know.”

Everything froze. “With who?”

“Not Corinne. Some chick he met on vacation. I thought it was a stupid rumor.”

“When did this happen?”

“Over Christmas break. In Palm Beach. On New Year’s.”

“This Christmas?”

“Yeah.”

I remembered this Christmas. I had told him about the move. And then he had cheated on me. Guess he was not a fan of me staying around after all. Or maybe he’d been pissed that I’d postponed our big night of sex because I was stressed about my dad moving. “He cheated on me before we slept together.”

“Yes.”

“So he slept with someone else and then he slept with me.”

“I guess. But it’s just a rumor. It may not even be true. That’s why I didn’t tell you. I didn’t believe it. You guys were like the perfect couple and he made you so happy.”

“Where did you hear this rumor?”

“She’s camp friends with Brett’s girlfriend, and Jane asked Aaron if I knew her, and . . .”

They all knew. The whole Aaron crew. Jilted Jane. Who I’d pitied. Jilted me. “What’s her name? The girl.”

“Lily,” she said. “Lily Weinberg.”

Lily. Stupid Lily. Disease-ridden Lily. Whorish Lily. “I can’t—wait, when did you find all this out?”

She shrugged, not looking at me. “A while ago.”

“How long ago?” My voice tensed.

“A couple months. I don’t remember.”

“Are you joking? You knew that he cheated on me a few months ago? And you didn’t say anything? How could you not say anything?”

“I didn’t want to upset you. And it was a rumor.”

“I don’t care if it was a rumor! You should have told me!”

She burst into tears. “I’m sorry! I thought about it but—”

“Did you hear about it before I slept with him?”