The Opposite Of Tidy (15 page)

Until Wade turned onto her street, and Junie saw her house. Her real house. With the blue light of the television shimmering behind the living room curtains, the rest
of the house dark. It was almost nine. She’d gone several hours without thinking about home. About her mother. Her father and That Woman. And the big fat lie she’d told Wade.

She should tell him. Right now. Junie could practically hear Tabitha ordering her to get Wade to stop at her real house. The house of doom and decay. The house of a compulsive hoarder and superior slob. The house so full of junk and crap that you had to make your way from room to room along narrow trails burrowed out of the heaps of debris, like a rat living in the city dump.

She couldn’t tell him. Not yet. Not after such a perfect Very First Date.

Wade stopped the van in front of Tabitha’s house. The living room was brightly lit behind the curtains. Mrs. D. didn’t allow TV in the living room. She said it had nothing to do with living. It was down in the basement. But the basement windows were dark. Junie glanced up. The light in Tabitha’s room was on. The curtains parted, and there was Mrs. D., looking out for just a moment before tugging the curtains closed again.

“Making sure we’re not making out,” Wade blurted into the dark.

Junie sucked in her breath. “Guess so.” She put her hand on the door handle, all of a sudden desperate to get out of the van. But she didn’t know how to exactly end the date, so she just sat there. She wanted to make out with him. Sure she did. But she thought if she did, she might shatter into a million pieces of crush and never be put back together again. Considering the shock of just the kiss on the
palm of her hand, she doubted that she was ready for his tongue down her throat. Her face flushed at the thought.

She turned the door handle. “I should go.”

“Wait.” Wade threw off his seatbelt. “Let me.”

Junie watched him get out and come around to her side of the van. She felt like a girl out of the ’50s, out of one of Wade’s beloved black-and-white films, as though she should be wearing bobby socks and a poodle skirt. She didn’t know guys still did that stuff—hold doors, stand up when girls came into the room. But then Wade was cut from a different cloth than most guys. Which was why she liked him.

He opened the door and offered her a hand. “Virginia.” She took his hand and let him help her down. “It has been a pleasure.”

“I had a really good time too.” Junie felt an
okey-dokey
moment coming on. As though she might burst into a fit of giggles, or trip on the step up to the walk. Wade kept holding her hand as they walked up to the front door.

Junie desperately hoped that Tabitha had told Mrs. D. to expect Junie to come “home” that night. The porch light was on. Junie glanced at her watch. It was five minutes after nine. She was supposed to be at her own home five minutes ago. She heard the phone ring inside. That would be her mom, looking for her.

“I’d better get inside.” Junie took her hand back, but then wasn’t sure what to do with it. She dropped it to her side, but then thought better of that and put it on the door handle. “It’s after nine.”

“Okay. Thanks for coming with me.” Wade stepped
backwards, nearly toppling off the stoop. Junie laughed, and immediately felt bad for doing so. Wade bowed. “And for tonight’s finale . . .” He took a step forward and kissed Junie on the lips. It lasted long enough that Junie blinked several times, surprised. Wade’s eyes were closed. And then he pulled away, eyes wide open. “See ya.”

And he sprinted back to his van, got in and drove away. Just like that.

Junie turned in a dazed little circle. Her skin felt loose, as if it might slide off and pool around her ankles. Her mouth felt tingly. She put her fingers to her lips, wondering if they would feel any different now.

The door opened, and Mrs. D. appraised her with a stern look.

“Your mother is looking for you.”

“Can I come in?” Junie heard Tabitha thundering down the stairs. “Just for a minute.”

Mrs. D. opened the door wider. “If you call your mother.”

“I saw!” Tabitha screeched. She grabbed Junie and yanked her inside. “Oh my God, I saw! He kissed you!”

Mrs. D. handed Junie the phone. “Call your mother. Now.”

Her mother wanted Junie home immediately. Tabitha walked her there so Junie could tell her the short version of her Very First Date along the way. They said goodbye, and Junie went inside, still floating from everything that
had happened. She found her mom in the living room, of course, where no doubt she’d been all day.

“I am in love,” she announced, sliding to the floor at her mother’s feet. “I am absolutely in love.”

“You had a good time, then,” her mother said with a chuckle as she muted the Shopping Channel. The woman selling the Miracle Scissors fell silent, but still her collagenplumped lips kept flapping.

“I had a great time.” Junie and Tabitha had decided not to tell either of their moms about Jeremy and Royce. Neither of them would be okay with Junie having spent several hours at a strange house in the middle of nowhere with strange men. Her mom might not let her see Wade again. And there
would
be a next time. Junie could feel it in her bones. “The best time ever, actually.”

“I’m glad.” Junie could hear something else in her mother’s voice. A coolness that shouldn’t have been there, considering.

“You could be a little more excited for me, Mom.” Junie stood up. She kicked off her boots and picked one up in each hand. If she left them down there, there was no telling if she’d ever find them again.

That was when she realized that she was wearing the same dress that she’d accused her mom of losing.

“I found it,” Junie said as a sheepish lump formed in her throat. “Just before I left.”

“Clearly.”

Junie wished that she wanted to apologize to her mom. But she didn’t. She really didn’t. But she should. Even if she didn’t want to. “I’m sorry.”

“Mm-hmm.” Her mom turned her eyes back to the TV.

Junie had apologized, but it hadn’t sounded genuine. Not at all. She didn’t blame her mom for brushing it off.

“I
am
sorry.” That was better. “I jumped to conclusions. When, really, I’d brought it upstairs this morning, when I brushed my teeth.”

“And you didn’t think to tell me that this afternoon, when you came home?”

Junie just stood there, feeling like an ass.

“It would’ve been nice to know. Instead of sitting here all this time, thinking that I’d ruined your date.”

“You didn’t ruin it.”

“But I thought I had.”

Junie felt the elation of the day slip away, and in its place came the steady anxiety she usually felt. Her constant undercurrent of unease. Her miserable, exhausting normal. “That was crappy of me. Sorry.”

“Apology accepted.” Her mother looked as though she was about to cry. Great. “And I’m sorry too. For being the kind of mom you feel the need to lie to.”

If she only knew. Junie was pretty sure that she’d just shrunk a few inches. She looked down at the white dress, a pink cowboy boot in each hand. It felt stupid all of a sudden. Like she’d been trying too hard, and Wade knew it. The whole world knew it. Like she should just forget about being anyone’s “anything” and go back to being a liar. It was what she was best at, after all.

Junie pursed her lips shut, trapping all of the ugly things she could say to her mother. Leave it to her to wreck
Junie’s Very First Date. Instead, and wisely, she pinched out an icy “Good night” and then went upstairs to bed.

Junie woke up the next day to the sound of the phone ringing. Her mom never answered it, so Junie leapt out of bed and grabbed the one in the hall.

“Better get over here,” Tabitha said. “Lover-boy just called and left a message saying that he’s going to stop by on his way to school to see if you want a ride.”

“Crap!” Junie knocked herself on the forehead with the phone. “I’ll be right there.”

“This has got to stop, Junie.” Junie could practically hear Tabitha shaking her head with disapproval. “Really.” And then she hung up.

Junie got dressed as fast as she could, washed her face and brushed her teeth, grabbed her backpack and slammed out the front door without so much as a “good morning” or “goodbye” to her mother.

The phone was ringing when Junie walked into Tabitha’s house, breathless. Mrs. D. handed it to her. “Your mother.”

“Good morning, Juniper.”

“Sorry, Mom. I was in a rush.”

“That’s no excuse.” Her mother sighed. “I’m of half a mind to make you come back here and try that again, with manners this time.”

“I’m sorry. It won’t happen again.”

“I certainly hope not. You’re getting pretty stroppy, young lady. Maybe this Wade business is going to your head.”

Oh how Junie wanted to tell her that
she
was the root of all of this. But there was no time. Outside, a horn honked. “That’s Victor, I’ve got to go.”

“Who’s Victor? I thought we were all about Wade?”

Not
we.
Not ever
we
when it came to her and her mother. Junie bit her lip. Stay civil. Get off the phone.

“Victor is what he calls his van. Victor Van Go-Go. Get it?”

“That’s cute.” Her mother laughed. “I’m looking forward to meeting this Wade character.”

Not on your life. Not a chance in hell. Never in a million years. Hell would have to freeze, thaw and freeze again several times before that would happen.

“Gotta go, Mom. That’s my ride.” Junie hung up.

Mrs. D. and Tabitha stared at her, both of them with their arms crossed and frowning.

“I know, I know.”

But she didn’t know. Didn’t know how to get out of it. Didn’t know how to fix her mom. Didn’t know how to bring her dad back home. Didn’t know how to act around Wade. Didn’t know what to do next, about anything at all.

ELEVEN

One thing was for sure, Junie thought: life was better when you were in love. Everything was shinier. Prettier. Easier. At least some things were, anyway. Junie’s lie was still dull and ugly and difficult. She worked hard at hiding it, like a big nasty zit.

Two whole weeks went by with the new normal: starting the day at Tabitha’s, getting dropped off at Tabitha’s, letting the phone go to voice mail whenever Wade called. The façade was so well maintained that it started to feel real. As though Junie could live like that forever.

And that wouldn’t have been so bad. She and Wade were an acknowledged item now. Like Ollie and Lulu. As a result, Junie’s status at school had skyrocketed. To be a part of a couple was a big deal. And to be Wade’s girlfriend was an even bigger deal. Not that he was the coolest guy in school in the traditional sense. He didn’t play sports or
host kegger parties or drive a hot car or strut around being the reigning class asshole. But he was the guy that the girls actually liked. Smart and artistic. Funny. And handsome. There was very clearly something about him, a charisma that no one could resist. Even the guys wanted to be his friend. Even the ones who made misanthropy a part of their image, along with death metal and a matching pallor.

And he was Junie’s. And she was his. Or would have been wholeheartedly so, if it hadn’t been for the lie that kept her holding back. It kept her on her toes, never able to relax. As if she’d done three shots of espresso before getting out of bed every day. Sometimes she woke up with her heart racing, panic souring her throat like vomit.