The Second Virginity of Suzy Green (18 page)

My mind wanders
back to that moment before sanity stepped in and made me pull back; when Ryan’s
lips touched mine and my arms instinctively wrapped themselves around his neck.
For one split second nothing else mattered. It was like the time we hadn’t see
each other vanished in a puff of smoke.

Lucky reality
hit before it went any further.

“And after this
in-the-moment-once-only full-on kiss did he declare his undying love and beg
you to go back out with him?”

“Shut up. Of
course he didn’t. Well not really, he—”I pause a moment to replay in my mind
the events of earlier. How understanding Ryan was and the way he accepted
everything.

“He what? Come
on spill. What did he say? God Suzy, I knew this would happen. This had
freakin’ trouble written all over it.”

“I know that.
But if you remember I wasn’t exactly given a choice, was I?” Leaning forward on
the wooden bench I’m sitting on at the bottom of our garden I stare absentmindedly
at the grass. Right now I feel so—so— awful.

“Well, what did
he say after you told him no?“

“He said he’s
sorry everything turned out how it did, and he wants to be friends. He asked me
to go out again to the movies or something. Just as friends. But I think no.
Guy wouldn’t like it.”

“Don’t tell
him.”

“No. You know I
don’t do lying.” A huge snort reverberates down the phone. “If you let me
finish. I was going to say I don’t do lying unless absolutely necessary.”

“It’s okay, I
get it. Virgin status and Truck-fest are the only things important enough to
warrant deception.”

A giggle escapes
my lips and I sit back and straighten my legs out in front of me. Out the
corner of my eye I notice Dad walking toward me holding the phone in his hand. He
waves when he sees me looking.

“Phone,” he
calls. “Lori.” Oh no. I forgot I was meant to phone her, and I bet Mom didn’t
tell Dad to say I’m asleep if anyone calls. Or he forgot, which is quite
likely, he’s hopeless when it comes to remembering things. I hope he’s not
heading for one of those memory diseases, Mom and I couldn’t hack anything
else.

“Won’t be a
sec,” I whisper to Maddie. “The other phone.”

I jump up from
the bench, run over to Dad and take the handset from him.

“Hello,” I
croak, while strolling back to the bench and sitting down.

“Suzy, it’s
Lori. I didn’t want to phone your cell in case you were asleep. Your Dad said
you’re in the garden. Are you feeling better? You don’t sound it.”

“A little,
thanks.” I try to make myself sound breathless, but to be honest it comes
across more like someone in a porn movie than a sick person. “Got so hot
upstairs I thought I’d come out for some fresh air. I’m hoping it’s just a
twenty-four hour thing. How was the picnic?”

“Well, apart
from Guy wandering around all pathetic because you weren’t there, it was great.
It was so sweet to watch him though. Rachel tried her hardest to cheer him up.”
Yeah, I bet. Bitch. “You know, he’s really got it bad. I haven’t seen him like
this since—well—since ages.” She giggles and I’m tempted to join in except it’s
hysterical laughter bubbling inside me, what with everything going on at the
moment, and if I let it out Lori will think I’ve totally lost it.

“I wish I’d been
there, instead of stuck in my room with no-one to talk to. Not that I can talk
for long.” Cue the cough. “Sorry, it sounds worse than it is. I’m sure by
Monday I’ll be fine. Especially if I take it steady tomorrow.”

“Hope so. You
know I said about coming to see you?”

“Mmmm,” I reply
nodding.

“I can’t.”

“Oh no. Why
not?” Yes!

“Mom wants me to
go out with her and Dad to my aunt’s.”

“Poor you.
Sounds really boring. You could always pretend to be sick.” I laugh, then panic
she thinks that’s what I’ve been doing. “But then you couldn’t come over to see
me if they thought you were, so probably not a good idea.”

“I don’t mind
going. We usually have fun with them. So looks like I won’t see you until
Monday, if you’re well enough to come back to school.”

“I’ll be there.
We’ve got the English assessment and I can’t miss it.”

“No, best not
to. Okay, I’ll see you then. Take care.”

I say goodbye
and put the phone on the seat beside me. I then put my cell phone to my ear.

“Hey, Maddie,
you still there?”

“I can’t miss my
English assessment,” she mocks in a high pitched voice. “In case I damage my
nerdy image.”

“It’s a good job
you’re far away,” I say laughing. “Because this nerd packs a powerful slap when
provoked.”

“Sorry. I should
be used to it by now. Hey guess what? I forgot to tell you. Mom says I can come
for a visit in the next school hols.”

“That’s awesome
news. How come?”

This is so not
awesome news.

I love Maddie to
bits but how can I introduce her to all my friends? She’ll stick out like a
sore thumb. Her clothes, attitude, the constant swearing. In fact everything I
used to be. What the hell am I going to do? There’s only about six weeks before
we break up. Shit. This is a nightmare.

“Mom said she knew
how much we were missing each other and she managed to get me one of those
cheap flights. I can’t wait to meet Guy and Lori and the others. And don’t
worry I know I’ve got to pretend to be all goody-goody like you. Hope you’ve
got something for me to wear. And I’ll need a few lessons in nerdiness before
you let me loose on them all. I promise not to embarrass you.”

God, I couldn’t
feel more awful if I tried. How could I have doubted her? She’s never let me
down before, so why would she now?

“You bet. By the
time you meet them you’ll be the biggest nerd in California.”

“I don’t suppose
I’ll be able to see Ryan again, will I? He was such fun at camp.”

“Don’t push your
luck.” I giggle. “Seriously, yeah I’m sure we can go see him at Starbucks
sometime.” All in the line of duty, of course …

We walk up the
stairs into a huge entrance hall and my arm tightens around Guy’s as the opulent
surroundings hit me. It’s incredible. Huge windows with gold and maroon striped
drapes, marble floor, and on every wall an enormous mirror. And as for the
ceiling, it’s so high you need a pair of binoculars to work out the pattern,
which is a shame if you ask me because someone went to a lot of trouble with
all that plaster.

“Let me check
your wrap,” Guy says lifting it from my shoulders.

He’s seems so
grown up. He clearly isn’t scared shitless by the Country Club’s finery, like
me. I follow him over to where a young girl in uniform is waiting.

“Careful,” Guy
growls, as the girl accidentally drops my wrap when he hands it to her.

“Sorry, sir,”
she says, her face turning bright red. Guy doesn’t say anything just glares at
her.

“It was an
accident,” I say quietly in his ear when he turns to face me. “She looks really
upset.”

Now it’s my turn
to get the treatment, if his arched eyebrows are anything to go by.

“Suzy, if you
work in a place like this there are certain standards to be upheld.”

Oh, excuse me
for being sensitive to another human being. Clearly that doesn’t happen in a
place like this.

“Suzy, Guy.” The
sound of Lori’s voice echoes around us, preventing me from turning this into a
difficult moment, and everyone in the hall peers in the direction of her voice.
She rushes over and stands between us, linking her arms through each of ours.

“Lori, you look
gorgeous,” I say.

She looks
totally amazing in a dress that’s mid-calf and has a fitted blue bodice with
sequins and a floaty blue and pink chiffon handkerchief skirt. She releases our
arms and does a twirl.

“Thanks. I’m so
glad you like it.”

“Like it? I love
it. You make me feel really ordinary.” And I’m not just saying that so she can
give me a compliment.

“Don’t be daft.
You look so sophisticated. Black is definitely your color.”

Well I won’t
disagree there. Maybe I should get out some of my previous-life clothes and
wear them seeing as they’re all black. Hmm. Maybe not.

“Thanks. I
bought it from Cleo’s in the mall.”

“Well, it’s
totally fab. Come on and I’ll show you where we’re sitting.”

She leads us
into a huge ballroom off the entrance hall. And I mean huge. There’s a dance
floor which starts in the middle and goes all the way down to one end of the
room until it reaches the stage—on which a band is warming up.

We follow Lori
to the other side of the room and stop at one of the round tables (there must
be at least fifty of them) with eight seats around it. In the middle of each
table is a silver artificial flower arrangement, and attached to each chair is
a silver helium balloon with Marlene and Bruce written on it, surrounded by red
hearts. And every place setting has a silver napkin pushed through a silver
heart-shaped napkin ring.

Oh. My. God. Is
this over the top or what?

“This sure is
something else,” I say to Lori, not sure what the correct reaction should be.
For all I know she thinks it’s as crazy as I do.

“I know,” Lori
replies. “Isn’t it the most adorable setting ever?” Okay. She loves it. I
glance at Guy to see if his face is letting on what he thinks of it all, but he
looks enraptured too.

It’s me. It’s
got to be me. I’m way out of step again. I blame my parents for not having the
sense to subject me to sufficient strange parties for my good taste to be
eroded. I can’t wait to tell Maddie about it, at least she’ll laugh.

Already seated
at the table is Rachel, with some guy I haven’t met before, Jana and Sam (who
have just started dating—quite a shock to everyone because in the past they’ve
never been that friendly toward one another even though we all hang out
together) and George who Lori finally plucked the courage to invite.

“Ladies and
Gentlemen,” booms a voice through a microphone from across the other side of
the room, making me jump. “Please take your seats. Dinner is served.”

“Who’s that?” I
ask Guy, nodding at the man on the stage who made the announcement.

“The MC, isn’t
it?” Duh. If I knew, I wouldn’t be asking.

“MC?”

“Master of
Ceremonies.” He noticeably shakes his head, and tuts. He clearly thinks I’m an idiot
for not knowing. Well, at least I know which fork to use. Thanks to Rosie’s
insistence on watching Pretty Woman on a regular basis.

Actually I’d
know which fork to use anyway. My family isn’t totally devoid of social graces.

“Right. Thanks.”
I go to pull out my seat—no fear of making a faux pas here as each place is
named, I’ve got Guy on one side and George on the other—but Guy beats me to it
and he holds out the chair for me to sit down.

“Thank you.” I
sit down in a very ladylike manner, smoothing my dress underneath me and
remembering to keep my legs together. No mean feat for someone used to wearing
jeans or long skirts most of the time. “Hey, Lori,” I call across George who’s
already seated beside me. “How come you’re not on the table with your parents?”

“It wasn’t
easy,” she says giggling and shaking her blonde curls. “Took me ages to
convince them that it wouldn’t be fair to leave you all on your own not knowing
anyone. Not counting you,” she adds to Guy. “I want to have some fun tonight.
And not sure sitting with them qualifies.”

“Probably not.”
I grin, then pick the menu up from the table. “What’s Potage Nîmoise?” I ask
no-one in particular.

“Roasted
vegetable soup.”

“Thanks. A bit
too—” Hey. That voice is familiar. And it sure doesn’t belong to anyone on this
table. Nah. I’m losing it. It can’t be.

“You’re welcome,
Suzy.” My head shoots around to the left. As if in slow motion I raise my eyes
until they’re locked on the face belonging to the voice.

“Ryan,” I
squeak. What is it with me and my voice in tricky situations? “You didn’t say
you’ve been invited. How do you know Lori’s parents?”

He rolls his
eyes upward. “Get real Suzy. I’m working. I’m your waiter for this evening. I
don’t know these people.” His tone is decidedly frosty. It’s not my fault. I
didn’t know he worked here, did I?

“Sorry. I’ll
introduce you.” I turn back to the table. “Um, guys. This is Ryan.”

You know, I
can’t believe I’ve just done that. Am I not trying my utmost to keep him away
from my friends? And now, without even having a drink to blame my behavior on,
I’ve gone and screwed it up.

They all say hi,
with the exception of Guy who stares at Ryan. “I remember you from Starbucks,”
he says. “The friend from summer camp. You get around don’t you? Are you sure
you’re not stalking Suzy?”