The Twelve Dates of Christmas (13 page)

I somehow managed
not
to punch him in the head in return. This was definitely not part of the plan. How was I supposed to work on Cam with Bruce drooling all over me?

Still, it seemed too late to abort the mission now. So I trooped over to trade in my Skechers for a pair of smelly red, white, and blue bowling nerd shoes. And for the next hour, I pretended to have a good time while simultaneously fending off Bruce's wandering hands and watching Jaylene giggle and bounce and kiss Cam on the forehead every
three seconds and generally be exactly the kind of girl that I wasn't. And yet Cam didn't seem to mind, though I did catch him shooting me weird looks every so often, as if wondering what I was doing there. No wonder. I was wondering that myself.

Still, I did my best to keep hope alive. I kept waiting for that magic moment when Jaylene and Bruce would both wander off to the restroom or the snack bar at the same time, leaving me alone to wow Cam with my irresistible charm and wit.

Finally, after one too many gutter balls, Bruce decided his bowling shoes were at fault and stomped off to the counter get a different pair. At the same time, Jaylene drained her soda cup.

“Think Ah'll get another pop,” she said.

Cam immediately stood up. “I'll go,” he offered.

But she waved him off. “It's okay, sweetie,” she said. “Ah can go mahself. Be right back!”

She strolled off toward the snack bar. Cam glanced at me. He looked kind of uncomfortable. I knew how he felt. Being together used to be so easy, so natural. Now it was as if just hanging out with
Cam had turned into the world's hardest school assignment, a test I desperately needed to pass but hadn't studied for nearly enough.

“Um . . . I think it's your turn, Lexi,” he said.

Setting down my soda cup, I stood up and took a step toward the little ball-return thingy. The ball I'd been using all evening, a blue one with green swirls, was right at the front of the line. One of the extras, on the other hand, was sitting at the other end of the machine. It was a little smaller than mine, with gold speckles on a black background. I stared at it, realizing that if I went to grab it instead of the other one, it would force me to lean over Cam's legs, which were sprawled out into the path as usual. My leg might brush against his. Or my hand might rest briefly on his knee to balance myself as I picked up the heavy ball. It was even possible that my thick, curly hair—the hair he'd always loved and complimented—would fall into his face. It would be easy to make it all happen. All I would have to do is reach for that other ball, claim that my old one was cramping my game, like Bruce with his
shoes. Or that the old one was pinching my fingers. Or any other number of excuses. It would be so easy. . . .

I knew what Allie would have advised. I knew what someone like Jaylene would have done as instinctively as she drew in a breath one second and blew it out the next.

Somehow, though, I just couldn't do it. After all the trickery I'd pulled, the lies I'd told, it just seemed like one step too far somehow. Call me stupid—I suspected even in that moment that my friends certainly would. But I just grabbed my regular ball and stepped up to the lane. My fingers were shaking a little as I shoved them into the holes.

“Straight and steady, Lexi.” Cam leaned forward to watch me. “Don't think about it—just do it.”

That made me smile. It was just so . . . Cam.

I glanced at him over my shoulder. “Remember who you're talking to here,” I joked. “Since when does it ever work to tell me not to think?”

He grinned. “Good point. Okay, so pretend it's a trig problem or something then, and just throw the ball straight!”

I laughed and threw the ball. It wobbled halfway down the lane, then rolled into the gutter.

“Rats! So much for that trig scholarship to MIT,” I said.

Cam laughed. I did too. And just like that, the awkwardness between us dissipated. For that moment, it was as if nothing had changed.

Unfortunately, the moment only lasted, well, a moment. Then Bruce came stomping back, a satisfied look on his face and a pair of identical-looking bowling shoes on his feet.

“You should have seen the soles of those things,” he announced, blasting into the seating area and grabbing for his ball. “No wonder I couldn't anchor my throws! You guys had better look out now. . . .”

My brief-lived moment of contentment flickered out. What had I been thinking? I'd just squandered my chance to rekindle things with Cam on stupid trigonometry jokes and actual, you know,
bowling
. It wouldn't have taken some stupid flirty move like switching balls to make things happen. All I'd needed to do was talk to him. Remind him of what we'd had
together. Maybe tell him I missed him.

Promising myself I wouldn't waste a second chance, I settled in to wait for it. But it never happened. Instead I eventually found myself alone in the bowling pod with Bruce while Cam was getting more drinks and Jaylene was powdering her nose.

It was Bruce's turn to bowl, but he stayed planted on the seat next to me. “So Lexi,” he began. “I meant to ask you at the lake yesterday, but I forgot when you decided to turn it into a swimming party.” He grinned and waggled his thin, pale eyebrows up and down. “How about we go out again sometime? The Ball's coming up in a just couple weeks if you don't have a date yet. . . .”

“Oh. Um . . .” I shot a look at Cam to make sure he was out of hearing range. “I don't know. I was sort of planning to just go with Nick and Allie. You know, Nick's still kind of bummed about Rachel, and, well, you know.”

“Aw, c'mon, beautiful.” He reached over and stroked my cheek. As if
that
was going to be a selling point, especially since his fingers reeked of Cheez Whiz and jalapeño peppers. “Just this once, I want to
have a date lined up for the Ball before the Cam man does.”

“You mean Cam isn't going with Jaylene?” I tried to keep my voice casual, though it wasn't easy.

Bruce shrugged. “I dunno. Probably,” he said. “But as far as I know, he hasn't asked her yet. Maybe he wants to keep his options open. I mean, the poor dude was tied down for a loooong time, you know.” Suddenly realizing what he'd just said, he grinned apologetically. “Hey, you know what I mean. No offense or whatever.”

That made me feel much less uncomfortable about turning him down. “Now that you mention it, I feel the same way. So that's definitely a thanks but no thanks on the Ball. No offense or whatever.”

Cam and Jaylene both returned at that moment. “So whose turn is it?” Jaylene chirped. “Lexi? Aren't you up next?”

I stood up and checked my watch. “Actually, I think I'd better head out,” I said. “It's been fun, but it
is
a school night, and I have a physics test tomorrow.”

“Aw, you sure?” Jaylene actually looked disappointed. I wasn't sure whether to be flattered or insulted.

“We were only going to bowl one more frame anyway,” Cam put in.

“Sorry.” I was already reaching for my coat. “You guys will just have to finish without me.”

“So what kind of costume do you want to get?” I asked Allie as we stepped into the mall the next day after school.

The place was busy for a weekday. Cheery holiday tunes poured out of every storefront, competing with each other and with the equally cheery holiday music playing constantly in the concourse. Hurried-looking shoppers went dashing from store to store or lined up at the coffee place to fuel up for more shopping.

Allie smiled at a little kid racing past us toward the Santa pavilion in the fountain court. “Not sure,” she said. “Just something Christmassy and cute, I guess.”

I realized she hadn't been talking much
lately about her goal to land herself a boyfriend before the Ball, though now that I thought about it, I wondered if it was a lingering hope that she'd be going as part of a couple that had made her wait so late to get herself a costume. But I kept quiet about that. Allie was a pretty chipper person in general, but the one topic that could get her bleak and gloomy like no other was her love life—or lack thereof. I didn't want to bring her down by making her focus on her single status.

Instead I returned to our previous topic of conversation.
My
love life. Or lack thereof.

“So anyway,” I said as we strolled down the bustling mall concourse toward the costume shop, “the one interesting thing that came out of that disaster of a ‘double date' at the bowling alley was this: Bruce mentioned that Cam hasn't asked Jaylene to the Ball yet.”

“Really?” Allie glanced over, brows lifted in surprise. “That
is
interesting. I wonder if he's afraid she'll say no if he asks her too soon. I came up with a theory about that once—it's called the Delayed Date Theory. It helps explain why guys are so lame about stuff like asking girls to the
prom before the last possible second.”

We turned the corner and immediately had to dodge an empty baby stroller being pushed kamikaze-style down the mall by a wild-eyed toddler. Barely escaping with our kneecaps intact, we hurried down the concourse and ducked into the costume shop. The song selection there was a jazzy instrumental version of “Deck the Halls.” Or “Deck the Malls,” as Cam had always jokingly sang it to me whenever we'd heard it under similar circumstances.

“But never mind that,” Allie continued. “What we need right now is to get back to the More Than Friends Theory. Just because it didn't work out on the first try doesn't mean you should give up.”

“I don't know, Allie.” I stepped over to the closest rack and started flipping absent-mindedly through the costumes. I'd been pondering the whole Cam situation all day, with only a brief break to focus on and pass my physics test. “I'm starting to wonder if maybe I'm trying too hard.”

Allie was pawing through the costumes too. “Wow, the pickings are pretty slim here. I guess most people already have their costumes. Hey, but this one is cute.” She
grabbed a sparkly white Christmas Angel costume and held it up. “Come on, I want to try it on. You can come with me and explain exactly what the heck you're talking about with the ‘trying too hard' stuff.”

We headed toward the dressing rooms at the back of the store. “I just wonder if I'm panicking for nothing, that's all,” I said as we pushed our way between two racks of Santa suits. “I mean, Cam can't really be happy with someone like Jaylene long-term, can he? What if I just wait it out? After all, if he hasn't even asked her to the Ball yet, maybe he's only with her because he thinks that's what
I
want.”

“What?” Allie looked alarmed. “Lexi, no! Think about what you're saying here. I mean, maybe you're right. But he's too special a guy to take that kind of chance. If you let that blond little Southern-fried—”

She let out an audible gulp as we rounded the corner into the dressing-room aisle. For a second I thought she'd stepped on a pin or something.

Then I saw what she'd seen. Or rather
who
she'd seen.

“Well, hi there!” Jaylene exclaimed, her face brightening as she spotted us. She was
standing in front of the big full-length mirror on the wall opposite the individual dressing room stalls. “Y'all are just in time to give me your opinion. What do y'all think of this outfit?”

She twirled around in front of the mirror, showing off the costume she had on. It appeared to be meant to represent some kind of elf, though I couldn't imagine any living creature surviving North Pole temperatures with that much flesh showing. The strapless green satin top laced up the front like a corset, hugging her curves and showing an impressive amount of décolletage. The flouncy little skirt—with the emphasis on
little
—was striped like a candy cane, with a hem that appeared to have been dipped in glitter. Jingle bells chimed on the perky hat atop Jaylene's blond curls and the pointy toes of her slippers. Elbow-length satin gloves, a green velvet choker, and green fishnet stockings completed the look.

“They call it the Naughty Elf,” she explained with a giggle. “Isn't that adorable? Ah'm just so glad they had mah size.”

“Um, it's . . . cute?” Allie seemed to be struggling for the right words. “Doesn't
look very warm, though. You know, for December.”

Jaylene twirled around and craned her neck to check out the back view. “Oh, Ah'm not worried about that,” she said. “Ah'm sure once Ah'm out there dancin' with Cam, Ah'll be plenty warm enough.”

“Oh! So Cam asked you to the Ball?” Allie asked, sneaking me a quick look.

Jaylene nodded, making the bell on her hat jingle. “Last night when he dropped me off after our date.” She smoothed down her tiny skirt. “He tells me everyone dresses up for this thing, so Ah didn't want to waste any time gettin' started shoppin' for a costume and miss out on all the good ones. Ah bet he'll just love this outfit, don't y'all think so?”