Truth or Dare (9 page)

Lance's car was in the driveway.  They got in, but he didn't start the engine right away.  Instead, he turned toward Rivka.  

“Listen, Becky, this whole thing about Pamela not wanting us to see each other is a load of crap.  She doesn’t tell me what to do, okay?  Hell, I can’t tell her what to do so why should she think she can give me orders?”

“It’s just that—“ Rivka began, but he put his finger over her lips again.

Rivka pulled his hand away.  “No, seriously.  She’ll be furious if she finds out.” Rivka turned her head away.   “She doesn’t think I’m good enough for you…” 

Lance put his hand under her chin and turned her face back towards his.  “You
are
good enough, Becky.  You’re good enough for anyone.  Don’t let Pamela, or anyone else, tell you anything different.”

“But it’s true.  It’s my family,” Rivka blurted out.  “They’re…different.  My parents weren’t born here.  They’re strange and funny and they’re not social like yours are…and…”  Rivka had a sudden picture of her father practicing his violin and her mother rolling out the dough for the challah.  She had been crazy to think that a girl like her could end up with a guy like Lance.

Lance looked down at the steering wheel, idly turning it with his finger.  “Things aren’t always what they seem.”  He glanced at Rivka then ducked his head again.  I’ve never told anyone this before, and you have to promise not to tell.”

He waited until Rivka nodded “yes”. 

“I’ve honestly never told anyone this before, but Pamela isn’t entirely who she wants you to think she is.”

Pamela walked into the kitchen as the door to the garage was sighing shut.  She caught a flash of Lance’s blond hair and a glimpse of the girl.  She wasn't entirely sure who it was, but she figured she could guess pretty accurately.   Why else would Lance be sneaking her out the back door instead of parading her through the front like he normally did?

Pamela had told Becky to stay away from Lance, but she hadn’t listened.

And now she was going to have to pay for that.

Chapter 10

     “Do you want me to go with you?”  Mary got in step besides Deirdre as they fought their way down the crowded hallway.  It was three o’clock, and students spewed out of the classrooms toward their lockers and a speedy exit out the main doors.

     “I’ll be okay.”  Deirdre looked at Mary and then down at the floor.  In reality she was a little nervous and wouldn’t have minded having someone come with her.  

     “I’ll come with you.”  Mary insisted, linking her arm with Deirdre’s as they walked toward the front door.  “I don’t have to be at work until five o’clock so I have plenty of time.”  She gave Deirdre’s arm a squeeze. “Besides, Starbucks is down the street from Sobeleski’s, so I have to go that way anyway.”

     Deirdre hesitated outside the door.  She was tempted to have Mary come in with her, but realized this was something she would have to face herself. 

     A kaleidoscope of colors swirled behind the plate glass windows of Starbucks.  Maybe she should have suggested someplace else?  What if she saw some kids from school?  But they wouldn’t know why she was here or what she was doing, so that ought to be okay.

     Deirdre finally pushed open the front door and stepped over the threshold.  The smell of coffee hit her like a blow, and she felt her stomach lurch.  She took a couple of deep breaths, and the feeling retreated, leaving her weak and sweaty. 

     She looked around the crowded room. Voices hummed loudly, blending with the whirring of the cappuccino machine.  There was a couple over by the front window.  The girl had a butterfly tattoo on her wrist, and he had thick black, spiky hair.  She squinted and tried to see them more clearly.  They definitely looked way younger than Ed and Maureen’s picture on the web site Mary had found for her.

     She glanced around some more and noticed another couple back in the corner at one of the smaller tables.  They were both wearing the sort of clothes people wore for hiking—rough sandals and dark socks, khaki shorts with deep pockets on the sides and windbreakers—hers was red and his was navy blue.  Strange to think that if everything turned out okay, her baby might go to live with these people.

     Their heads swiveled in Deirdre's direction, and the woman gave a tentative wave.  Deirdre smiled and walked in their direction.  They looked to be almost as old as her parents which surprised her, but she supposed that wasn’t really all that old, considering her mother had gotten pregnant with her her junior year in college and had left school shortly afterwards to marry her father.

     They seemed nice enough. The man insisted on dragging over an extra chair for her to put her feet up, and the woman ran to fetch her a glass of water.   

"So, can you feel it moving yet?"  Maureen asked.

     Deirdre could tell she wanted to touch Deirdre’s stomach but was afraid to ask.     Deirdre shook her head.  "Not yet.  But the doctor said any day now."

     "I'd like to go with you on your next visit."  Maureen put her hand over Deirdre's.  "To the doctor."  She smiled.  “I don’t want to think of you going by yourself.” 

     “That would be nice.”  Deirdre smiled, too.  How weird that this total stranger was willing to go to the doctor with her.

"You won't have to go through this alone.  Not now that we're here."  Maureen put her hand over Deirdre's again.

     Ed cleared his throat.  "We've brought you a little present."  He took a package from beside his chair and handed it to Deirdre.  "Go on, open it."

     Deirdre pulled off the ribbon and then tore off the pink paper.  It was a very expensive brand of MP3 player.

     "You can put all your music on there."   Ed tapped the package with a finger.

     "You don’t already have one do you?  Because we can exchange it."  Maureen looked alarmed.

"No.  This is so nice of you."  Deirdre smiled at them and they leaned back in their chairs looking relieved.

     "Anything you need, you call us."  Ed said with an emphatic nod of his head.  "We're with you every step of the way."

     “That’s right, dear.”  Maureen patted Deirdre’s hand again.  “Every step of the way.”

     "Your baby is going to have the best of everything, isn't that right, Maureen?"  Ed turned toward his wife, and she nodded.

     "It's just that we've wanted a baby for so long," Maureen fiddled with the long, gray-flecked braid hanging over her shoulder.  "We couldn’t believe it when you called. We've been so excited, neither Ed nor I could hardly sleep."

     This time, Ed nodded.  "Remember," he pointed a finger at Deirdre, "if you need anything, anything at all, you call us.  It doesn't matter when or where, we'll be there."

     This weird, warm feeling spread through Deirdre.  She wasn't going to be alone through this.  These nice people were going to take care of her.

     All she had to do was give them her baby when it was over.

Chapter 11

     Rivka could barely concentrate on what Mrs. Baker was saying.  Her eyes kept closing, and once or twice her chin actually dropped to her chest, waking her with a start.  It didn't help that the room was sweltering, and the air was heavy and sticky with humidity. 

     Every night this week, when she told her parents she was at the library studying, she’d actually been out with Lance.  And that meant she’d had to stay up well past midnight poring over her books to make up for the lost time.  If her grades slipped, her parents would know something was up.  Besides, she couldn’t settle for less than A’s, she couldn’t.  She’d always been on the honor roll and had always made her parents proud.

     A flare of heat suddenly made her face burn.  Her parents wouldn’t be very proud of her if they knew she was lying to them and going behind their back.  She could see her mother with her face going all long and sad.  And her father taking off his glasses and polishing them the way he did when he didn’t want you to know how he felt.  But it wasn’t her fault.  If they weren’t so stupidly old-fashioned, they’d be happy for her—snaring a guy like Lance.  All the girls would be jealous if they knew.  Plus he was a Miller and came from an important family and lived in a huge, gorgeous house.  Surely that ought to make them happy.

     Rivka smiled to herself.  She’d been so lucky on Saturday night, she could hardly believe it.  Her parents had had a flat tire on the way home from the movies and even though a policeman had stopped and called for a tow truck right away, it had been after midnight before Rivka heard their car pull into the driveway.  She’d only been home a few minutes herself but had run to the garage acting all worried and upset.  That made her mother feel guilty, which made Rivka felt a little guilty too, but it wasn’t her fault that her parents were the only two people on the face of the earth without a cell phone.

     The bell rang, and Rivka jumped up, banging her leg against her desk.  She rubbed her knee and then stretched her arms over her head.  One more class to go.  Her whole body felt achy and tired.  Thank goodness it wasn't much longer until the end of the school year.  

     She was starting down the hall when someone grabbed her arm.  Rivka whirled around.

     “Pamela!”

     Pamela tucked her arm through Rivka’s—tightly, so she couldn’t escape.  Rivka could feel the tips of Pamela’s fingers digging into the soft flesh of her upper arm.   She squirmed and smiled nervously.   

     “Where have you been?  If I didn’t know better, I would think you’d been avoiding me.”  Pamela squeezed her arm a little harder and turned her lips up at the corners, but her eyes were cold, hard, ice blue.

     “I…I’ve been busy studying,” Rivka stammered, trying again to free her arm.  Pamela just gripped tighter.

     “We’ve missed you.  It’s time you joined us again.” 

     “I’ve still got an awful lot of studying to do with final exams—“

     “Truth or dare.”  Pamela cut her off with a snap of her fingers.

Rivka hesitated.  Her first instinct was to choose truth, but what if Pamela asked her something about Lance?  What would she say?  She thought again about what Lance had told her about Pamela.  It should have given her courage, or at least a feeling of superiority, but it didn't.  Pamela was still Pamela no matter what.

     “Well?”

     “Dare.”

     “I know your parents probably don’t want you hanging out with me, and that’s the real reason you’ve been avoiding me—“

     “No—“ Rivka began, but Pamela didn’t let her finish.

     “And that’s why I dare you to come to the beach house with us next weekend.  No one else will be there.  It’ll be you, me, Deirdre and Mary.  It will be a wild time.”  She gave a grin that made Rivka’s stomach do nervous flip flops.

     Pamela let go of Rivka's arm and disappeared into the  crowd of students rushing toward their next class.  Rivka could see the bright orange of her t-shirt blending into the swirling colors until finally, she disappeared from view.

     Rivka slammed her book shut and stretched.  She looked at the clock—it was almost ten o’clock.  She should get ready for bed, but she was starving.  Her mother had made matzoh brie for dinner, and she’d only eaten a little bit of it even though it used to be her favorite.  Thinking about what Pamela would say if she saw such a weird dish on their table had made her lose her appetite.

     She tiptoed down the stairs as quietly as she could.  Her parents usually went to bed early.

     The light was still on in the living room which was weird.  She could hear voices, too.  It sounded like her mother and her Aunt Ruth.  She paused on the bottom step, listening.  She couldn’t remember Aunt Ruth, or anyone else for that matter, ever coming to their house so late.

     It sounded like Aunt Ruth was crying.  Rivka slid quietly down to the next step and pressed back into the shadows.  She couldn’t make out their words, but it sounded like her mother was trying to calm Aunt Ruth down.

     It wasn’t the first time.  There had always been something different about Aunt Ruth as far back as she could remember.  One time she had caught her father making that “crazy” sign with his finger when her mother wasn’t looking, so she knew he thought so, too.

     Something bad had happened to Aunt Ruth when she was younger, but no one would tell her what. Her mother said that she would understand when she was older.  Which probably meant it had to do with either sex or boys or both. 

     Rivka shifted on the step.  She wondered when they would be done talking?  She really was starving and wouldn’t be able to sleep unless she got a snack.

     She tried to imagine what Aunt Ruth could have done that had been so terrible and had made her go half crazy like this.  Personally, she thought Aunt Ruth had probably been born that way.  It was part of the reason they’d moved out of New York City to the suburbs—so her mother could be closer to her younger sister.  Her mother’s company moving out to New Jersey had been the excuse her parents had needed to put their city condo up for sale and buy a house on the other side of the river.