What's Your Status? (46 page)

Authors: Katie Finn

BOOK: What's Your Status?

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Nate tucked that one lock of hair behind my ear, then held my hands in his. “Mad,” he said, “I hadn’t planned on us sleeping together tonight. But then after what you said on Monday…” He smiled at me. “It did get me thinking about it. And you’re right. We aren’t ready yet.”

I felt relief flood through me, and I squeezed his hand. “But…you have…done it, right?” I asked, wondering why this was so hard to talk about and why every answer was so terrifying.

Nate nodded. “Last year,” he said. “With Melissa.”

So Brian had been right. “Oh,” I murmured, trying to keep breathing normally and not let the disappointment and jealousy I was feeling show on my face.

“But it was a mistake,” Nate said, surprising me. “We weren’t ready, and it put too much pressure on things. It was the reason we broke up, really.” Nate stared down at our hands, entwined together, and said, “And I don’t want that to happen to us.”

“Me neither,” I said, leaning over and kissing him.
He kissed me back, and then rested his forehead against mine.

“Are we okay?” he asked, stroking my hair.

“We’re great,” I said, smiling at him. And it felt true. Maybe now we’d be able to talk about these difficult things, instead of both of us keeping our own secrets.

“In that case,” Nate said, raising an eyebrow at me, “I want to hear what was going on tonight. Seriously. Start at the beginning and spare me no details.”

“Okay,” I said, pulling my legs under me on the bed. “So the story actually begins a couple years ago, at Choate….”

“Oh,” Nate said, leaning back on the pillows piled against the headboard, “I think it’s going to be a good one.”

I smiled at him. “You have no idea.”

CHAPTER 29

Song: We Used To Be Friends/The Dandy Warhols

Quote: “I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.”

—Humphrey Bogart,
Casablanca

“So then what happened?” Lisa asked, leaning across the Stubbs table. I held out a napkin to Schuyler, but she waved it away.

“I’m okay,” she said. She looked pale and tired, but she had stopped crying, and she gripped her latte and managed to give us a faint smile. “So then he told me that if I wasn’t going to talk to him—if I wasn’t going to trust him—then we couldn’t be together.” Her voice shook, and she looked down at the table.

“I’m so sorry, Shy,” I said, mentally cursing Connor Atkins. I wanted it to go on the record that I had never liked him. But I thought that now might not be the moment to bring it up.

“Les hommes,”
Lisa said, shaking her curls.
“Beaucoup stupide.”

“It’s my own fault,” Schuyler said. “He’s right. If I’d just talked to him, all of this could have been avoided.”

“If he was really worth it, that wouldn’t matter to him,” I said. I’d always known that Connor saw things in terms of black and white, but this seemed to be taking it a little too far.

“Anyway,” Schuyler said, “let’s talk about something else. Is it true that there was a streaker?”

“There was,” I said, taking a sip of my own latte. We’d already recapped my night with Nate, and I was eager to get to the gossip. “Kind of. He was wearing boxers.”

“Boxer briefs,” Lisa said, looking down at her phone.

Schuyler and I both turned to her. “Oh, really?” I asked. “And how would you know that, Lisa?”

Lisa looked from Schuyler to me, her cheeks growing red. “What? Nothing.
Rien.
I…um…saw at the hotel.”

“No,” I said, shaking my head. “Because I was there, and he was moving too fast for me to see.”

“Oh my God, was it Dave?” Schuyler asked eagerly. Lisa’s blush deepened. “OMG, it was!”

“Fine,” Lisa said, taking a sip of her drink. “But don’t spread it around,
d’accord
? Apparently, he had been talking to Nate, who had said something about how streaking was the ultimate distraction, and he was worried—”

“Wait a second,” I said, putting something together and staring at Lisa. “How do you know what underwear Dave was wearing last night?” She blushed again and looked down into her cup, a small smile creeping over her face. “Lisa,” I said slowly, “do you have something to tell us?”

“What?” Schuyler asked, looking confused.

“Lisa,” I said, beginning to smile, “did you…and Dave…”

Lisa looked up at us, still blushing slightly. “Well…” she said. It seemed like she was trying to sound casual but was clearly too excited to pull it off. “We did.”

“You did?” I asked, not quite able to believe it. “They slept together,” I said to Schuyler, who still looked lost.

“You
did
?” Schuyler practically yelled, causing most of the other Stubbs patrons to look in our direction.

“Oui,”
Lisa said. “In the end, it was actually my idea.” She smiled again and took another sip of her drink.

“Well?” I asked, leaning forward. “Lisa! Details!”

She shook her head, giving me a woman-of-the-world smile. “Oh, someday you’ll understand, Mad,” she said. “But until then,
mes enfants
…”

“Oh, come on,” Schuyler said. “
One
detail?”

The bell on the Stubbs door rang, and I looked up to see Ruth standing in the doorway, looking a little unsure. I waved her over and saw Lisa’s and Schuyler’s expressions of surprise. When I’d texted Ruth that morning, I wasn’t sure if she’d actually show up. But it made me happier than I’d realized it would to see her there.

She crossed over to us and stood outside the group a little awkwardly. Then Schuyler pulled her wooden chair closer. “Hey,” she said, smiling at her.

“Allô,”
Lisa said.

“I thought that was just for answering the phone,” I said.

“I know,” she said quickly. “Just trying to see if you’d been paying attention.
Très bien,
Mad.”

“Take a seat,” Schuyler said.

Ruth sat down and looked around at all of us. “Hi,” she said, a little bit of a quaver in her voice as she sat down. She met my eye, and I smiled at her.

“Glad you came,” I said, hearing my own voice sound a little unsteady. “So guess what Lisa did last night,” I said, trying to get the conversation going again so I wouldn’t start crying.

“Oh, mon Dieu,”
Lisa said. “It’s not that big a deal.”

“Oh, really?” Schuyler asked. “Then why won’t you talk about it?”

“Because I am a mature person,” Lisa said. “
Écoute.
Ruth, this is what happened….”

I sat back in my chair and looked at my friends laughing and talking, together again, feeling like something had finally been set right. I took in the sight for just a moment. Then I leaned forward and joined the conversation.

STATUSQ

What’s your status?

Madly/Madison MacDonald

Song:
Possibilities of Summer/Matt Pond PA

Quote:
“If my heart was a house, you’d be home.”

—Owl City

Age:
16

Location:
Putnam, Connecticut

Followers:
50

Following:
50

This user’s updates are private. To view them, you must be one of the user’s friends.

About Me
: I heart: my friends, my boyfriend, iced Stubbs lattes, SUMMER VACATION. I’m not updating my status much these days. If you want to know what’s going on with me, give me a call. We’ll talk.