Parallel Parking

by Natalie Standiford

  Holly took a deep breath. Mads did, too.

  “Pull up to the starting point again,” Holly said.

  Mads shifted the gear and stepped on the gas. The car zoomed backward and rolled over the curb.

  “Stop!” Holly yelled. “The brake!”

  Mads slammed on the brakes. The car stopped in the bushes.

  Mads glanced at the gear. It was in reverse.

  “Sorry,” she said. “I was trying to go forward.”

  “This lesson is over,” Holly said. She didn’t raise her voice, but Mads could tell she was struggling to keep her cool. “I guess I’m not much of a driving teacher. Either that or—“

  She stopped. Mads looked at her, daring her to say whatever it was she wanted to say.

  “Or what?”

  “Or you’re unteachable,” Holly said. She got out of the car and walked around to the driver’s side. Lesson over.

  12 Shirtless

  * * *

  To: hollygolitely

  From: your daily horoscope

  HERE IS TODAY’S HOROSCOPE: CAPRICORN: You feel as if you’re walking on eggshells lately, but you’re not; you’re walking on thin ice.

  * * *

  Mads, I’m sorry.” Holly phoned Mads that night to apologize. “I shouldn’t have called you unteachable. Of course you’re teachable.”

  Mads’ teachability wasn’t the real issue, and they both knew it. Holly hated the way that every conversation with Mads was awkward now. Guilt gripped her stomach at the sight of Mads, at the sound of her voice.

  It shouldn’t be that way, Holly thought. They were friends, after all. They couldn’t let little things like boys and driving come between them.

  “It’s okay,” Mads said. “I’ve ended up fighting with every single person who’s tried to teach me to drive. So don’t worry about it. It’s just another driving tiff.” She sighed. “I’m completely hopeless. I’ll never learn how to drive. I’m going to have to get rich so I can hire a chauffeur.”

  Mads was letting her off the hook. “That’s crazy, Mads,” she said. “You’ll pick it up. It just takes practice. Once you get it, it clicks, and then it’s easy. You’ll see.”

  “But why is it taking so long for me to click?” Mads asked. “Everyone else seems to catch on so much more quickly.”

  Secretly Holly agreed. Mads had one of those minds that just wasn’t meant to operate large machinery.

  “Everyone struggles with it, Mads, believe me,” she said. “You’ll get it. But you need to relax. You’re too tense in the car. That’s what’s causing you trouble.”

  “I know,” Mads said. Awkward silence. “What are you doing tonight?”

  Holly hesitated. This was a loaded question. “Nothing,” she said.

  “You’re not seeing Sean?”

  She was seeing Sean. She had a date with him that night. But she resented having to tell Mads about it. “We might hang out in town for a while, see what’s up,” she said. “Nothing big.”

  “Oh. Well, have fun,” Mads said.

  Did Holly detect a note of anger in Mads’ voice? Sadness? Resignation?

  “What are you doing?” Holly asked, hoping it was something good. That way she wouldn’t have to feel so guilty.

  “I have to babysit Audrey. My parents are going out. Big thrills.”

  Not good. The guilt gripped Holly’s stomach tighter. She tried to keep any sign of it out of her voice.

  “Fill me in later,” Mads said.

  “I will,” Holly said. “See you.”

  “Check this.” Sean stopped at a basketball court, all lit up for night games, in Fortuna Park. A gang of high school guys were playing a fiercely competitive pickup game and a small crowd had gathered to watch.

  Holly and Sean had parked in town and were walking around with no real agenda in mind. At some point they were going to get something to eat—soon, Holly hoped. She was looking forward to a cup of Zola’s oyster chowder. But Fortuna Park lured Sean. It was a small recreation area a few blocks from the Marina, with basketball, tennis, and handball courts, picnic tables, and a gazebo.

  The boys sweated and fought over the ball, making hotshot plays and shooting from halfway across the court. Sean watched, mesmerized.

  One of the players turned around and called, “Dude, get in here.” It was Sean’s friend Alex. “We need a ball hog.” The other guys laughed.

  “For sure,” Sean said. He took off his sweater and handed it to Holly. “Be right back.”

  He trotted onto the court and was soon in the thick of the game. Holly couldn’t help admiring him as he played. He was a graceful athlete but gritty, snatching the ball from the opposing players and making impossible-looking shots. The spectators shouted and clapped. She could tell that people were rooting for him, even people he didn’t know.

  Soon he was soaked in sweat. He took off his shirt. There were a few whistles. Holly caught her breath. His chest was slim but well-muscled. A thing of beauty.

  “Hold this, Holls?” He tossed his shirt to Holly. It landed in her lap, wet. She gingerly spread it on the bench beside her to dry.

  “Could you move that thing? I want to sit down.”

  Holly looked up to find Mads’ sister Audrey standing behind her. She was licking an ice cream cone and watching the boys.

  “Holly! Hey!” Mads, with a cone of her own, was right behind her sister. “Audrey, you’re so rude.”

  “It’s okay.” Holly hung Sean’s shirt on a parking meter. “What are you guys doing here?”

  “We were fighting at home, so we biked into town for ice cream,” Mads said.

  “It’s the only thing that can keep us from fighting,” Audrey said.

  “We were just wandering around, seeing what’s up,” Mads said.

  Holly wondered if this was really a coincidence, or if Mads had dragged Audrey into town to look for her and Sean. After all, she knew they’d be in town that night, and it was a small town. If you were looking for somebody, it usually didn’t take long to find them.

  Then Holly felt that guilty grip in her stomach again.

  What are you thinking? Why are you so suspicious? So Mads keeps turning up when you’re on a date with the love of her life. A girl can’t go out for ice cream?

  Sean did a fancy dribbling move and a high, leaping layup.

  “Yea!” Mads cheered and clapped. “Go, Sean!”

  “This is boring,” Audrey said. “Can we go now?”

  “We just got here,” Mads said. “Finish your ice cream.”

  “I am finished,” Audrey said. “I want to watch the Desperate Housewives that we TiVoed before Mom and Dad get home.”

  “It’s her favorite show, but they won’t let her watch it,” Mads said to Holly.

  “Too many adult thee-emes,” Audrey said, mimicking her mother in a singsong voice.

  “Just five more minutes,” Mads said.

  Audrey turned to face away from the court. “Those boys are all sweaty. I’m sick of looking at them!”

  “I know what you mean, Audrey,” Holly said. The game was winding down, but Sean was still showboating and soaking up the attention.

  “Well, I don’t,” Mads said.

  “Mads, if we don’t leave right now, I’ll tell everyone you’re a bed wetter,” Audrey said.

  “What? I’m not a bed wetter!” Mads cried. “And I haven’t been since I was three!”

  “So? Once I put it out there, it’s as good as true.”

  “Do you believe her?” Mads said to Holly. “This is what I have to live with every day. Total treachery.”

  “I’m going to do it,” Audrey warned. “I’ll stand right in the middle of the court, stop the game dead, and say it. One… two …”

  “Oh, all right, let’s go,” Mads said. “I hate to give in to blackmail,” she told Holly. “But the horrible truth is, she’d really do it.”

  Audrey smiled sweetly. “Buy me another ice cream for the ride home.”

  “Forg
et it,” Mads said.

  “One, two…”

  Mads dragged Audrey away. The rest of the crowd was dispersing, too. The basketball players had dwindled to three-on-three. But Sean was still playing his heart out.

  I thought we were supposed to be on a date, Holly thought. Her stomach growled. She was longing for oyster chowder. I’ve spent more time with Mads and Audrey tonight than with Sean. He’s totally ignoring me!

  At last the other guys decided to quit. They took the ball with them, so Sean couldn’t practice foul shots or anything.

  “Hey,” he said to Holly. “You hungry?” He was panting, sweaty, and dirty. She’d almost thought he’d forgotten about her.

  “I’m starving,” she said.

  He picked up his shirt, which was still damp. “Hmm… Guess I can’t really go into a restaurant like this,” he said. “You know what they say: No Shirt, No Shoes, whatever.”

  He was right; even if he put his shirt back on, he wasn’t presentable. “What should we do?”

  “Let’s go back to my house. I’ll shower and change, and we can take another stab at it. What do you say?”

  There wasn’t much choice. “Okay. But I’m really hungry.”

  “You can fix yourself a snack at my house while I’m cleaning up,” he said. “Do you like anchovy pizza?”

  “No.”

  “Well, I’m sure we’ve got something else in the fridge.”

  They drove to his house. It was dark. “My mother’s at some kind of meeting,” he said. “They usually go out afterward and she gets home late.”

  “Oh.” Holly checked the fridge and grabbed a yogurt. Sean flipped on the TV. A basketball game was on.

  “I forgot about the play-offs,” he said, staring at the screen.

  Holly gave him the evil eye until he looked up.

  “Right. I’m supposed to be showering.”

  He left the TV on and went upstairs. Holly sat down and flipped to another channel. She wondered if Audrey had managed to squeeze in an episode of Housewives before her parents got home.

  Sean came downstairs a few minutes later, in clean clothes, his hair still wet. “What’s the score?” He picked up the clicker and changed back to the game. He sat on the couch next to Holly. Her stomach growled again. That yogurt had only made her hungrier.

  “Can we go eat now?” she asked.

  “You’re really starving, huh? I’m hungry, too,” he said. “You know, it’s getting late. Why don’t we just stay here and eat? You’ll get your food quicker that way.”

  “I guess….” It was more romantic to go to a restaurant than sit in front of the TV and watch a basketball game, but Holly was up for whatever.

  “Sure.” He got up and went into the kitchen, which she could see from where she was sitting. He opened the freezer. “I’ll just nuke some mac ‘n’ cheese, and we’re all set.”

  “Mac ‘n’ cheese?” Holly said.

  “You don’t like it?”

  “No, I like it.” So much for oyster chowder.

  Sean bustled around in the kitchen. “What do you want to drink? We’ve got Coke, Diet Coke, cranberry spritzer—”

  The phone rang. “Here’s a glass. Come get whatever you like.”

  Holly got up and fixed herself a drink while he answered the phone. “Hello? Hey there. Actually, I’m kind of busy right now. Really? You’re sweet. Maybe another time. How about tomorrow night? Homework? You still bother with that? We’re seniors….”

  He was talking to a girl; she could tell. He’d lowered his voice, but she could still hear him.

  He hung up and didn’t say anything about who it was. It was none of her business. Still .…

  “Dinner will be ready in literally twenty seconds,” he said.

  She took her cranberry spritzer back into the den. A computer sat on the desk, screen glowing. She glanced into the kitchen. He was busy getting plates and napkins. She walked over to the computer, just to see what was on the screen.

  His e-mail account was open. She just read the subject lines and whom the messages were from. From: bambi, re: hey, hottie! From: leelee, re: next weekend. From: nola, re: tried to call you…

  Girls, girls, and more girls. Well, who could blame them?

  “Ten, nine, eight,” he counted off from the kitchen. The microwave dinged. She hurried back to the couch.

  “Love that mac ‘n’ cheese.” He came in carrying a plate of macaroni, a napkin, and a fork and set them on the coffee table. “That’s for you. Need anything else?”

  “No thanks.”

  He returned a second later with his own plate and a bowl of nacho chips. “For a side dish.” He settled on the couch for some serious basketball watching. Holly started eating.

  “No! No!” He leaned forward and shouted at the TV. “Foul!” He sat back and turned to Holly. “Like it?”

  “Mmm-hmm.” She nodded, her mouth full of piping hot macaroni.

  “Awesome.”

  He got back into the game. The phone rang again. He reached over to the end table and picked it up. “Y-ello? Hey. Yeah, I’m sorry. I meant to call you, but I didn’t have time. Um… I was sick. Yeah. No, I’m fine now. Nothing serious. Okay. I’ll call you later. All right. Bye.”

  He hung up. “Maybe I ought to turn the ringer off. I hate all these interruptions. How can I watch the game?”

  He turned off the phone. “Now we can relax. Go, go, go! Oh, dude! How could you miss that shot?” Back to Holly: “Are you a Spurs fan?”

  “Not really.”

  Holly stared at the TV until her eyes glazed over. She liked sports; it wasn’t that—though basketball wasn’t her favorite. And she couldn’t care less what happened to either of these teams, the Spurs or the Celtics.

  But this was only her third date with Sean. The first two had been great. And then he’d asked her to the dance, which was very romantic. But what kind of date was this? Sitting on the couch watching basketball and eating microwave macaroni and cheese? She had the feeling he was already taking her for granted. He sure wasn’t trying very hard to see that she had a good time. He didn’t even seem to care.

  When the game was over, she asked him to drive her home. In the car in front of her house, she had his undivided attention. At last.

  13 The King of Parking

  * * *

  To: mad4u

  From: your daily horoscope

  HERE IS TODAY’S HOROSCOPE: VIRGO: Road rage is not the answer. And “Who ate all the Pop Tarts?” is not the question.

  * * *

  Mads! Did you pass?”

  Mads found Lina and Ramona waiting for her outside the driver’s ed classroom.

  They’d all taken their first driving test that day. Mads had passed the written part, no problem. Then came the driving part.

  She did everything pretty well. Head-in parking, three-point turn, backing up, signaling… Then came her Waterloo: parallel parking. She ran over the curb twice.

  She nearly knocked the muffler off the student driver car.

  “No, I failed,” Mads said. “Parallel parking.”

  “Join the club,” Ramona said.

  “What did you fail on?” Mads asked, glad she wasn’t the only one.

  “Road rage. I got pissed off and ran over all the cones. Something possessed me. I just wanted to see how many I could knock down.”

  “It’s not a carnival game,” Lina said.

  “It should be,” Ramona said. “Driver’s ed is so stupid.”

  “Did you pass?” Mads asked Lina.

  “What do you think?” Ramona said. “Miss Perfect. Now she doesn’t have to go to class anymore.”

  “Don’t worry, you guys,” Lina said. “You get two more chances before you totally fail the class.”

  “I don’t care about the stupid class,” Mads said. “I want to get my license! And I never want to look at Mitchell’s mustache and know what he had for lunch again.”

  “You’ll pass next time,” Lina said. “You bot
h will.”

  “I don’t see how,” Mads said. “Parallel parking is impossible! It goes against the laws of physics. Or nature. Or something.”

  “Calm down,” Lina said. “Do you want to go get coffee?”

  “I’ve got to go home,” Mads said. “I’ll talk to you later.”

  She stormed back to her locker to get her jacket. As she left the school building, still in a foul mood, she came across Holly and Sean. There were talking for a few minutes before Sean went to swim practice.

  Great. This was all she needed.

  She stopped, wondering if she should go around another way. But Holly spotted her and waved. Too late.

  “Mads, how did your test go?” Holly asked.

  “Crappy,” Mads snapped. “I failed.”

  “Parallel parking?” Holly asked.

  Mads nodded and kicked a stone in the dirt. She was boiling with frustration. “It’s driving me crazy! I just don’t get it! I’ll never learn to drive. I can’t take it!”

  “Kid, you can’t parallel park?” Sean said. “It’s so not hard.”

  “Not hard for you, maybe,” Mads said. “It’s like I’ve got a block against it or something.”

  “Maybe it is me,” Sean said. “I’m an awesome driver.”

  Holly laughed. “You mean you’re fast.”

  “Not just fast,” Sean said. “Fast and good. Really good. You should see me on the highway.”

  Mads felt weird standing there listening to them banter. They seemed to have forgotten about her, as if she were invisible.

  “Come on,” Holly said. “How many accidents have you had since you got your license?”

  “Zero,” Sean said. “A few speeding tickets, sure… Hey, you don’t believe me, do you? Are you doubting my driving supremacy?”

  “I’m just saying your skills are not out of the ordinary,” Holly said.

  “You’re out of line, and I’ll prove it,” Sean said. “Parallel parking is my specialty. I bet I can teach the kid here to parallel park in one easy lesson.”

  “You can?” A thrill rushed up Mads’ spine. This conversation suddenly got a lot more interesting. “No one has been able to do that yet.”