Paper Hearts

by Ali Novak

  “Are you sure we’re good?” she whispered. “I don’t want this to ruin anything between us.”

  I gave her a tight squeeze before pulling back. “Of course, Asha. I could never stay mad at you dorks forever.” She grinned in response, and I quickly added, “But maybe keep the kissing on the DL until I’m used to everything.”

  Normally Asha dished about whomever she was dating, but I wasn’t sure I could handle details about Boomer…

  “But I’ve been dying to talk to you.” She lowered her voice so he couldn’t hear us. “He does this thing with his tongue that—”

  “La-la-la-la-la!” I sang, plugging my ears to block out the rest of her sentence. “Scratch that. I don’t ever need to know about the kissing.”

  Chapter 12

  Twenty minutes later, after thanking Kelsey for her hospitality and her help, we were on the road again. According to my phone’s GPS, it was going to take us twelve and a half hours to reach the forwarding address Rose had left behind. The boys decided to drive in shifts, and Alec took the first leg. Although the scenery was beautiful, the initial stretch of the trip was uneventful. Asha and Boomer were watching movies again. Meanwhile, I passed the time by poring over my ACT prep book.

  Miles stretched on.

  The boys traded places. And traded places again.

  More miles.

  “All right, I got three,” Alec announced, drumming his hands on the steering wheel in excitement.

  We’d just crossed the California-Oregon border. The faint stink of our McDonald’s lunch was hanging in the air, and Boomer snoring in the backseat epitomized the sleepy afternoon mood. I was burned out on studying, so I’d suggested we play a game to entertain ourselves. Right off the bat, Alec nixed the license plate game. Claimed he’d played it one too many times while on tour with the band, so I decided on Two Truths and a Lie.

  “You ready?” he asked me.

  “Bring it.”

  “Okay. First, I’ve climbed Denali. Second, my greatest fear is spiders. And third, my favorite flavor of Hamburger Helper is Cheesy Enchilada.”

  “What’s a Denali?” If I was going to guess which of the three statements was a lie, then I needed all the facts, and I had no clue what he was talking about.

  “The tallest mountain peak in North America. Also known as Mount McKinley.”

  I fell quiet for a minute. Mount McKinley sounded like a difficult mountain to climb—not that I knew anything about mountaineering. But it was a hard-to-believe accomplishment. Kind of like being part of a world-famous boy band. But the improbability of Alec’s first statement made me all the more willing to accept it as the truth. He probably threw it into the mix thinking I’d never believe him. Plus, there was the equipment in his trunk to consider, not to mention the picture of him and Vanessa at the top of some cliff.

  I moved on to the second would-be truth, Alec’s alleged arachnophobia. I found it difficult to believe someone so rational could be terrified of a creature a million times smaller than him, but then again, maybe he was trying to trick me with a moment of brutal honesty.

  So that left me with one option.

  “Number three,” I decided. “Nobody likes Hamburger Helper. It’s disgusting.”

  Alec glanced at me, a sheepish grin on his face. “They don’t?”

  “Ew,” I said, my nose wrinkling. “You eat that stuff?”

  He shrugged. “I’m not much of a cook.”

  “Damn! I should’ve known the mountain climbing was a lie.”

  “It’s not.” His smile grew. “I did it back in May. Ever since getting into climbing, I’ve always wanted to tackle Denali. The entire expedition took twenty-one days.”

  “Wow. I’m impressed.” My voice went high at the end. Hearing about another one of his amazing achievements made me feel inadequate, and I realized I’d done nothing worth noting in my life. Alec seemed to detect the change in my tone, because a funny look crossed his face, so I quickly added, “How does one get into mountain climbing?”

  “My family loves hiking. When I was twelve, we went to Mount Rainier National Park to hike the Wonderland Trail. Ever heard of it?”

  I shook my head.

  “It’s this ninety-three-mile hike that encircles Mount Rainier. Takes about two weeks to complete, and you camp alongside the trail at night.”

  “Two weeks? That’s a lot of hiking…”

  “Yeah, but it’s totally worth it. There’s glaciers and canyons, and these amazing waterfalls in the middle of the forest,” he explained. “The whole time you’re hiking, you’re in the shadow of this spectacular mountain. I couldn’t stop staring at it and thinking—if it’s this beautiful on the trail, how breathtaking is the view at the top? By the time we finished, I’d decided that I was going to make it to the summit so I could see for myself.”

  “So did you?”

  Alec smiled distantly, as if he was reliving the memory. “On my fourteenth birthday. A year later, I climbed Aconcagua, which is the highest mountain in the world outside Asia.”

  “Wow, I never would’ve guessed you were so into hiking.” He didn’t dress like the outdoorsy type…

  “Whoa, careful there,” he said, feigning offense. “Mountaineering and hiking…two totally different things.”

  I rolled my eyes. “You know what I meant.”

  Our conversation lulled long enough for me to wonder if I actually had offended him, but then he muttered, “I can’t believe you thought I was afraid of spiders.”

  “It’s not totally unreasonable,” I said, biting down on my grin. “Lots of people are.”

  Alec snorted. “I think it’s one of those phobias that’s exaggerated by the entertainment industry, like in movies and books and such. High-maintenance girl or huge muscleman erupts into chaos at the sight of a daddy longlegs for comedic effect.”

  I whipped out my phone and did a quick Google search. “Actually, approximately four percent of the world suffers from arachnophobia, so with a population of roughly seven billion that’s”—I paused, quickly doing the math in my head—“two hundred eighty million people who are afraid of spiders.”

  “Okay, Miss Mathlete,” he said. “Point proven.”

  “So what are you afraid of?” I asked, unable to contain my curiosity.

  Without hesitation, he said, “Clowns.”

  I was quite convinced I’d misheard. Because there was no way Alec Williams, slayer of mountains and boy band god, was afraid of clowns.

  “Really?” I was trying to sort this new bit of information into the mental file of what I knew about Alec, but it didn’t fit.

  He nodded adamantly. “Ever seen Killer Klowns from Outer Space? It’s an eighties cult film about aliens disguised as clowns who terrorize a small town.” He shuddered as he spoke. “When we were kids, Vanessa made me watch the movie when she babysat. Said if I didn’t listen to her, then the alien clowns would come kill me.”

  The corners of my mouth inched into a grin. That sounded exactly like something Rose would do. “How old were you?”

  “Like six or seven. I had nightmares for months.”

  “Aw, poor little Alec.”

  “All right,” he said, as I giggled. “We’re done talking about me. It’s your turn.”

  “Okay, let me think.”

  I wanted to come up with two questionable truths and one convincing lie so I could stump him the way he did me. Because, really? Mountain climbing and Hamburger Helper? Who would have guessed?

  “I’m ready,” I said a minute later.

  “Hit me.”

  “’Kay. Number one, I won my district spelling bee when I was eleven. Two, when I was a kid, I wanted to be a spy when I grew up. And finally, I can run five miles in under forty-five minutes.”

  The last statement was my lie, and I crossed my fingers in hopes that A
lec would think I was bragging. It wasn’t totally beyond the realms of possibility. People always told me I had a runner’s body. But as soon as I finished speaking, there was a loud snort from the backseat.

  Alec grinned. “I’m assuming Asha just gave you away.”

  My gaze darted to the rearview. Both my friends had their eyes closed, but there was a curve to Asha’s lips, and I knew she’d been listening to our conversation.

  “Thanks for that,” I grumbled.

  “Sorry.” She laughed. Clearly she found it amusing that I’d used one of her accomplishments as my lie. “But you run five miles? Felicity, you can barely make it a block without needing resuscitation.”

  I scowled and tried to look angry. “That’s why it’s call Two Truths and a Lie. You know, because you lie. Ugh, you suck.”

  Asha didn’t respond. Instead, she pretended to go back to sleep as if she’d never interrupted our game, a smirk still playing on her lips. I grabbed a Swedish Fish from the open bag in the console with the intent of launching it at her cleavage, but Alec distracted me.

  “So why a spy?” he asked. “Don’t most kids dream about being an astronaut or the president?”

  “Because my mom is in love with Tom Cruise. Risky Business and Mission: Impossible were pretty much Saturday night staples in our house.” I popped the candy into my mouth and chewed quickly. “I didn’t want to be president because I was afraid of being assassinated.”

  His forehead furrowed. “But you wanted to be a spy…”

  “Yeah, like Ethan Hunt. He’s unkillable.”

  “Are you sure you’ve seen the movie? His entire team dies within the first ten minutes.”

  “Well, yeah. That’s just to set up the plot. Besides,” I added, “I was mainly in it for the cool gadgets.”

  Alec opened his mouth like he had more to say on the matter, but shook his head, as if realizing there was no point arguing little-kid logic. “Why don’t you go again?” he suggested.

  Coming up with good statements the first time around was difficult, so thinking of three more would be a challenge, but I wasn’t going to let him win. As I deliberated, Alec tapped the steering wheel to the beat of the song playing from the stereo. Suddenly, his phone buzzed in the cup holder. His gaze flicked down to it before refocusing on the road.

  “Would you get that for me?”

  “Sure.” I grabbed his cell. There was one new text.

  007: Lord Voldemort called.

  “Um, it’s from a Double O Seven?” I said, confused by the message. “Apparently Lord Voldemort called.”

  Alec’s lips twitched to a grin. “Can you ask him what for?”

  I quickly typed a response:

  Alec: What did he want?

  “Who’s Lord Voldemort?” I asked after hitting Send.

  Alec’s eyes widened with pretend shock. “Only the most evil dark wizard to ever exist. Has a pet snake and a thing for murdering Muggles. Haven’t you read Harry Potter?”

  I shot Alec a look. “Not what I meant.”

  He laughed, a rich, happy sound. “My dad.”

  Oh. “Gotcha,” I said and dropped the subject.

  For the next few minutes, I navigated the conversation for him.

  007: Wanted to know where you are.

  Alec: What did you tell him?

  007: That I wasn’t your keeper.

  Alec: Bet he loved that. Thanks for covering for me.

  007: So where are you?

  Alec: On a road trip.

  Less than a minute later, the phone buzzed in my hands again, but this time it was an incoming call.

  “James Bond is calling,” I told Alec. It was such an absurd statement that I had to press my lips together to stifle a laugh. “Should I answer? Maybe he’s going to admit that Ethan Hunt is an all-round better spy.”

  Alec chuckled and held out his hand, so I hit the talk button and pressed the cell into his palm.

  “What’s up?” Alec answered. He paused for a second before saying, “To Seattle.”

  This seemed to excite whoever was on the other end, because I could hear their muffled response. I unconsciously leaned on the center console, trying to listen to the other half of the conversation, but my mind caught up to what my body was doing, and I forced myself to sit back in my seat. Pulling my prep book back into my lap, I attempted to give Alec some privacy even though my ears were still perked.

  “Safe House? What are you guys doing there?” Another pause. Another nod of the head. “Thanks for the offer, man. I’m not entirely sure what the plan is yet, but I’ll keep that in mind… Okay, sounds good. Later.”

  He ended the call and dropped his cell into the cup holder. I looked at him expectantly, hoping for an explanation. For starters, who was this Double O Seven person, and what in the world did Alec mean by Safe House? But I didn’t get an answer.

  Alec glanced at me, the corners of his eyes crinkling with amusement. He was clearly having more fun keeping me in the dark than alleviating it.

  “So,” he said, “Come up with two truths and a lie yet?”

  • • •

  “Man, you sure study a lot,” Alec said, eyeing my flash cards with disdain. They’d come with my ACT prep book, a pack for each section of the test, and I was currently reviewing the science ones since it had always been my worst subject in school.

  An electromagnetic wave with a wavelength longer than that of X-rays, but shorter than that of visible light is in the ______ part of the spectrum.

  “I have to,” I told him. “Stanford has one of the lowest acceptance rates in the country.”

  My feet were propped up on the dash, and the sunlight streaming in through the windshield felt like an electric blanket against my skin. I wondered how long it would take before my legs started to burn. My shoulders were tender from yesterday, and even the slightest movement turned the straps of my dress into stinging razor blades.

  “So how come you want to go there?”

  “It’s where my dad went,” I said, turning the card over.

  The correct answer is:

  Ultraviolet

  Alec tilted his head to the side, like he was trying to make sense of this. “Just to be clear…we’re talking about the dad you don’t remember because he ran away to Europe, right?”

  “Yup.” I flipped to the next flash card.

  “Okay, explain.”

  “Well, when my parents first met, my dad was this hotshot lawyer who saved my mom from a lifetime of waitressing. Took her from a one-room apartment in a bad part of town to a nice house in Orange County, where she learned to depend on him. So when he left, he left her worse off than before. Suddenly she had no means of support and two kids to raise,” I said. “She has an okay job now, but I remember a time when my mom worked eighty-hour weeks to keep the lights on and put food in the fridge.”

  “I’m sorry, but…I still don’t understand.”

  “All my mom wants is for me and Rose to have a better life than she did, but my sister was too busy partying to get passing grades. It killed my mom to see her waste her potential, and I won’t make that mistake. After everything Mom has done to provide for us, I owe it to her. And the only way I know how to do that is to become a successful lawyer like my dad. I have to follow in his footsteps: go to the same school, intern at the same firm. That sort of thing. I know it sounds irrational, but it’s been my plan ever since Rose left.”

  The car was quiet except for a the crooning of a country singer and Boomer’s monstrous snoring. Alec cast a skeptical look in my direction, as if he thought I was joking. He opened his mouth, and then closed it.

  “That’s crazy,” he said after some time.

  I stared out the windshield. “Maybe, but doing this will make my mom happy, and she hasn’t had a lot of that in her life.”

  I
n the distance, I spotted the red-and-blue flash of police lights. There must have been an accident ahead of us, because traffic was starting to stack up.

  “But what about you? Will that make you happy?” Alec asked as a black sedan cut in front of us, squeezing its way into the faster-moving lane.

  “I won’t mind becoming a lawyer, if that’s what you mean.”

  Alec frowned. Whether it was due to our conversation or the current traffic, I couldn’t tell. “I don’t see it.”

  “Why?” I teased. “Don’t think I could rock a pantsuit?”

  “Because you shouldn’t make a decision that will affect the rest of your life based on someone else,” he said. “You should do your own thing.”

  “But it is my own thing,” I told him. “This is going to sound silly, but I’ve dreamed of becoming a lawyer ever since I was a little kid and saw Legally Blonde.”

  “You also wanted to be a spy,” he pointed out. “Dreams change.”

  “Not all dreams.”

  He glanced at me, his gaze sharp and knowing. “Then why don’t I believe you?”

  I looked at the flash card I was clutching, trying to come up with a way to explain myself.

  The energy an object has when it is stationary is known as its ______.

  “Look,” I said. “Maybe I’m not as enthusiastic about the plan as I was when I was thirteen, but I’ve spent the past four years of my life working toward this.”

  Alec shrugged. “So what? Plans change. You have to learn to adapt.”

  Was he being serious right now? “Alec, I can’t not go to Stanford.”

  “Sure you can,” he replied. “Your problem isn’t that you have to go. It’s that you’re afraid of not knowing what you’ll do if you don’t.”

  “That’s not true, and even if it were, I think it’s a reasonable concern. Boomer’s known he’s going to be an engineer all his life, and ever since Asha’s blog blew up, she’s wanted to be a digital communications major. What would I do? I don’t have any interests like that.”

  “Yeah you do,” Alec said. “You’re artistic. What about your jewelry?”