“Of course not. I just don’t want people saying, ‘There goes Miranda Jordan’s kid.’ It’s already happened.”
I glanced around, my eyes darting in all directions. Sure enough, a student passing by stopped to tie his shoelace and did a double take. In the distance, two girls chatting with each other turned onto the path that would take them past our bench. I frowned.
“And you think being my friend will make people notice you?”
“You do draw attention.”
“So do you.” I scrunched my face, disappointed. Danny continued: “Have you looked in the mirror lately? You look so much like Randi, it’s freaky.”
“No, I don’t. Mom is stunning. I’m not,” I protested. “Our coloring is different too, and I’m not built like her.”
Danny eyed me and smirked. I blushed a deep crimson. “Okay, so your eye color is different, but you’re both always in sunglasses. You have to get very close to notice,” Danny said, and he playfully inched toward me.
Our noses touched, and I gasped. Widening, my eyes jumped to his. Yeah, he’d felt it too, an unmistakable electric current.
Danny abruptly backed up. “Even a blind person could figure out who your mother is. Except I think your figure is more appealing and you’re prettier than Randi.”
Wide-eyed, I stared at Danny. He couldn’t possibly mean it. “I’m prettier than Mom? Nobody thinks that.” Mom was an actress and a former model.
“I do.” Danny smiled. “You can’t hide from it, Eli.”
I sighed and dropped the subject, not wanting to ruin our reunion. I love Mom, but I envisaged college as the way to escape the giant shadow she cast.
“What was prep school like?” I asked, thinking this would be a safe topic.
Danny paused and stared down at his fingers, fidgeting, unusual for him.
“Difficult. Academics were great, but at times I felt socially inept.”
“You, socially inept?” This admission surprised me. “You’re, you’re you,” I stammered. “You’re Danny Newman. How could you feel inadequate?”
“My fan club!” he laughed. “That’s what I missed at Bromley.”
“I am not your fan club. I don’t even know if I still like you. It’s been years.”
“Of course you still like me, and yes, you are my fan club.”
“You’re so arrogant.”
“Not really. I’ve humbled,” he smirked
“Humbled?” I laughed. “Danny and humble do not belong in the same sentence.”
“Elizabeth, at Bromley, L.A. didn’t count, Wall Street ruled. The guys were quick to remind me that Dad had attended the wrong university in New York.”
“If Steve hadn’t gone to NYU, he wouldn’t have become Steve. And he wouldn’t have met Ellen or my dad. They would have married other people. We wouldn’t exist.” I paused for a breath. “I’m beginning to sound like Back to the Future, aren’t I?”
Danny laughed. “That whole time-continuum thing.”
“Scary. I’m glad Steve went to NYU. I enjoy existing, don’t you?”
“Yes.” Danny continued laughing. “I forgot how funny you are, Eli.”
I turned serious again. “They were probably jealous. When have any of them ever attended an awards show or gotten backstage passes to their favorite band? I’ll bet they can’t get into the hottest clubs just by showing up, like you can. How did you put up with that crap?”
“The preps ran everything, and they weren’t shy about letting me know they thought being Daniel Newman was less than impressive.”
“That’s absurd. Danny Newman has always been impressive. In Brentwood, you’re royalty.”
“Brentwood doesn’t exist to those guys. But they did like that I usually won matches for the golf team and was a tough bastard in the rugby scrum and at lacrosse.”
Danny paused and smiled at a memory. “I was popular for one week. Gibby sent me passes for a performance in Boston. He invited us to hang out with his band. It boosted my standing for the week..”
“I’m sorry. I wish I’d been there.”
“I considered calling you, but I don’t know. Remember, the last time we’d seen each other, you were a little kid who worshipped me.”
“You knew that?” I asked.
“Everybody knew that,” Danny laughed. “That’s why I couldn’t call. I needed to believe your feelings hadn’t changed. If I had called, I risked learning that perhaps even you had turned against me.”
“Oh, Danny.” I almost cried over the pain he had bravely endured while I had been safely oblivious in Santa Monica.
We continued filling in the gaps of the last five years. Being back in each other’s life, a void had closed. Danny had always been the one person I could completely trust, and he felt the same toward me. Danny and I could discuss anything.
“The boys at home are envious,” I smirked. “They say you bed a new girl every time you go out. Is that the truth, Daniel?” I cringed picturing anonymous girls hanging on his every word.
Danny glanced down at his hands, then back to me.
“Eli, I enjoy a good time,” he said quietly. “I’m not ready for a relationship. What about you, Elizabeth? I’m sure you left plenty of broken hearts along the way.”
“Not at all,” I laughed.
“Oh, c’mon, Eli. A hot girl like you?”
“Oh, shut up!” I exclaimed, both surprised and flattered.
“They must have been blind.”
“Maybe they wanted a blonde,” I deadpanned and Danny laughed. “It was me. I didn’t want the entanglement of leaving someone behind.”
Danny raised an eyebrow. He always read through me, sometimes too well. Distance and time had not changed that.
“I’ve had dates, just not boyfriends.”
“You’re still a virgin. Aren’t you noble,” Danny replied sarcastically.
I rolled my eyes. “I am not noble. My personal life should not be all over the Web. It’s not like I’m the famous one in my family.”
“So if you’re ever in People magazine with a guy, he’s the one you lost it to.” Danny laughed. “That‘s why you’re at Donnelly—to hide from reality.”
“That did enter into the equation,” I said bitterly.
CHAPTER 3 - ELIZABETH
“Show me your room,” Danny demanded as we returned from dinner.
“I’m sure it’s the same as yours.”
“Eli….”
Irresistible like a yapping puppy, Danny was hyper and gleeful all at once as he followed Rachel, Chloe and me into the elevator.
“This is great! I’ve never been to the tower.”
Rachel rolled her eyes, a favorite habit.
Rachel unlocked the door to our suite and she and Chloe retreated to their rooms. Danny wandered over to our new sofa, a bed covered with a brightly colored spread and fingered the throw pillows. Then he proceeded to examine every inch of the room.
“A private bathroom! No shit!” he exclaimed. “I have to go down the hall. So not fair.”
Hah! I laughed. Rachel peeked out from behind her door and shook her head disapprovingly.
“Show me the rest, Eli.”
When I knocked on Chloe’s door, Danny glanced in approvingly. Only an orange beanbag chair punctuated her muted décor.
Smiling sweetly, Chloe peeked out from browsing through her closet. “Hi, Danny.”
“Nice room, Chloe. Great chair,” Danny answered, giving Chloe a quick once over.
Rachel’s door was open, phone poised in her hand, about to make a call.
Danny’s eyes were drawn to the movie paraphernalia decorating her wall, including a poster from a film directed by Steve.
“Dad.” Danny said quietly. The five year-old movie had been nominated for an Academy Award but didn’t win.
Danny remained glued in place, as though he were afraid to come nearer. Danny appeared wounded; disturbed, and his posture sagged.
“Take that off the wall!” Danny
insisted.
“I love this film,” Rachel protested. “It was Vanessa Rogers’ big break and one of Steven Newman’s best. This film should have won that year,” she said knowledgeably.
Danny shuddered. “I’ll replace it with a poster from any other film Dad has ever made and he’ll even sign it. Please, get rid of that. I don’t want to see it again!”
“Then don’t come in my room!”
“That film makes me sad.” Danny said quietly, and he backed out of her doorway.
“It was a comedy,” Rachel muttered.
“I can’t look at that poster, Eli.”
“What’s wrong?” I calmly asked, once Rachel couldn’t hear our voices. I’d never seen anyone react that way to a poster. It was just a poster, wasn’t it?
“Bad memories.”
“Didn’t that wrap right before my bat mitzvah?”
“I guess,” Danny replied flatly.
“Steve and Ellen radiated tension at the reception. Even when I danced with Steve, he wasn’t with me. It was weird.”
Something was missing from my memory. A crucial piece of the puzzle had eluded me in the excitement of that day.
“Eli, you didn’t know?” Danny asked. “Mom and Dad weren’t living together.”
What! How had I not known? I was family.
Was there linkage with that movie? What happened to lead Steve and Ellen so far apart that they weren’t living together.
“Hey, let me see your room,” Danny said, changing the subject. Anticipation was back in his voice. “I bet it’s fluffy and pink like at home.”
“My room is not fluffy!” Color rose in my cheeks.
A moment later I regretted denying its “fluffiness.” Danny stood in the doorway and at once noticed the white shag area rug. He couldn’t restrain his laughter.
“Okay. There is some fluff,” I sneered. Then I glared at him.
“Kate Spade linens. Why am I not surprised,” Danny flashed a mischievous grin.
Danny glanced at the mound of decorative pillows arrayed on the bed. Then he launched himself backwards into the pile like a diver, only he was laughing too hard.
“This is what I’m missing. I only have two,” he teased.
How cavalierly Danny had messed my carefully made bed.
“Get your shoes off my bed!” I scolded and then I swatted Danny’s large feet. I thought he would sit up, but instead Danny kicked off his Topsiders, piled up the pillows, and propped himself up against them, while stretching out his long legs.
“Make yourself at home, Daniel,” I stated sarcastically.
“Elizabeth, no man will ever want to sleep in this bed.”
“The décor is for me. Worry about your own sex life.”
“There’s nothing for me to worry about,” Danny responded with a devilish grin. I flushed crimson, wanting to smack him. Instead I rolled my eyes and growled.
Danny leaned into the pillows. “This is so nice.” Then Danny pressed his hand against the mattress. Surprised to find a pillowtop, he pressed two more times.
“A real mattress? Eli, how’d you get a real mattress?”
“And box springs,” I gloated. “I bought them at Sears.”
“No shit! I’ve never been to Sears. Tomorrow you’re taking me. You’re such a spoiled little princess.”
I laughed. This was either the ultimate compliment or insult coming as it was from the most spoiled person I had ever met.
Danny took out his phone and dialed. “Hand me your Mac,” he commanded, spying the laptop on my desk. Curious, I obediently brought it.
“Hey, Mom,” said Danny into the phone. Then he paused to listen. “No, everything’s great. Let’s Skype.” Danny ended the call and grabbed the computer.
“Eli, over here,” he ordered motioning me next to him on the bed. The physical closeness made my pulse race. I hoped he didn’t feel it.
Danny turned the laptop toward himself and logged-on. “Hi Mom! Guess where I am?”
“In a girl’s bedroom, Danny?” Ellen answered.
“And she’s the most amazing girl too.” I glared and Danny grinned.
“You haven’t been at Donnelly for a week and already you’ve found a girl? You sound happy, though.”
“I am. It’s as though we’ve known each other forever.”
Then Danny burst into laughter. I lunged across his chest for the computer, but he pulled it out of my reach.
“What’s going on there?” The commotion was audible to Ellen, plus, the video was jerky.
“Lovers’ quarrel,” Danny answered, still laughing.
“We are not lovers! Ellen, it’s me.”
“Elizabeth!” Danny adjusted the computer. Now we were both visible. “Daniel, don’t give Elizabeth a hard time.”
“I can’t help it, Mom,” he could barely speak from laughing. “It’s so much fun.”
I smacked Danny’s upper-arm.
“Ouch!” Then he crushed me close.
“Now we’ll be in the frame together,” Danny smirked.
The warmth of his arm around me had a calming effect. Danny’s touch was cozy like a chenille blanket you wanted to run your fingertips over.
“We got home this morning,” Ellen said. “Elizabeth, we’d hoped to see you, but Steve had meetings in London. Danny, I’m sorry we couldn’t have been with you.”
“It’s okay, Mom.”
Danny’s downcast expression told me it was not at all okay. Danny might be a muscular six-footer, but today he was vulnerable, a little boy putting on a brave front.
Hidden from Ellen’s view, I hugged Danny’s waist. Now I understood. Danny needed me to be his family.
“No, it isn’t okay,” Ellen answered. “You needed me too.”
“I’m fine, Mom,” Danny said flatly to end the discussion.
“Did everything get delivered?”
“Yes, Mom. And my car arrives Monday.”
“You shipped the Porsche?” I asked. At home his car was legend.
“No. Mom said I needed a four-seater. I bought a convertible M6. Red.” Danny lit up. “Really sweet. We picked it up at the BMW factory and drove around Germany. I’ve been waiting for it to clear customs.”
“I’ll tell Dad it’s coming.”
“Thanks, Mom. Oh, and tell Dad I’m shopping for a bed tomorrow. Dorm beds suck. Eli bought her own bed and I want one too.”
“Poor baby,’ I said sarcastically. “Jealous?”
Danny gave me an impish grin. “Yes. I have mattress envy,” he answered and turned back to Ellen. “Mom, if I don’t get a real bed I might do something drastic.”
“Drastic?” she asked dubiously.
Smiling mischievously, Danny answered, “I might be forced to sleep with Eli.”
I flushed crimson, but Danny’s arm around my shoulder kept me glued in place.
“That wouldn’t be drastic,” Ellen responded.
“Hey! What about me?” I protested. “I have my reputation to consider.”
“Which would be enhanced.” Danny sniggered. “Only for a couple of nights, please Eli? Until mine gets delivered.”
“If my Mom heard this she’d castrate you.”
“Ouch!” Danny laughed. “Mommy, don’t let Randi come near me with a knife!”
Now Ellen was laughing, too.
“If I were Randi I’d agree, but I’m your mother, Danny. I’d love to see you with a girl like Elizabeth, but if I had a daughter, I’d never want her anywhere near you. Danny, be honest. You’re not ready to be a boyfriend. You don’t even know what it means to be one.”
“I’ve had girlfriends,” Danny answered, somewhat indignantly.
“No, you haven’t. You’ve never made an emotional commitment to any girl.”
“It’s not going to happen, Mom. I’m not ready to settle down.” Danny looked over at me and smiled. “That’s why I’m glad I have Eli. I can be emotional with her and sleep with someone else. It’s perfect. There are no entanglements to
worry about.”
CHAPTER 4 - ELIZABETH
Chloe was spending an inordinate amount of time primping for our first big social event, the Freshman Fete. I was summer tan. A little mascara and pale pink lip-gloss were all that I required. I doubted Rachel every primped for anything, but she was on the phone.
So I sat on the edge of my bed dressed and waiting.
“Let’s go!” Chloe called out as though we had been keeping her.
“Wait! I almost forgot.”
I smiled provocatively while I scampered back to my room and removed a folder from the top drawer of my desk.
“Don’t tell anyone where you got these,” I warned. “Promise? I’ll be in so much trouble. My parents don’t know.”
“Promise!” they both swore though without knowing what they were swearing to.
I opened the folder and removed two drivers’ licenses, one from New York and one from Connecticut. The girls scrutinized them.
“These say we’re twenty-one!” Chloe gasped.
“How did you…?” Rachel was stunned.
“A prop master friend; she can get anything,” I replied smugly.
Shortly before ten we arrived at the second floor of century-old Daughtry Hall dormitory. Decked out with balloons and posters, a table manned by two upperclassmen blocked the entrance to the party. IDs would be checked and purses searched for alcohol. From their stares, it was clear the students used their jobs to check out the freshman girls.
Before Rachel, Chloe and I got that far, Danny accosted us. He guided us to where Cam and their other roommate, Shane, were lurking, in an alcove down the hall. Shane Mills’ angular pale face, with straight blonde hair and deep brown eyes, was a sharp contrast to Cameron’s softer features.
“Here.” Danny grabbed a glass bottle from Shane and pressed it to my lips. “Drink.”
I had no choice but to take a gulp. Otherwise the liquid would have spilled down the front of my dress.
“What was that?” An unfamiliar rasp came from my throat as Danny passed the bottle to Rachel who took a quick swig before passing it to Chloe.
“Vodka,” he smirked. “I thought you might need something to take the edge off.”
Admittedly shy, I did not like large parties, but Cam had promised me a dance. I wouldn’t be stuck alone on the sidelines. And if nothing else, Danny was good for at least one dance out of obligation.
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