The Circle

by Kat Mayor

  “How was the game?” Louis asked. “Did your team win?”

  “No. They never win,” Charlie said. “Um, as long as you’re up, I was wondering if you would mind if I went on a field trip with the astronomy club tomorrow night.” He didn’t enjoy always lying to his father, but on the other hand, the lie was more credible than the truth.

  “You sure don’t have much free time these days, Charlie. I hardly get to see you,” his father noted.

  “I know, but marching band will be over in another month. Then I’ll be home more.”

  Louis seemed satisfied with that answer. “Just don’t stay out too late. We have church the following morning.

  “Yes, Father.” Charlie excused himself and went upstairs to go to bed.

  ***

  Saturday morning Lilly went to Jasmine’s to pick up her dress. After returning home, she laid it out on her bed, still in its plastic wrapping. Lilly thought it was the prettiest dress she had ever owned. She hoped Charlie would like it, too. Lilly took a long hot shower and washed her hair. Then she set her hair in hot rollers and sat down on the bed with a fashion magazine. Ordinarily she preferred a book, but she felt she needed the advice on hair and makeup. She turned on the radio and listened to Depeche Mode until it was time to get ready.

  ***

  Charlie kissed his mom on the cheek and then headed out the door. In the garage, he quickly changed into a suit and tie. When he rang the doorbell at Lilly’s house, Michelle answered. “Come in,” she said. She was holding a camera in one hand and motioning him to come in with the other. Lilly was standing in front of the fireplace. Her hair was pulled up with ringlet curls all around, and she was wearing dangling, teardrop-shaped earrings. Her navy-blue gown flared out at the waist and flowed down to her ankles. Charlie had never seen her in a formal dress and with her hair pinned up. She looked different, but in a good way.

  Lilly thought she looked pretty, and she hoped Charlie would notice. She thought he had noticed. He had certainly looked her up and down when he came in the door; however, he didn’t say anything. She hated to admit it, but she was a little disappointed.

  Charlie put a corsage on Lilly’s left wrist. Michelle snapped a picture. “Now you two stand closer together,” Michelle directed. “C’mon, Charlie, put your arm around her; pretend that you like her. OK. One, two, three.” The camera clicked. “Great. Now just a few more,” Michelle said.

  Finally Lilly complained, “Mom, we really need to go.”

  “OK, OK,” Michelle said. “Have a good time.”

  Charlie opened the door for Lilly. “I thought Steak and Ale tonight. What do you think?”

  “Oh, darn. I was hoping for McDonald’s,” Lilly said.

  ***

  After dinner they headed over to the high school. Charlie opened the door for her, and Lilly took his arm as they walked from the parking lot to the gym doors. As soon as they entered, Charlie asked, “Would you like to dance?” Lilly didn’t hesitate. She grabbed his hand and dragged him onto the dance floor. Lilly was a terrific dancer, and Charlie was keeping up pretty well. His Arthur Murray practice sessions had paid off.

  A slow song came on next. This was Charlie’s kind of dancing. He pulled Lilly close to him, and she rested her head on his shoulder. This is much better, he thought. Lilly was smiling dreamily. It was almost too good to be true. Here she was, Lilly Garcia, dancing with her boyfriend at the homecoming dance.

  After a few more fast songs, Charlie suggested they take a break. Lilly agreed. She sat at one of the tables near the dance floor, while Charlie went to get her a drink. She looked around and spotted Ian and Beth. They waved at her excitedly. Ian looked quite dashing in a burgundy shirt with a black jacket and tie. Beth was still sporting a Goth style, but her hair was pinned up and she looked Gothic-elegant.

  Lilly turned her attention to the other side of the dance floor. Dan walked in with Claire on his arm. They made their way to the dance floor and planted themselves right next to Matt and Jennifer.

  “That’s disgusting,” Lilly said.

  “What’s disgusting?” Charlie asked, putting her drink on the table.

  “Look,” Lilly motioned to the dance floor. It was obvious to everyone that Dan was trying to annoy Matt and his date. Lilly wanted to slap the smirk right off his face. Matt and Jennifer finally had to leave the dance floor to avoid them. Claire looked upset.

  That’s got to be awkward,” Beth commented. She and Ian had walked over to Lilly and Charlie’s table.

  Claire had dressed to impress, but Dan was not the person she had made the effort for. She hoped that Matt would see her with Dan and beg her to come back to him. That plan had backfired royally.

  “What nerve,” Lilly said. She felt bad for Matt and his date. She didn’t know who she was more upset with: Claire, who knew better, or Dan, who was a rude jerk.

  “I wouldn’t expect any better from Claire,” Ian said.

  “Or Dan,” Beth added.

  They finished their drinks and headed back to the dance floor. Lilly forgot all about Claire and Dan. She was too busy having fun dancing with Charlie. To Lilly, every song the DJ played was so good, she didn’t want to stop.

  Lilly felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned to find Jana, a flute player and wannabe friend of Claire. “Sorry to interrupt, but Claire’s in the bathroom, crying. She’s asking for you.”

  Not again, Lilly thought. “I’m sorry, but I’d better go check on her,” Lilly told Charlie.

  “It’s OK. I’ll walk over with you,” Charlie said. Ian and Beth came along, too.

  When Lilly and Beth entered the bathroom, Claire was crying so hard her mascara had run all over her face. Lilly knelt beside her friend and pulled her messed up hair out of her face.

  “What happened?” she asked, resting a hand on Claire’s shoulder.

  In a halting voice, Claire began to speak. “Matt was standing outside of the gym in the parking lot with that girl he brought here. Dan said, ‘Let’s make Matt jealous.’ He started kissing me. I didn’t want him to. Matt walked off, but Dan didn’t stop. I tried to get away from him, and he just held me tighter and shoved me against his car.” She shuddered. “I told him to stop it, and he said, ‘It’s OK. Relax.’ Finally I screamed, and he let me go. It was awful; his lips are so gross.”

  Beth brought Claire a glass of water. Lilly wet a paper towel and tried to clean her up as best as she could. Once Claire had calmed down, she looked up at Lilly. “I want Matt. I need to talk to Matt.”

  “I don’t know if that’s such a good idea,” Lilly told her.

  Claire was insistent. “Please, Lilly, go find him. I know he’ll be furious at Dan.”

  Yes, he definitely would be furious, and he could very well be mad at Dan. But he might be angry at Claire for being stupid enough to go out with Dan in the first place, or possibly at Lilly for interrupting his date. “OK,” Lilly said. “I’ll try to find him.” Beth took one of Claire’s arms and Lilly the other. They walked her out of the bathroom and sat her on a bench next to Charlie and Ian. “Keep an eye on her,” she whispered to Charlie. “I’ll be back.”

  Lilly spotted Matt and Jennifer on the dance floor. She got his attention and motioned for him to come over.

  “What’s up?” he asked.

  “It’s Claire. She wants to talk.”

  Matt didn’t let her finish. “Lilly, can’t you see I’m on a date here? Tell Claire I’m not going to ruin my evening to talk to my ex-girlfriend.”

  “It’s not what you think,” Lilly said. “Dan got a little rough with her. She’s OK, but she’s pretty upset. She really wants to talk to you.”

  Matt turned to his date. “Go ahead,” she said. “I’ll go get something to drink.” Lilly thought Jennifer was pretty understanding about the whole thing. Matt seemed mad, but at least he followed her back to where Claire was sitting.

  Claire jumped up when she saw Matt. She tried to put her arms around him. “Oh Matt, it was awful.” Matt
didn’t let her hug him. Instead he held her at arm’s length. Claire started sobbing again. His voice grew soft. “Did he hurt you?”

  “No. Not that way. But he wouldn’t let me go. I screamed, and he got really mad. It scared me. I thought he was going to hit me or something.”

  “Where is he now?” Matt asked, looking around.

  “He stayed out in the parking lot. Some of his friends were out there, I think,” Claire said. She was still upset but calmer now. “He told me I was OK for a good time but not good enough to be his girlfriend. Then he told me to find my own way home.”

  Matt turned and started walking toward the front door.

  “Where are you going?” Claire asked.

  “To find Dan. Charlie, Ian, would you mind coming along? I’m not looking for a fight, but a little backup never hurts.”

  “Sure,” Charlie agreed.

  The boys took their jackets off and handed them to the girls. Then they went outside to look for Dan. Lilly wanted to follow them, but Beth thought that was a bad idea. “Let the guys handle this. Matt and Charlie are pretty cool-headed. They aren’t going to let this get out of hand.” Lilly knew Beth was right. Thinking back to the Sprite incident, she knew Charlie wasn’t the confrontational type.

  Dan was standing by his car, sneaking beers with some guys Charlie didn’t know. They were joking and laughing. Charlie overheard Dan say a few crass things about Claire. His already low opinion of Dan dropped even lower. Charlie, Matt, and Ian approached Dan and his pathetic band of losers.

  “Well, Matt, what brings you out here?” Dan asked, his eyes glassy. “Did you get tired of hanging out with the cool crowd?”

  Matt didn’t mince words. “I’m going to say this one time, Dan. You keep your hands off Claire. When she says no, she means it.”

  “Whoa, dude, I didn’t think you cared.” Dan handed his beer to one of his friends and walked over to where Matt was standing. “It doesn’t matter, anyway. I got what I wanted, and I’m done with her,” he smiled at his friends.

  Matt shoved Dan up against his car. “No. She’s done with you. And if I ever hear you or your loser friends talking trash about her, I’ll rearrange your face.” Dan still had a smirk on his face, but he didn’t smart off, likely due to the fact that he was a lot smaller than Matt.

  Matt turned to Charlie and Ian. “C’mon, let’s go.”

  Just as the guys had reached the gym door, Charlie turned and ran back toward the parking lot. “Hey Charlie, where are you going?” Ian called out. Matt and Ian ran after him.

  When they caught up with him, Matt thought he was going to have to break up a fight. Charlie had pinned Dan to his car and stood over him with his fist raised.

  “Whoa, wait, Charlie. The second you throw a punch, you’re going to have every teacher and assistant principal in the school out here. He’s not worth suspension, man,” Matt said.

  He tried to pull Charlie away from Dan. He was surprised how difficult it was. For a little guy, Charlie was very strong. When that didn’t work, Matt tried to extricate Dan from Charlie’s hold. As soon as Dan was free, he took the opportunity to punch Charlie in the mouth. Matt was afraid that Charlie would go after him again, but by then Charlie had calmed down some.

  “What happened?” Ian asked.

  Charlie wiped some blood off his lip. “He was telling lies about Liliana, trying to ruin her reputation.”

  “You heard that from across the parking lot?” one of Dan’s friends asked.

  “Dude, shut up,” Dan told him.

  “No. I want to know,” Matt said. “What did you say?” Dan said nothing. He just stood there, glaring.

  “Start talking, or I’ll let him at you again.”

  “No. Don’t,” Charlie said. “It was vile; it doesn’t bear repeating.”

  Matt, Ian, and Charlie walked back over to the gym. Dan yelled out, “This isn’t over, Gray. I’m talking to you, shrimp.” Charlie ignored him and opened the door to the school.

  Lilly ran over as soon as she saw the guys come in. “It’s taken care of,” Matt announced to Claire and the girls.

  Lilly was shocked to see Charlie’s bloody and swollen lip. “What happened to you?”

  “It’s nothing,” Charlie said.

  “It doesn’t look like nothing,” Lilly said, dabbing his lower lip with a tissue. She turned to Ian. “Would someone mind telling me what’s going on?”

  “After Matt finished putting Dan in his place about Claire, the moron starts talking trash about you. Charlie got that busted lip defending your honor,” Ian told her.

  “What was it? What did he say?”

  Charlie shook his head. “You don’t need to hear it.”

  “I’d like to be the judge of that,” Lilly said, pulling him aside.

  Charlie didn’t know how to put what Dan said in eighties terms without being utterly offensive, so he used an expression he had often heard in the fifties. “He said you weren’t a nice girl. I couldn’t let him talk about you that way.”

  She wasn’t even upset about the lies Dan was spreading about her. Charlie had stood up for her to another guy; that was what mattered. It was so cool, she had to smile. She looked down so Charlie wouldn’t see and continued to dab his lip.

  Ian was regaling Beth with tales of their heroism. When he finished telling her all about their run in with Dan, he said, “Yeah. If Charlie hadn’t stepped in when he did, I probably would have kicked Dan’s ass anyway. No one talks about my mom that way.”

  Lilly was so preoccupied with Charlie’s split lip that she hadn’t noticed the exchange going on between Matt and Claire. “Oh Matt, I’m so glad you’re OK. I was worried sick. Thank you for sticking up for me.” Claire tried to put her arms around Matt, but he gently pushed her back.

  “Claire, stop,” he said firmly.

  “But I thought…”

  “Nothing’s changed. Look, I’ve got to get back to Jennifer.” Matt put his suit jacket on and walked off. Claire’s shoulders slumped. This was the moment when she finally understood it was over. Up until now she had been clinging to some desperate hope that Matt would want her back.

  Lilly didn’t want to leave Charlie’s side, but she knew Claire needed her. She stroked Claire’s hair softly, “Is there anything I can do?” Claire was shaking; she was about to lose it.

  “Take me home. Now,” she said.

  “I’ll get the car,” Charlie volunteered.

  ***

  After dropping off Claire, it was too late to return to the dance and too early to go home, so they ended up going to the diner. Lilly was stirring her Cherry Coke with her straw. “What a crazy evening,” she said. “I’m sorry we had to leave so early.”

  “Liliana, I really don’t care what we do, as long as I’m with you,” Charlie said.

  “You know, I never thanked you for the way you stood up for me with Dan. You’re like my own personal superhero,” Lilly said.

  “It was nothing.” He looked down and cleared his throat. “And uh, thank you for taking care of my lip.”

  “Sure,” she said.

  “Look, let’s not talk about such unpleasant things,” Charlie told her. “We only have a short time before we have to go home.”

  “OK,” agreed Lilly. “So tell me. Where did you learn to dance like that? Charlie, you’re fantastic…”

  ***

  At 12:55 Charlie pulled into Lilly’s driveway. “Lips Like Sugar” was playing on the radio. Charlie took her hands in his and slowly leaned over until he was so close she could feel his breath on her cheeks. She leaned in then, too. That was all the encouragement he needed. Very slowly, very softly he kissed her on the lips. He pulled away to gauge Lilly’s expression. Her eyes were closed, and she was smiling. The kiss had been a good move on his part. They just sat there, not speaking, until the song ended. Charlie opened the car door for Lilly and walked her to the front door.

  Tomorrow was Sunday, family day at the Gray household. “If I’m able, I’ll
call you tomorrow,” Charlie said. Lilly nodded.

  “Good night, Charlie,” Lilly told him. She was still walking on air after the goodnight kiss.

  “Good night, Liliana,” On the way home, Charlie found himself humming “Lips Like Sugar.”

  ***

  The next morning at breakfast, his parents were asking about the field trip with the astronomy club when Louis noticed Charlie’s swollen lip. “What happened to you?” he asked.

  “Uh, the guy next to me tripped, knocking me over in the process. My bottom lip connected with the metal edge of my telescope,” Charlie lied.

  “Does it hurt? Did you put some ice on it?” Helen asked, going into full mother mode.

  “It’s fine, Mom,” Charlie said.

  “Earthans,” Louis said. “They are so clumsy.”

  ***

  Lilly woke up Sunday morning to find Michelle had already left for work. She made a decision. Charlie went to church every Sunday; she might as well go, too. She grabbed Abuela’s rosary off the bedside table where it lay next to the statue of the Virgin.

  After Mass, she made a grilled cheese sandwich and sat out by the pool with a book. This was Lilly’s favorite time of year. The weather was great—warm enough, but not too hot.

  Lilly heard Michelle’s car pull into the driveway. “What are you doing home?” she asked as Michelle walked into the gate.

  She walked over to the pool area. “It was slow, so I came home. Now, I want to hear all about the dance.” Michelle pulled up a lawn chair next to Lilly’s and propped her feet up. “So start at the beginning and tell me everything.”

  Lilly started with dinner and went through the evening. She edited out the part about the fight in the parking lot and ended with the ride home.

  “So did Charlie try a lip lock on you?” Michelle asked with a smile.

  “Mom,” Lilly complained.

  “C’mon, Lil,” Michelle begged.

  “Oh, all right,” Lilly said and put down her book. “There was a kiss. It was very nice.”

  “Mi hija, homemade apple pie is very nice. C’mon, you can do better than that,” Michelle scolded.

  Lilly hit her mom with one of the lawn chair cushions. “That’s all I’m going to say on the subject. Quit trying to live vicariously through my love life.”