“But he rides a bike.”
“He’s going to need a car for my plan. It doesn’t have to be a really good car.”
“How’s he going to live?” Nina asked. “What would he eat?”
“He can drink water from the springs. We’ve got a hundred frigging springs around this town spurting up the healthiest water on the planet or something, and it’s totally free. He can live on that. Live to be a hundred.”
“Just water?”
“Okay, water, and discount bread that they sell at the end of the day at the bakery. And there are ducks all over the place.”
“He’s vegetarian.”
“Oh God,” Parker said with a sigh. He plucked the Swedish fish from his cup and wielded it to make his point. “Fine. You know what? He can eat his car. Piece by piece. It’s been done before. There are guys in India who have eaten whole cars just to show that they can do it. It’s one of those David Blaine kind of endurance things.”
“If he eats his car, where’s he going to live?”
Parker rolled his eyes. “It’s going to take him a while to eat the car,” he explained. “It’ll probably take until spring, and by then it’ll be warm. He won’t need shelter anymore.”
“This is your plan? Is that what you do for your girlfriend?”
“That is my hypothetical plan for my hypothetical girlfriend.”
“Well, I practically have a hypothetical boyfriend, so …”
“So there you go”
There was a brightness to Parker’s eyes—a huge booming enthusiasm that was catching.
“I like this plan,” she said, while getting up and making her way back to the punch bowl. “I wish he thought like you.”
“If he’s not writing to you, he’s insane,” Parker said. “And who cares if he doesn’t have a phone? He can borrow a phone. How hard is that?”
That was a good point. Nina had never thought of that before.
“This is just my opinion,” Parker added.
Whatever was in the punch made Nina feel mellow. She dropped her head on Parker’s shoulder. An actual male shoulder. That was something she hadn’t experienced in a while. Something human to put her head against. It felt different. Steve had well-developed arms and shoulders. Parker’s shoulders were thinner, and there was a more wiry energy coming through them.
“I should go find Mel,” she said drowsily. “Avery really screwed her over, you know that? I never thought Ave would do something like that.”
“I know. It must be hard. You guys were really good friends.”
Nina didn’t reply. It was too difficult to explain that “good friends” didn’t quite cover it. Besides, thinking about Avery made her sad, and she didn’t want to ruin the calmness that had just come over her. She pulled her head up. It was heavy. It felt like everything she had drunk had run right into her skull and was sloshing around.
“I’m going to check on her,” she said “Be right back.”
Nina took a rambling walk around the first floor, then went out onto the porch, where all of the beer was being kept cool. She pulled her cell phone out of her bag and sat down on an antique-looking bench. Maybe Parker’s theory would come true tonight. Maybe Steve had borrowed someone’s phone and called her. Maybe he’d realized that not only was she going to be alone and kissless, but that he’d really violated the good-boyfriend code.
Nothing. No little envelope on the screen.
It was stupid of her to have checked. This only sent her mood crashing down again.
She heard the front door open from behind her and turned to see Devon coming out onto the porch. In honor of the holiday he was wearing a black jacket over his regular shirt and tie.
“What’s up?” he asked, grabbing a beer.
“Just checking my messages.” She dropped the cell phone back into her bag.
Devon cracked open his beer and leaned against one of the porch columns as if he planned on staying and talking for a while.
“How do you think you did on Frost’s midterm?” he asked.
“I don’t want to think about it.”
“Me either.”
“I don’t care that much,” Nina said. Then it dawned on her that she could make herself feel better by taking a short but well-deserved ego trip.
“I already applied to college. I did early decision and got in, so …”
“You got in? Where are you going?”
“Stanford.”
“No shit,” he said, nodding. “Impressive.”
“Thanks.” Yep, it worked.
“I just sent out a few,” he said. “I was putting my portfolio together while I was getting ready for the AP exam, so I was kind of freaking out. I didn’t sleep for like three days.”
This was the most personal information she’d ever exchanged with Devon.
“What about your boyfriend?” he asked. “Where’s he going?”
“My boyfriend?”
“That guy on the sofa.”
“That’s Parker,” Nina said.
“He’s not your boyfriend?”
“No.”
“Oh. I thought he was.”
A weird thought passed through Nina’s mind—maybe Devon was trying to tell her something. Why else would he be asking about her boyfriend?
Although Nina was quite aware that she was a tad on the drunk side, Devon suddenly seemed very attractive to her. He was hiding behind those ties, behind that perpetually disappointed scowl, behind the camera lens. Underneath all of it might be a really great guy.
“Got your midnight kiss lined up?” she heard herself asking.
“I’ve got this,” he said, holding up his beer. He peeled off his beer label, rolled it up, and pitched it into a snow-filled trough that was already crammed with empties. “What about you?”
Nina held up the Swedish fish from her cup. “I’d like you to meet Marvin. He’s very special to me.”
“Pretty sad.” Devon snickered. He was smiling a lot, and Nina felt herself smiling back. Was it any big surprise that she was feeling this way? After all, she hadn’t been able to kiss Steve since August. It wasn’t unreasonable to want a little contact with the male species. And Steve kind of deserved it right now.
Suddenly Parker appeared at the door.
“I thought you got lost,” he said. “It’s almost time.”
“It is?” Nina said. For a second she was almost disappointed that Parker had picked this moment to turn up. “I thought it was ten or something.”
“No. It’s like eight minutes away.”
Parker looked from Nina to Devon and back again.
She pulled herself from the bench and went to the door. Devon took another swig of his beer and raised it up in a salutelike fashion.
As soon as she got inside, Nina realized two things. One: that kissing Devon Wakeman was probably one of the best ways a girl could bring in the new year. Two: that she’d just come alarmingly close to cheating on her boyfriend. But luckily Parker had saved her. Indeed, Parker had saved her whole relationship. Nina loved Parker. She gripped his arm hard to show her appreciation.
“You all right?” he asked, looking down at the nails that were digging into the sleeve of his black shirt.
“I’m okay,” she whispered. “Thanks, Park.”
“For what?”
“Nothing. Everything. You know what I mean.”
He looked baffled, which was understandable.
“I found Mel,” he said.
“Mel?” Nina asked. She’d forgotten that was how she’d ended up outside in the first place—she was supposed to be searching for her best friend. Oh, she really had to get an enormous glass of water or mug of coffee, and quick.
“She’s fine. She’s saving our spot on the sofa.”
Parker, Parker, Parker … Nina felt her emotions swelling for him. It was like he had stepped in at the critical point in their lives, maybe even to take Avery’s place.
“You’re the best,” she said, giving h
im a quick kiss on the cheek.
Parker froze and peered down at her. He touched the spot where her lips had been.
“Um … thanks.”
He smiled, but Nina noticed that the bright look in his eye that she’d seen earlier was gone. She wondered about this, but then she saw Mel waiting for them on the sofa, pointing eagerly at the countdown on the television, and the thought drifted away.
31
The Breakup with Avery had not taken Mel by surprise. In her heart, she’d known it was coming since the day in the bookstore with Devon—maybe even before that. It was in all of Avery’s hesitation, in her refusals to even say she was bi. It was just a looming thing on the horizon that got bigger as it got closer. When Nina broke the news to Mel, it finally came right up to her face and blocked Avery out of her view. But it wasn’t a shock It just depressed her and made her days dark and long and kind of pointless.
Nina, however, was as determined as ever to keep Mel moving. She had a bit more free time on her hands now that she had gotten into Stanford, so she came to lunch the very first day back from winter break and announced to Mel and Parker that Lake Lonely had frozen. (This sounded symbolic to Mel: Lake Lonely had frozen, but in Lake Love the waters were warm! Yeah—as if.) Lake Lonely was just the smaller body of water next to Saratoga Lake, so it always froze a little sooner.
Nina had decided that they were going ice-skating whether Mel wanted to ice-skate or not. Parker didn’t own skates but agreed to come along anyway. His reply seemed a bit staged, and Mel got the idea that Nina had cornered him earlier in the day.
Mel’s dad was out working on someone’s kitchen, and Mel would have much preferred to go home and sit and listen to music. But here she was anyway, out in the freezing cold, tying up her laces. It was four, but it was already almost dark.
There were only a few good access points to Lake Lonely. The most crowded one was off a public access point. There was another that stemmed from a path of a gated community. But there was one that Nina, Mel, and Avery had used for years. It was behind a lakeside restaurant, at the bottom of a slope. Many people didn’t know about this one, and the restaurant didn’t mind if they used one of their parking spaces during the dead time in the middle of the afternoon.
All members of the Triangle were good ice-skaters. They’d skated together since they were just toddlers in double blades. Nina was especially good. She’d even taken lessons for a while and could do little jumps and arabesques. She laced up quickly and hit the ice to check it over. Mel took her time, sharing a rock with Parker, who was staring at the ice in deep dissatisfaction.
“What’s the matter?” Mel asked.
“Nothing.”
Mel was in no mood to press the issue, but she kept her eye on Parker anyway.
“It just pisses me off,” he finally said.
“What does?”
“I don’t get it. I thought that was just something from TV.”
“What?”
“That women like guys who are assholes.”
“We don’t,” Mel said.
“How would you know?”
Mel continued her lacing. She knew what Parker meant, but it still stung.
“Sorry,” he said. “You know what I mean. See? I’m an asshole, and you like me. It’s just that Devon is a dick. He wears ties….”
He lowered his voice on this last word, as if “ties” was the offensive part of that sentence.
“I don’t get it,” she said. “What about Devon?”
“I think she’s … into him.” He nodded to Nina.
“Nina? And Devon?” Mel laughed. “There’s no way. Why would you even think that?”
“They were talking at the party.”
“They always talk, but she can’t stand him.”
“She was standing him.”
Mel examined Parker more closely now. He scrunched up his mouth and plunged his hand into a nearby pile of snow.
“Holy shit. You like her,” she said suddenly. Parker didn’t respond. He just dug his hand in deeper until the snow covered his wrist.
“You do.” Mel could see it all over his face now. “Oh my God. You do.”
“Go skate.” he said, avoiding her eyes.
Mel had no idea what to say. In her opinion, Parker and Nina would be great together—except that Nina was taken by some guy Mel had never met, and Parker was kind of … hers. Not in a dating way. Just hers, though.
Mel got up and made her way onto the ice. She skated briskly back and forth along the edge, where the ice was thickest. As she passed by, she watched Parker watching Nina, who was out toward the middle. Every once in a while he would throw a look in Mel’s direction that said, “I will fatally wound you if you say anything.” They were all in their own worlds in the quiet of the snow. Mel listened to the soothing sound of the creaking ice under her skates and gazed at the trees, which were covered in whiteness.
It was good to be out—out and not talking. Mel could concentrate on skating hard until her legs ached. She skated back and forth for a good half hour until her breath was coming hard and she realized that this was the longest stretch she’d gone without thinking about Avery in weeks.
Mel was about to do another lap when she turned around just in time to see a small white object flying through the air in her direction. She tried to move away, but she wasn’t fast enough. It caught her right in the chest. She started coughing. It was a snowball. Actually, an ice ball. And it really hurt. From across the ice she heard Nina yelp.
In the next moment, another one got Mel in the knee and almost knocked her over. She tried to get away, but the snowballs seemed to follow her. They rained down surprisingly hard. Someone had been stockpiling. She looked up. There were a few guys behind some trees, about midway down the slope, throwing as hard as they could. And they weren’t about to stop anytime soon.
She hurried over to Nina, who was already scanning the hillside.
“Where are they?” Nina asked.
“I don’t know,” Mel said.
The next one clipped Nina’s left ear and left her clutching at it.
“What the hell?” Nina screamed. “You don’t aim for my head. Where’s Parker?”
Parker was no longer on the rock.
Another one, hitting Nina’s hip this time.
“Did he run?” Nina said. “Oh my God …”
Mel dodged one that would have gotten her eye.
“What are you doing?” Nina screamed up the hill. “You’re going to hurt us!”
Nina looked around for something to throw—a twig, a rock—but there was nothing but exposed water to their far left and to the center of the lake. They were stuck. Mel was afraid. This wasn’t exactly a joke or a friendly little snowball fight. In desperation, Nina started skating back to the edge, trying her best to dodge the rain of ice balls that was still coming down. Mel followed her quickly.
And then miraculously they heard Parker’s voice calling from somewhere above them.
“Hey, assholes!” he shouted. “Up here!”
The torrent stopped. Mel could see Parker at the top of the hill, standing next to a gray sedan.
“Is this your car?” he yelled down.
Parker ducked behind the sedan, and a moment later it began drifting down the inclined road. There was a series of yells, and their three attackers started tearing back up toward the lot.
Nina and Mel quickly got off the ice. Mel dropped to the ground and yanked hard at her laces, cursing how tightly and carefully she had tied them. As soon as she had enough of an opening, she pulled her foot through, almost twisting her ankle in the process. She stepped quickly into her boots. They both climbed back up the path, grabbing at the trees and exposed roots to balance themselves.
Parker was waiting for them at the top of the hill. Without a word, they climbed into Nina’s SUV. Nina threw it into gear and U-turned without even checking the road.
“What did you do?” she asked, trying to catch her breath.
“Just took off the emergency, put it in neutral. It goes on its own.”
He was laughing rather spookily now, like he couldn’t stop.
“Oh my God—they were psychos! You okay, Mel?”
Mel nodded. She pulled up the leg of her pants and saw a slightly green bruise blossoming on her knee.
She had a strong feeling that this all had something to do with her.
When they got to Nina’s, Mel curled herself on the sofa under a blanket and watched Nina and Parker. Parker kept looking out the front windows as if he were expecting the guys to pull up at any second. Nina became an avenging nurse. She supplied them all with tea, cocoa, and hot cider. She tended to Mel with a warm water bottle and an ice pack.
“That was amazing what you did back there, Park,” Nina said as she forcibly removed Mel’s damp socks and replaced them with dry ones. “You get a medal. You’re a hero, forever.”
“Yeah, I don’t know what we’d do without you,” Mel agreed.
Parker didn’t have a comeback for that one. Instead he just played with Mel’s wet left sock, gazing at it in a kind of wonder.
32
Steve,
Okay.
First of all, major drama here. We were attacked by insane snowballers. But that story has got to wait. I have to tell you something else.
Something has been bothering me, and I have to tell you about it or I’m going to go nuts. I don’t want to be that girlfriend who complains, but …
I know you’re busy, and I know it’s hard, but I really feel like we have to try to talk more. Actually talk on the phone. I love the sound of your voice, and I need more of it. We’re both busy, and I just feel like we both have to try harder to make contact.
I was thinking that maybe I can get frequent-flyer miles from my dad for my birthday and come out to Portland or something. Or you could come here. It’s in mid-March, so maybe for spring break? I definitely want to be there for the mold season.
Anyway, can you please call me when you get this, and I’ll call you right back?
Love,
Nina
The phone rang the next afternoon while Nina was halfheartedly working her way through a calculus problem. It was the Steve ring. She snatched it up.
The Bermudez Triangle Page 18
