Getting Lost with Boys

by Hailey Abbott

  “No, it’s just that…how do we know Jake isn’t a speed demon, or has a bad case of narcolepsy that might interfere with his driving?”

  Mrs. Packer chuckled. “Narcolepsy?”

  “Too much?”

  “Listen, if you don’t want to go with Jake, that’s entirely up to you. I think it’s a terrific idea, though. You guys can go at your own pace and pull over and see some sights. And since you can’t share in the driving, I told him we’d pay for the gas. So it works out for everyone.”

  Cordelia sighed in near defeat. “Fine, I’ll think about it.”

  “Good,” her mother said, smiling. “So are you going to tell me about the big camping trip?”

  Cordelia cringed a little bit. The thought of telling her mom the details of her tent romps with Paul made her feel light-headed. “It was great.” She tried to come up with something else that might satisfy her mother’s curiosity without raising any I-need-to-have-an-embarrassing-sex-talk-with-my-daughter red flags. “We saw some birds.”

  Oh God, that’s going to make her think of “bees”! I’m done for, she thought.

  “Wow, that’s neat. Paul does love that nature stuff,” her mom replied. “I’m glad you had fun.”

  All of a sudden, Cordelia was annoyed. She just spent days in a forest with a guy who resembled that latest Abercrombie & Fitch catalog cover model! That was the only thing her mom was going to say? Wasn’t she concerned? Didn’t she care?

  But then Cordelia thought about what would have happened if this had been Molly. Her parents wouldn’t have even let her sister go on a trip with her boyfriend to begin with. In fact, they had a lot of rules when it came to Molly. She remembered how her mom had explained it a while back—Molly was a free spirit and needed a little more guidance. As for Cordelia, her parents used to joke that she was the most responsible child, even when she was in the womb. So it made perfect sense that Cordelia was expected to do the right thing, follow the smarter path, avoid risk, and make sensible decisions. And it was the reason why Mrs. Packer probably didn’t think it was necessary to press Cordelia any further about her weekend.

  “Well, lunch will be ready soon,” her mom said as she got out the ingredients for her famous chicken salad.

  “Want to take that shower now?”

  Cordelia ran her fingers through her hair, which felt as if it had been covered in Crisco. A shower was exactly what she needed to stop her mind from buzzing about Molly, her mom, Jacob Stein, Paul, and everything else that was bothering her.

  Several minutes later, Cordelia scrubbed herself furiously with Origins Pomegranate Wash. Not only was her mind still buzzing, but now she was pretty much consumed with thoughts of Jake Stein. No way, no way was she going to spend all that time in a car with him. One of them would surely end up in a body bag. Cordelia also suspected that Jake had ulterior motives behind this favor. He was probably doing it just to see Molly again. Wait, maybe it’s even more than that. Maybe he wants to get back together with her!

  Cordelia rubbed some mint conditioning rinse onto her scalp. If that were true, then her whole family could be doomed. For some unknown reason, Molly had this big soft spot for Jake—she hadn’t stayed friends with any of her exes, except for him. They had lost touch during college, but Molly and Jake had spent a lot of time together at school during senior year, to the point where everyone thought they were still going out. What if Jake professed his undying love for Molly and they got married and moved back into her parents’ place together and ruined every single waking moment of Cordelia’s life?

  She inhaled the fresh scent of her shaving cream and tried to calm down. She was letting her imagination get the best of her. Molly was definitely over Jake. She was seeing a new guy every three weeks and living it up as usual. Actually, now that Cordelia thought about it, what had Molly seen in Jake in the first place? Molly used to claim that he was funnier than Dave Chappelle, but Cordelia had never seen any evidence of that. She just thought he was extremely obnoxious. Cordelia’s mind flashed back to a year ago. Jake had been over for dinner—again—and he’d told everyone about some friend of his who had been suspended for cheating.

  “It was an essay test, for History of Visual Aesthetics,” Jake had reported. “One question: ‘Discuss the impact of Leonardo da Vinci on Western art.’ We had an hour and a half to write and the teacher gave everyone two blue books to write in.”

  “How could anyone cheat on that kind of test?” Mr. Packer had wanted to know.

  “Greg wrote one sentence. ‘And so it is clear that Leonardo da Vinci had a great impact on Western art.’ Then he wrote ‘#2’ on the cover of the blue book. He really believed the teacher would think she’d lost the first one. Personally, I think he should get credit for his creativity.”

  Her parents had laughed, and Molly had practically fallen out of her chair in hysterics. But Cordelia had only been able to choke on her pork chop. Of course, Jake had been sitting next to her and seen she was struggling, so he slapped her hard on the back, which only made things worse.

  Jake Stein. She could see him now, but just barely. He was very nondescript and very blah looking. He was short for a guy—not more than five foot seven. He had shoulder-length hair and was a tad on the scrawny side. Not only did he have a crummy personality, he wasn’t even that cute. Molly must have been going through some emotional or self-esteem crisis to consider dating him.

  After her shower, Cordelia sat down at her desk and considered the situation with a clearer, cleaner body, mind, and soul. She knew her parents wouldn’t force her to accept Jake’s offer of a ride, but she figured they’d feel a lot better if she were traveling with someone they trusted, however misguided their presumptions about Jake might be. She knew her mother was already feeling guilty that she couldn’t drive Cordelia up herself. Hmm. Sitting on a Greyhound bus for twenty and a half hours with two transfers—how grubby would that make her feel? No chance to wash up or change into fresh clothes. Using gas station restrooms, eating sandwiches that came out of machines. None of this was good at all.

  Wait a minute, Cordelia said to herself. Maybe I don’t have to be on the road for that many hours straight with Jake. She could break the trip up over several days. They could spend the nights in separate rooms at nice, respectable motels so that they could have downtime, which might prevent them from killing each other. If she turned up the tunes on her iPod, she wouldn’t have to make much conversation with Jake in the car.

  This line of thought was making the situation seem a little more acceptable. She went to her desk and sat down in front of her PowerBook. She brought up the Google search she had downloaded from her Treo and clicked on the link for a map of the West Coast.

  A wide smile crept across Cordelia’s face. She knew that Yosemite National Park was somewhere between San Diego and Eureka, but she hadn’t realized it was almost exactly the same distance from each of the two cities. It wasn’t in a direct line—actually, it was way off to the east, closer to the Nevada border than the Pacific coast. But so what? She could see Paul! And if her parents were paying for the gas, Jake would just have to deal with going the way she wanted to go.

  Feeling a hundred times better, she went onto MapQuest and began researching. First, she checked the direct distance from San Diego to Eureka. According to the figures that popped up on the screen, it was 766 miles and approximately twelve hours’ driving time. She did a quick calculation. Allowing stops for meals and breaks, she decided it would be more like fifteen hours, maybe more. Then she cleared the fields and put Yosemite into the plan.

  A click brought her eyes to the upper right-hand corner of the screen. There was an instant message from PedroLion.

  PedroLion? She didn’t recognize the screen name. There was a Pedro in her history class, though she couldn’t imagine why he’d be sending her an instant message. Did he have a question about the Magna Carta or something?

  PedroLion: Eureka! Road trip!

  Her eyes narrowed. It could be
only one person.

  CPacker515: Jake?

  PedroLion: Hey, Cordy! What’s up?

  Cordelia swallowed hard. And so it begins….

  CPacker515: I’m on MapQuest, figuring out what to do about my trip.

  PedroLion: Doesn’t surprise me. Are you going to compare MapQuest info with Yahoo! Maps, just to make sure you’re getting the most precise route?

  She had only been chatting with him for mere seconds, and he was already infuriating. How dare he accuse me of being so nitpicky? He’s right, but still!

  CPacker515: Puh-lease. I don’t need to double-check that stuff.

  PedroLion: Yeah, right. You need to TRIPLE-check it.

  CPacker515: Well, if I’m going to be traveling with you, Magellan, maybe I should.

  Ha! Got you there! Cordelia thought as she pounded on the keyboard.

  PedroLion: What do you mean “if”? You have better prospects?

  CPacker515: If you keep it up, I’ll WALK.

  PedroLion: Okay, okay. Seriously, it’ll be fun.

  And I could use the company.

  I’ll bet, Cordelia thought. It’s a wonder this guy has any friends at all.

  CPacker515: Well, I did some light research, and I thought we could break up the trip like so.

  PedroLion: Oh God.

  CPacker515: Relax, it’s not that bad.

  CPacker515: What do you think of this? Day 1: San Diego to Yosemite, 430 miles, 7 hours driving. Day 2: Yosemite. Day 3: Yosemite to Eureka, 484 miles, 8 1/2 hours driving.

  PedroLion: Wait, why are we going to Yosemite?

  Cordelia could feel her blood pressure rising.

  CPacker515: I want to stop there and see my boyfriend, Paul.

  PedroLion: Hahahahahahaha

  CPacker515: What’s so funny?!?!

  PedroLion: Nothing.

  Now she wanted to reach through her screen and strangle him.

  PedroLion: Let’s play it by ear. Peace out.

  Then he signed off, leaving Cordelia to cover her ears as she let out a loud, earth-shattering groan.

  Over the next hour, nothing else existed in Cordelia’s world but hotel websites, reservation forms, tourism board lists, and expense spreadsheets. She was in full OCD mode and determined to turn the stench of this crappy situation into the sweet smell of success. Her mom was so thrilled that she was going to take Jake up on his offer, she gave Cordelia her credit card and told her to book whatever rooms she wanted. This definitely made her mood brighter. Cordelia also worked up a neat itinerary that involved some good beach pit stops in San Luis Obispo and a few other beautiful areas. This would really help her to unwind and keep her mind focused on positive stuff, like her visit with Paul, the class she was going to take in late July, and hell, even getting a chance to hang out with Molly. Everything was starting to look up.

  Speaking of which, Cordelia remembered that she hadn’t listened to the rest of her sister’s voice mail message. Not that she had originally intended to, but hey, maybe Molly was going to say something important like, make sure to bring a deadbolt for your room because I live in a really sketchy part of town and homeless people pace in front of my building all night. But before she could retrieve the message, her Treo vibrated on her desk. She glanced at the caller ID, which read: Molly’s 3rd cell.

  “Hello?”

  Before Molly even spoke, Cordelia could hear her and some other girl laughing. “Hi, Cordy. It’s me.”

  “You sound…busy.”

  “No, we’re just…never mind. Did you get my message earlier?”

  Cordelia recited from memory: “Miniskirt, pink Jimmy Choos, white halter top.”

  “You rock, little sis. What are you going to bring? Oh, wait, I got it. That purple spaghetti strap dress I gave you for your birthday. That’ll totally show off your legs.”

  “But I hardly have any legs. I’m short,” she replied.

  “So is the dress. That’s the point. To make your legs look longer,” Molly said through the other girl’s chatter.

  “I haven’t even thought about it yet.”

  “Well, start thinking,” Molly said sharply. “We’ll be going out a lot.”

  “Molly, I’m taking a course in political science. I’ll have to study.”

  “I know, I know. But you need to have some fun, too, right? Hold on, Cordelia. You’re not going to be boring, are you?”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “Oh, don’t be so touchy,” Molly declared. “I just want us to have some good times this summer, okay? I miss you.”

  Cordelia was taken aback. Was this true? Molly hadn’t said that since she arrived at college, and even then, Cordelia thought that was just the separation anxiety talking.

  “Really?”

  “Uh, of course! How many sisters do I have?”

  “Not counting the sorority ones?” Cordelia joked.

  Molly’s voice wilted a little. “Ha-ha. I can’t wait to hear all these hilarious lines of yours in person.”

  “I’m only kidding. Hey, I promise to equally balance my studying and partying. Sound good?”

  “Sounds perfect,” Molly said sweetly. “I could read some stuff, too, you know. Get a head start on next semester, like you always do.”

  Cordelia smiled. “Great!”

  Maybe this won’t be as bad as I thought. Maybe Molly is finally getting her act together.

  “Oh shit.” Molly gasped.

  “What?”

  “Is today the sixteenth?”

  “Yeah, why?”

  “I was supposed to give the landlord my deposit before the fifteenth.”

  Then again, maybe not.

  “Well, you’d better do it now, before you get evicted,” Cordelia advised.

  “Right, right. I will.” She could hear Molly rummaging around, most likely looking for her misplaced checkbook or a lost pen. “So when are you coming up?”

  Cordelia raised an eyebrow. She was very curious about how her sister was going to react to her news. “First, let me tell you how I’m coming up. You’re not going to believe this. Jacob Stein is giving me a ride.”

  She had to hold the phone away from her ear while Molly shrieked.

  “You’re kidding! Jake’s coming here?”

  Cordelia had a bad feeling about this.

  “Uh, yeah. Mom ran into him and mentioned that I was going to spend the summer with you. He’s going to Seattle to visit some school and he offered to drop me on his way. I don’t know if he’s really going to Seattle or not. He might just be doing this as an excuse to see you.”

  Molly was still causing a ruckus on her end of the line. “Really? You think so?”

  “Maybe. You never know with that guy.” Cordelia paused for a second while her sister let out a series of giggles. “Molly, you sound like you want to see him.”

  “Well, I wouldn’t mind. He’s such a sweetie!”

  “A what-ie?”

  Molly laughed. “I know you guys didn’t hit it off, but he’s really one of the nicest boys I ever dated.”

  This was not what Cordelia had expected to hear. He’s a sweetie? Jake had Molly totally brainwashed.

  “Too bad I lost interest. I mean, he was great, but I needed to be with someone who wasn’t so passive and everything.”

  Oh, for the love of all that’s good and holy.

  “Shit!” Molly shouted again. “Jessica and I were supposed to met Jim on the tennis court twenty minutes ago. Talk later, bye!”

  Cordelia hung up her phone and banged her head against her desk until she got her frustration out, which amounted to one minute, twenty-nine seconds (she timed it on her Swatch). All the reservations were made. Everything was set in place. But Cordelia couldn’t help but feel like she had just signed a contract with the spawn of Satan. She was going to drive to Eureka with Jake Stein and when she finally got there, she’d be spending two months with Molly, who was apparently ten times flightier.

  She missed Paul now more than
ever before, so she grabbed her Treo and sent him a text message.

  COUNTING DOWN THE DAYS. XOXO

  Chapter Three

  Cordelia was fuming. For the zillionth time that Tuesday, she looked at her Swatch. It was almost four o’clock. Four o’clock! She’d been waiting for Jacob Stein since ten that morning, the mutually agreed-upon time of departure.

  Not that this was surprising. Jake’s irresponsible streak had reared its nasty head about a month into his and Molly’s relationship. One night, Jake and Molly had had plans to go to a house party, and Cordelia had asked if they could drop her at Alexis Dunbar’s place. She’d wanted to get there by eight to watch a Practice marathon, and Jake had known that. But once it was time to go, he’d kept dillydallying. He’d chatted with her father about blues guitarists and had gone into the kitchen every five minutes for a cup of her mom’s fresh-brewed Arabica coffee. When they had finally gotten in the car at nine thirty P.M., Jake had had to run back into the house to use the bathroom.

  That kind of thing was typical with Jake, and Cordelia growled at the thought of it. Especially because it was happening once again.

  At eleven this morning, Jake had called to tell her he was having a little car trouble—nothing major, but he had to take it to the garage and would be by to pick her up within the hour. When he didn’t show up at noon, she’d called his cell phone, and Jake had said that he had to go home because he forgot to pack his drumsticks. At one, she’d called again, and his exact words were: “Stop stalking me.” Then he hung up. When she called at three, three fifteen, and three thirty, he didn’t even answer.

  Suddenly, she felt the pulsating buzz of her Treo. Cordelia could barely contain her irritation when she saw Jake’s name appear.

  “Do you have any concept of time?” she said through clenched teeth.

  He didn’t sound the least bit distraught. “About as much as Sir Sandford Fleming did.”