Lisa opened her mouth to respond, but I stormed out of her room before she could see the tears starting to gather at my eyes. I stomped home, went right up to my bedroom and put my stereo on full blast until my father, one floor below me, started banging on the ceiling to turn it down.
Chapter 16
HOME ALONE
I didn’t spend too many Saturday nights at home. I’d originally had tentative plans to attend the homecoming dance that night, but after my fight with Lisa, I wasn’t feeling up to it.
By eight o’clock, Dad had already left the house, taking Bruce to pick up his date on their way to the school. He’d come into my room before leaving, supposedly to check on me, but more to try and convince me to go to the dance. I briefly explained that Lisa and I had gotten in a stupid argument, but I assured him that I was fine and that he shouldn’t cancel poker night just because I was being a big mope. That made him smile before he kissed me and headed out the door.
It was pretty cool to have the house all to myself on a Saturday night. I didn’t quite know what to do with myself, however.
I considered snooping around my father’s closet, but with The Live-Aid memory fresh in my mind, I didn’t have the strength to confront any of my mother’s belongings.
I thought about reading a book, but I’d already read everything in the house. It was early enough that I could have hit the Barnes and Noble at the mall before closing, but Dad had taken the car. Even if Lisa and I weren’t fighting, I couldn’t have asked her to drive me. There was no way she would have missed out on one of the most important nights of our senior year of high school just to cart my ass to the mall.
I’d finally resigned myself to the prospect of watching the movie I’d liberated from work weeks before. Lisa had begged me to bring it home for her but we hadn’t been able to coordinate a two-hour block of time to be in the same room together to watch it. I decided that I’d made every effort to try and find something else to do and screw her anyway I’m not waiting.
I made a huge bowl of popcorn slathered with extra butter and salt, twisted my hair into a knot on my head, threw on some sweats and hit the sofa.
If anyone else had been in the room, I would have probably spent my time watching Pretty Woman by completely tearing it to shreds for being a great, big, steaming pile of crap.
But by myself, I hadn’t realized how mesmerized I’d been by the flipping movie until I was suddenly startled by a tapping noise outside. It had stopped raining hours before and it was still too early for Dad or Bruce to be home, and besides, I would have heard the car pulling into the driveway and the rattle of the garage door opening.
I grabbed the remote and hit mute so I could better listen. Sitting there in the silence of my empty house was pretty spooky. I could actually hear the sound of my own breathing and was acutely aware of my thumping heartbeat.
I sat there for no more than a few seconds, when bam! I heard it again!
That was all the excuse I needed to bolt up the stairs and lock myself in the relative safety of my dark room. I tried peeking outside just as the pattering sound hit again...
...and could just make out the dark, outlined figure of Trip throwing pebbles at Bruce’s window.
I threw open my window and yelled, “You dick! You just scared the hell out of me!”
Trip’s focus shifted from Bruce’s room to mine. “Hey there, Lay-Lay. Whatcha doin’?”
I clicked on my nightstand lamp. “What am I doing? I’m trying not to have a heart attack! What are you doing?”
Trip dropped the handful of pebbles he was still holding into the shrubs and wiped his hands off on his pants. “Hey, did I guess the wrong window? I thought that one was your room.”
“Hey Psycho,” I jeered, “Instead of throwing boulders at my house, why didn’t you just knock on the front door like a normal human?”
That made a wide grin spread across his face before he answered, “Now what would be the fun in that?”
I rolled my eyes and laughed at him. My sight was better adjusting to the dark and I could see that Trip was wearing a pair of khaki slacks and a navy blue sweater. He looked, as usual, incredibly handsome.
“So hey,” he started, “How come you weren’t at the dance?”
I could have given him the whole rundown of my fight with Lisa, but then I’d have to tell him the reason behind it. Instead of getting into all that, I just said, “I wasn’t really into it. Why? Did I miss anything?”
“I’ll say.”
Oooh. Gossip.
“Why? What happened? Trip, spill it!”
He laughed at my inability to control myself and then said, “Well, you weren’t there to accept your crown, for one.”
“My crown?” I asked, incredulously. I mean, there was no way he was saying what I thought he was saying. But then... rationality returned. “You are so full of shit.”
He laughed his ass off at that and said, “Yeah, you’re right. I am. But I am also your homecoming king, so you’d better show a little more respect to me from now on.”
That, at least, was a tad more believable. “You got king? Really?”
He was still grinning as he said, “Nah. Not really. Jesus, Layla, you’re oh-for-two tonight. But hey- on a totally different subject- did you know that the word ‘gullible’ isn’t in the dictionary?”
“Ha. Ha. Ha.”
I was so relieved when it turned out that he was only joking about my winning homecoming. I would have died if it were true. It’s not like I would have been there in person to endure the indignity, but even still, that’s the kind of title that sticks with a person for their whole life, and it just wasn’t really my thing. I’ll never forget how my dad once came home from the office one day, laughing about some poor idiot who’d filled out an application to work there, actually listing “Homecoming Queen” on her resume. God. Can you imagine? Homecoming Queen. It’s just so... perky!
I had a vision of head cheerleader Carolee Simcox, standing up on the stage crying, wearing her sparkly, plastic crown and princess-waving to the audience. “Hey, who really won?” I asked Trip.
“Lisa and Pickford.”
“Wow! No way.”
“Yeah, well, you and I came in a close second. I swear to God about that. I’m not bullshitting you this time.”
“What? Really? That’s weird.” It was kind of mind-boggling to find out that people had lumped Trip and me together on some ballot sheet. It’s not like we were some official couple or anything, despite my wishes to the contrary. I mean, Trip was born to be Prom King, but I couldn’t see how anyone would actually think to write down my name when it came time to submit their vote.
He asked, “What’s so weird about it?” but before I could explain, he got a wicked gleam in his eye and added, “Oh, hey. Lisa gave a speech.”
“Trip, shut up, she did not!”
He must have been putting me on. No one actually speaks after being crowned, for godsakes! Lisa herself had made fun of many a cheesy high school movie for just that very thing. What the hell was she thinking? “Oh, God. I’m so embarrassed for her!”
He laughed. “No, it wasn’t that bad. Just a quick thank you, not much else. It was fine.”
I started to feel kind of sad that I wasn’t there to share in my friend’s big night. “Well, I’m glad she won. I’m sure it means a lot to her. She’s got to be pretty happy right about now.”
Trip stuck his hands in his pockets and tapped his toe at one of the shrubs. “But you wouldn’t have been?”
“What? Happy to win Homecoming Queen?” I laughed. “You’re joking, right? I mean, I’m happy for Lisa and all, but I can’t imagine getting thrilled about something so... superficial.”
That made him stop fidgeting with the landscaping and stand stock still, looking up at me with an expression I can only describe as... amused shock.
He floored me by responding, “You know that’s my favorite thing about you, right?”
I couldn’t breathe. Trip had a favorite thing about me?
Somehow, I managed to squeak out, “What’s that?”
He grinned sheepishly and looked away for a second before raising his head and conceding, “Layla, you are completely different from any other person I’ve ever met in my entire life.”
I’d have been less blown away if a bomb had been detonated right there on my front yard.
I couldn’t speak. I was rendered defenseless, watching him standing there under my window, looking up at me with those beautiful, blue eyes filled with awe and hope as he added softly, “I missed you tonight. The dance wasn’t as much fun without you there. I don’t know. I thought, I mean, maybe I should’ve-”
“Trip?” I didn’t mean to cut him off mid-sentence, but I’d finally found my voice. There was no way I was going to let him say such amazing things to me without us being together in the same room. I took a deep breath and asked, “Do you want to come in?”
It was more of an invitation than a question, and my heart just about slammed into my stomach at having asked it aloud.
I watched as his eyelids relaxed and his mouth curled into that lazy grin of his which never failed to kill me. Then he nodded his head almost imperceptibly as he breathed out one, remarkable, little word.