The Girl Who Fell(42)
Chapter 14
Alec has been slammed with hockey practice and homework all week, but he’s found time to call every night to wish me sweet dreams. Even sweeter is the way he’s managed to leave me tiny gifts, despite his grueling schedule. A pyramid of Hershey’s Kisses on the seat of my car, an origami bird left at my front step. I didn’t tell him how I crushed it during my rush out the door that morning.
It’s crazy how badly I’m dying to see him. And awful how much I wish I hadn’t made plans for a movie night with Lizzie.
Now Lizzie lazes on my bed, waiting for me to pack clothes for a sleepover. She taps her finger against the maroon cover of the thick Boston College catalog. “I don’t see the fascination with this place.”
I pull on a shirt and my sneaky brain reminds me how Alec watched me slip out of my bra when I was standing almost in this exact spot. And how I liked it. More than a little.
“Earth to Zee.”
I’m pulled back to the now. “What’s up?”
“Boston College. It’s so . . . boxy.”
“Boxy?” I snort.
“Yeah, the buildings are all square and institutional.” She shudders like she’s physically offended. “It’s wicked confining. I mean, how’s college any different than Suckbury?”
I move to the side of the bed and wrench the brochure from her hands. “You are under no obligation to visit me in my boxy dorm room at my fine, boxy establishment of higher learning. Oh, and when I’m summering in Hyannis Port with the Kennedys you shouldn’t feel obligated to visit me there, either.”
“Oh, I’m coming to the Kennedy Compound. That place is scandal central. I’d write an exposé that would bust my career wide open.”
“Rise to fame at the expense of others?”
“Name me a journalist who’s done it any other way.” Lizzie snickers and goes to my bureau, paints one eyelid with a deep shade of purple I didn’t know I had. “I assume you haven’t heard yet.”
I shake my head. “You? Any news about the internship?”
“Nada.”
“So what’s the plan if you don’t get in?” Lizzie asks, dabbing more color onto the applicator. “What’s your Plan B?”
I swallow. Hard. Dad always said the way to reach your goals was to have a Plan A and only a Plan A. Plan Bs are just a way to keep you from attaining Plan A. I’ve never had another plan other than studying at Boston College’s Morrissey College of Arts & Sciences. Living in one of America’s oldest cities. On my own. That’s what all the studying and good grades have been for. I can’t imagine my life taking an alternate course. A not-so-small part of me collapses into that raw vulnerability.
“I’ll apply to a bunch of places, just in case.” My words fall flat and unconvincing.
I wriggle on my favorite jeans and watch Lizzie’s reflection in the mirror, how suspicion draws over her features. Before she can call me out, though, my phone rings with Carly Rae Jepsen’s “Call Me Maybe.” Lizzie plunks down onto my bed, picks up Baba and pulls at the nubby balls of his remaining fur.
Hey, I just met you and this is crazy, but here’s my number so call me may— I dig my phone out of my bag, see HOCKEY BOY pulse on my screen and press accept. Lizzie grins at her latest handiwork.
“Hello?”
“Hello, Zephyr actually. You miss me?”
“Who is this?” I bite my lip, smiling.
Alec laughs softly. “I need to see you tonight.”
I blush. My entire body tingles. I look at Lizzie and mouth, It’s Alec.
“Yeah, got that.”
“You with someone?” he asks.
“No one special.” I smirk at Lizzie and she rolls her eyes.
“So, tonight?”
“I told you we’re having a girls’ night.”
“I need to see you. I’ll die.”
“Dramatic much?”
Alec laughs. “Just for a few minutes. Please? I’m at that Waxman kid’s house.”
I hear a whoosh of noise. “Tomorrow,” I whisper. “Promise.”
“Look, a bunch of people just stormed the room I’m in. It’s kind of hard to hear. Come see me. Just for one kiss.”
What can that hurt? “Just one.”
“Can’t wait.” I hear the smile in his voice. “Wear something sexy.”
“See you soon.” I flick off my phone and beg Lizzie with my eyes.
She huffs. “Fine. We can stop by and see him.”
My body zings with an electrical current. I never imagined I’d be this girl.
I shake off my jeans and trade them for a skirt and pair of knee-high boots.