utterly miserable.
“Jeremy! What are you doing here?”
“I got a job parking cars,” he said.
“Why?”
“I knew you would be here. I wanted to see you,” he told her.
“You did?” She seemed so small and vulnerable just then, and for once she wasn’t trying to be like anything but who she was.
The rest of the table took that as their cue to make a graceful exit.
Eliza stood up. She looked into his eyes and saw how much she’d hurt him.
“I didn’t want you to leave thinking that I didn’t care,” he said.
Her eyes misted with tears. Real tears this time. She wanted to jump into his arms, wipe that awful, wretched look off his face, and tell him that nothing mattered—it didn’t matter that they had been apart for so long—what was important was that he was here now.
So that’s exactly what she did.
In front of Puffy, Demi, Leo, and her two ex-friends, Eliza leapt from her seat and threw herself in his arms.
Caught off guard, Jeremy fell backward, and the two of them tumbled on the grass, hugging and kissing and smiling at each other. Screw the Versace dress—she was with Jeremy.
“Oh my God . . . what the hell! Is that Eliza kissing the valet?” Lindsay asked, an eyebrow raised.
“You know what, he is kind of cute,” Taylor allowed.
And finally they started to see: Eliza knew something they didn’t.
it’s called karma
JACQUI SMILED AT ELIZA AND JEREMY. MARA AND RYAN were cuddling by the pool, and Jacqui thought she would just slip away. All her friends looked pretty busy. She was thrilled for them but a little sad for herself, too. She certainly hadn’t bargained for the kind of summer she had ended up having.
She shook her head at the passed tray of canapés.
But she did help herself to a goody bag at the exit. A crisp white shopping bag emblazoned with the ubiquitous logo contained a white terry cloth robe, terry cloth slippers, and a bottle of Absolut (the party’s corporate sponsor that year).
“Leaving so soon?” A very handsome and very familiar-looking guy stopped her on the way to the gates.
“You look even more beautiful when you aren’t crying.” He smiled. “So I guess your summer ended up getting a lot better?”
It was Nacho Figueroa—the hot Argentinean polo player from the big match!
“Hey! Jacqui, right?” She turned, and standing by the Mister Softee truck parked in the driveway (you never know what the guests will want if they get the munchies) was Eliza’s friend Kit—the nice guy who had given them their party invitations.
“Hi, Kit,” she said, kissing him hello.
Kit beamed. Nacho took a step back, a quizzical look on his face.
She smiled at both of them, but just then her cell phone rang. “Espere um momento,” she told Nacho. “Excuse me,” she told Kit.
* * *
“Pronto?”
“Jacqui, it’s Luke. Your Luca.” He was obviously drunk, but Jacqui wanted to know what this was all about.
“Sí?”
“Someone called my house at three in the morning and my girlfriend—I mean, my ex-girlfriend—she flipped. We broke up, and, well, I miss you, Jac, I really do.”
“Oh, pobre babê,” Jacqui said scathingly.
“And she’s with Leo now, can you believe it?” He was slurring a little. “What is it about that guy? One eye isn’t even quite straight.”
“So what do you say? Me and you? I know you don’t like to be alone,” Luke breathed. “And I’m so lonely.”
Jacqui laughed to herself. So there was justice in this world after all. “That’s a shame, Luca. But nien. Ciao.”
She turned the phone off and turned back to Kit and Nacho. Hmm . . . the rakish polo player or Eliza’s childhood friend?
Jacqui paused for a moment. Isn’t “polo player” just a long way of saying “player”? Nacho seemed nice, but Jacqui was tired of men who played games.
“Drive me home?” she asked, linking an arm around Kit’s. “Ciao ciao, Nacho.”
Kit grinned. Maybe they were wrong. Maybe nice guys did finish first.
it’s the last night of summer, but it’s the first night for other things
A FEW MINUTES AFTER MIDNIGHT MARA CREPT UP THE stairs to their attic bedroom. She found Jacqui asleep in the top bunk.
“Jac? Are you awake?” she asked.
Jacqui raised her head. “Now I am.”
Mara sat on the bed and took off her shoes. When she looked up, Eliza was walking through the door. “Hey.”
She was glad all three of them were together on their last night.
Eliza sparkled in her white dress when she kicked off her shoes. “Help me with this, Mar,” she said as