Between Us and the Moon - Rebecca Maizel Page 0,99
candlelight.
“School starts soon,” Tucker says. I’m not surprised this is what he talks about first. I used to think being predictable meant we were perfect for each other. I shrug.
“Sorry again for what happened,” he says. “With Becky. I wanted . . .”
“To tell me?”
“You were always so busy.”
“Please,” I say, and scoff. “You were shady. You could have told me a hundred different times. It would have sucked, but I would have understood.”
He shrugs but doesn’t tell me I’m right.
“What was the phrase you used? I ‘watch the world’?”
I can’t help it. That phrase still burns.
“I never said that.”
I laugh so hard it nearly makes me cough.
“You don’t know half as much about me as you think you do, Tucker. Did you know that I decided not to do Bio Club next year?” I raise my chin in the air.
Only as I say it do I know it’s true. But I know a lot of things are true that I didn’t before.
“And I probably won’t tutor,” I add.
“Why?”
“Because I want to volunteer at Ninigret Observatory. And I think I’m going to take up lifeguarding.”
“Wow, except it’ll be freezing in a couple months.”
“Indoor pools, Tucker. You have, like, zero perspective,” I say and flip my hair over my shoulder in a very Scarlett move. Tucker doesn’t reply. We’re silent a moment and I need to circulate back down to the beach to find Andrew. Though Scarlett is down there.
“I gotta—” I start to say.
Tucker leans forward and interrupts, “Is that . . .”
“What?”
He points. In the center of the tent is the enormous ice sculpture. I saw it, I just didn’t really pay attention at first. Tucker cleans off his glasses to make sure what he’s seeing is real.
“I think it’s a mini re-creation of the Titanic leaving port,” I say.
Under it, in blue lights it says, BON VOYAGE, SCARLETT.
I shake my head and laugh. Tucker starts laughing too. I can’t help it. I laugh because Scarlett defended me. Because I’m in this new dress that’s all mine, and because Nancy has an ice sculpture shaped like a large ship about to sail to its doom. Tucker is laughing so hard he’s crying and wiping his eyes on his jacket sleeve. My stomach clenches, I bend over, unable to stop it. Oh, it hurts. I’m laughing too hard. My face hurts, I massage at my cheeks.
“Everything from the table linens to the waiters’ uniforms is meant to replicate the Titanic,” I say.
“That’s awful!” he cries.
“Isn’t it?”
The brass band plays and I turn, wiping my eyes again. My laughter stills. Sunset has fully fallen over the party, but it is muted behind clouds. The tips of hydrangea flutter. Maybe Nancy will get her wish—the tropical storm will miss us after all.
“I do want to be friends,” Tucker says now that our laughter has faded. I look away from the hydrangea. Tucker’s been watching me.
“One day,” I say. “Just give me time.”
I don’t wait for him to respond; I walk away. I don’t need to get Tucker’s response or his approval. It’s okay that he’s here. I’ve changed and so has he.
So many people are dancing that I have to walk around the perimeter of the backyard. The first whip of wind makes the sides of the tent snap with a loud thwap.
From down the pathway, on the beach, Andrew waves at me. I head toward him. This is it—I draw a deep breath. I will lead him from his friends to somewhere quiet.
Scarlett barrels toward me from the direction of the driveway. Her face is redder than I’ve ever seen it and the wind lifts her hair from her shoulders. Her nostrils flare and she shakes her head. She looks like Mom when she’s really angry.
Scarlett digs her nails around my left shoulder and drags me away to the area underneath the patio stairs.
“Ow!” I say as her fingernails poke into my skin.
We are alone here, even though the party continues on behind us.
“I just heard. Are you crazy?” she whispers.
I stand up tall and turn my nose in the air. I have to rub at my arms and I’m sure she made me bleed or close to it. Fine. I’ll confess. I’ll tell her about the hundreds of outfits of hers I wore this summer.
“Bean. Andrew Davis is too old for you.”
“He’s nineteen.”
I don’t mention that’s it only for a few more weeks.
“God! Don’t you get it?” Scarlett yells, and I take a step back from my sister. “Andy hasn’t