Invisible(21)
“That looks disgusting.”
“Yeah, doesn’t it. I can hardly wait to eat it,” he said, and she laughed. “So tell me your story,” he said with a huge slice of pizza heading toward his mouth.
“No story,” she said simply. “Four years of high school and here I am.”
“No documentaries, never ran for public office, no national awards, or two years in prison? How did you get in here?” She laughed at the image and shook her head with a mouth full of pizza. “Brothers? Sisters? A boyfriend? Parents you love or hate? Your mother’s a drug dealer and your father’s in rehab?”
“No brothers, sisters, or boyfriend.” She’d never had one but didn’t tell him that. It made her sound like a freak. She’d had a few dates in high school, but no serious romances. “No broken heart, no rehab. My mother was…is…an actress. My father’s a businessman. My parents divorced when I was seven, and my mom moved to L.A. I grew up with my father in New York, and I have a fantastic stepmother, who talked my father into letting me come here. He wanted me to be an accountant or a lawyer.”
“No evil stepmother? Christ, you’re disgustingly normal. No drama there.” There was more drama than she was admitting to, but she didn’t know him well enough to tell him. He was destroying her comfortable position of being invisible. He wanted to see and know everything. “Okay, my turn. A sister, two half-brothers, and two stepbrothers, who are twins. My parents are divorced, but still love each other, even though they’re married to other people. Sometimes we all go on vacation together, which is insane. My mom’s a psychiatrist, my dad runs a newspaper, my stepfather is a novelist, and my stepmother was an artist but is now addicted to plastic surgery. They’re all crazy, and most of the time I love them. No one in jail or rehab yet, but I’m sure we’ll get there. My stepbrothers are only five and still have a long way to go. My whole family thinks it’s funny that I want to be an actor. I grew up in a three-ring circus, but they’re all pretty nice people. My stepmom is a little weird, but my father is happy with her. It’s a wonder he even recognizes her. She gets a new face every year.” Antonia laughed. He seemed surprisingly normal, considering the cast of characters, and by the time he had finished describing them to her, he had eaten his entire pizza. She was still working on hers.
“They sound like a lot of fun. My life was pretty quiet, until my father remarried three years ago. It’s better now.”
“Do you go to see your mom in L.A. a lot?” he asked, curious, and she paused for an instant, and then answered.
“I haven’t seen her since I was seven.”
He didn’t look shocked, just matter of fact. “That’s a long time. Do you talk to her?” She shook her head. “Sounds like a bad divorce.”
“Pretty much. She’s French. They met in Paris, and got married pretty quickly. Not such a great idea. She left to go to Hollywood to make movies.”
“Has she been in anything I’ve seen?” He was a movie buff too, like Antonia.
“Not that I know of.”
He nodded, and changed the subject. “And no boyfriend? That’s hard to believe.”
“Not really. I was working on my grades so I could come here, and I was never one of the cool girls.”
“Have you looked in the mirror lately?” She smiled at the question. “Pretty impressive. You don’t need cool with looks like that. I went out with the same girl for three years in high school. She’s at USC now, at film school.”
“I wanted to go there. My father wouldn’t let me.”
“It’s better here. New York is a blast. I love it.”
“I’ve lived here all my life. I thought L.A. would be cooler, and I thought maybe I’d run into my mom somewhere.” She had never admitted that to anyone else, but he was easy to talk to.
“It’s a big place. My ex and I are still friends, and she has a new boyfriend. We kind of ran out of gas senior year, and once we knew I was coming here, we decided to hang it up and stay friends before we screwed it up long distance. That’s a tough one to pull off. We didn’t want to do that.” It sounded sensible to her too.
They walked back to the dorm after dinner, looking at the people on the street, the noise, the shops, the street vendors, and the crowds jostling one another on the street. They’d had a nice time together.
“I haven’t been uptown yet,” he said.
“That’s where I live. It’s a lot quieter than this. This is more fun.” He left her at the dorm, and said he was going to meet a friend at another dorm, and he thanked her again for coming to the play.
“You were fabulous,” she said again, and went upstairs to do homework. It was Saturday night, and everyone was out, including her roommate, but she had work to do, and wanted to get a good grade. She had enjoyed her evening with Jake. He seemed like he’d make a good friend, and she didn’t think he was pushing for more either. It was just nice having a new friend in an environment as unfamiliar as this. She was sure she’d see him again soon. And with that, she pulled her reading assignment toward her, grabbed her highlighter, and got to work.
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