All the Ugly and Wonderful Things(92)

“Not here,” she finally said.

“Too late. I already told him you were here.”

I stood there, enjoying the panicked look on her face, until I really thought about Wavy for a minute. Kellen was serving a ten-year sentence. What was she going to do—wait for him? He was never going to be not too old for her, and now he was a convicted felon. She needed to move on with her life.

“What could it hurt to talk to Joshua?” I said. “He’s nice. He’s funny. Plus, he’s gorgeous. Seriously, have you looked at him? He’s like a pre-med Adonis.”

Wavy made the face that meant, “Do you know what it’s like being me?” I honestly didn’t want to know, because she was pretty f*cked up. I liked to play at tragedy, but she drank it out of her baby bottle.

“Just go talk to him,” I said. “I’ll save you if it gets too awkward.”

Wavy stood up, and I thought she was going out to the living room. Instead, she walked over and shut her bedroom door in my face.





6

WAVY

I closed the door, but Renee opened it back up. We glared at each other until she said, “You’re a coward, Wavonna Lee Quinn.”

I didn’t fall for that trick in sixth grade. I wasn’t going to now. I flipped Renee off and tried to close the door, but she held her ground.

“Pot calling kettle,” I said.

“That is such bullshit. Show me one time I was a coward.”

Renee thought recklessness was the same thing as bravery. I stepped past her into the hall and walked toward the kitchen. She came after me.

In the front room, we passed Joshua, who looked confused. Not a Kellen kind of confused, where he always worried he’d misunderstood or done or said something wrong. Joshua thought someone else had made a mistake.

I stopped in front of the refrigerator and Renee was under such a head of steam that she bumped into my back. At the party, she had written Darrin’s phone number on a napkin and said, “Yeah, I’d love to go out with you.” The napkin was still stuck to the fridge. She hadn’t called him. He wasn’t her type. Not good-looking enough and probably too nice to break her heart.

“Are you seriously going to wait for a guy you haven’t seen since you were fourteen? How do you know he even still wants you?” she said.

I jerked Darrin’s number off the fridge, sending the magnet flying. When I pinned the napkin to Renee’s chest with my forefinger, she made a surprised little O with her mouth.

“Coward,” I said.

She smirked.

“Tell you what. I’ll call him after you talk to Joshua. And you have to try, Wavy. You can’t sit there like a stone until he gives up. You have to try or it doesn’t count.” Renee knew me. When I let go of the napkin, she stuck it back on the fridge.

I walked into the living room, feeling nauseated. Not because I was nervous about talking to Joshua, but because my stomach was full of the poison of Renee saying, “How do you know he even still wants you?” How did I know?

“Is something wrong?” Joshua stood up from the couch.

“No.” I took a deep breath and sat down on one end of the couch. Joshua sat down in the middle. Closer than I liked.

“I was in the neighborhood and thought I’d drop by, since I didn’t have your phone number,” he said.

“Hey, I’m gonna go downstairs and get the mail,” Renee said. On her way to the front door, she gave me a warning look.

“So, Wavy. I think your name is so cool. Kind of hippy, but not in a goofy way. Not like Moon Unit,” Joshua said, once we were alone.

What was I supposed to say to that? I’m glad you like my name. The man I love gave it to me. That probably wasn’t what Renee meant when she said I had to try. That was me being impossible. Aunt Brenda said that about me. You’re impossible! Most days I was impossible. Like a unicorn.

“Short for Wavonna,” I said.

“Really? I never met anyone with either of those names. So that’s pretty cool. I mean, I have a pretty common name, so it’s neat to meet people who have unusual names.”

Joshua’s teeth were perfect. He must have had braces. Renee talked about him like he was a statue. David standing naked in a museum in Italy. I thought he was more like a mannequin in a department store. He smelled like a mannequin, too. Soap, deodorant, cologne, mouthwash. How was I supposed to tell what he smelled like under all of that?

“So, what’s your major?” he said.

“Astrophysics.” I didn’t want him to panic, but as soon as I said it, his eyes got bigger.

“Oh, um, wow. So, uh, what do you do with a degree in astrophysics?”

“Become an astrophysicist.”

Joshua stared at me. I was being impossible again, saying things he didn’t know how to respond to. Serial conversation killer, Renee called me.

When she came back with the mail, I expected her to give me an accusatory look, since Joshua and I were sitting there in silence. Instead, she slammed the front door and practically ran across the room to the kitchen.

“Wavy, will you come in here?” she called.





7

RENEE

I went down to get the mail to give Joshua and Wavy a chance to talk in private. She did need to get on with her life. Then I saw what was in the mailbox: a pizza coupon flier and one of those familiar, heartbreaking envelopes. A fancy envelope, addressed to Jesse Joe Barfoot, Jr. Inmate #451197. Stamped UNAUTHORIZED CORRESPONDENCE in big red letters. Except this one wasn’t. This envelope had a big red stamp that said RELEASED.