The Truth About Keeping Secrets(35)

Her: what do you feeeeel like for tonight? pizza??

Me: Yeah sounds good. Pepperoni pls.

Her: always OH and i think miles is gonna come if that’s o.k.!!!!

Me: Will he bring a personality

Me: ;)

Her: har de har har

I was almost looking forward to the festivities; our ritual, if nothing else, was something familiar. Something that bridged the gap between the old world and the new one. Ryan Seacrest still looked pretty much the same, and Olivia’s house still looked pretty much the same, and with everything else being equal I could pretend that Dad was just inside.

That’s when June called.

This was unusual. Feeling extremely creepy – wondering if I had some sort of masturbatory wish-granting powers – I transferred my phone to my left hand just in case she was able to sense what I’d be doing with my right and answered on the fourth ring. ‘Hey, June,’ I sang to the tune of ‘Hey, Jude’. I was cooler over the phone.

‘Oh yes, serenade me.’

I laughed; hearing her voice calmed something in me that I hadn’t realized was uneasy.

‘So, question for you: what are you up to this evening?’

‘Oh, uh, nothing.’ Liar. ‘Not really. Me and Olivia were just gonna, uh, hang around. Why? What’s up?’

‘Well, I don’t wanna steal you from her or anything.’

‘No, it’s OK.’ More than OK. Steal me. Take me away.

‘I was going to ask if you wanted to go to a party and grab a coffee. Not, like, in that order.’

My voice, evidently, had decided its services were no longer required.

‘OK, my fault. Context,’ June replied to my silence. ‘Heath throws this big New Year’s party every year, and so I was wondering if you wanted to come. Oh, and since I was gonna pick you up I thought we could grab a coffee before. I guess? Do people get late afternoon coffee? We can. I do. Anyways. Offer’s on the table.’

‘I mean, yeah,’ I said, worried my inexperience was oozing through the receiver. ‘Yeah. Sounds fun.’

I sensed June raising an eyebrow. ‘You don’t sound convinced.’

‘What? No. No, I’d love to come, it’s just, I haven’t really been to many party-parties.’

‘That’s OK. I can show you the ropes.’

‘OK. OK. When? Now?’

‘Whoa! Eager! I appreciate your enthusiasm. I can pick you up around five? Stuff at Heath’s won’t start until later, but, you know.’

‘OK. Yeah, OK, cool. Nice.’

‘Do you have any other words of affirmation you’d like to share with the audience?’

My cheeks went red hot. ‘Positively.’

June laughed, and all of me lit up. ‘Oh, Whitaker. You goon. See you in a bit.’

‘’Kay. Bye.’

I hung up, tossed my phone on the floor and flopped on to my bed.

This was a wonderful turn of events.

There was only one problem: Olivia. June probably wouldn’t have minded her tagging along. But there was one thought sort of fizzing around near the back of my skull, in the place reserved for worst and most wicked of the lot: that maybe I didn’t want her to come after all.

I didn’t think of myself as that much of an ass, so I called her.

‘Hellooo,’ Olivia said à la Dory from Finding Nemo. ‘What’s up?’

‘Hey, so, June just called me.’

She gasped in a way that was so fucking annoying I wanted to scream. ‘Interesting. Do tell.’

‘Heath has this party tonight, I guess –’

‘I’ve heard about that! Do you remember when Alice Hannigan got pregnant? Pretty sure that’s where the baby was conceived.’

‘Oh, fantastic. Listen – June asked me if I wanted to come.’

‘Oh.’

‘Yeah.’

‘Does that mean you’re, you’re going? To the thing? That’s what you’re saying. Right?’

‘Well, yeah. I wanted to. But you could come with me if you want.’

‘Eh. I don’t think so. Miles is coming and I don’t really think that’s our kind of thing.’

‘OK. I mean, if you wanted, I don’t have to stay all the way until midnight. You know? I could still come to yours. Just later.’

Olivia was quiet for a moment. ‘Before midnight, though?’

‘Yeah. Yeah, for sure. Is that OK?’

‘Yeah, that’s OK. I’ll see you then. Ugh,’ she said, ‘my little girl is growing up.’

June pulled into the driveway one minute early. Everything was as if she were just picking me up for school, but today, I figured, was different; today, anything could happen, and something about that made my brainstem sizzle.

‘Happy New Year!’ June seemed hyper; she hummed along to the Bombay Bicycle Club song that played over the speakers. Something about her sparkled; she wore dark red lipstick and thin eyeliner and a beanie that made her hair look even bigger than normal because of how it protruded from underneath.

‘You’re in a good mood.’

‘What? I was excited to see you.’

My skin tingled.

She kept eye contact while putting the car in reverse, a mischievous sort of smirk on her face, then broke it to check her blind spot. ‘That’s the part where you’re supposed to say that you were excited to see me too.’