Alexis and the Missing Ingredient (5 page)

“Ava, what are you the expert on?” I asked lightly.

“Me!” Mia declared, and we all laughed again, but for Katie it was definitely a little forced.

“Well, I am an expert on Korean food, since it's my heritage, and I'm an expert on bookstores. And coffee shops—”

“And hot chocolate!” interrupted Mia, turning to open a door and lead us inside City Bakery.

The cavernous space was dark and industrial-looking, and pretty crowded for a random weekday afternoon. The cases held rich, gooey treats, and most tables along the sides were filled with young, cool-looking people.

“I'll grab a table! Order me the usual and I'll pay you right back!” Mia directed Ava.

“Got it!” agreed Ava, like this was a familiar drill. Ava led me and Katie to the back to order, and she filled us in on the choices.

“We used to always come here after school on Mondays to start off the week on the right foot. Mia used to get just regular hot chocolate—oh,
you'll need to add some sugar to it, because it's pretty strong—and then one day the cute guy who knew us by that point basically forced her to try the Mexican hot chocolate. It's a little spicy, a little cinnamony, and it has a kick. Well, that girl has never looked back. No more Swiss Miss for her! Hey, Hector!”

The order taker knew Ava, and she said, “Guess what? Mia's here!” Hector gave her a free cookie to bring to Mia and made Ava promise to have Mia come back to say hi. Ava introduced me and Katie, saying, “These are my friends from out of town. Make sure their hot chocolates are off the chart!” Hector promised he would. I felt all cozy with Ava introducing me as her friend. It felt good to have this little circle of Mia being my friend, Ava being her friend, and now Ava being my friend. I couldn't tell if Katie liked it or not, though, because she was busy scrutinizing all the baked goods.

“I just can't believe the variety!” said Katie, astounded.

I was shocked by the prices. “Their profit margin must be huge!” I marveled as we snaked through the line and waited for our order to be ready.

“I know, right?” Ava said. “It's crazy. Places like this are a treat, though. You couldn't come every
day. There are lots of treat places in the city and lots of cheap places. You just have to know when to splurge. Also, people tend to make more money in New York City than in other places, so they spend more. It does kind of balance out.”

“Good point,” I said. “I love economics.”

“Oh! Me too!” agreed Ava with an excited smile, and we started talking about stuff we knew about business and pricing and trade.

Katie listened in silence as we chatted. I saw her look away toward Mia, who was on the phone—probably with her mom or dad—and then back at us. I tried to include her by explaining what we were talking about, but she didn't really get it.

“Anyway . . . ,” I said, trying to wrap it up so we could include Katie in our conversation, but Ava kept right on chatting; she obviously didn't meet many other kids who were interested in economics. Luckily, Hector returned with our hot chocolates and churros, and we went to pay. I was truly shocked by the total, but Ava promised me I'd get what I had paid for, and she was right. The cocoa, served in little white bowls, was thick and rich (could they have used hot cream instead of milk?), and the chocolate was intense. I did end up adding a little extra sugar, but the big rectangular
marshmallow they gave me made a delicious sugary life raft floating on top. The crunchy, cinnamony churro was delicious dipped in the hot liquid. I had such a major sugar-and-caffeine rush when I was finished that I didn't think I'd even be
hungry
by dinnertime, never mind worrying about sushi!

Mia and Ava caught up while Katie and I people watched and ate mostly in silence.

“We could own a place like this one day!” I said to Katie.

“Yeah.” She nodded. “But not here.”

“No,” I agreed.

“I don't really like the city that much,” she whispered. “It's kind of . . . intimidating.”

“Yeah, it's a lot to handle,” I admitted. “I can't believe Mia lived here.”

Katie nodded again.

“What are you two whispering about?” interrupted Mia.

“Oh, we're not really whispering,” I said. “We're just saying we can't even imagine what it would be like to live in New York City. It's overwhelming!”

Mia and Ava exchanged a proud look. “Well, people are born New Yorkers. Not necessarily in New York, but the ones born elsewhere find their way here. That's what my mom says.”

“I can't imagine living anywhere else,” said Ava. “I would not want to.”

Mia bristled a little. “Not everyone has a choice,” she said bitterly.

Ava looked instantly contrite. “I'm sorry, Mia! I know. I know.” She patted Mia's hand. “Now go say hi to Hector, so we can get out of here.”

Mia agreed and went to thank Hector for her freebie.

Ava turned to us quickly and asked, “How is she doing? Really?”

Katie and I were confused for a minute. “She's fine,” I said. “Why?”

“No, I mean”—Ava bit her lip—“she's kind of a fish out of water there, right?”

“Not really,” said Katie.

“It's not
Little House on the Prairie
!” I cried.

Ava laughed. “No, but Maple Grove
is
different. A lot . . . slower. You have less independence. You know.” She shrugged. I thought about us walking around the city. Even Mia's mom didn't let her go to the mall alone.

“She's fine. She's doing great, actually,” said Katie proudly. “We have our cupcake business. Then she tried out for the chorus, and she joined the newspaper. . . .”

“Really?” Ava looked surprised. “Wait. Wow. I didn't know all this, besides the cupcakes, obviously.”

“I'm sure she meant to tell you . . . ,” I said, not wanting Ava to feel left out. “You know how it is . . . when someone's out of your day-to-day life, you just forget—”

“We are still in each other's lives every day,” said Ava firmly. “We text
every
.
Day
.”

“Oh. Sorry. Okay. Well . . .” I didn't know what to say, and luckily, Mia returned.

“You didn't tell me you'd joined the newspaper!” said Ava a little accusingly as we all stood and gathered our things to leave.

“I didn't? Oh! Silly me! I thought I had!” said Mia.

“So tell me now!” They linked arms, and Mia chatted and chatted as Katie and I followed behind, careful not to stare, careful to look both ways, and careful to walk as quickly as the two native New Yorkers. Katie and I didn't always agree on everything, but in this case we did—we both wanted to fit in!

W
e decided to skip our earlier plans and head directly back to Mia's apartment since Ava needed to borrow some clothes for our dinner out. Back at the apartment, we all piled into Mia's Paris-themed bedroom, which is pink and black and very cute. She has two beds, and her dad had left two air mattresses in bags for us to blow up, and two sets of cute sheets. We'd have to do that right before we left for dinner, though, or the mattresses would take up the whole room. Her room in Maple Grove is about four times bigger than the one in the city.

“I call sleeping in a bed!” cried Ava upon seeing the air mattresses. She flopped across Mia's extra bed and wiggled her legs in the air.

Katie and I looked at each other and shrugged.

“I don't mind an air mattress,” I said.

“I don't think I do either. Should I?” asked Katie, smiling.

“I don't know.
Maybe it's a little countryish to sleep on an air mattress,
” I whispered as Ava and Mia began to unpack Mia's clothes.

Katie giggled and so did I. I didn't want to gang up or continue to draw lines within the group, but Katie and I did need to stick together.

“What are you two giggling about over there?” asked Mia.

“Nothing!” we said in unison, and laughed again.

I went to put the pastries for Mr. Cruz in the shiny black-and-silver kitchen and realized I still had the Soapy Chic hand creams in there. I took them out and held them in my hand. Should I just give them out now and give Emma's to Ava? Or would that be disloyal? Hefting them, I thought for a minute. Hmm. Emma would love it. I decided to wait.
I'll just save them for another time,
I figured, and returned to Mia's room to put them back in my bag. The other three girls were looking for an outfit for Ava to wear out to dinner.

“Hey, I have some stuff too, Ava. You're welcome to it,” I offered. I knew I'd feel discombobulated
if I arrived at a sleepover without any clothes. I unzipped my bag and began laying out the clothes I'd brought.

Ava came and looked them over. “Oh, that's okay, Alexis. I think I'll just borrow some stuff of Mia's,” she said. “Thank you, though.”

“What about this?” I asked, and I lifted up a navy turtleneck with thin, white, horizontal stripes on it. “This would look so cute on you!”

Ava scrutinized it and then shook her head. “Thanks. I'm okay. Really.”

I put it back into my bag and shrugged. “Okay,” I said.

Ava opened Mia's closet and started flipping through the hangers. “Where's that really cute gray dress of yours? The one with the purple trim?”

“It's at home,” Mia apologized. “Sorry.”

“Hmm. What about the neon-yellow jeans?” asked Ava.

“Also at home.” Mia shrugged.

“By the way, ‘
home
'?” said Ava indignantly. “I thought
this
was home!”

Mia laughed uneasily. “Yeah. My other home. I have two homes.”

Katie and I exchanged a glance. It would be hard to be in Mia's situation.

“What should I wear?” Ava asked Mia.

Mia tipped her head to the side. “Well . . . I thought Alexis's turtleneck was cute. Kind of Parisian; you know, the stripes. With”—she jumped off her bed and pulled a pair of jeans from a shelf in the closet—“here. These are too small for me. You could fit into them for sure, and maybe do a big cuff at the bottom to turn them into capris. Then we'll add a jacket and maybe even a beret. Very chic. Very SoHo.”

Ava squinted at my turtleneck again. I wasn't about to lift it up and offer it to her after she'd just rejected it. She could go get it herself.

“Well . . .”

I stayed totally neutral, sitting on the floor by my bag. I didn't care for my taste in clothes being evaluated a second time.

“Fine,” said Ava.

“Fine”?

Katie was laying out her outfit now—a cute flouncy skirt, a shiny top, and ballerina flats.

“Pretty!” I said, and Katie smiled.

Ava and Mia came over. “I'd maybe tone it down a little,” Ava suggested. “This place is stylish, but it's laid-back. Like, exposed brick walls and stuff. Plus, downtown is always way less dressy than uptown.”

Katie's face reddened a little. “Oh,” she said. “I thought it was supposed to be nice.”

Mia looked like she felt bad and stepped in to soothe Katie's feelings. “No, it is nice. It's . . . The food is incredible, it's impossible to get a table, the people who work there are really helpful, and all the food critics eat there. It's a really nice restaurant. It's just . . . not dressy, you know? It's all about the food, and it's sort of a casual look, otherwise.”

“Okay,” said Katie. “So what should I wear?”

Mia looked into Katie's bag. “Well, this would be good!” She pulled out jeans and held them up against the shiny blouse. “Or this . . .” She held up a white T-shirt against the skirt. “Just go high-low, you know? Top fancy, bottom casual, or vice versa. It's all about the mix.”

Katie breathed a sigh of relief. “Okay. So you think I'm okay?”

“More than okay,” reassured Mia.

“And wait till you try the food!” said Ava. “They have the best sashimi . . . and there's shabu-shabu.”

“No way! Shabu-shabu! You didn't tell me that, Mia!” Katie exclaimed.

Mia laughed. “That's 'cause I never get it. I'm always too stuffed with sashimi.”

Huh?

I had no idea what these people were talking about. They could have been speaking Japanese for all I understood. (Actually, they basically
were
speaking Japanese.) But Katie is a major foodie who wants to be a chef and has already gone to cooking camp. She knows all about Japanese food and will try anything, anyway. I'm a little more conservative in my tastes, and I was too embarrassed to ask what on Earth they were talking about.

“Well, we'll all need to save room for the surprise Mia and I have planned for after,” said Katie.

Just like I did, Ava asked, “What is it?” Katie laughed. “We can't tell you, silly, 'cause then it won't be a surprise.”