Elodie and Heloise (17 page)

“Why didn’t you at least try to keep in contact with me though? Do you know how much I hurt when you moved away? How I wished you would call me, write to me, anything at all? And I know I could’ve asked to keep in contact too, but I was way too shy to do it. And after you left, I’d never hurt so much before in my life and.....”

“And you think it was any easier for me?” he flustered. “I didn’t want us to stop being friends any more than you did. But I was also a super shy kid who was experiencing his first crush and had no clue what to do about it. I’m sorry for not trying to keep in contact. I never forgot about you though. Never in seven years for even a moment. When my parents told me that we were moving back here so they could retire, I was ecstatic. I wasn’t sure if you were still living here, but then I saw you last week and..... it all came back to me. Seeing you again, even more beautiful than how I remembered you..... But now.....”

Throughout the first part of his confession, he was clearly very emotional as he seemed to be letting go of some very deep feelings that had not been allowed to surface until that moment. Then as he finished his thoughts, the friendly face she was so accustomed to seeing had turned into something she didn’t even recognize anymore. It made Elodie very uneasy. 

“What about now? How do you feel about me now?”

He fixed his eyes on her with an intense gaze that Elodie had never seen from him before. At last, he whispered, “I’m not so sure, Elodie.”

For the first time that evening, they fell silent. Duncan and Elodie finished their slices of pizza without saying another word to one another. They consumed the entire rest of their eight-slice pizza, with only bits of crust and grease left behind on their plates.

“Will that be all for you?” their waitress asked when she came by their table and saw the empty plates and pizza pan.

“Just the check please,” Duncan replied as Elodie gnawed on the last of her pizza crust. The waitress reached into her apron and handed them her handwritten check. He muttered a thanks to her and then stood up to go to the counter to pay, without even looking at Elodie.

She wasn’t sure what she should do. All she knew was that she felt like she had blown it completely with Duncan, her first crush and the only guy who had ever been attracted to her for who she really was. She began feeling a little sick to her stomach. When he came back to the table, she stammered, “You know what? I just want to go home, if you don’t mind. Let’s just skip the movie.”

“Sure. I don’t think I’m in the mood for a movie anyway.” He still didn’t look at her, which only made Elodie feel more and more sick. 

It was still pouring down rain when they left the restaurant. The rain pounded harder than ever as they got into the car. Duncan quickly turned the key in the lock and drove her across town to her home. They still hadn’t said anything to each other and Elodie was getting more and more uncomfortable with every passing moment. As he stopped the car in front of her house, Duncan lifted the emergency brake and turned off the car. He sighed and rested his head on his hands, looking out of the car window to his left and still not looking at Elodie.

“Please look at me, Duncan. I’m right here, talk to me.”

“You’re not the girl I thought you were. I know everyone has a right to change, and we haven’t seen each other in so long that it was bound to happen, but you’re not even the same person. The Elodie that I liked so much was not like this.” He turned and faced Elodie, his voice breaking and a pleading look in his eyes. “Someone who can’t even be true to who she really is, who has to step on other people to get ahead.... That’s not someone I want to be around. I’m sorry.”

He turned away again, leaving Elodie with her thoughts. Her head reeling and her stomach churning with nausea that grew worse by the minute, she put her hand on the car door handle and got out of the car. As she stood, she could feel her knees trembling and all she could do was shut the door behind her and try to make her way up the front steps in the heavy rain. She didn’t even look behind her to see if he was watching her. She was sure that he wasn’t.

Only when she got inside did she hear the sound of his car start up and then drive away, the sound of his car engine fading in the distance. She threw herself against the door and started bawling, not even realizing when her mother came over to hold her. Feeling her mother’s arms around her made Elodie gush about everything that had happened that night.

“I blew it, Mom. I blew it with him. He doesn’t want to be with me. I blew it.”

Shannon whispered soothing hushing sounds in her daughter’s ears, but it only made it worse. Everything that Elodie had worked for was just superficial. She’d lost the only guy that she really cared about. And he wasn’t coming back.

After she had calmed down, later that evening, Elodie took to her guitar, strumming to get her mind off of what had happened with Duncan. It wasn’t working. Not when most of her recent songs had been written about him. Suddenly, she heard the familiar tone of her cell phone ringing on the desk as her mother typed away on her laptop. It was a number that she didn’t recognize but was in the same area code. Her heart leapt with the fleeting thought that it might be Duncan, but after this evening, that was highly doubtful.

“Hello?” she answered.

“Hey. Elodie.”

Her heart immediately stopped. Was this who she thought it was?

“Who is this?” she looked frantically around.

“Elodie, it’s me. Quentin Rice.”

What the.....?

There she stood in the middle of the study room, her cell phone to her ear, absolutely stunned. After what he put her through earlier this year, why was he randomly calling her? And why did he even still have her number in the first place?

But she needed to keep her cool. "Why are you calling me?”

“I have something I need to ask you. I know we... really haven’t talked a lot in the last few months.... I was wondering if you... if you would like to go to the prom with me.”

Elodie put her hand over her open mouth. There was both excitement and anger as she stood there realizing what was going on. After a few moments of silence, Quentin asked if she was still there.

Keep your cool. “Why are you asking me?”

"Because I still have some feelings for you. I was such a jerk to you, leading you on when I was going out with Veronica. I shouldn’t have done that to you. And I want to make it up to you.”

“You realize the crap you put me through a few months ago, right? Or have you completely forgotten? Because you see, I don’t forget very easily. And what you did really hurt me!” She hissed angrily into the phone, feeling pent-up rage finally coming out. “You have any idea what it was like for me to see you with another girl on your arm? And how much I wanted that to be me? And you LIED. You LIED to me!” Her face flushed in anger, sweat pouring down her face.

“Elodie, I’m sorry about the way I treated you. I really am. It’s just....I would be so happy to take you to the prom," Quentin said with a slight quiver. Elodie had never heard someone so nervous. "I was an ass, and I admit it. I shouldn't have treated you the way I did. And I can't explain it.... I really like you, I really do, ever since we first met, and you're... My god you're so beautiful and....."

Elodie heaved a sigh and stared off into the distance. The one person she would have wanted to share such an occasion with wasn’t talking to her and probably wouldn’t ever again. And it was expected of her to attend the prom, especially with someone as attractive as Quentin.

“Fine... I’ll go with you.”

She could hear the elation in Quentin's voice, even though he was trying hard to not sound ecstatic. "Th-that's great! Beautiful, yes! I'll come get you at 5:30?" There was such an urgency to his words that irritated Elodie, but she had to play along.

"5:30 works for me," Elodie replied. 

With that, she ended the call and set the phone down on the desk. Her mother who had been typing away as usual had overheard the conversation and turned to face her. “Was that who I think it was?”

“If you’re thinking Quentin, then yes.” 

“Why? Why are you choosing to go back to the very person that hurt you? Why do you do this to yourself, Elodie? I have never seen you cry as much as you did when you came through that door this evening. You’ve brought a lot of boys through this house, but I’ve never seen you as hurt over any of them as you were about Duncan. And all Quentin did was string you along. He’s not good for you....”

“Because it is expected of me, Mom! I’m the popular girl. I have to go to the prom! All of my other friends are! And Quentin is popular too so if he asks me, I have to go. Do I wish I could be going with Duncan instead? Yes, more than you know. But he’s not coming back.”

“Can you really blame him? Look at what you had to do to become popular. I don’t even want to be around you sometimes.”

“Please just leave me alone.” 

With that, Elodie stomped out of the room and ran to the bathroom, where the bathroom fan masked the sounds of her sobs.  

The next morning was just like any other in the DeGarmo house. Francis had already been at work for a few hours so he was not home for the day, while Shannon was slowly getting up to work on her new novel, puttering around in the bathroom as the girls ate their breakfast. In her usual way, Heloise slowly ate her cereal and went over in her head all the homework she’d done to make sure she’d completed all her work ahead of time. 

About ten minutes before her usual walk to school, Elodie came stumbling out of her bedroom, looking completely beat and her hair looking like a few rats had nested in her hair overnight.  She may have been dressed for school, but her face, usually hidden behind layers of mascara and blush, was not even close to ready. Heloise had woken up several times during the night to the sound of her sister turning in her bunk bed and then loudly sighing as if she was trying to get her sister’s attention on the bottom bunk. It didn’t work. Instead, Heloise turned over and went back to sleep, not bothering herself with her sister’s problems.

Besides, she had other issues to deal with. Namely that it was a month away from the prom and she still didn’t have a dress to wear to the event. Kyle had already asked her what color her dress was so he would know what kind of corsage to give to her, and she didn’t have the faintest idea what to tell him. 

Heloise just hadn’t been thinking about such things lately. These days, she was more concerned with her future, more specifically how she was going to go about taking classes in something that still interested her, but wasn’t truly her passion. Heloise was already set to attend Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond that fall to study physics, and she knew she couldn’t change her mind so late in the game to go someplace else.

She then had an idea. She quickly ate the rest of her cereal and went over to her bedroom to look at something on her computer. Heloise opened the web browser and pulled up the VCU website. What if they have a culinary degree? I could just switch my major and that would be that!

Unfortunately, there was no such program to be found. She combed through every part of their website and found nothing for a culinary arts program at VCU. Her heart sank into her stomach and the excited hope that she had was dashed. She leaned back against her chair and gazed into the distance, ruminating on what she had just discovered.

I’ll just stick with my original plan then. It’s too late to change. Besides, physics will be far more profitable than cooking, even if cooking is really what makes me happy. I can’t change. It’s too late.

Heloise’s thoughts were interrupted by a knock at the bedroom door. Shannon came in and told Heloise it was time to get ready for school.

“Sure, I’ll be right there,” was all she replied. With a heavy heart, Heloise finally got up from her chair and went over to her backpack. It’s too late to change. Just remember that.

Heloise set out that afternoon after school in one of the the family cars for the local Shady Valley Mall, a small regional mall located just outside of town with no more than 300,000 square feet of retail. Despite its smaller size, the mall was just large enough to have a good variety of stores for the region, complete with Belk and Dillard's as the anchor stores and a center court with the usual fast food options for hungry customers. It was the only large retail center for miles around and had started as an open-air shopping center before being enclosed sometime in the 60s. Since then, it had consistent, brisk business. Whatever couldn't be found in town could be found at that mall.

Heloise supposed that she could have asked her mother to come shopping with her, since she didn't have any other girl friends and knew Noah would not have really been interested, but she decided to go it alone. Besides, her mother had a meeting with her publisher that afternoon in Richmond and wasn't even available. No matter. Heloise was used to doing things by herself.

She strolled through the mall crowds toward Dillard's, thinking over what kind of dress to look for. Heloise had only ever dressed up maybe once in her life: going to her little cousin Sophie's baptism when she was ten. And that was a long time ago. She had never been to a school dance before, having avoided them through much of her academic career. It wasn't because she disliked the idea of school dances, but more because she was always too busy studying or wanted to stay at home reading. Moreover, she never had anyone to go with.

As she walked into the formal dress section of Dillard's, she was struck by how many other young girls were there browsing through the racks of beautiful, glittering prom dresses. She even recognized a few of her classmates, though they didn't seem to take notice of her. Racks of long dresses, short dresses, halter dresses, and spaghetti strap dresses as far as the eye could see and Heloise had no idea where to start!

She started with a rack of floor-length dresses next to the wall, drawn in by the vibrant colors and large, puffed skirts. However, she was continually disappointed by what was available.

"Is there anything here that doesn't show off every inch of my cleavage?" she muttered as she flipped through dress after dress, looking for something a little more modest. Something with cap sleeves would be nice, or something with a slightly higher neckline where she wouldn't be risking showing off everything if she bent over.