Hard to Get (17 page)

“Oh, I see, so are
you
Cupid?” I teased, pointing to the little figure. I was gratified to see him blush.

“Well,
this
one reminds me of
you
,” I told him. I pulled out a print of a pen-and-ink drawing depicting a very old man perched on a tree stump and clutching a walking stick. His face was a mass of wrinkles.

“Hey!” Adam protested. “All right, fine. You asked for it.” He flipped rapidly through the prints, and then pulled out a still life of a single egg resting upright on a yellow table. He showed it to me.

I snorted laughter. “An egg? I remind you of an
egg
?”

He sheepishly dropped the print back into the rack. “Yeah, I couldn't find a better insult.” He moved along the shelves of art books, trailing his finger along the bindings, then stopped and pulled out a large
book of Richard Avedon photographs.

He motioned me over. “Here, check these out,” he said. I put down the modeling mannequin I had been fiddling with and leaned over. He flipped through the haunting black-and-white photos.

“Look at that one.” I pointed to a picture of a Native American man.

“Yeah,” he said. But something about his voice made me look up. He was staring at my face, not at the photo. I realized all of a sudden that we were so close, the hairs on my arm felt like they were standing on end. Adam moved a half inch closer. I didn't breathe. The soft fabric of his T-shirt brushed my bare shoulder. I jumped like I'd been burned. His breath smelled like toothpaste. A long moment spun out, while I wondered if he could actually hear my heart pounding. Then Adam abruptly stared back at the book, his cheeks flaming red. I took a step away and let out a long, shaky breath, wiping my hands on my khakis. My palms were dripping sweat. I turned away and stared at the titles on the wall opposite us.
Early Etruscan Sculpture
, I read meaninglessly. My brain didn't seem capable of processing much more.

I heard a thump behind me and turned around. Adam was throwing cans of paint into his basket, seemingly at random. He moved down to the paintbrushes hanging with military neatness on a pegboard against one wall. As I watched, he rapidly selected half a dozen of different sizes, then piled the whole lot on the counter in front of the white-haired man. Adam said something to the man, who bent down and lifted a large can of turpentine from under the counter.

Adam loaded everything into a big, flat cardboard box and staggered toward me. “Okay, I think this is everything,” he mumbled, without meeting my gaze. I nodded mechanically and trailed after him out the door.

The bright sunshine hit us like a jolt of reality after the cool, dim interior of the shop. I shook my head, feeling as if I had been awakened from a spell. As I turned toward Adam to make a little joke or something, anything to restore normalcy between us, I noticed two familiar figures walking toward us. I squinted down the sidewalk. It was Becca and Kelly.

“Oh my God,” I said. My muscles tensed,
as if I'd been doing something wrong. Which was crazy, because I hadn't.

“What?” Adam turned around.

“Hey there!” Becca said as they approached. She was wearing the same outfit I'd seen her in at school—knee-length gray wool shorts and a pink oxford shirt.

“What's up, Val?” Kelly said. She was still in her swimming warm-ups, her wet hair pulled back in a loose knot. Her eyes darted from me to Adam and back again.

“Hi! I didn't expect to see you guys.” I tried to sound casual but it was coming out loud.
Relax, Val
.
You're acting like you got caught sneaking out of the house.
I forced what I hoped was a relaxed smile. “What are you doing all the way out here?”

Both of them stared at me. “Dad's store is right here,” Becca said deliberately, as if talking to a four-year-old. “Remember?” She pointed to the lighting showroom a couple of doors down. “I was just picking up some documents for him before I dropped Kels off …” She trailed off, her eyes darting from Adam's face to my red one. Her eyes narrowed. There was a little silence. I shifted my weight from one foot to the other.

“How's the mural going, anyway?” Kelly asked, breaking the silence. She was smiling broadly.

“It's going great,” Adam said. “We're actually back on schedule. Val's helped me catch up. I thought my boss was going to handcuff me to the wall before.” He grinned and rolled his eyes.

“But Sarah wouldn't actually do that, right, Adam?” Becca said. “You and she seem to have a really
special
relationship.” She looked straight at Kelly when she said these last words.

Adam nodded pleasantly and shifted the box with our painting supplies to his other arm. “Yeah. Sarah's great. I'm going to be in her wedding this summer.”

Becca's eyes widened. “What?”

“I said—”

She cut Adam off. “She's getting married? So she's with someone else?” Her voice was growing louder. We all stared at her.

Adam looked utterly confused. “Uh … yeah. Her fiancé.”

“Oh, I see,” Kelly said. “We understand the situation now perfectly.” She smiled at Becca, who looked away.

“Um, girls?” I looked from one friend to
the other. “So it was great seeing you, but we really have to get back now, so I'll—”

“Oh, Val, I forgot. Your mom wanted me to come take you home. She needs your help, um, making dinner.” Becca grabbed my hand and started hauling me down the sidewalk.

“Dinner? But Mom has a meeting tonight.” I struggled to free my hand. “She said she wouldn't be home until nine.”

Becca shifted her grasp to my wrist and continued tugging. “Oh. That's right. She wants you to make dinner for your dad. Come on! We're going to be late.”

I looked over my shoulder. “Bye, Adam. See you tomorrow.” He waved.

“Bye, Adam!” Kelly trilled. “It was
so
nice seeing you again!” She waved so hard she rose up on her tiptoes.

“You told me he was with that girl Sarah,” Becca muttered as she shoved me into the passenger seat of the Saab.

“I did not,” I corrected her. “You told
me
he was with her, in the car coming back from Sternwell's. Remember? And he's not. She's just a friend, like he said.” I felt like I had regained my equilibrium. I didn't have any reason to be nervous. I was just a little
thrown by seeing the girls unexpectedly. “Why does it matter, Bec? We're just working together.”

“
You know
why it matters,” she hissed. “You're working alone with a single guy!”

I rolled my eyes. “We're. Just. Friends. Can I spell it out for you? F-R-I—”

“That's right,” Kelly piped up from the back. “I for one think it's great that Val has such a sweet guy to hang out with.”

“Shut up, Kel.” Becca turned and shot Kelly a look.

“Can you both get it through your heads once and for all that he is not my type?” I said. “Remember? We went through this. Arty dudes, no.”

“But don't you think he's kind of cute, Val?” Kelly leaned forward in her seat. “I've heard guys who draw are great kissers.”

“Really?” I said, momentarily distracted. Then I shook my head violently.
Focus, Val, focus. Kelly's just trying to throw you off your game.

Kelly smiled with satisfaction, as if she could read my mind. “You know,” she said to the car at large, “I think my red silk dress would just contrast too much with those diamonds, so I'm going to go with basic black instead.”

“Dream on, my darling. The GNBP is still going strong.” I leaned over the seat and murmured in Kelly's ear. “I think you'd better be thinking of buying some panty hose to go with those heels of yours. They'll match your purple dress
so
well.”

She swatted at my head and I laughed, then sat back with satisfaction for the rest of the ride home.

The next day at school, I was heading to our usual lunch tree, anticipating the chicken-breast-Swiss-cheese-Granny-Smith sandwich in my backpack, when I froze halfway across the lawn. A third person was sitting under our lunch tree with Becca and Kelly. I could tell by the shoulders that it was a guy. Great. It was probably that rugby guy Kelly was obsessed with. Looking at that zit on his nose was totally going to ruin my appetite.

Becca and Kelly looked up as I approached. I waved and the guy turned around. I almost pitched forward facefirst onto the grass. It was Adam. “Hey there,” he said, smiling.

“Val!” Kelly patted the spot between her and Adam. “Isn't this awesome?”

“Hi, Adam.” I gingerly lowered myself to the grass as if there might be a land mine nearby and unwrapped my sandwich. “Um … I thought seniors usually went out at lunchtime.”

“They do,” Adam said. He looked supremely comfortable, sitting cross-legged on the grass, his knees poking out like a grasshopper's, munching on what looked like a peanut-butter-and-jelly. “But I ran into Kelly in the hall and she invited me to eat with you guys. I was just going to work in the art room, anyway.”

“
Such
a weird coincidence since we saw you guys yesterday, right?” Kelly chirped. “But Adam is such a sweetie that I was like, we all should hang out sometime! Right, Adam?” She flashed him a huge grin.

Adam looked pleased, if slightly confused. “Sure. It was good seeing you girls too.”

Becca snorted. Her nostrils were flared—always a sign she was mad. At Kelly? Adam?
Me?
I tried to make eye contact but she was gazing pointedly in the opposite direction. My eyes darted to Kelly. She was calmly spooning up strawberry yogurt.

“Well, I don't know how you guys are going to get the mural done if all you ever do is shop,” Becca snapped.

“Like we said, we just needed some more supplies,” I pointed out. Adam nodded assent.

“It seemed more like hanging out to me.” She shook a bottle of water at me.

My eyes widened. “Thanks, Mom,” I said. “Am I grounded, or what?”

Kelly giggled. “What's wrong, Becs? Are you jealous of Val?”

Becca narrowed her eyes at Kelly and looked away again.

Adam looked back and forth among all of us, as if he were watching the exotic ritual of some foreign peoples.

Kelly turned back to Adam. “So, Adam, where did you learn to paint?” she asked, leaning in confidentially and gazing at him as if he were Zac Efron.

Adam bit noisily into an apple. “Nowhere in particular,” he said between crunches. “I've always liked art and stuff. The mural's going to be awesome when it's done, right, Val?”

“Yeah, Val's so good at stuff like that!” Kelly burbled before I could answer.

“She
is
?” Becca suddenly barked. “I don't
think she is. She's just doing it for her project, Kelly. Right, Val?”

Everyone turned to me.

This situation needed some serious triage. I got to my feet, stuffing my lunch wrappings into my bag. “Becs, I left my calc text in the Beemer this morning. Can you let me in?”

Adam got up also. “I probably should head over to the art room,” he said, brushing off his jeans. “Pencil drawings of fruit bowls await.” He grinned at us and started to turn away, then stopped as if something had occurred to him. “By the way, Val, do you want to go with me on a scouting expedition later? I want to go check out some of this graffiti art I heard about a ways out of town. It's on an old water tank.”

I glanced uncomfortably at Becca's and Kelly's avid faces. Kelly gave me an encouraging little nod. Becca looked away pointedly. “Sure, why not?” I said to Adam. “Anything
for the project
.” I aimed these last words at Becca.

“Cool. I'll pick you up at seven, okay?”

“Okay.” I hauled Becca away. Halfway to the parking lot, I grabbed her arm and pulled her behind a large honeysuckle bush.
“Okay, what's up?” I said, folding my arms across my chest.

She widened her eyes. “I don't know what you're talking about, Val. Have you been out in the sun too much?”

I exhaled through my nose. “Nice try. You're being totally nasty to Adam! What's the deal? I thought you liked him. At least, that's what it seemed like when you were pushing me to paint with him.”

She threw out her arms. “I
thought
you were just working on a project! But it looks to me like you've been working on a whole lot else too. You only have a week left of the GNBP—don't lose it now!”

I narrowed my eyes. “Oh, I see.” I rocked back on my heels. “You think I have a crush on Adam. Well, you're sounding just a little paranoid, to tell you the truth.”

She leaned forward so much that our noses were almost touching. “Oh, I'm just paranoid, huh? I'm not stupid, you know. I can tell when two people are attracted to each other.”