How To Be A Perfect Girl (31 page)

For makeup, Val settled on a blue eyeshadow
and pink lipstick—normally, she would have forgone the combination
as too bold. Val’s phone buzzed on her desk; it was a text from
Keenan, “Hey, we’re outside.” Val frowned, trying to find a place
to stow her phone; it didn’t fit in her shorts’ pockets. She gave
up on the endeavor and went outside; Keenan stepped out of the car
to greet her.

“Wow, you look amazing!” He beamed, “You
ready to go?”

“Yup. I don’t know if I locked the house,
but—“ Val waved a hand at her door, “—oh well, it’s a gated
community. Let’s go.” Keenan climbed in the back, leaving the
passenger’s seat open for Val; she glanced at Porter as she got
in.

The drive over to Alex’s house was long and
awkward; Keenan was obviously trying his best to make conversation,
and Val indulged him as much as she could, but Porter was tense and
silent. When they arrived, he muttered, “Keenan, I’m just gonna
make the rounds and then head home.”

“But you’re our ride home!” Keenan
protested, “You’ve gotta stay for at least a little while!”

“Fine, but I’ll—I’ll be wherever the booze
are if you need me.” He stumbled ahead of Keenan and Val.

“I didn’t know your brother drank,” Val
said.

“He doesn’t,” Keenan frowned, “For some
reason, he’s not himself tonight. He tried to pretend he was sick,
but I told him he promised to take us.”

“Oh,” the door to Alex’s house was wide
open, held there by a thick wooden wedge. Val entered, looking for
familiar faces.

“Hey!” Aaliyah waved to Val’s left, “Good to
see you!” she hugged Val.

When they broke apart, Val smiled, “Good to
see you too.”

“Yeah,” Aaliyah nodded, “So is Porter here
then? I thought I saw him walk in.”

“Yeah, he said he’d be where the ‘booze’
is.”

“Alright, I’ll go talk to him about—well,
you know. Wait here,” Aaliyah’s face set in a neutral expression as
she turned.

“You don’t have to,” Val held out an arm to
stop her friend.

“I know,” Aaliyah replied, “But someone has
to, and God knows you’re too nice to do it. Don’t worry, I won’t
say anything that’ll scar him for life.”

Val laughed; Aaliyah paused and smiled back
at her friend before heading off to where Porter was standing,
sulking by a huge metal drum.

Alex approached from the crowd; Keenan
grinned at his friend, “What’s up?”

“What’s up?” Alex tilted his head in an
acknowledgement of the greeting; he turned to Val, “Enjoying the
party?”

Val shrugged, “We just got here.”

“Ah, well, you should
mingle. Meet some of the guests. There’s this one girl from St.
Mary’s I invited—a cheerleader—who swears she can put both feet
behind her head. Now
that’s
flexibility.”

Val shook her head, “That’s great. Anyone
else I should look for? Or look out for?”

Alex nodded, “Your wannabe boyfriend is
here.”

“Who?” Keenan asked
interestedly; it was better than Val’s question,
which one?

“Ethan—“ Alex grimaced at Keenan, “It looks
like you’ve got your work cut out for you, dude. He’s a tall guy,
and strong to boot.”

Keenan laughed, slipping an arm around Val’s
waist, “That’s alright, Val’s too into me to even think about
anyone else. Isn’t that right?”

Val nodded absently. Across the room, she
could see Porter and Aaliyah, looking like they were having a
lovely conversation.

“—
did you hear me?” Alex
asked.

“Sorry, what?”

“I said, ‘there aren’t any strip poker games
here’,” Alex grinned, “So you don’t need to worry about getting
roped into something like that. Come on, mingle! It’s a party.” He
walked back into the crowd.

Val looked at Keenan and shrugged; “Come on,
let’s join the rest of the party,” he said.

“Alright,” Val resigned
herself to the inevitability of being forced to pretend to like
more people she’d just met;
sometimes it
seems like that’s all my life is anymore.

Val struck up a conversation with a girl in
a sparkly blue dress whose name she didn’t catch, “I love your
dress,” she complemented, hoping it didn’t sound too cliché.

“Oh, this?” the girl pulled on her skirt to
display the material, “I just dug it out of my closet. You know how
these high school parties are; I say never waste a good dress on a
mediocre party.”

“Don’t you like this party?” Val asked.

The girl shrugged, “It’s okay, if you’re
into that sort of thing. Me, I prefer more—formal events.”

“Oh, cool. Yeah, I get that—sometimes high
schoolers can be so immature.”

“I completely agree,” the girl nodded
sagely, “You’d think, with the wealth most of these children have
access to, they could afford a little more—class. Speaking of
which—“ she looked at Val’s shorts pointedly, “If those shorts were
any smaller, they wouldn’t even qualify. Why on earth did you think
wearing them here was a good idea?”

Val scowled, “I wore what I wanted to; I
don’t care what anyone else thinks.”

The girl smiled serenely, “I very much doubt
that.” Her haughty manner riled Val, but she controlled her
anger.

“I have to go outside for a second,” Val
said, excusing herself and walking to the edge of the room, where
she could be alone. At some point in her conversation with the girl
in the blue-dress, Keenan had wandered off; Val decided she didn’t
care, since his absence afforded her the opportunity to be
completely alone.

Val hardly had a moment to enjoy the time
alone when Porter approached, “Can I talk to you?”

“That depends,” Val replied harshly, “What
do you want to talk about?”

“I wanted to apologize,” Porter said, “You
know, I didn’t mean any of those things I said on Thursday.”

“Uh huh,” Val shot him a cold look,
“Whatever.”

“No, I mean it. I felt really bad right
after—I never wanted to make you cry!” Porter sighed, “Truth is, I
realize now how stupid and desperate I was being, trying to get
Avery back.”

Val allowed her expression to soften a
little, “Yeah, I didn’t even understand why you wanted her back in
the first place.”

“I don’t know either, anymore. It was just
one of those times where I was so certain which path I was supposed
to take, and then all of a sudden—“ Porter shook his head, “All of
a sudden, I was a total asshole to the sweetest girl I’ve ever
met.” He cupped Val’s cheek.

“You mean me?”

“Of course,” Porter laughed, “Who else would
I be talking about?”

“I dunno. I just—“

Porter cut her off, “I know you like me too,
Val.”

Looking into Porter’s blue eyes, she
couldn’t deny it, “I did. But, you really hurt me.”

“I would never hurt you,” Porter frowned,
“At least, I’ll never hurt you again.”

“You promise?”

“I promise. Listen, you wanna get some fresh
air?”

That sounds like a good
idea,
“Yeah, sure.”

Porter took Val’s hand and led the way into
Alex’s large driveway, “Here, let’s go to my car.” Val sat down on
the hood of the cherry red mustang. “There, now isn’t that better?”
Porter said.

The air wasn’t helping, Val realized when
she looked at Porter. “It’s getting dark,” she commented
awkwardly.

“Yeah, it is,” Porter agreed. “I hope you
can find it in yourself to forgive me for all the crap I said.”

“
I forgive you. I guess
I’ve said my share of stupid things in the past, too”

Porter grinned; his unique, lopsided grin
made Val laugh. “What’s so funny?” he asked.

“I dunno, I just—the way you smile is—“

“The way I smile is funny?”

“No! No, that’s not what I’m saying.” Val
thought she saw someone moving toward them, but Porter was so close
that his frame took up the majority of her field of vision.

“That’s ok, you have a right to say that
after everything I said,” Porter brushed her hair back, “Val, I
wanna do something, but I’m not sure if you want me to—“

Val was almost certain what he was going to
ask, “I want you to.”

Without warning, Porter pressed his lips
against hers; Val let the moment last as long as it could, until a
cry of, “What the fuck?” brought her back to reality.

Porter turned around, and Val could see
behind him—Keenan was literally shaking with anger. “That’s. My.
Girlfriend.” He cocked back a fist.

Porter laughed, holding up his hands in a
“don’t shoot” expression, “Come on little bro. What, you’re gonna
hit me? You’d be on the concrete in a second.” He seemed calm;
Keenan didn’t seem calm, he seemed murderous. Val rushed to place
herself between the pair, but had to sidestep around Porter before
she could.

“You son of a bitch!” Keenan yelled, “The
one good thing in my life!” Val felt ice in her veins as the
meaning of the words hit her; she managed to get between Keenan and
his brother. As out of the moment as she was, Val only vaguely
noticed the fast-moving object approaching her face, until Keenan’s
fist struck her just below the eyebrow. Val fell to the ground; she
didn’t scream or make a sound, even though her eye started
throbbing as if someone had taken a fork to it.

“Ohmygod!” Keenan’s eyes were as wide as
saucers, “Val, I swear I didn’t—I was trying to hit—oh my god, are
you okay?”

Porter’ face contorted with rage; “Get away
from her now,” he ordered quietly. Tears came to Val’s eyes as the
adrenaline of the moment gradually wore off, bringing with it the
full pain of being punched in the face.

“Val,” Porter held out an arm to help her
up; Val took it. “Val, are you alright?” She nodded weakly. “Here,
I’ll—I’ll take you home.”

“Ok,” Val replied; she clambered into
Porter’s car.

“I can’t believe he did that,” Porter said
angrily as he turned the ignition, “Hitting a girl is—is—and
hitting you,” he shook his head, “I almost tore him apart.”

Val grimaced, “I’m glad you didn’t.”

“Me too.” Porter switched on the radio; a
song was playing that Val had never heard before:

I can feel her breath as she’s sleeping next
to me,

Sharing pillows and cold feet.

“Do you want to go the
hospital?” Porter asked,
She can feel my
heart, fell asleep to its beat.

“No, I’m—“ Val sighed,
“Well I’m not fine, but maybe I will be soon.”
If only I could be in that bed again. If only it were me
instead of him.

Porter nodded, “I know
what you mean.”
Does he watch your favorite
movies? Does he hold you when you cry? Does he let you tell him all
your favorite parts when you’ve seen it a million times?

Val sighed; Keenan’s face,
like a dying animal, kept replaying through her mind.
Does he sing to all your music while you dance to
Purple Rain? Does he do all these things, like I used
to?

Unable to take the song anymore, Val reached
up and turned off the radio.

“What? Why’d you turn the music off?” Porter
asked as he rounded the final turn leading to Val’s house.

Val shrugged, “I just—didn’t want to listen
to it anymore.”

Porter slowed to a halt in Val’s driveway,
“I know that’s not the way any of us would have wanted it to work
out, but—“ he sighed, “—at least I have you now.”

“At least you have me,” Val agreed; she
leaned across the car and kissed Porter for the briefest moment.
When she returned to her seat, he followed, placing a hand against
Val’s head and closing the distance between their mouths. Val once
again found herself lost in the kiss, but this time there was no
one to break it—they just maintained the embrace, Val didn’t know
for how long. After a blissful eternity, Porter fell back into the
driver’s seat; Val looked out the window, noticing the stars had
come out.

“What are you thinking about?” Porter
asked.

“I dunno, just—where do we go from
here?”