Parallel Parking (8 page)

Or maybe she’ll eat him alive
, Lina thought.

That seemed more likely.

I wanted a challenge
, Lina thought.
Now I’ve got one
.

To:     hollygolitely

From: your daily horoscope

HERE IS TODAY’S HOROSCOPE: CAPRICORN: A little glamour rubs off on you today when a runner-up from
Survivor
drives past your house. (Sorry, that’s as good as it’s going to get.)

S
o guess what,” Sebastiano said. “I asked Natasha Brearly to the Hap this morning!”

“And… ?” Holly braced herself. Natasha Brearly was yet another unattainable girl. At least she was a junior, not a senior,
and thus only one year older than Sebastiano.

“Holly!” Sean whizzed down the hall on a skateboard, pasting a sticker on Holly’s forehead as he passed. Holly
reached up and pulled off the sticker as Sean turned around and skateboarded back to her.

The sticker was a pink heart that said U R HOT.

“I found it inside a valentine some girl gave me last February,” Sean said. “I thought it described you perfectly.”

“To a tee,” Sebastiano said.

“Thank you,” Holly said. The clumsiness of the gesture charmed her. Clumsiness equaled sincerity. That was her latest boy
theory.

“So—you, me, and Sipress’s party on Friday. Want to go?”

“Alex Sipress is having a party this weekend?” Holly hadn’t heard about it. Alex was a senior, one of Sean’s friends. Getting
invited to senior parties was hit-or-miss at this point in Holly’s popularity saga.

“You didn’t know?” Sebastiano said. “Living in social Siberia?”

“Thanks for telling me about it, Sebastiano,” Holly said.

Sean eyed Sebastiano warily. “Dude, how come you’re always hanging around here?”

Sebastiano spun the dial on his lock. “Dude, this is where my locker is. What do you want me to do, have it moved?”

“Dude, that won’t be necessary,” Sean said. “So? Holly? Go to the party with me?”

“Can I think about it?” Holly asked. Her anti-Sean defenses were breaking down. But she wanted to talk to Mads before she
committed to anything. She’d decided that was the right thing to do.

“Sure, think about it,” Sean said. “Call me and let me know. Later.”

He skateboarded away.

“As I was saying,” Sebastiano said, “before we were so rudely interrupted… Natasha turned me down.”

“I’m sorry,” Holly said. “But she’s another one of those girls, you know, who’s really popular and has a boyfriend. When are
you going to try an
available
girl?”

“When I find one I like,” Sebastiano said.

“What about Bridget Aiken?”

Sebastiano shook his head. “Too mumsy.”

“Lulu Ramos?”

“Too tough.”

“Maybe a freshman. How about Christie Hubbard?”

“Who, that slut who tried to steal Rob from you?” Holly’s old boyfriend Rob had briefly dated Christie before realizing she
was too boring for him. That was before he dumped Holly for reasons she never could figure out.

“Ancient history,” Holly said. “I’m over that now.”

“I don’t want Rob’s castoffs,” Sebastiano said. “Anyway, she’s too big-boned.”

“If you’re going to be that picky, you’ll never find a date in time.”

“I don’t see the point in going with someone I won’t have fun with. Why bother?”

“That makes sense, I guess.”

They walked into the courtyard to take a break in the sun. Mads was sitting under a tree with Stephen. They were humming some
old song and knocking each other on the head.

“Look at them,” Sebastiano said. “Don’t they look happy? The way mental patients look after a lobotomy.”

“They do look happy,” Holly said, more to herself than to him. “Excuse me. I’ve got to talk to Mads.”

She walked over to the humming couple. “Hey, guys,” she said.

“Hey, Holls,” Mads said. “Sit with us. It’s such a nice day after all that rain.”

“Mads, can I talk to you for a second?” Holly asked. “Over by the picnic tables?”

“Sure.” Mads got to her feet and followed Holly to an empty picnic table. “What’s up?”

“I need to ask you something,” Holly said. “It’s a little touchy….”

Mads looked concerned. “What is it? You don’t have to be shy with me. You can ask me anything.”

Holly glanced across the courtyard at Stephen, who had opened a book and was reading. “You guys seem very tight lately.”

“We are. We nearly blew up when he tried to teach me to drive, but I saved us by getting him to sing in front of me.”

“That’s great,” Holly said.

“So what did you want to ask me?”

“Well, I was wondering how you would feel if… if…” It was hard to say out loud. She’d heard Mads confess her love for Sean
so many times. How could she bring this up?

“If what?”

“How would you feel if I went to a party—with Sean?” She blurted out the last two words. Maybe if she said them fast enough
they’d pass through Mads without hurting her.

“With Sean?” Mads looked stunned. “You mean, like a date? Did he ask you out?”

Holly nodded.

“He did?” Mads bounced a little with excitement. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“He just asked me five minutes ago,” Holly said. It wasn’t a lie, exactly. He did just ask her to the party. Why mention all
the other times he’d asked her out?

“Oh, my God,” Mads said. “I can’t believe it. Sean asked you out!”

It was hard to read how Mads felt about it. She flushed and seemed excited, but was she excited for Holly in a good way or
just emotional, in a bad way?

“So, what do you think?” Holly asked.

Mads turned and looked at Stephen. She took a breath. “What can I say? Go for it.”

“It won’t bother you?” Holly asked. “I know how you feel about him.”

“How could I say no to you?” Mads said. “You’re my friend. And I have Stephen. It’s silly. Of course you should go! Just promise
you will tell me everything. I want to hear every detail. Okay? Do you promise?”

“Of course,” Holly said. “I’d tell you everything anyway. Like I always do.”

“Awesome,” Mads said. “So when’s the party?”

“Friday night. Alex Sipress’s.”

“And you’re going to go?”

“I guess so.”

“Call me when you get home. Or the next morning at the latest. Okay?”

“I will. Thanks, Mads.”

“What are you thanking me for? I didn’t do anything.”

Mads went back to Stephen, who stopped reading to
talk to her. Holly felt a flush of warmth. She was happy for Mads, that she had such a nice relationship with her boyfriend.
And that she was such a generous friend, to let Holly go out with the boy she’d dreamed about for so long. It really was amazing
of her.

“How’d she take it?” Sebastiano asked.

“Well,” Holly said. “Better than I expected. Very, very well.”

“Sean, dude, you made it.” Alex Sipress clasped Sean’s hand in some kind of dudeshake and nodded at Holly. “Hey there—I remember
you. Hannah, right?”

“Holly.”

“Yeah, Holly. Grab a beer, and let’s start partying.”

Sean took a couple of bottles of beer from the fridge, twisted off the caps, and gave one to Holly. He clinked his bottle
against hers. “You finally said yes,” he said. “I was getting worried there for a minute.”

“Just for a minute?”

“Well… you did finally say yes.”

“Don’t make me regret it,” Holly said.

“Hi, Sean.” Three pretty senior girls gathered around the two of them, trailed by a couple of burly guys. Sean put his arm
around Holly, as if to make it clear to everyone that they should respect her as much as they did him.

“This is Holly,” he announced.

“Hi, Holly.” The girls smiled at her in a way that they never would have if she’d just passed them by at school.

“Hi,” Holly said.

“Guess who’s out by the pool,” one of the guys said. “Dykstra.”

“No way!” Sean’s arm fell from Holly’s shoulders. He started across the kitchen toward the back door. “When did he get back?
Come on, Holly, you’ve got to meet Dykstra.”

Holly shrugged and followed him. The whole group trouped outside to see Dykstra, whoever that was.

“We were buddies—like this,” Sean said, wrapping two fingers around each other to show his former closeness to Dykstra. “Until
tenth grade. Then his family moved to L.A. He’s on TV now.”

“You mean
Ben
Dykstra?” Holly asked. “From
Pacific Coast Highway?”

“Yeah. He plays a surfer dude named Waxman. I don’t really watch the show that much.” He leaned close to Holly and whispered,
“It’s kind of stupid.”

Holly laughed.
Pacific Coast Highway
was a stupid show. Holly rarely watched it herself. But Ben Dykstra had managed to become a teen heartthrob in spite of the
show, and every teenage girl knew who he was, whether she watched TV or not.

“Benedetto!” Ben Dykstra slurred in his trademark surfer drawl. A girl was sitting on his lap—was that Shayna Davis?—but he
shifted her off to get up and greet Sean.

“Bennie!” Sean said. They did another dude-shake, different from the one Sean did with Alex. This one involved more finger
motions.

“Bennie and Bennie!” Ben said.

“That’s what we used to be called,” Sean said to Holly. “Bennie and Bennie.”

“This is Shayna,” Ben said.

Holly thought she’d recognized her. She was also a TV actress, mostly in minor parts, but big enough so you’d know who she
was.

“This is Holly,” Sean said. He pulled over a lounge chair, placed it next to Ben’s, and sat down, patting a spot beside him
for Holly. The seniors who had seemed so cool to Holly only minutes earlier hovered around, hoping to be included in the conversation
between Bennie and Bennie and their dates, who were now the epicenter of the party.

“So, how’s old Rosewood?” Ben asked, snuggling against Shayna.

“Same old,” Sean said. “Totally boring. Swim team’s good—that’s about it. I can’t wait to graduate and get the hell out of
there.”

“I hear you,” Ben said. “I quit school last year. I’ve got a tutor on the set, but he can’t make me do much. I’m seventeen—what
do you want? I’ve got better things to do—know what I’m saying?” He gave Shayna another squeeze.

“Right,” Sean said.

“So you’re not going to finish high school?” Holly asked. The question slipped out before she had a chance to stop it. And
she didn’t really care. But she was curious to hear the answer.

“I’ll take the GED—no big deal,” Ben said. “It’s not like it’s hard or anything.”

“I took it this year, and I passed,” Shayna said. “And I only went up to tenth grade in school.”

“She’s smarter than she looks,” Ben said.

“How about you?” Ben turned to Holly. “What’s your story? Cute as usual, bro,” he added to Sean.

“I don’t really have a story,” Holly said.

“She’s a cool girl,” Sean said.

“How long have you been together?” Shayna asked.

“This is our first date,” Holly said. “We actually don’t even know each other all that well.”

“But I’ll be getting to know her real fast,” Sean said.

“That’s what you think,” Holly said.

“That’s what I
know,”
Sean said.

“Who-o-a.” Ben laughed.

“You want to bet?” Holly said. She was enjoying this banter, and the sense that the whole party was half-listening, ready
to gossip about the outcome.

“I’ll take you on,” Sean said. “How do you want to do this? Game of poker?”

“I’m not that good at poker,” Holly said.

“How about high-low?” Ben said. “That’s like doofus poker.”

“I almost lost my virginity on a high-low bet,” Shayna said. “Luckily the guy didn’t hold me to it.”

“Well, I’m not letting Holly out of this one,” Sean said. “Sipress!” he yelled toward the house. “Got any cards?”

“I’ll go see.” Quintana Rhea, one of Holly’s few fellow sophomores at the party, ran into the kitchen, where Alex was playing
host.

“Now.” Sean rubbed his hands together comically. “What should we bet?”

“How about winner takes it all,” Ben said with a leer. “If you know what I mean?”

“Sorry, not on the first date,” Sean said primly. It was a joke, but Holly appreciated it. It saved her from having to say
it. It was, in its own way, a gentlemanly thing to do.

“How about a kiss?” she offered. “A real kiss. If you
win, I’ll kiss you, and if you lose, you’ll have to wait until I’m good and ready.”

“Okay,” Sean said. “A kiss. But it has to be good and long and French and all that. What about second base privileges? Can
we toss that in?”

Holly shook her head. “Just the kiss.”

“Right here? In front of everybody?”

“No. Later,” Holly said. “At the end of the night.”

“Aw,” Ben said. “I wanted to see it.”

“It’s got to be right here, right now,” Sean said.

“All right.” Holly rose to the challenge. “Right here.” So she’d have to kiss Sean in front of a bunch of people. If she lost.
It was kind of embarrassing but kind of exciting, too.

Quintana returned with a deck of cards and gave them to Sean.

“Okay,” he said, shuffling the deck. “Here we go. Are you ready? Are you ready for this, Holly? Cause if you’re not, if you’re
chicken, if you’re going to back out, say so now. I don’t welch on my bets, and I don’t like welchers.”

“I’m ready,” Holly said. “Bring it on.”

Sean held out the deck. “Pick a card, any card.”

Holly reached into the middle of the deck and pulled out a card. She wasn’t sure if she wanted a high card or a low one. In
a way, it didn’t matter.

She looked at the card. A five. Not great.

Sean picked a card. “One, two, three, show.” They flipped over their cards at once. Sean had an eight.

“I win!” Sean cried. “You’d better brace yourself for one hell of a kiss, girl.”

“Best two out of three!” Shayna said.

“Oh, no,” Sean said. “I won fair and square.”

“Come on, best two out of three,” Holly said. “For the fun of it.”

“All right,” Sean said. “But I’m only going along with this because I know I’m getting that kiss no matter what.”