Why is she preaching at me like this? Christy thought, feeling more and more angry at the group for leaving her.
“Thanks for your time,” Christy said, trying to be polite. “But I’d really better go try to find my friends before they leave without me.”
“Okay. Here,” Debbie offered, “I’d like to give you one of my CDs. Everything I’ve been saying is in the words of the songs.” She handed Christy a CD from out of a gym bag on the floor. Her photo and the words “Be Real” were printed on the front.
“Thanks,” Christy mumbled. Then, feeling she had been rude to cut Debbie off so fast, she told Debbie, “I’ll listen to it. I promise I will.”
Debbie touched Christy’s shoulder and looked gently into her eyes. “Just promise you’ll listen to the Lord when He speaks to your heart.”
Christy looked away. “Okay. Thank you again. This is really nice of you. I’d better go. Thanks.”
The ride home proved to be as exasperating as the ride to the concert. Todd asked if anyone wanted to get something to eat.
“Sure!” exclaimed Tracy. “As long as we don’t go to Hanson’s Parlor!” She suggested they go to her house, because her mom had made cookies that afternoon, and unless her three brothers had gotten to them, plenty should be left.
The last thing Christy felt like doing was spending another hour or so around Tracy, on her territory.
“I think I’d better go home,” Christy piped up from her backseat prison, adding, “if that’s okay with you, Todd.” She hoped he would object and beg her to come along.
“Sure, if that’s what you want.”
Why did he have to be so easygoing and agreeable all the time?
“Your house is on the way to Tracy’s anyhow,” he added.
To Christy’s surprise, instead of just dropping her off at the curb, Todd got out and walked her to the door.
“I’m glad you came tonight,” he told her as they stood under the front light.
“You are? I didn’t think you even noticed I was there with all your other friends.”
Todd gave her a puzzled look. “Of course I noticed you. I hope you can come with us again sometime. When do you go back to Wisconsin?”
“The end of August. I don’t remember the exact day.”
“Well, good night,” he said, giving her a quick hug. His tanned face was only inches from hers. “See you tomorrow?”
“Okay.” Her heart melted. “See you!”
How could Todd do this to her? Up and down. Up and down. Did he have any idea what an emotional roller coaster he kept sending her on? She watched him walk to the van and gave a halfhearted wave to the others waiting for him.
“Hey,” Todd called from the sidewalk, “I like your dress!” Then he sprinted to the driver’s side, and, with a pop and sputter, Gus the Bus chugged down the street.
Bob and Marti were in the den. Uncle Bob was watching TV with the sound turned down, and Marti was talking on the phone. She hung up immediately, anxious to hear all about the big date.
Christy gave a brief rundown of the disappointing evening, leaving out the part about it being a Christian concert. She did tell them how everyone went to Tracy’s house, but how she had no desire to go.
“Why, that horrid girl!” Marti exclaimed. “How dare she weasel in on your boyfriend like that!”
“She’s really not horrid,” Christy admitted, “and Todd isn’t exactly my boyfriend. I mean, he obviously invited her to the concert too. He invited all of them. But,” Christy added with a smile, “he did like my dress, and he did say he would see me tomorrow.”
“That’s my man!” said Uncle Bob, his eyes still fixed on the television. “Give him time. He’ll come around.”
“That’s the problem!” Christy wailed. “I haven’t got a whole lot of time. I’m going home in a few weeks!”
“Hang in there. Hang in there!” Bob muttered.
“How am I supposed to hang in there?” Christy asked, trying to get him to take his eyes off the TV and look at her. “How do I get him to like me?”
“Slam him! That’s the way! Down on the floor. Now’s your chance. Go for it!”
Christy glared at her uncle and then at the TV. “Wrestling!” she squawked. “I’m asking you for advice, and I think you’re listening, but you’re talking to some fake wrestler in a cape and mask.”
“Oh, Robert!” scolded Aunt Marti.
“What?” He looked up, startled. “Did you say something?”
“Men!” sputtered Christy. “You’re all weird! Weird! Weird! Weird!”
Christy walked the four blocks to Alissa’s house slowly. An hour earlier Alissa had called, asking Christy to come over. She had reluctantly agreed, but the closer she got to Alissa’s house, the more timid and uncertain she felt.
Alissa had sounded upset on the phone, and Aunt Marti said she had called the night before while Christy was at the concert. What did she want? And why had she called Christy instead of Erik?
Alissa answered the door with her usually perfect hair covering her right eye. Her shirt and shorts were wrinkled. “Come on in,” she offered in an emotionless voice and showed Christy to the living room. They stepped around half-packed suitcases, and Alissa lifted a box off the couch so they could sit down.
“Are you leaving already?” Christy asked. “I thought your family was staying till the end of August.”
“We were, but now we’re not,” Alissa replied softly. “I’m leaving to go back to my grandmother’s in Boston.”
“What about the rest of your family?”
“The rest of my family?” Alissa laughed. “What about the rest of my family?” Her eyes flashed their familiar fury. “I’ll tell you about the rest of my family! This is it—me! That’s my family.”
“What do you mean?” Christy feared that Alissa might go into one of her rages, but she saw something different on Alissa’s face that caused Christy to pity her.
“It’s like this. I’m an only child, and my dad died three months ago of lung cancer,” Alissa stated, the anger subsiding.
“Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t know,” Christy said.
“I didn’t tell you. So, my mom and I came here to rest and regroup for the summer. Except my mom brought an old friend with her. Her bottle.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean,” Alissa squeezed out, “my mom is an alcoholic. She supposedly got help from a treatment center a few years ago, but as soon as my dad died she started to drink again. She stayed inside this house since the day we arrived and drank and drank until she didn’t know where we were or how long we’d been here.”
Alissa turned her head to look out the window, and Christy noticed her right eye was bruised and swollen. “How awful, Alissa! Are you okay? What happened to your eye?”
“My mom threw a punch at me when I tried to get her to go to bed last night. Erik was supposed to come pick me up, and my mom was lying on the living room floor. Erik hadn’t met my mom, and I didn’t want him to see her like that, so I tried to drag her to the bedroom. She got furious. She hit me and threw a bottle of vodka at me. She went crazy, screaming that she’d kill me. I got really scared and ran down the street to a pay phone. I called the police. They took my mom away. I’m pretty sure they’ll put her back in a rehabilitation center of some sort.”
“That’s terrible! Is there anything I can do?”
Alissa switched back to her cool, matter-of-fact self and said, “I was hoping you could help me pack this stuff. I didn’t know who else to ask. I’ve got so many phone calls to make, I’ll never get this all done before my plane takes off at four o’clock.”
For the next hour, Christy numbly packed Alissa’s abundant wardrobe. Her clothes were in three different closets. She had many gorgeous outfits, expensive jeans, and more shoes than Christy could count. Alissa finished her phone calls while Christy jammed cosmetics into a small suitcase for her. Opening the last drawer, she pulled out a handful of eyeliners, a mirror
, and a round, plastic compact.
Wonder what this is? Christy thought, popping the top open. A circle of little white pills curved around the inside with a number underneath each one.
“Everything is set.” Alissa walked into the bedroom. “My mom sobered up this morning and agreed to sign her admission papers. If all goes well with the program they’ll let her come back to Boston at the end of September. I packed her stuff this morning so I could drop it by the hospital on my way to the airport.”
“How are you getting to the airport?”
“Erik said he’d take me.”
“You’re so lucky to have him,” Christy said. “He must really love you. It’s going to be awful leaving him, isn’t it?”
“Oh! Where did you find those?” Alissa reached for the pink compact. “I’ve been looking for those for days.”
The doorbell rang before Christy could respond.
“That’s probably Erik,” Alissa said, leaving Christy in the bedroom while she answered the door.
Christy heard Erik’s voice echo down the hall, “You know I’m going to miss you.”
Christy sat on the bed, thinking, How sweet! I wonder if Todd will say anything like that to me when I go back home?
“I’m glad you came, Erik.” Alissa’s voice was soft. “I’m not sure what I would have done if you hadn’t come.”
“I even came early,” he pointed out. “Did you notice?”
“I’m glad, because I’ve got to take my mom her stuff.”
“That shouldn’t take too long.” Erik’s voice got lower. “There’s still enough time for you to tell me good-bye.”
“Stop it, Erik! Not now. I mean it!” Alissa’s voice became muffled, and all Christy could hear were footsteps in the hall, coming toward the bedroom.
“Somebody is—” Alissa’s voice came from the other side of the door.
Before she could finish the sentence the bedroom door swung open. Christy jumped to her feet, her eyes wide. There stood Erik with his arm around Alissa. Christy panicked. What should she do?
“Hey!” he shouted. “What are you doing here?”
“I–I was just leaving!” Christy stammered.
“Don’t bother!” Erik stomped down the hall.
“Erik!” Alissa cried, stumbling after him. “I need you! Don’t go now!”
He yanked open the front door. “Hey! I needed you too, but you didn’t give a rip about me! I’m sick of your excuses and your little crybaby games. Grow up!”
He slammed the door, and Christy could hear his Porsche screech out of the driveway. She waited in the bedroom, not sure what to do next. She slowly made her way down the hall.
“Alissa? Are you okay?”
“What a jerk! I never liked him anyway.” Alissa’s eyes brimmed with tears as Christy sat down beside her on the couch.
“I’m sorry I messed things up for you.”
“It wasn’t you.” Alissa let the tears flow. “He’s just a big baby who can’t handle it when he doesn’t get his way. I’ve got better things to do than waste my time on him.”
Apparently she hadn’t convinced herself. She buried her face in her hands and cried until the tears ran down her arms.
“It’s okay.” Christy looked around for some tissue. “You’re going to be okay. You’ve got everything any girl could ever want.”
Alissa lifted icy, bloodshot eyes to meet Christy’s gaze. “Everything any girl could ever want?” she asked sarcastically. “Then why am I so lonely all the time, Miss Know-It-All? Can you tell me that? And why am I so miserable that …” She hesitated and then blurted out, “That I tried to kill myself last December?” Her voice rose. “Can you answer me that?”
“No. I mean, I don’t know.” Christy felt the tears coming to her own eyes. “I can’t believe you’re telling me this, Alissa! You have everything. You’re everything I want to be.”
“No, I’m not.” Alissa dried her eyes and smoothed her long, blond hair. “You just don’t realize how good you have it. Stay innocent, Christy. Stay innocent.”
For a moment they both were silent. Christy ached inside; she desperately wanted to help Alissa, to offer her some answers. If only there were some way she could help her. Then she had an idea.
“Let me call my uncle and ask him to take you to the airport, okay?” It wasn’t much, but she knew it was a start.
While they waited for Bob to arrive, Alissa pulled herself together and appeared to have recovered from the blowout with Erik. Within twenty minutes, Uncle Bob pulled into the driveway and loaded the car with Alissa’s belongings. They stopped at the hospital, and Christy waited while Uncle Bob helped Alissa take her mother’s suitcases inside.
During the trip to the airport, Christy wondered how much she should try to explain to Uncle Bob. But he rolled through the afternoon with graciousness, and it wasn’t until the two of them were driving home that he asked Christy if there was anything she wanted to talk about.
“Men are weird,” Christy said. “I can’t believe the way Erik treated Alissa and the way he walked out of her life as though he didn’t care anything about her.”
“I imagine Alissa has had lots of boyfriends like Erik,” Bob contemplated. “She seems like a girl who has been around. That’s not the best way to be.”
“I’m beginning to see that. When I first met her I thought she was perfect. I wanted to be just like her in every way. I couldn’t believe it this morning when she said she was so miserable. Thanks for coming and helping her out when I called you. That’s the second time this summer you’ve been there for me when my new friends were in trouble. Thanks.”
“Anytime. You want to stop somewhere for dinner?”
“Sure. I’m starved,” Christy replied. “Just as long as it isn’t Hanson’s Parlor.”
“What?”
“Never mind. That’s another problem I’ve got to work on.”
“Christy? Bob? Are you home?” Aunt Marti called from her bedroom. It was after ten, and they were just returning from dinner after taking Alissa to the airport.
“Yes, my little peach fuzz,” Bob called up the stairs.
Marti hopped down the stairs in a long, floral-print silk robe. “Christy, I’ve the most marvelous news to tell you! Your boyfriend came by while you were gone and asked why you weren’t at the beach today.” She settled herself on the couch and continued. “I told him you were over at Alissa’s, goofing off.”
Christy shook her head. “We weren’t exactly goofing off!”
“No matter,” Marti continued. “Todd and I had a nice little chat, and he said he would call you this evening. Well, the poor guy has called twice, and I guess he gave up because he said he would talk to you tomorrow. He certainly is a charming young man, Christy.”
“If only he thought I was a charming young woman!”
“Oh! I nearly forgot. It was the most darling thing you’ve ever seen. He was wearing the sweatshirt we got for him in San Francisco. It looked so adorable on him.”
“Was he really? I can’t believe it!”
“That’s my man,” said Uncle Bob with a twinkle in his eye. “Give him time. He’ll come around.”
“You flake!” Christy yelled and bopped him on the head with a pillow from the couch before heading up to her room. She decided to start a letter to Paula after getting ready for bed, but she kept falling asleep. Finally she gave in to the exhaustion and crawled between the covers with a yawn.
The next morning she lingered in bed for more than an hour finishing the letter to Paula and writing a short note to her parents. She probably would have stayed between the covers and dozed off again if she weren’t so anxious to see Todd.
Should I go down to the beach, or will he come by again? I think I’ll wait—at least till noon, and then, if he doesn’t call or come over, I’ll go down to the beach.
With special care, Christy showered, did her hair, and put on her makeup, thinking of Alissa the whole time.
I wonder
how Alissa is doing at her grandmother’s? I hope things turn out better for her. I can’t believe Erik dropped her like that. I thought he really liked her. I thought she had her life so together.
Pushing thoughts of Alissa from her mind, Christy surveyed her wardrobe. She had some new clothes she hadn’t worn yet. But the longer she looked, the more discouraged she became. Nothing seemed right for today.
“I don’t have anything to wear!” she moaned, flopping onto the bed. “Guess I’ll wear my bathing suit, a pair of shorts, and a T-shirt again. I sure am getting tired of wearing the same thing all the time.”
“Christy?” The tap of acrylic nails had become familiar. “Christy darling!”
“Come on in, Aunt Marti.”
“Who were you talking to, dear?”
“Myself.”
“You’re still in your nightshirt!”
“Yeah. I can’t find anything to wear,” Christy sighed.
“Maybe we should go shopping again. But not this morning. I’ve got a meeting. Why don’t we go later this afternoon to South Coast Plaza? Bob could meet us there for dinner. Besides, I did want to find something for your birthday outing to—” She caught herself. “Well, to wherever you might go for your birthday.”
“What are you trying to tell me, Aunt Marti?”
With a forced little laugh she responded, “Absolutely nothing, dear. I simply thought it would be nice to do some birthday shopping for you.” Marti glanced at her watch. “Oh, dear! I really must be going. I’ll be home around two-thirty, and we can leave soon after that.”
She turned her head back toward Christy. “You really should hurry and get dressed. It’s not polite to keep him waiting.”
“Keep who waiting?”
Marti gave her a puzzled look. “You mean I didn’t tell you?” She tilted her head back and laughed at a joke only she was in on. “Oh, dear me. Where is my mind today? I came up to tell you that Todd is waiting in the den.”