Fire with Fire

WHILE I DRY OFF, REEVE GOES TO THE PARKING LOT and starts my car so it’s warm for me. I didn’t even have to ask him to, which is a great sign.

I gather up my stuff and meet him out there. I keep my eyes peeled for Mary, to see if she’s still around, but she’s nowhere to be found.

Reeve’s taken the icer and chiseled the frost off my wind-shield. Reeve’s truck is also turned on, and frostless, parked right next to mine. But he’s waiting in my car, sitting in my driver’s seat, listening to my music. I force the grin off my face and hop into the passenger side. “Hey,” I say, pointing the vents so they’re blowing right on me. “Thanks for starting my car up for me.”

“No problem.” He doesn’t make a move to get out, so I stay put too. Abruptly he says, “Hey, you never told me how Boston went.”

“Oh, it was good. My interview with the Wellesley alum went really well. The interviewer used to visit Jar Island when she was growing up, so we had that in common.”

“Cool, cool.” Reeve drums his fingers on my steering wheel. “So did Lindy finally man up and make his move?”

My eyes go wide. I mean, we did kind of hold hands. But it’s not like that’s a move move. I’m not going to tell Reeve that, though. Better he thinks Alex did. “Why? Are you jealous?”

Reeve makes a “pfft” sound and looks out the window. “Is Lind jealous of our pool time?” he counters.

I force a swallow. “He doesn’t know about it.” I want to tell Reeve, Please don’t say anything, but I can’t do that. Instead I think fast and say, “Does Rennie?” even though I’m pretty sure of his answer.

Reeve scrunches up his forehead. “Nah. I haven’t mentioned it.”

“Okay.”

“Okay.”

So neither of us has told anyone. Rennie and Alex don’t know. But I’m dreading the moment they do. Because this is happening. The train is on the tracks, and it’s speeding up.

Reeve takes his hands off the steering wheel and lets them fall to his lap, where he fidgets for a moment. Then he looks at me, and I can tell he’s about to say something. Or do something.

I panic.

I whip out my cell, pound out a fake text, and tell him, “I should get home. Maybe I’ll see you this weekend?”

He bites the inside of his cheek and says, “Sure. See you, Cho.”

On Saturday, on my way out of Milky Morning, I run into PJ. “Hey, stranger!” I say, as he holds the door open for me.

He holds his hand up for a high five and says, “See you tonight, Lil.”

I hand him my box of muffins to hold while I zip up my puffer. “What’s happening tonight?”

“Ren scored a ton of free booze. We’re going to meet up in the woods by her house. She didn’t tell you?”

“No,” I say. “She didn’t.” Neither did Ash. At Rennie’s command, I’m sure. If that’s how Ren wants to play it, so be it. Two can play at that game.

“What time are you guys meeting up?” I ask him.

“Nine.”

“It’s so cold, though,” I say. “We’ll freeze out there.”

“The booze will keep us warm. Besides, where else are we gonna go?”

Lucky me, my mom and Nadia are off island at a horse show. They won’t be back until tomorrow afternoon. My mom wanted me to stay at Rennie’s or ask Carlota to stay over, which I told her was ridiculous—I’m seventeen, and in less than a year I’ll be away at college. I’m old enough to stay by myself for a night. “Besides,” I said, “don’t you trust me?” My mom caved at that. “Of course I do,” she said.

I text Alex first.

It’s so cold out. Wanna come over and watch a movie tonight? 9? Bring Derek!

He writes back immediately.

Sounds good!

Next is Ash. I know that if I dangle Derek in front of her, she’ll take the bait. She’d blow off Rennie in a second to hang out with Derek. She’s been crushing on him since last year, and they’ve hooked up a few times, but they’re definitely not exclusive.

My mom and Nadia are off island tonight. Wanna come over and watch a movie? The guys are coming—Derek too!

Yes! What time?

9

Yay!

Then Reeve.

Movie night at my house if you’re interested.

Reeve takes his sweet time writing back. But eventually he does. One word.

Cool.

I jump into action. Carlota was here earlier today, so the house is sparkly clean. But we need snacks.

I bake a batch of brownies, not from scratch, from a box, but it’s a fancy brand my mom got from some specialty food store in Boston. It cost eleven dollars, so I figure it must be good. For good measure I throw in a handful of chocolate chips. I grab a not-too-expensive-looking bottle of red wine from the wine cellar, and I set that out too, with some glasses. At the last minute I pop a bag of kettle corn and figure that will be good enough.

Then I run upstairs to get ready. I change out of my school clothes and put on skinny jeans and an off-the-shoulder cream-colored sweater. I dab some Lillia perfume on behind my ears and in the hollow of my neck. No makeup, though, only cherry ChapStick.

Casual.

But I’m excited inside. Excited thinking about Rennie alone in the woods with her bottles of booze, freezing her butt off while she waits for everybody to show.

We’re all lounging in the TV room. Ash and Derek are cozied up in our leather armchair with a blanket, where I told them to sit. Alex and I are on the sectional. No Reeve. I guess he met up with Rennie after all. I’m trying not to feel disappointed, when the doorbell rings.

“Who else is coming?” Alex asks me.

“I don’t know,” I say, and run for the door.

I open it, and there’s Reeve in his puffer vest and sweater. “Hey!” I say. I get up on my tiptoes and give him a hug. He looks taken aback, and I smile at him, sweet as cotton candy.

“Lind is here?” he asks me, looking over my shoulder and frowning.

“Yup . . .” Then it dawns on me. He thought it was going to be the two of us. Like maybe a date. Wow. That’s good. That’s really good. I can’t wait to tell Kat and Mary all about it. I link my arm through his and lead him into the house. “Everybody’s in the living room.”

Reeve follows me down the foyer. “Reeve’s here,” I announce, even though, duh, he’s here; we all have eyes.

“What up, Tabatsky,” Derek says.

Alex makes room for him on the couch. When Reeve sits down and starts to put his feet up on the coffee table, Alex says, “Dude, her family doesn’t wear shoes in the house.”

“Calm down, Lindy,” Reeve says. But he obeys; he takes his shoes off.

“You too,” Ash says to Derek.

“It’s fine,” I say, but I’m relieved Alex said something. I hate to be the one going around telling people to take their shoes off; it’s so awkward. But my mom will seriously kill me if our white furniture gets dirty. It’s like her life’s mission is to buy everything in white and then rise to the challenge of keeping it that way.

“Does anybody want any wine?” I ask. I feel so grown-up until I realize I don’t even know how to open a wine bottle.

“Yes, please!” Ashlin chimes in.

I fumble with the wine opener until Reeve takes it from me and pops it open in, like, two seconds without saying a word. Then he pours the wine for all of us. “Where’s Ren?” he asks me, setting the bottle back down.

Shrugging, I say, “No idea.” I hop up and run to the kitchen and come back with the plate of brownies. “Fresh baked!” I sing out. I shimmy over to Ash and Derek, and they take one and share it.

I come back to the couch and offer one to Alex, who accepts it. Then I put the plate back on the coffee table and sit down between him and Reeve. “So what are we watching? There are a few good things on demand—”

“You’re not even going to offer me a brownie?” Reeve interjects. “What kind of hostess are you?”

“You don’t eat sweets!” I know this about him, for a fact.

“I don’t eat sweets during the season,” he corrects. “And the season’s over.” His green eyes glint as he opens his mouth and says, “Ahh.”

I slide the plate in his direction and he shakes his head. “Ahh,” he says patiently.

I roll my eyes and pop a piece of brownie into his mouth. “Diva!”

With his mouth full Reeve says, “Delicious.” I give him another angelic smile as a reward.

“These brownies are awesome, Lillia,” Alex chimes in.

“I baked them myself,” I say. It’s not like they need to know they came from a box mix. Grabbing the remote, I say, “I vote we watch this French movie I heard about.”

Reeve groans and Alex says, “The one about the cat burglar? They were reviewing that on NPR yesterday. It’s supposed to be good.”

Reeve mutters, “Why don’t you two move into the retirement home already.”

“We don’t have to watch it,” I say. “Ash, Der, what are you guys in the mood for?”

They are whispering to each other and feeding each other brownie crumbs and not even paying attention.

Reeve grabs the remote from me. “Let me put on SportsCenter for a sec.”

Holding out my hand, I say, “Give it back, Reeve!”

“I want to check the score on the game,” he says.

“Reeve!” I keep reaching for the remote, but he keeps twisting away from me. “Oh my God, I feel sorry for whoever marries you,” I say, and then I fall back against the couch and take a tiny sip of wine. I almost spit it back out into the glass. It tastes like smoke to me. Like barbecued wood. I don’t know how adults drink the stuff.

I meant it as a joke, but Reeve obviously doesn’t take it that way, because without looking away from the TV he goes, “Likewise.”

“Come on, man, give her the remote,” Alex says.

Reeve tosses it to me and starts looking at his phone while I queue up the French movie and Alex turns on the surround sound.

“Should I dim the lights?” Alex asks me.

Reeve stands up. “I’m gonna get out of here.”

“Already?” Derek asks, turning around.

“Yeah. People are hanging out in the woods by Rennie’s. Wanna come?”

Derek looks at Ash and says, “Nah. Too cold.” Ashlin snuggles closer to him.

Reeve eyes Alex. “Al, I’m guessing you’re not going anywhere.”

“Yup, I’m good,” Alex says, stretching out on the couch.

“All right. I’ll hit you guys up after.” Reeve shrugs back into his coat and picks up his shoes. “Later.”

“Bye,” Alex says, settling back on the couch.

“Bye, Reevie,” Ash calls.

I can’t believe he’s leaving. Rennie snaps her fingers and he comes running?

Reeve heads toward the hallway and I follow him. “Why don’t you hang out a little while longer?” I ask him.

“No thanks,” he says over his shoulder. “Didn’t realize I was crashing a double date.”

“Don’t go,” I say, reaching out to touch the hem of his puffer vest. I drop my hand when he doesn’t turn around.

He steps back into his sneakers, and then he opens the door, and at first I think he’s going to go without saying bye or anything, but he stops and looks back at me. He hesitates, and then in a low, uncertain voice he says, “See you on Monday at the pool?”

Smiling slowly, I nod. Then he leaves, and I close the door behind him and lock it.