‘Oh, girl!’ Beebi said, slapping Eleanor’s leg. ‘There’s your man.’
They all looked out the cafeteria’s glass wall. Park was walking by with a few other guys. He was wearing jeans and a T-shirt that said ‘Minor Threat.’ He looked into the cafeteria and smiled when he saw Eleanor. Beebi giggled.
‘He is cute,’ DeNice said. Like it was something certifiable.
‘I know,’ Eleanor said. ‘I want to eat his face.’
They all three giggled until DeNice called them back to order.
Park ‘So,’ Cal said.
Park was still smiling. Even though they were long past the cafeteria.
‘You and Eleanor, huh?’
‘Uh … yeah,’ Park said.
‘Yeah,’ Cal said, nodding.
‘Everybody knows. I mean, I’ve known forever. I could tell by the way you stare at her in English …
I was just waiting for you to tell me.’
‘Oh,’ Park said, looking up at Cal. ‘Sorry. I’m going out with Eleanor.’
‘Why didn’t you tell me?’
‘I figured you knew.’
‘I did know,’ Cal said. ‘But, you know, we’re friends. We’re supposed to talk about these things.’
‘I didn’t think you’d get it …’
‘I don’t get it. No offense.
Eleanor still scares the crap out of me. But if you’re getting it – you know, getting it – I want to know about it. I want the whole freaking report.’
‘This, actually,’ Park said.
‘This is why I didn’t tell you.’
CHAPTER 35
Eleanor
Park’s mom asked him to set the table. That was Eleanor’s cue to leave. The sun had almost set. She rushed down the steps before Park could stop her … and almost ran into his dad standing in the driveway.
‘Hey,
Eleanor,’
he
said,
startling her. He was messing around with something in the back of his truck.
‘Hey,’ she said, rushing past him. He really did look an awful lot like Magnum P.I. It wasn’t something you got used to.
‘Hey, wait, come here,’ he said.
She felt something go slightly wrong in her stomach. She stopped and stepped toward him, but only a little.
‘Look,’ he said, ‘I’m getting tired of asking you to stay for dinner.’
‘Okay …’ she said.
‘What I mean is, I want you to feel like you have a standing invitation.
You’re
just
…
welcome, okay?’ He seemed uncomfortable, and it was making her uncomfortable. Way more uncomfortable than she usually felt around him.
‘Okay …’ she said.
‘Look, Eleanor … I know your stepdad.’
This could go a million different ways, she thought. All of them awful.
Park’s dad kept talking, one hand on his truck, the other on the back of his neck, like he was in pain. ‘We grew up together. I’m older than Richie, but this is a small neighborhood, and I’ve put in my time at the Rail …’
The sun was too far gone to see his face. Eleanor still wasn’t sure what he was getting at.
‘I know that your stepdad isn’t an easy man to be around,’ Park’s dad said finally, stepping toward her. ‘And I’m just saying, you know, that if it’s easier to be over here, then you should just be here.
That would make Mindy and I feel a lot better, okay?’
‘Okay,’ she said.
‘So this is the last time I’m going to ask you to stay for dinner.’
Eleanor smiled, and he smiled back, and for a second he looked a lot more like Park than Tom Selleck.
Park Eleanor on the couch, holding his hand. Across from him at the kitchen table with her homework …
Helping him carry in groceries for his grandmother. Politely eating everything his mom made for dinner, even if it was something completely disgusting like liver and onions …
They were always together, and it still wasn’t enough.
He still hadn’t found a way to put his arms all the way around her. And he still didn’t have enough opportunities to kiss her.
She wouldn’t go to his room with him …
‘We can listen to music,’ he’d say.
‘Your mom …’
‘Doesn’t care. We’ll leave the door open.’
‘Where will we sit?’
‘On my bed.’
‘God. No.’
‘On the floor.’
‘I don’t want her to think I’m slutty.’
He wasn’t sure his mother even thought of Eleanor as a girl.
She liked Eleanor though.
More than she used to. Just the other day, his mom had said that Eleanor had excellent manners.
‘She’s very quiet,’ his mom said, like that was a good thing.
‘She’s just nervous,’ Park said.
‘Why nervous?’
‘I don’t know,’ Park said. ‘She just is.’
He could tell that his mom still hated Eleanor’s clothes. She was always looking her up and down and shaking her head when she thought Eleanor wasn’t looking.
Eleanor was unfailingly polite with his mom. She even tried to make small talk. One Saturday night after dinner, Park’s mom was sorting her Avon shipment on the dining room table while Park and Eleanor played cards. ‘How long have you been a beautician?’
Eleanor asked, looking over at all the bottles.