“All part of the mythology,” I lie, a little. I can’t deal with Alice’s imagination going wild right now, when I’m convinced that Liv is mysteriously holed up in her house.
“Well, her dad is a billionaire, right?” Alice continues. “Royalty, too?”
“More like a millionaire. Maybe a thousandaire. Honestly, I have no idea. He’s rich, I guess. I doubt he’s royal. Liv never talks about him. In fact, she hates him.”
“I guess on some level I knew all that. Still”—Alice pulls down the vanity mirror and adjusts her headband—“why do you think some people inspire so much speculation?”
I pull into a spot in front of the coffee shop and sigh. “You take a little personal attractiveness and add some mystery. Just enough to keep people wondering. Voilà. Instant Fantasy GIRL.”
“You know what’s funny? I preferred thinking all those stories about Liv’s house and her family were real.”
“Alice.” I turn off the car and shift to face her. “That house might look like a gingerbread house from the outside. But I gotta tell you, there ain’t nothing about Liv Lapin’s life that’s anything close to a fairy tale.”
“I guess that depends on the fairy tale,” Alice says. She frowns, thinking hard. “It’s a shame that Mrs. Lapin doesn’t do anything to make the house pretty anymore. It’s really dilapidated. Mom said they might even have to have a talk with her, because it’s on the historic register and people get mad about those things.”
I throw my hood over my head and get ready to run. Alice aims her Hello Kitty umbrella out the door. “I don’t get how you suddenly abandon a project you were obsessed with,” she yells, fixated, her train of thought unstoppable as we bolt under the rain into the cozy shop, where Christmas music plays prematurely and pretend presents are wrapped near a fireplace.
Looking directly at me is Kellan, standing at a high table with a group of kids, one of whom is the Apple Face girl, perched on a stool. He looks to Apple Face, then to me, and his mouth falls open.
Alice fusses with her umbrella loudly, shaking it out and closing it at her side. “Now that the house is in such disrepair, I guess Mrs. Lapin’s more likely to leave it alone.”
I spin and face Alice, flipping back my hood. “What was that you said?”
“I said, now that it’s not so pretty”—Alice closes her umbrella with a whoosh—“Mrs. Lapin will leave it alone.”
I grip the back of a wire newsstand. The Christmas carols sound like demented fun-house music, and the warmth is suddenly stifling. I fumble for my bag, soaked, the notebook inside probably soaked too. It doesn’t matter, because I’ve run out of white space. Alice jams her umbrella maniacally into an overfull umbrella stand, nattering about squirrels in danger of mistaking the chipped paint around Liv’s house for butter. I squeeze my eyes tight, and think of
Things Liv has:
- A knife
- A boyfriend with a temper
- A mother who won’t leave her alone
When I open my eyes, Alice is staring at me.
“I have to go,” I whisper.
“What? You can’t leave me! Hey, there’s Kellan. Hi, Kellan!” She waves frenetically at Kellan heading toward us.
My heart feels like it’s been fitted in a vise compressing slowly. “I have to go see Liv. Right now.”
“She’s not even home. You can’t leave! I don’t know anyone here. I’ll come with you.” Alice fights to release her umbrella from the stand.
I put my hand on Alice’s arm. “I have to go alone. Stay here and make new friends.”
Her lip quivers.
“You’re a true friend, Alice. Anyone would be lucky to have you in their corner.” I dash out the front and make it inside my car, slamming the door.
Kellan bangs at my window with the side of his fist. I jump.
“Wait!” he mouths, forearm protecting his eyes from the forming sleet.
“I can’t! I have to go!” I yell, already pulling out. Kellan does an awkward jig to get away from my squealing tires.
I take the back roads that wrap around the high school. I can speed this way; the streets are long and straight with no lights or stop signs. Wind gusts sway my car, all 2,750 pounds. Black branches weakened by the rain hang low and lean ominously on power lines. It takes until the first stoplight for me to realize Kellan is in pursuit. When the light turns green I peel out, my tires spinning in slush. I tell myself it doesn’t matter if Kellan shows up in Liv’s driveway right behind me, he can help set things straight. Shane is skinny but he’s still a guy, and a guy Kellan can take, if it comes to that.
Though if Kellan got hurt, I couldn’t forgive myself.