“Nice,” Clark said. “I want a beard and to be covered in body hair and then I’ll marry Lisa and we’ll move to Portland or something and build a tiny house.”
“That’s your dream?”
“I think so,” Clark said, immediately following it with a backflip in the water.
Solomon got quiet after that, but he tried to talk just enough for Clark not to sense anything. He was so angry at himself for letting this happen, for feeling the way he felt about Clark. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t shake it, either. And, long after Clark had gone home, Solomon stayed up wondering if everyone falls in love with someone who can’t love them back.
TWENTY-TWO
LISA PRAYTOR
Lisa was pretending to be sick so she wouldn’t have to spend another whole day watching Solomon Reed steal her boyfriend. And it was that kind of thinking that told her she needed to talk to someone. That someone had to be Janis. Not the Janis from camp—fueled by anger and jealousy—but the one she’d known her whole life who could sometimes suspend her self-righteousness just long enough to say all the right things.
As Lisa knocked on the door, she closed her eyes and turned her head to one side, almost hoping no one would answer.
“What?” Janis barked, swinging the door open.
“Hi.”
“What do you want, Lisa?”
“We have to talk.”
“No we don’t.”
Lisa knew what she had to do. The only way to reconcile with someone like Janis, who lived for drama, was to give her a good old-fashioned emotional breakdown. It was through tears that she got her real strength. And Lisa was ready to pay up.
So, she silently stepped forward and hugged Janis around the neck, putting as much of her weight on her shoulders as possible. Lisa was prepared to put on a performance, but she hadn’t expected the floodgates to open like they did and before she knew it, she and Janis were both sobbing in each other’s arms.
It didn’t take long before they’d made up. They were more like sisters than either of them would ever admit, so they’d had their fair share of big blowups in the past. Lisa wanted to take Janis to lunch, so she waited while her friend got ready and then drove her to a sandwich place downtown. They sat outside and Lisa looked over the menu while Janis texted someone, her fingers furiously tapping her phone screen. Then she let out a big laugh and kept texting, completely ignoring Lisa and everything else around her.
“Who’s that?” Lisa asked.
She set the phone facedown and gave her friend a big, sneaky smile.
“I thought you’d never ask. I have a boyfriend.”
“A what? That’s awesome!”
“His name’s Trevor Blackwell. We met at Camp Christ Is Risen.”
“Last year?”
“Yeah. But, he had a girlfriend, so I waited and prayed and then, a couple weeks ago, he messaged me and said they broke up. You’ve got to see him. He’s like a model or something.”
Janis picked her phone back up, clicked a few times, and handed it to Lisa. He was attractive enough, in that unassuming sort of way like the best friend in every movie you’ve ever seen. Lisa hammed it up, though.
“He’s so cute, Janis. That smile. Maybe I should go to this camp.”
“We met during a reenactment of the crucifixion.”
“Your first date was a crucifixion?”
“Reenactment,” Janis corrected. “It wasn’t a date. It was love at first sight.”
Lisa couldn’t help imagining these lovebirds standing in the woods while two high schoolers pretended to whip a dude dressed like Jesus in the background.
“I’m glad, Janis. You seem really happy.”
“I am,” she said, grabbing her phone. “I just wish he lived closer.”
“Where’s he live?”
“Tustin. But it may as well be Jupiter.”
“That’s not that far,” Lisa said. “Like an hour.”
“An hour is an eternity when you’re this in love. But, I’ll see him at camp next week.”
“Janis, please don’t get knocked up at Christian camp.”
“Can you imagine? My mom would kill me.”
“You could always call it a miracle Virgin birth maybe?”
“Well, gosh, I hadn’t thought of that.”
After lunch, they went to a serve-yourself yogurt shop around the corner. It had been their spot once, after school and sometimes on Sundays. It was weird being there, after so long, and Lisa was feeling a little overwhelmed by Janis’s nonstop talking.
“So, how are your boyfriends?” Janis asked.
“Good,” she said. “Just . . . yeah . . . good.”
“Look, I’m sorry for what I said, okay? It wasn’t fair. And what do I know anyway?”
“Maybe you were right,” Lisa said, louder than she intended, and then threw her head down to hide her face in her arms.
“What?”
“I think maybe I was wrong,” she said, her face still covered.
“He’s gay?” Janis asked, in a whisper, leaning down.
Lisa shot her head up and let herself slide down in the plastic chair.