“Okay.” Another pause. “You know I’m still going to UNM—”
“I know. It has nothing to do with you staying at Remez. It’s what I need to do. The only thing that makes me hesitate is the winter dance. But I know that’s not a reason to stick around. And just maybe I still have some feelings for him.”
Ben licked his lips. “Do you love him?”
“No, I don’t love him. But I do like him. And I don’t want to leave him stranded and without a date. He’s actually been pretty nice to me.”
“If you want to break up, don’t worry about the winter dance. He’s probably got a list of girls waiting in the wings.”
She twisted her head around to look at him. “Why do you say that?”
Oops. “Because JD’s the bomb. You know that.” She was quiet. “I know you really want to go to the dance. You bought your dress and everything.”
“So I shouldn’t break up with him?”
“You should do what you really want to do.”
“Like you said, Vicks, a dress is not a reason to stay with someone.” She thought a moment. “I mean, I could break up with him after the winter dance.” Ro looked at him with those baby blues. “What do you think I should do?”
“I can’t answer that.” Ro tapped her foot and waited. He said, “You like him enough to go to the winter dance with him, right?”
“Yeah, I do want to go to the dance,” she said. “But I sure as hell don’t want to go to the after party.”
“Then go to the dance but not the after party.”
“But if I go to the dance with him, I’ll have to go to the after party.”
“What’s wrong with the after party?”
“It’s different from the regular parties, Vicks. It’s at a motel. He’ll expect me to do things.”
“Oh . . .” Ben’s face went hot. “Don’t do anything you don’t want to do.” She was dry-eyed, tense. He said, “This isn’t my forte. This is something you should discuss with Shannon or Chelsea.”
She looked out the window and shook her head. “I threw myself into school. I had no choice. It was either do that or just cry all the time. I didn’t want to come here. I’m so angry that my parents did this to me. I should have finished up in New York. But then Griff would have to deal with my mom without me. I couldn’t do it to him.”
“I know. It really sucks.”
“Sometimes it really does. But then I think it happened for the best. Especially meeting you . . .” She looked at him. “It’s brought out this flood of emotions that I’ve held back for the last three years. It feels so good to finally have someone who I can talk to.”
Disappointed didn’t begin to describe how Ben felt. He’d gone from friend to therapist. “Right.”
“I can’t go to the winter dance without going to the after party, Vicks. And I don’t want to go to the after party.”
“You have a decision to make.”
“Yes, I do.” She paused. “I’ll drop you off at home. Or rather since you’re driving my car, you can drop yourself off at your home and I’ll go talk to him.”
“No, no, no. That’s not what we agreed on. I’m going with you.”
“Vicks, stop it. I can handle this on my own.”
“Humor me, please.”
“All right, you can come. But stay in the background. Because I still might change my mind. I’m still on the fence about this.”
“If you’re still on the fence, why go talk to him now?” Silence. “Ro, you had a real hard day. Real emotional and long. Why don’t you just sleep on it and see how you feel in the morning?”
“Because if I see how I feel in the morning, I’m going to change my mind. I’m going to go to school and get sucked into all that social crap because I’m pathetic. I can’t stand being disliked.”
“It’s really not so bad once you get used to it.”
“You’re not disliked, okay? Weird, yes. Eccentric, yes. Vaguely disconcerting, yes. But no one dislikes you. I’m going to go talk to JD and I’m going to do it now. So either point the car in that direction or get out and walk home.”
“This isn’t going to end well.”
“Just let me handle it.”
Ben pulled up to the curb at JD’s house at three in the afternoon. JD was the oldest of five and his parents lived in a sprawling two-story adobe, modern in style, with soaring ceilings and lots of points and angles. Ro said, “Wait here.”
“No.” Ben spoke with authority. “We’re going in together.”
“Whatever.” She got out and slammed the door.
It was cold outside. Heavy gray clouds hung low in the skies. The winds were fierce. The air smelled like rain and electricity. Ro rang the bell, one of those deep gongs. A moment later Weekly answered the door, dressed in a dirty T-shirt and torn jeans. He was barefoot, his blond hair hanging over his eyes. His breath hinted of pot and alcohol. Obviously, there were no adults around.
Wordlessly, Ro breezed past him into the living room, where JD was playing the Hari-katchi-something-killer-fighter game on his giant flat screen. At the moment Ro looked pretty killer-fighter herself. JD turned around, took in her face. Then he saw Ben, standing ten paces behind her. He went back to playing his video game.
Ro said, “Can I talk to you alone?”
He didn’t answer. JD was dressed in a wifebeater and jeans. The guy had it all—built and good-looking with a square chin and wide, white smile. He was popular, he was charming, he was funny, and he was really smart. But Ben knew he had a dark side, having been on the receiving end of it. Then again, JD knew what Ben was capable of. That made them even.
Ro said, “It won’t take too long, JD.”
JD continued to play. Without looking at her, he said, “Anything you want to say to me, you can say in front of my friends.”
There were six of them. She said, “I’d really prefer to talk to you alone.”
“And I don’t really care what you’d really prefer.” He turned around and gave her a sneer masquerading as a smile. “Your preference isn’t important.”
His posse booed. Weekly said, “Ooooh . . . dis.”
“I know why you’re here,” JD said. “If you want to go out with the geek, go out with the geek. I’m out the door in six months, so I really don’t give a solitary shit.”
“It has nothing to do with Vicks, JD. Can you just give me a minute alone?”
“No. Go fuck yourself. And go fuck Vicks. He’s a virgin. He can use it a lot more than me.”
“It has nothing to do with Vicks,” she repeated. “We’re just friends.”
“We’re just friends,” JD imitated.
“It’s the truth,” Ro insisted. “I’ve been totally true to you.”
“Unlike me, is that what you’re saying?” Abruptly, JD threw the joystick at the TV. It crashed into the flat screen and shattered it, bits of black glass flying all over the room. JD said, “Did he give you all the deets, Do-ro-thy?”
Ben felt his heart beating hard. “Shut up, JD!”
“Did he give you a play-by-play of what he saw?”
“JD, shut up!”
“What are you talking about?” Ro’s eyes flitted between JD and Ben. “Play-by-play of what?”
“Ro, let’s get out of here,” Ben said.