Eleanor & Park

When Eleanor first heard about Richie, she was leaning against their old couch, reading a Life magazine, and drinking a virgin banana daiquiri. She wasn’t exactly eavesdropping – all her mom’s friends liked having Eleanor around.

They liked that she watched their kids without complaining, they said she was wise beyond her years. If Eleanor was quiet, they sort of forgot she was in the room. And if they drank too much, they didn’t care.

‘Never trust a man, Eleanor!’ they’d all shouted at her, at one point or another.

‘Especially if he hates to dance!’

But when her mom told them that Richie said she was as pretty as a spring day, they’d all sighed and asked her to tell them more.

Of course he said she’s the prettiest woman he’s ever seen, Eleanor thought. She undoubtedly is.

Eleanor was twelve, and she couldn’t imagine a guy fucking her mom over worse than her dad had.

She didn’t know there were things worse than selfish.

Anyway. She always tried to leave Park’s house before di

Hanging out with Park every day had really messed up her bath-taking routine. (A fact she was never ever going to tell him, no matter how sharey-carey they got.)

The only safe time to take a bath in her house was right after school. If Eleanor went over to Park’s house right after school, she had to hope that Richie would still be at the Broken Rail when she got home that night. And then she had to take a really fast bath because the back door was right across from the bathroom, and it could open at any time.

She could tell that all this sneaky bath-taking was making her mom nervous, but it wasn’t exactly Eleanor’s fault. She’d considered taking a shower in the locker room at school, but that might even be more dangerous: Tina et al.

The other day at lunch, Tina had a made big point of walking by Eleanor’s table and mouthing the C-word. The c-u-n-t word. (Richie didn’t even use that word, which implied an unimagin-able degree of filth.)

‘What is her problem?’ DeNice asked.

Rhetorically.

‘She thinks she’s all that,’ Beebi said.

‘She ain’t all that,’ DeNice said. ‘Walking around here looking like a little boy in a miniskirt.’

Beebi giggled.

‘That hair is just wrong,’ DeNice said, still looking at Tina. ‘She needs to wake up a little earlier and try to decide whether she wants to look like Farrah Fawcett or Rick James.’

Beebi and Eleanor both cracked up.

‘I mean, pick one, girl,’ DeNice said, milking it. ‘Pick. One.’

‘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 Tshirt 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,’ Call said.

Park was still smiling. Even though they were long past the cafeteria.

‘You and Eleanor, huh?’

‘Uh … yeah,’ Park said.

‘Yeah,’ Call 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,’ Call 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 di

‘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 di

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 di

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 ma

‘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 di

His mom loved that word.

‘Since Josh start school. I get my GED, I go to beauty school, get license, get permit …’

‘Wow,’ Eleanor said.

‘I always do hair,’ his mom said, ‘even before.’ She opened a pink bottle of lotion and smelled it. ‘Little girl … cut doll’s hair, paint on makeup.’

‘That sounds like my sister,’ Eleanor said. ‘I could never do any of that.’