Страница 37 из 41
Daily Field Journal of A
The Kirkpatricks’ party might have had a smaller guest list than usual, but no one would have known they’d cheaped out on anything. This year’s theme was a luau, and if I hadn’t known better, I would have sworn I was in Hawaii. Real palm trees decorated their sprawling deck, and a roasted pig turned on a spit outside. The waitresses wore colorful sarongs and leis made of real flowers, and the food was unbelievable. Plus, they had no problem handing over the piña coladas and strawberry daiquiris to anybody who asked.Maybe these Crestie parties were good for something.Although, as I stood at the tiki bar in the living room, my mother was partaking in a one-on-two hula dancing lesson with Mrs. Moore across the room and, from the looks of it, having the time of her life. It made me sick, really. I mean, how could she be having so much fun? She was getting divorced. Officially. She and my dad had told me last Saturday, after I’d gotten back from Orchard Hill. Apparently my mother had decided over a year ago that she wanted her marriage to be over—she just hadn’t been able to track my father down to sign the papers. But now, here he was. And he was done fighting. I guess they had a long talk while I was gone, and she convinced him. Over twenty years together, if you count the few they’d dated, and it was just done. And she was acting like she’d never been happier.She and Mrs. Moore tried a frantic hip-shaking move, then dissolved all over each other, giggling. I groaned and rolled my eyes. Didn’t they see how ridiculous they looked? But at least my mom hadn’t been on me all night long. Thanks to Faith, she was under the impression that the waitresses were only serving virgin drinks to the minors.So maybe Faith was good for something too.“Okay! I just saw one of the Idiot Twins hooking up with that Lindsey girl in the bathroom, but I don’t know if it was Todd or Trevor,” A
The flowers might not have been the best idea. For the past two hours they’d been sitting there on the passenger seat of my Jeep next to Faith’s stupid coconut invite, taunting me. A few times I’d decided to toss them out the window, or give them to some tired-looking mom at a parkway rest stop and make her year. I mean, I’d decided it didn’t matter whether Ally took me back. What mattered was being there for her. So wouldn’t the flowers confuse things?But no. Everyone liked to get flowers, right? At least, all girls. It was the kind of thing Chloe would know the answer to. If nothing had happened that night, if we had just gone on being friends and study partners, I could have called her and asked her. A couple of months ago, she wanted me and Ally to get together. She was, like, the only one who did.And now . . . what would she think if she knew I was half an hour away from LBI? If she knew where I was going and why? Would she be mad? Jealous? Happy for me?Did I even care?I looked at the flowers again as I zoomed through the last tollbooth before exit sixty-three.Screw it. I was going to give them to her. I loved the girl. Simple as that. It was time to stop fucking around.
Je