She felt like saying, "Oh, sure! When would I have ever gone to Hawaii?" but she settled for, "No, but I"d love to go someday."
"My dad and I lived there for a couple years."
"You"re kidding! I never knew that."
"Yeah, I went to King Kamehameha III Elementary School in Lahaina."
"Where?" Christy laughed at the mouthful of names.
"It"s on Maui. I loved walking to school because of all the plumeria trees. They smell like your perfume. I"m going back there this summer."
Christy stopped walking. Their arms went taut in the sudden s.p.a.ce between them. "You are? This summer?"
Todd smiled at her reaction. "Yeah, or next summer. I"m not totally sure yet."
They resumed their walk, and Christy fired a string of questions at him. "What are you going to do there? What about school in the fall? Where are you going to college? Don"t you need to work this summer?" Her mind added, And what about me?
"Man," Todd said playfully, "you sound like my mother. Are you sure you don"t want to ask if I put on clean socks this morning?"
"I"m sorry. I"m surprised, that"s all," Christy said with a smile pressing the surprise out of her expression. "I just thought you"d be at the beach all summer, you know, like last year."
Todd shrugged. "Might be. I don"t know yet."
Christy held his hand a little tighter and kept her feelings to herself the rest of the way to Swenson"s. The deep-down truth surfaced over and over again: He"s not yours to hold on to.
She deliberately ignored the thought. Enchanted evenings are to be enjoyed, not a.n.a.lyzed. Besides, there had been plenty of other times when she and Todd had been alone and Christy had spent the whole time brooding and missed the adventure of being with him. Tonight she was determined not to let her mood overwhelm her and take her deep inside herself, away from Todd.
To keep the conversation going, Christy said, "So, tell me about Hawaii. What did you like about it? Where did you live?"
Todd talked about the simple life he and his dad experienced living on Maui and how the two of them were together all the time. He almost made it sound like an ideal childhood, which surprised Christy, since she"d often felt sorry for Todd because his parents divorced when he was very young and he didn"t have any brothers or sisters. Todd didn"t seem to have any regrets.
Christy loved listening to him tell about his childhood and was a little disappointed when they arrived at the ice cream parlor. When he let go of her hand to open the door and then didn"t take it again once they were inside, Christy was really disappointed that their walk had come to an end.
"Know what you want?" Todd asked, reviewing the list of flavors above the ice cream counter.
Her instant mental response was, Yes! You! I want you to be my boyfriend and take me to your prom. And spend the summer with me on the beach. That"s what I want!
"Umm, I"d like a scoop of Swiss Orange Chip in a bowl, not a cone."
The girl behind the counter went to Christy"s school, but Christy didn"t know her name.
Todd smiled at her and gave his usual greeting, "Hey, how"s it going?"
The girl responded with straightforward flirting. Christy couldn"t believe it. As if Christy wasn"t even there, this girl started asking Todd his name and why she hadn"t seen him before. She suggested that if he came back at closing time, she would give him free ice cream.
Todd stood like a rock, seemingly unaffected by this pushy girl.
Christy swelled with jealousy. How dare she act like that? Can"t she see Todd is with me? Who does she think she is?
"Hey, thanks," Todd said when she handed him his change.
The girl grabbed Todd"s hand. "Remember, next time come at closing, and you won"t have to pay for it."
Christy couldn"t stand the sight of that girl"s hand touching the strong hand that had warmed Christy"s only moments earlier. She wanted to leave-to get out of here and go back to their walk, hand in hand. She wanted to have Todd all to herself, even if for only an hour.
But Todd wanted to stay. He directed Christy over to an open booth against the back wall. They ate in silence for a few minutes, Christy scooping up tiny spoonfuls and slowly letting them dissolve in her mouth. Todd had a shake, and when she had calmed down enough to focus on him, it reminded her of their very first "date" at an ice cream parlor in Newport Beach.
"Do you remember the first time we had ice cream together?" Christy asked in a soft voice.
"When was that?" Todd said.
Christy felt her emotions scrambling to be strong and secure. How could it be such a strong memory for her and something he needed to be reminded of? "Remember? Last summer after Shawn"s party."
Todd"s face clouded, and she realized Todd was being overwhelmed with another more powerful memory. That was the night his friend Shawn died.
"Oh yeah," Todd said slowly.
Now Christy was the one who had brought a somber mood to their time together, and she knew Todd might retreat deep into himself the way she sometimes did. She quickly changed the subject. "So, how"s the end of your senior year going? Are you getting excited about graduation and everything?"
The "everything" meant the prom, but Christy didn"t want to come right out and say it.
"I"ve got only a few more weeks left. My mom called the other night and said she would fly out for my graduation, so that"s pretty cool."
"That"s great," Christy answered brightly. "I imagine it will be nice for you to spend some time with your mom."
Todd nodded.
Out of the corner of her eye, Christy saw the door open, and the familiar bouncy blur of Katie entered. Katie spotted Christy and zipped over to their booth, immediately sliding in next to her without even noticing Todd.
"I can"t believe you"re here! This is so perfect! You"ll never guess what happened? He said yes, Christy! Can you believe it? Lance said he"d go with me! You should have heard my mom. You"d think I"d won a gold medal or something!"
Christy looked at Todd and then at Katie and said quickly, "That"s great! Katie, this is Todd; Todd, this is Katie."
"Oh!" Katie noticed Todd for the first time, and her eyebrows rose. "Oh! Todd? That Todd. The Todd! Hi! I thought you were David. I mean, not that you were David, but that Christy had come here with her brother because who else would she come with? I mean, besides you?"
Todd responded with his typical chin-up nod and said, "How"s it going?"
"Katie goes to my school," Christy said, feeling a little embarra.s.sed at her friend"s loud enthusiasm. "We go to church together too. I"ve told you about Katie."
Todd nodded.
"And she"s told me a lot about you, Todd," Katie said, wide-eyed. "But what are you doing here tonight?"
"Katie!" Christy laughed nervously at her friend"s lack of tact. "I told you Todd was coming tonight for dinner."
"No, you didn"t." Katie seemed to catch a look in Christy"s expression that caused her to take her voice down a notch.
With a big smile at Todd, Katie said, "Nice to meet you, Todd. Really. I kind of feel as though I already sort of know you because of all the stuff Christy has, you know, told me about you guys. Not that she"s told me any of the really private, personal stuff. But you know, all the good stuff about you, and I think you"re really great. I mean, according to what Christy has told me."
Katie caught her breath, then turning to Christy she flashed her green eyes and said between her teeth, "I thought you were grounded."
Christy"s expression asked, What?
Katie moved closer to Christy. She casually put her hand to her cheek in order to hide her mouth and spoke in a strained whisper. "That"s what Rick said. Everyone went to the movies, and he said-"
"Excuse me," Todd said, getting out of the booth. "I"m going to get some water. You two want anything?"
"No." Katie turned to face Todd with a bright smile.
"No thanks," Christy responded calmly, but everything inside her felt like exploding.
They both smiled pasted-on smiles and waited until Todd walked out of earshot. Then as if a starting gun had fired, they took off talking, fast and furious.
"My dumb brother told Rick I was grounded when he called today. But it"s not true."
"That"s Todd?"
"Yes."
"Christy! He"s..."
"I know. He is."
"But he can"t be here now. You guys have to leave."
"Why?" Christy asked, checking over Katie"s head to see if the flirty girl at the counter was trying to capture Todd"s attention again.
"Rick thinks you"re going to ask him to the prom!"
"Rick? Why?"
"Because I told him you were."
"Katie!"
"This morning you said you were."
"I did not!"
"Yes, you did! At the lockers. You said you asked your mom since it was his senior year and everything..."
Christy squeezed her eyes shut and let her head fall forward.
"Katie!" It came out like a m.u.f.fled scream. "I was talking about Todd. Todd"s prom at his school. Not going to our school prom with Rick."
"Uh-oh." Katie moaned, leaning back in the booth. "I told Rick you were going to ask him, and that"s why I asked Lance, so the four of us could go together."
Christy lifted her head and stared at her friend in disbelief.
Katie ignored Christy"s glare and perked up as if a brilliant scheme had just hatched over her head. "Wait! It"ll work! You can go to both proms! With both of them. You could even wear the same dress. n.o.body would know!"
"Katie, they"re on the same night. And my parents would never go for that. You know that. If I had a choice of even going to a prom-any prom-I"d go with Todd."
"I don"t blame you. I mean, you told me he was cute, but cute isn"t the word. He"s, well...he"s..."
"I know," Christy said, calm returning to her voice. "He"s not like any other guy you"ve ever met, right?"
"Exactly." Suddenly, Katie"s expression went starkly sober. "Oh noooooo!"
Christy followed Katie"s line of sight, and her heart stopped. Through the gla.s.s door, she spotted a group from her school, ready to enter the ice cream shop. And leading the group was Rick Doyle.
The Small ice cream parlor exploded with male laughter as the guys pushed the door open. Christy and Katie watched silently, frozen next to each other like two ice cream bars in the take-home case.
Rick faced the guys behind him, keeping them laughing with his nonstop jokes. Rick didn"t even see Todd right in front of him, balancing a cup of water in his hand.
Christy clenched her teeth and watched the whole fiasco as if it were a well-rehea.r.s.ed act. Rick"s arm barely tagged Todd"s cup, but on impact Rick spun with trained reflexes and used his right arm to block whatever it was that had just touched him. Todd, perfectly balanced as if standing on his surfboard, took the toppling of his water cup without flinching, then curved his back and tucked in his chin just in time to avoid contact with Rick"s reflex-driven arm.
Katie gasped, and Christy grabbed her arm.
"Oh, man!" Katie wheezed. "Did you see that?"
Christy couldn"t talk. This couldn"t be happening.
"Whoa! Sorry!" Rick said, but he didn"t sound as if he was. He sounded more like he was embarra.s.sed.
The other guys walked past Rick and Todd, and one of them laughed and said, "Surfs up, dude!"
Todd good-naturedly gave him a chin-up, it"s-cool gesture.
Rick snorted an embarra.s.sed laugh then brushed past Todd. He quickly scanned the room, probably concerned to see who had noticed. Immediately he spotted Katie and Christy. A strange, almost angry look spread over his face, and Rick plowed right over to their table.
"Thought you were on restriction," he said, as though he had a right to be mad at Christy for being there.
"No, I...it...my little brother lied. I"m not."
Rick nodded slowly, like he was trying to decide if he believed her or not. "I called you tonight."
"That"s what I found out." Christy"s gaze went past Rick to Todd, where he stood at the counter getting another cup of water.
The girl behind the counter had dashed to the other side to bring Todd a towel. She eagerly helped Todd dry off his shirt. Christy couldn"t hear what she was saying, but she could clearly see Todd"s face, so calm, so willing to let this pushy girl make a fuss over him. How dare she! How could he?
"Katie, would you mind letting me talk to Christy alone for a minute?" Rick said.
Katie looked to Christy for an answer, but Christy gave her a blank response. She still couldn"t believe this was all happening.
"Sure," Katie said slowly, sliding out of the booth.
Christy felt like grabbing her and saying, "Don"t leave me, Katie! Not now! Get back here!"