Indigo Blues (16 page)

She gives me a quick smooch and then pulls back.
"Still, better than Indigo?"

She's not going to lay off. "Let's leave Indigo out of
this."

Out of the corner of my eye, I see a girl in a long
baggy shirt and spandex pants slinking toward our table. I
look over at Zach, who's sucking face with Erica, and kick
him in the shin. This girl is coming for him. "Ouch." He
pries his lips off Erica's. I gesture to Spandex as she reaches
our table. She's so skinny that I think the fabric is actually holding her legs together, like chicken bones in Saran
Wrap.

Zach slaps on his yes, I'm the front man for Blank Stare
smile. But she doesn't stop at him. She points a shaky finger at me. "Are you Adam Spade?"

Should I say yes? Is she out to kill me or have my
babies? I feel for a pen in my pocket and pull it out. There's
a napkin on the table in case she wants my autograph.

"Yes, he is," Hannah finally answers for me.

"I just wanted to let you know that I run a support
group for people who have had their hearts ripped out." She hands me a business card. It says The Lonely Hearts
Club and underneath, Becky Gentle, President and Founder.

Is this a joke?

I look up at her hollow eyes, at her chapped lips.
Something tells me no.

"Thanks. I appreciate it." I slide my pen back into my
pocket.

"He's got plenty of love." Hannah gives me a big kiss
on the cheek. "Isn't that right, babe?"

Becky's face looks sunken, like an old teddy bear devoid
of stuffing. Just like her eyes. It's clear that she's not ready
to give up her spot as president of the Lonely Hearts Club.
I reach out and take Becky's hand. Even though the restaurant is warm, she's ice cold. "Thanks so much for thinking
of me. It's a wonderful thing that you're doing, reaching out
to people."

She bites her lip. "We have thirty-six members."

"Whoa, so many," Zach interjects. She doesn't answer.
I don't think he'd ever know what it's like to be a member
of the Lonely Hearts Club.

I don't know if it's the beer talking, but I just can't let
Becky go back to her table with nothing. No feeling of
accomplishment. "You keep at it, Becky, and you'll find
your true love." I stand up and give her a hug, careful not
to break her.

"Thanks, Adam. You're welcome to come to a meeting
anytime. I'll keep an eye out for you." I watch her walk back
to her table. Her shoulders are high. Two girls are waiting
for her, waiting for a glimmer of hope.

"What a wacko, but you're so sweet," Hannah says.

"Yeah!" Erica raises her glass. "And Hannah usually
goes for sour!"

But I meant what I said. Really.

"Not true," Hannah whines. "I dated that one professor guy.

"That's only because you were failing his class," Erica
says.

"True." Hannah takes a huge swig of beer.

Everyone is quiet as we finish the last of our drinks.

"Let's hit the road," Zach says after we settle the bill.

We shuffle outside, Hannah by my side. I can tell that
people are staring but I'm not sure if it's because I'm Adam
Spade, or because I'm next to Hannah, or because I'm an
honorary member of the Lonely Hearts Club.

Zach and Erica take off to his place, so Hannah and I
are left standing on the sidewalk. She hails a cab and pulls
me toward the open door. "I want you now. Come home
with me."

Nobody has ever said that to me before. How can I say
no?

fter Tripp drops me off, I make a mad dash upstairs.
Mom pops her head out of her bedroom door. Crap.

"You're home early. How was your date?"

I can hear CNN blaring from her bedroom. I hope
Dad doesn't pop his head out, too.

"Fine. We went to Catalina, then Starbucks."

"And?" She reaches over to me and tucks a stray piece
of hair behind my ear.

Krista was a bitch. I dumped a frappuccino on her. Oh,
and your lovely son has started impersonating me online. "We
walked around, too. I still don't like Krista."

"But do you still like Tripp?"

"He's nice."

"And he had good manners."

She talked to him for all of thirty seconds. "Yeah. I'm
gonna go call Cat before it's too late."

Mom's face drops a little. I hope I haven't upset her,
but she'd never understand how screwed I am. "No, go
ahead."

I give her a kiss on the cheek. "We can talk more in the
morning."

"Alright. Good night," she says and disappears back
into her room.

I stop by Eli's room on the way to mine. Empty. After
I call Cat, he's dead. I shut my bedroom door and pull out
my cell. I walk back and forth as I wait for her to pick up.
"Cat, oh my God, I'm so glad you answered."

"Indigo? You're out of breath. What's wrong?"

I stop pacing and end up in front of the computer.
"First Eli, then Krista. This is war. I just can't believe-"

"What happened?" she cuts me off.

"Do you want the Krista or Eli story first?"

"Eli. He's easier to dissect."

"He set up a website about me." My heart's beating
so fast, I feel like it's going to jump out of my chest. I sit
down and type in wwwindigojackson.com. The site pops
up. Whoa. I'm looking at a photo of me from the junior
cotillion. I can't believe Mom actually convinced me that I
looked good in peach.

"Why?"

"Who knows?" I'm staring at my website. At words
stretching across the screen. Words that I did not say. My brother sucks. "It's called The Real Indigo, the girl behind
the song."

"Okay, so that's no big deal."

On the left-hand side he's set up a bunch of links: Hear
Me Out. Fun Facts. Blog. And even one that says, For Media.
I click on Hear Me Out.

"It wouldn't be such a big deal if there wasn't a supposed quote from me saying, `I'm sick of this crap."'

She gasps, then stops. "That's good. You're voicing
your opinion!"

"No, he totally took it out of context. I want people to
know how I feel, but I don't want them to hate me in the
process. Eli was asking me dumb questions about Adam
and I just wanted him to get out of my room!"

I hear huffing. "Okay, I'm at my computer now. What's
the address?"

"Indigojackson.com."

I'm back to pacing the room. I can't sit still. I have to
know what Cat thinks. She'll tell it like it is. "So?"

"Not so baaaad."

"But that doesn't make it good."

"We just need to get him to take down some of the
content. Like the part on your most recent blog entry about
you never even being in love with Adam. That's kind of
cruel."

"Yeah, but why was I supposed to be in love? We only
dated for three months. Not enough time for me to feel
that way about him."

"You and I know that, but not the rest of America."

"You mean millions of people might read this?" Chips
and salsa from dinner swirl around in my stomach, threatening to reenter the world.

"No, it's not like everyone is looking for this site."

I let out a small sigh of relief.

"Unless they Google `Indigo Blues. "' I hear her typing
again. "Yup, this site comes up on the first page of listings."

The phone slips out of my hand and drops to the floor.
I run to the bathroom and lose it. Good thing I didn't pay
for dinner. I turn on the hot water and douse my face. I
still can't fathom how my own brother could do this to me.
Sell me out. And the worst part is, I haven't even told Cat
about Krista yet.

I look into the mirror. I'm still the same girl. Dark
brown hair. Blue eyes. Long nose. Pointy chin. What happened to me? I feel like I'm the victim of some evil curse.

I dry my face off and call Cat back.

"What took you so long? I was going to wake up my
mom so I could take her car and come rescue you."

"Sorry, I was temporarily ill." I ease back down into
my computer chair to face the music. "That was only the
latest in my night from hell."

"Things didn't go well with Tripp?"

"They were fine until Krista had to open her big fat
mouth about the website."

"I hope you told that slut off."

"Worse."

"How?"

"I accidentally dumped my frappuccino on her head."

Cat laughs so hard I'm afraid she might pee her pants.

"It's not that funny," I finally say.

She tries to compose herself by attempting to clear
her throat. "Funniest thing I've heard all week. Krista so
deserves it."

"But you know there'll be payback. She's running a
story about me on Monday on Raiders' Pride."

"Oh." Cat mellows.

"I told you my life sucks." I pound my fist on my desk.
My peace-sign ring digs into my finger. "Ouch! Should I
kill myself now?"

"No! Get ahold of yourself. You can't let this song ruin
your life."

"How can I not?" I pull the ring off and spin it around
in circles on the desk.

"By being the same wonderful Indigo Jackson that you
are every day. Instead of fighting everything, just enjoy the
ride."

"Have you been watching those Sunday morning feelgood shows with your mom again?"

"I'm serious. Keep the website up and use the blog to
express your real feelings."

"I'll think about it." It's true that I don't want the
world to think I'm some whiny brat, either. "And how am
I going to get Krista off my back?"

"By giving her an interview."

"No way! Are you crazy?" I jump up. My head is spinning. I don't want to hurl again so I take refuge on my bed.

"Trust me. I'll come up with a plan. I'll tell her she can have an exclusive interview with you but not until next
week. And that she has to hold the story until then. That
way, we'll have time to prepare."

"Cat, have you lost your mind?"

"No, it's perfect. It'll give her time to cool off, and she
won't touch you beforehand because she wants to keep the
interview with you so bad. Let me take care of it. I'll email
her."

"I guess. My fate is in your hands now." I cover my
face.

"I've got your back. So how did you leave things with
Tripp?"

"Thank God, he doesn't hate me. I stormed out of Starbucks, all prepared to walk home, but he actually came running after me. Said Krista was being a wench and deserved
it.

"Really? That's cool."

"He even shared his drink with me."

"And?"

"And ... we made out. He's a damn good kisser. He was
in it for the full ride, but I just needed some time to cool
off after the whole Krista thing."

"See, the night wasn't all bad."

"True. Tripp knows how to work it. Even before we
got back to the car, we were hot and ready to go. He said
he likes a girl that knows what she wants."

Cat gasps. "So he really wanted to have sex?"

"Oh, yeah." I climb under the covers, fully clothed.
"But I didn't let it get to that point. He did have his hands all over my boobs once we got to the car. But visions of
Krista coming to the car window with a TV crew killed
it for me. So I told him I had to get up early. He said we
should go out again this week. Just the two of us."

"That's great! No more double dates."

"Hell no!"

"Okay, one bitch down, now deal with your brother
and have him fix the website."

"I'm on it."

As soon as we hang up, I send Eli a text.

U R toast.

A few seconds later there's a knock on my door. "Come
in," I call from my bed.

The door swings open. It's Eli. I glare at him. "I thought
you were out."

"Joe's mom dropped me home, like, ten minutes ago."
He's standing at my door in jeans and his stupid Future Filmmakers ofAmerica T-shirt that he made for himself online.

"You shouldn't have bothered coming home. You're so
dead."

"Is this about the website?"

"Sh-ya!"

"Let me explain. This is going to be awesome!"

"Awesome?" I shout.

"Shh, you're going to wake Mom and Dad." Eli steps
inside and closes the door.