Populazzi (32 page)

"So, Cara," Gemma said, "give it up. What's Eddie like in bed?"

"You'll be disappointed, Gems," Ree-Ree said. "Our Cara's going the Kristie route: she's the Big V."

"You say that like it's a bad thing," Kristie said.

"Yes, Kristie, I do."

"Innnnteresting," Gemma said. " 'Cause you know I tried to hook with him, right?"

"With Eddie?" I asked. I was stunned. I'd heard Gemma
never
hooked up with Chrysella guys.

"You didn't tell her?" Gemma sounded surprised. "No secrets, right?"

"Yours to tell, Gems," Trista said.

"What happened?" I asked.

"Don't stress, chica; I don't want your boy. It was a humanitarian mission. Eddie hadn't had a girlfriend since sixth grade. Four years of tension—I thought the boy needed relief."

"So you and Eddie..."

"Nope," Gemma said. "That's why I'm curious—what's he like? 'Cause I have to tell you, I don't get turned down a lot. My theory was he had a TWP and didn't want me to know."

"TWP?" I asked.

"Teeny-Weeny Peenie," Ree-Ree noted.

"Oh," I said.

"So does he?" Gemma asked.

Honestly, I knew nothing about Eddie's peenie, teeny-weeny or otherwise. But I couldn't say that in front of the other girls, not after the amount of time Eddie and I had been together. Even my fellow V-girl, Kristie, would be appalled by my lack of progress.

A horn beeped.

"That's the guys, Gems!" Trista said. "Call soon and we'll give you the recap!"

Trista hung up and we poured out to the driveway. As we'd planned, we'd decorated The Hang just for this evening. We didn't want the guys to see it until the formal was over, so Trista had arranged for tonight's limo to pick them up first, then come get us.

Snippets of my fight with Archer kept echoing through my head, but I forced them away. This was my winter formal, and I wouldn't ruin it by getting all neurotic about my feelings for Eddie. I climbed into the limo and immediately curled into "my spot" under his arm.

Kristie climbed in right behind me. "Awwww," she said when she saw Eric. "You wore a tux!"

"Someone's getting blown tonight," Ree-Ree said.

"You told them?" Eric cried.

"Eric..." Kristie glared at Ree-Ree.

The tux had been a major point of contention between Kristie and Eric all week. She'd
really
wanted him to rent one, but he believed tuxes were only for proms. She had indeed promised him a big reward if he wore one, but she clearly thought it was the height of impropriety for Ree-Ree to discuss this particular brass ring.

"What, no love for the man with his
own
tuxedo?" This was from Marsh. He knew exactly how good he looked in a tux and jumped at any and every chance to put one on.

"You don't have to wear a tux for me to think you're hot," Ree-Ree said, crawling onto his lap. "I think you're hot in nothing at all.
Especially
in nothing at all."

"What about me?" Eddie said. "You guys don't like my tux?"

Eddie was—shockingly—wearing a blazer over jeans and a T-shirt. This particular T-shirt was all black, emblazoned only with a box of hemorrhoid pads bearing the brand name
TUCKS.

Everyone groaned, and Trista turned to Brett, who of course was in a tuxedo. "Really? You let him get in the limo like that?"

Brett raised his hands in defense. "I tried to talk him out of it. Didn't work. What did you want me to do, pull off his clothes and change them? I don't roll that way."

"I think you look great," I told Eddie, then kissed him to prove it.

On the ride to school we each downed a single drink, just enough to get a little buzz on, which was perfect since there'd be hell to pay if we were obviously drunk at a school dance. Per Trista's mandate, we arrived an hour after the party started so we could make the grand entrance she'd choreographed. The guys went in first. Their arrival would get everyone's attention and make sure all eyes were on the door for us.

Once we knew everyone was looking, we breezed in like a bridal procession. Going along with the wintery theme, Trista had helped Kristie, Ree-Ree, and me pick out gowns in shades of ice blue, while Trista herself wore shimmering silver. We floated to our respective boyfriends and hit the dance floor, swaying to the slow song the DJ had started to play as if on cue. Knowing Trista, it probably was.

I rested my head on Eddie's chest and closed my eyes. I enjoyed the feeling of his arms around me, his body pressed close to mine. I looked up at him, but he was gazing around the room.

"Eddie," I whisper-spoke.

"Hey."

"I'm really happy to be here with you."

"Me, too. I'm really happy to be here with you, too."

I kept smiling up at him, and after a moment he leaned down and pressed his lips to mine. It wasn't a long kiss, but it was sweet, and I stood on tiptoe to reach up for another when the first one was over.

Then the song ended, and Eddie excused himself to go raid the food table, which was fine. I knew he wasn't much of a dancer. I stayed out on the floor and danced every fast song with the girls and Marsh; then Trista, Kristie, and I dragged out our boyfriends for the ballads, which the DJ was smart enough to keep few and far between.

Two hours whirled by like nothing, and all too soon the DJ was announcing the last songs of the night, all of them slow. I looked for Eddie at the snack table, but he wasn't there. I thought maybe he'd slipped out to the bathroom; I headed for the door so I could nab him the second he came back.

I only made it a few feet before I stopped in my tracks.

Walking across the room toward me was Archer Jain.

He wore a tuxedo, and the smile he gave me made my stomach flutter.

My body was such a traitor. After yesterday's inquisition, I had been sure I was over Archer forever. But now ... I couldn't imagine what caused his change of heart. I also didn't care. In my mind I could already feel his arms around me; I could hear the soft rumble of his voice in my ear as he admitted what he'd felt for me all along.

He held his hand out and I took a deep, shaky breath as I reached to take it...

...then watched as he walked right past me. I spun around and saw Sue beaming with happiness as Archer pulled her close. She rested her head on his chest, and they swayed together to the music.

I had to move. I was way too close, and I was staring. I
tried
to move, but my body wouldn't listen. It was frozen. Even though I knew any second one of them could look over at me and—

Sue looked. Her blue eyes narrowed, and I knew she could tell exactly what I was thinking. She turned her face up to Archer's, and he looked down at her adoringly. With the sweetest of gestures, he brushed a stray wisp of blond hair from her face, then bent to share a long, gentle kiss that pulled every inch of my intestines slowly out of my body and onto the floor.

I couldn't breathe. I couldn't watch this anymore. I felt the tears building behind my eyes, but I couldn't get my feet to move—my God, why wouldn't they
MOVE!

"Cara?"

I wheeled to see Eddie in his ridiculous Tucks T-shirt. "Want to dance?"

"I've got to go. I'll be back."

I
walked
—I wouldn't run. Running in heels would make noise, and noise might get Archer's attention, and I could not could not could
not
let him see me running out of the room.

I locked myself in a bathroom stall and plopped onto a toilet seat mere seconds before I would have passed out. I didn't even care that the toilet had no lid and I hadn't put down a cover and who knew what my dress was soaking in. I had to sit, and I had to be alone. I thought I should put my head between my knees, but even in my current barely human state I couldn't get my face that close to an uncovered public toilet bowl, so I just rested my elbows on my knees and buried my face in my hands.

Of course Archer had a girlfriend. That was part of the Ladder, right? Claudia had said it from the beginning. That's why it wasn't bad if I didn't always have strong feelings for the guys on the rungs, because I was doing them a favor. My attention made them more desirable, so when I moved on, they'd get a new girlfriend right away. It was
supposed
to work this way.

But not with Archer. Not with Archer.

The way he looked at Sue ... the way he kissed her ... he
kissed
her...

It was official, then. It wasn't that he didn't want a girlfriend; it wasn't that he was overly shy, or nervous, or gay. It was that he wasn't attracted to me.

Not that this was new news; I'd known it for months. And it wasn't like I'd been sitting at home doing nothing since he and I had imploded: I was on my second boyfriend. But still ... actually seeing him
kiss
a girl ... kissing
Sue
...

Over and over again I replayed it in my head. I imagined their very first kiss. No running away in horror from that one. Had he made the first move? Had they been in Archer's basement? Maybe watching a movie together, his arm around her, Archer completely unable to concentrate because he was too transfixed by her dimpled cheek, the hair tucked behind her ear. Archer leaning in closer ... closer...

I had to stop. This was not helping my ability to breathe, and I was about a minute away from throwing up, which would be even worse on the dress than sitting on this hideous toilet seat.

I got up and left the stall. I checked the back of my dress in the mirror as best I could. It didn't look like I'd gotten anything horrible on it. I leaned on the sink and stared at my face, willing myself to stop freaking out and think rationally.

So Archer had a girlfriend. So what? How did that make anything any different than it was an hour ago? It didn't. If anything, it just made Archer a complete jerk. What was our fight yesterday about if he had a girlfriend? What was he doing getting all up in my relationship with Eddie? Now that Archer had a girlfriend, he was the arbiter of love for everyone?

I stood up straight and gave myself a steely look, fortifying myself to make a decision.

Archer had a girlfriend. Good for him. I had a boyfriend. And from now on, I wasn't holding anything back from my boyfriend. Archer could do whatever he wanted with Sue. More power to him. I had Eddie—and tonight I was going to show him exactly how much I wanted to be with him.

Once I'd made the decision, I wanted to act on it, so I felt nothing but impatience as I danced the last song with Eddie, making sure to keep my eyes far, far away from Archer and Sue. In the limo on the ride home I downed a few drinks, to make sure my resolve didn't falter.

Trista, Ree-Ree, Kristie, and I had been excited about the postformal reveal of The Hang's new look, but now it was one more obstacle I had to get through before I could do what I wanted. Still, it was pretty; we'd done a great job. The Hang was strung with white Christmas lights, like the kind on the outdoor patio, and we'd re-covered all the pillows, beanbags, and bedding with fluffy white fabric that approximated a recent snowfall.

No matter how motivated I was, I couldn't just lead Eddie away and jump him. Trista controlled when we broke up into twosomes, and at the moment she and Kristie were popping into The Hole to get us all snacks and drinks.

I decided to make the most of the time while I waited. I'd never successfully seduced anyone, but I'd seen enough of the other girls at work that I figured I could do a decent job of it, especially when I was feeling good and fuzzy. I kept my hands on Eddie, running them along his arm, his back, and his thigh. He said that tickled, so I repositioned myself and massaged his shoulders for a while—until he said my nails were digging into him. No problem. I settled in front of him and sprawled back in his arms, hiking up my skirt and adjusting myself so he'd have an easy view of my padded and pushed-up cleavage.

When Trista gave the signal, I was sure Eddie had to be all kinds of turned on and ready to go. We grabbed blankets and pillows and headed out to our regular place on the chaise.

I liked that my first time would be outdoors; it would make a good story later.

Eddie and I curled up under the covers and he tried to pull me into "my spot" under his arm, but I wasn't having it. Not tonight. Instead I climbed on top of him and plopped myself down in a commanding straddle—

"
Ow!
" Eddie cried. "Geez, watch where you're sitting."

"Sorry," I said. I lifted up a little so I wasn't hurting him, then leaned down and kissed him, thrusting my tongue into his mouth—

Eddie recoiled and turned his face away. "Cara, what are you doing?"

He was confused. Of course. I had never come on this strong before. But tonight it was only the beginning.

"Don't you like it?" I leaned down and nuzzled his neck. I kissed it, then kissed his ear, nibbling the lobe ever so gently...

"Hey!"

Okay, I'd meant it to be gently. I was drunk. My spatial relationships were a little off.

"Sorry," I said. "Let me try again."

I dove back down for his ear, but he wrapped his arms around me and rolled us over so we were lying side by side.

"You know what? I'm reeeeeeeally drunk and sleepy. How about we just rest." He pulled me back into that spot under his arm and guided my head onto his chest.

I stayed this time, but I didn't rest. I slowly moved my hand down his chest and stomach, then paused at the waistband of his jeans to expertly undo the button...

At least I tried to expertly undo the button. I didn't have a lot of leverage lying on my side and using one hand. How did people do this so easily in movies? I yanked hard on the fabric, trying to get a better grip—

Eddie grabbed my hand. "Cara, what's up? I thought we were taking things slow."

"We were. But I don't want to take things slow anymore."

I clambered on top of him again, then reached back and unzipped my dress. I pulled it over my head. All I had on now was a padded pushup bra and matching thong. At any other time I might have felt shy, or at least a little cold, but now I only felt driven. I rolled back my shoulders.