Saving Face (a young adult romance) (6 page)

“You look amazing.”  Beth was
fastening Alyssa’s necklace for her.  It was the finishing touch.  Beth had
been at Alyssa’s house since the early afternoon.  Now, they were almost ready
for the limo and the boys to pick them up.  Looking in her full length mirror
Alyssa silently agreed with her friend.  The warm coffee color of her dress
made her skin look creamier, and her hair look glossier.  Her favorite part was
the beaded bodice that brought subtle attention to her push-up-bra-enhanced
cleavage.  Beth looked good too.  She’d opted for a high collared, but backless
gown in sapphire blue.  Her own blue eyes popped more than usual because of the
color.  And her hair was swept back off her face in a neat French knot, leaving
her neck seductively bare.

“You look pretty amazing yourself. 
Tommy’s going to swallow his tongue.”  The girls shared a giggle.

“That’s kind of the idea.  He’s so
amazing.  Sometimes when I see him walking down the hall at school I can
actually feel the butterflies in my stomach!  I’ve never felt like this about
anyone.  And he’s so sweet too—not at all pushy you know?”

“Actually most of the guys I’ve
dated have been the pushy type.”

Beth’s face filled with concern. 
“Really?  Brent seems so laid back, but I can see that about Pete.” 

Oops.  She was supposed to be
dating Brent, right.  “Oh, not Brent.  He would never push.”  She hurried to
correct herself and clear her friend’s name.

“Well I’m glad.  But you’ve known
each other for ages, right?  So I bet it was pretty natural…”  Beth seemed to
read the discomfort in Alyssa’s face because she let the subject drop.

“Alyssa!  The boys are here!”  Her
dad was yelling up the stairs to them.  Alyssa was never happier to end a
conversation in her life.

At the bottom of the stairs Alyssa
was surprised to find Brent waiting with Tommy.  She was sure she’d told him to
go right to the limo.

“That’s a beautiful dress, Lyssa.” 
He murmured as he held out a corsage box.  He did look incredible.  As much as
Alyssa loathed agreeing with Jennifer—he did look
yummy
in a suit.

“Thanks.  You clean up pretty good
yourself Carter.”  Alyssa joked to cover up the butterfly feeling in her
stomach.  Damn Beth for planting these ridiculous thoughts in her head.  Brent
did not give her butterflies.  He didn’t!

“This is so nice, you two going to
the dance together.”  Alyssa’s dad started to talk.

“We gotta go dad!  Bye!”  Alyssa
pulled the others out the front door before her father could blow their cover.

            “Why’d you come inside?”  She whispered fiercely
to Brent as they made their way towards the limo sitting at the curb.

            “Must be the gentleman in me.”  Brent replied
wryly.  “Don’t worry those two can’t see anything but each other.”  He gestured
to where Tommy and Beth were walking arm in arm in front of them.

            Alyssa’s house was the limo driver’s last stop
and climbing in was a problem.  It was a very tight fit indeed.  Of course when
they’d originally ordered the car they hadn’t counted on Lisa or Brent.  Alyssa
was very glad for the dim lights inside because she was suddenly reminded of
her bold statement to Jennifer of how she would solve the space issue.  And she
was very sure that sitting in Brent’s lap would be a bad way to discourage her
traitorous butterfly-filled stomach.  Lucky for her she was spared that
experience when at the other end of the long bench seat Pete dragged a giggling
Lisa into his lap.  The two of them groping five feet away from her probably
should have bothered her, but she was too busy being bothered in an entirely
different way by the smell of Brent’s cologne, and the warmth of his body
against hers.  Since when did Brent wear cologne?

            At the school and out of the limo, fresh air
helped calm Alyssa down.  Dim lights and slightly cheesy decorations
transformed the gym.  Tables lined three of the walls and a DJ was set up on
the fourth wall.  The room was crowded to capacity and every time Alyssa turned
around she was saying hello and complimenting someone’s dress or suit.  Alyssa
and Brent settled themselves at a table next to Beth and Tommy.  As soon as
they sat down Jenn and Jeff claimed the last remaining chairs.  To Alyssa’s
dismay Jenn ended up on the other side of Brent, and Jeff wasn’t paying enough
attention to mind at all.

            To Brent’s credit he ignored all of Jenn’s
pointed advances and he was very attentive to Alyssa.  They danced to all her
favorite songs—he even did the chicken dance which broke Alyssa into a fit of
laughter so violent they had to leave the dance floor in search of the punch
bowl.  Dancing with Brent was just as disconcerting as sitting next to him in
that crowded limo.  Even after he’d discarded his jacket and tie, and looked
more like his usual self, she found her heart leaping strangely when he pulled
her close for the slow songs.

            At some point during the evening Alyssa was able
to forget that this was a fake reputation-saving-date and she just started
having fun.  Tommy, as it turns out, was a big hockey fan.  And even though he
was a Penguins fan Alyssa still enjoyed his company.  Before she’d gotten
closer to Beth she hadn’t noticed Tommy very much.

            “Are you guys gonna talk hockey all night?” 
Beth was laughing, but Alyssa could tell she was also bored.

            “Sorry.  I guess I got carried away.  I can’t
believe you’ve never been to a game before.  We should go sometime.”

            Beth beamed.  “Yay, a double date!  That does
sound fun.”

            Alyssa worked very hard not to look at Brent. 
She hadn’t meant to set up another date where he would be obligated to play
prince charming again.  It just slipped out. 

            “It does.”  Tommy was saying.  “I guess my
reputation can handle sitting next to a couple of Flyers fans.”

            “Come on, Chere.  I like this song.”  Brent
stood up and led Alyssa to the dance floor.

            Crap.  She was in trouble again.  And she’d been
having such a good time too.  It was her own fault really.  She knew where
Brent stood on the whole fake boyfriend thing.  “I’m so sorry Brent.”  She said
when he’d settled her against him.

            “Hmm?”  He looked down at her.

            “About the game thing.  I’ll get out of it
later.”

            “We can go to a game, Lyssa.  We go to games
together all the time.  And Beth and Tommy are cool, it’ll be fun.”

            Alyssa was confused.  “Why are we dancing then? 
I mean, if you didn’t drag me out on the dance floor to yell at me?”

            Brent sighed.  Alyssa barely noticed the sighing
anymore.  “We’re at a dance.  I like this song.  So I asked you to dance with
me.  Not everything has five lines of subtext attached to it.  And I hardly
dragged you—what am I, Captain Caveman?”

            Alyssa stepped a little closer.  It was so easy
to pretend this was a real date.  Thinking about pretending her pretend date
wasn’t pretending gave her a head ache.  So for a moment she let herself stop
thinking.  Brent wasn’t that much taller than her when she wore heels.  She was
able to tilt her head upward and bring her face very close to his. 

            “Can I cut in?”  Pete appeared beside them.  He
was slurring his words together.

            “No.”  Brent spun Alyssa around turning his back
to him.

            “I was asking her.”  Pete reached out to grab
Alyssa’s wrist, but he was obviously drunk, and he stumbled forward missing her
completely.  Turning, he glared at her “You never danced with me that way.”  He
was thankfully speaking at a normal volume, but Alyssa was still mortified.  When
he started to reach for her again Brent’s hand closed around his bicep.

            “Let’s take a walk Edser.”  He turned to
Alyssa.  “I’ll be right back, Lyssa.”  She hesitated.  “I’m just gonna call him
a cab, go sit with Tommy and Beth.”  Turning, he walked Pete towards the exit.

            Alyssa was too shocked to do anything else, so
she sat down with Beth as he’d instructed.  Out of the corner of one eye she
saw Lisa Thompson hurrying to follow them.

            “What’s that all about?”  Beth asked.

            “Oh, I guess Pete’s been drinking.  Brent is
going to call him a cab.”

            Jennifer was stretching her neck trying to see
out the exit doors.  This wasn’t possible because the lights were dimmed for
the dance, but it was clear Jenn was sorry that she might be missing a news
worthy scene.  “I do hope he gets out of here before a teacher sees him.  That
would be the end of our football season.”  Everyone at the table glared at her,
and she had the grace to blush slightly.  “Well it must be nice to have such a
strong man around to defend your honor.”  Alyssa ignored her, but privately she
thought that yes, it was nice. 

Brent returned to the table.  “Pete
and Lisa had to leave early.”  Was all he said.  Alyssa admired him so much. 
Always cool and collected in any situation.  He really was very nice to have
around.  The rest of the evening went by pleasantly, if unremarkably.  At one
point Jennifer did try and get Brent to dance with her, but he refused her
politely.

They’d been the last stop on the
way to the dance, so at the end of the evening they were the first to be let
out.  “Night guys!”  Alyssa called over her shoulder as Brent walked her to the
front door.

Brent’s tall large body was very
close to her as she put her key in the lock.  Alyssa wondered if he noticed her
hand shaking.  Really—when had he started to wear cologne?

“Invite me in.”  He whispered into
her ear.

“Okay sure.”  Was her voice squeaking? 
She suddenly felt very sure that their relationship was about to experience a
big change.

He followed her inside and once the
door was shut Alyssa turned around slowly to face him.  He wasn’t there! 

Brent was in the kitchen pouring
himself a glass of milk.  “You guys need to keep more junk food around.  All
that dancing makes a guy crave carbs.”  He said lightly when she walked in.

“What are you doing?”

“Oh.”  He looked a little confused
and then he reached into the cabinet again.  “Did you want a glass?” 

“No.  I meant, well… you wanted me
to invite you in so you could insult our pantry?”

“Not the actual pantry—just its
contents.”  He grinned.  “Your friends were watching.  They would have at least
expected a kiss goodnight at the door.”  He clarified for her.

Right.  Pretend boyfriend.  Pretend
date.  What was wrong with her anyway?  It wasn’t like she’d wanted that kiss
goodnight.  Man, they had to end this fake boyfriend thing soon.  Her emotions
couldn’t take it anymore. 

“Oh.”  That was it.  That was all
she could think to say.  So she walked around him, opened a cabinet, and pulled
out a box of lucky charms.

“Sweet.”  Brent grabbed the box
from her.  “Go change.  I’ll put a DVD in.”  And he walked carelessly into her
family room.  Just as he’d done a thousand times before.  She really had to get
a hold of herself.

When she was changed, she came back
downstairs to find Brent spread out on her couch; his feet propped up, one hand
reaching into the cereal box, and watching the opening scenes of the first
Harry Potter movie.  He knew she preferred Richard Harris to Michael Gambon’s
Dumbledore.  The sight was so familiar.  Just Brent hanging out, watching a movie. 
Alyssa happily joined him on the couch. 

“I had a good time tonight Lyssa. 
Mostly.”

“Mostly?” 

“Yeah, well you pretty much go to
school in a John Hughes movie.  But I like Tommy and Beth.  And you were
there—I like you.”

“Thanks.”  She snorted a little. 
“I like you too.”

“Hillfield’s homecoming is next
week.  If you want we could go.”

Did he sound nervous?  No. Brent
never sounded nervous.  “Like a date?”

“I don’t know, Lyssa.  I just
thought you might want to go.  And I can hardly take someone else.  Do we have
to make a big deal out of it?”

“No.  I mean yes—we should go.” 
Alyssa recovered quickly.  Of course it wasn’t a real date.  “I’ll get Beth to
go dress shopping with me.”

“What’s wrong with the brown
dress?  I liked it.”

“Coffee.  It’s not
brown
. 
And you don’t wear dresses like that twice.”

“Girls are dumb.”

“Yeah well—at least we don’t have
cooties.”  Alyssa stole the Lucky Charms box from him.

            It was Wednesday before Beth was free to go to
the mall with Alyssa.  That was cutting it a little close, but she’d been
regretting bailing on Beth for dress shopping a few weeks before.  And shopping
alone didn’t sound like much fun.  “I like the red one.”  Beth was saying as
she passed several choices over the top of a dressing room door.  “Red would
look good with your hair.”

            “I was thinking green.”  Alyssa mumbled from
inside.  Jenn’s dress had been a perfect emerald green satin.  Exactly the
shade of Brent’s eyes.

            “There’s a green one in this pile.  But I don’t
think you should limit yourself to one color just because of what Jenn said.”

Stupid Jennifer.  “I’m not.  I just
like green that’s all.”  She opened the door wearing a floor length moss green
shift with a filmy overskirt.

“Very nice.  Better than Jenn’s for
sure.”

“I hardly remember Jenn’s dress.” 
Alyssa said aloud, while inside she loudly and emphatically agreed that this
dress was way better than Jenn’s.  “This is the one.”

“Wow.  I’ve never bought a dress in
under 30 minutes before.”  Beth started hanging the discarded options on the
dressing room rack.  “It does seem like it was made for you though.  Want to
get some dinner as long as we’re out?”

            “Chinese?” 

            Beth wrinkled up her face.  “I’d rather anything
else.  There’s a Mexican place in the food court that’s pretty good.”

            Enchiladas in hand, they found a table in the
food court.  “Can I ask you a question?”  Beth asked after a moment.

            Alyssa nodded.

            “What’s really the deal with you and Brent?”

            Alyssa started choking.  “Sorry, umm spicy.” 
She said after sucking down half her soda.  “What did you mean?”

            “Look if it’s none of my business that’s fine. 
I just thought… well he only
just
asked you to his homecoming?  Your dad
was kinda surprised he was going with you last weekend, and sometimes you seem
to forget you even have a boyfriend.”  Beth shook her head.  “Just so you
know—I think Pete’s a jerk.  So do half the kids at our school.  And only Jenn
thinks she’s important.  Mostly people ignore her.”

            Busted.  Beth was a lot more perceptive than
she’d given her credit for.  “Brent and I—” What could she say?  Lying was
getting to be so exhausting and confusing.  “We are still figuring things out,
I guess.”  She finished a little lamely.  It was basically true.

            Beth seemed to accept that—even if it was lame. 
“Well your dress is perfect.  Make sure to take pictures okay?”

            The rest of the meal conversation was dedicated
to more interesting and superficial topics.  Such as Tommy’s crazy obsession with
his car: 

“Really!  He made me take off my
shoes before getting in last week!” 

And the rumor that their chemistry teacher
was actually a member of witness protection.  “It would totally explain why he
needs to check his teacher edition every ten seconds.  It’s the blind leading
the blind in that class.”  This was from Alyssa but Beth was nodding in
agreement. 

And of course about Lisa Thompson’s
sudden disinterest in Pete.  “I guess she wasn’t too happy about him drooling
all over you at the dance”

            “I don’t think I’d say drooling.  He was just
drunk.  I am glad he left quietly though.  Wasn’t it smooth the way Brent just
handled things?”

            Beth looked like she was trying not to smile. 
“It was.  Very Smooth.”

            When Brent picked her up on Saturday night there
were fewer butterflies.  This was because she’d been preparing herself all day
for the sight of him in formal wear.

            “I’m glad you bought a new dress.  It’s nice.” 
Brent commented when they found a table in the Hillfield gym.  This was the
first time Alyssa’d been to the exclusive private school.  She wasn’t sure why,
but the fact that this room largely resembled her own school’s gym only with
different a different color scheme really surprised her.

            “Thanks.”

            They’d driven over in Brent’s car, but a group
of his friends were saving them seats when they arrived.  James, Liz, Matt,
Ella, Patrick, and what was his date’s name?  Sandy maybe?  She would have to
wait for someone else to speak to her and try to catch her name then. 

“We’ve heard a lot about you
Lyssa.”  Liz spoke up when Brent was off getting them drinks.

            “All good I hope.”  Alyssa offered a shy smile. 
This was a new smile for her because she wasn’t usually a shy person.  But what
had they heard about her?

            “Oh, yeah.”  James put in.  “Brent says you
throw a mean long ball.”

            “And that you know everything worth knowing
about hockey and every other sport worth watching.”  Patrick added.

            “And that’s good?”  Alyssa’s real smile came
out.

            “Yes!”   All three guys said at once.

            “He also told us you organized a charity
carnival for the hospital.”  Liz shot her date a pointed look.  “And that
you’re something of a math whiz.” 

            “She carried my ass through Trig last year.” 
Brent returned to the table with a couple of sodas.

            “You were doing fine.  I just double checked his
homework every now and then.”  Alyssa blushed.  It was nice, she thought, that
Brent was talking her up to his friends.  Usually when someone complimented her
it was on cheering, or on her appearance.  This was way better.

            “Okay so who’s your favorite hockey player?” 
Patrick asked her.

            “Current player or overall?” 

            Patrick grinned.  “Overall”

            “Bobby Clarke.  Hands down.  Loyalty is
important to me—he spent the most seasons as a Flyer.  Plus he was the youngest
ever NHL captain in 1972, until Schoenfeld in 74.”

            The boys looked stunned and a little impressed. 
Actually a few of their dates looked impressed too.

            “Schoenfeld didn’t play for the Flyers.” 
Patrick accused lightly.

            “Never said he did.  He was with Buffalo.” 
Alyssa chirped happily.

            “Alright, alright!  My date isn’t a party
trick.”  Brent was chuckling as he stood up.  “Dance with me Lyssa.”

            He tucked her just under his chin and settled
into a slow swaying dance step.  “I like your friends.”  Alyssa was talking
against her shoulder.

            “They like you too.  It’s funny isn’t it?”

            “What?  That your friends like me?”  Alyssa
pulled back to look him in the eye.

            Brent laughed and spun her around.  “No.  That
you’re just meeting them and that I never knew Beth or Tommy before… all this.”

            “You’ve known Beth and Tommy since we were all
kids.”

            “You know what I mean, Lyssa.”

            “Yeah, I guess I do.”

            They had a great time.  Dancing, joking, sharing
stories.  It was hands down her best date ever.  Alyssa was happy to play 20
questions with all of Brent’s friends.  They included her like she’d known them
for years.  That was a big perk of being Brent’s best friend.   He had this way
of making himself a part of the crowd and towing her along with him.  He was
never the center of a party—that would have been too much pressure.  But he was
always there, moving with the action.

            At the end of the night Brent and Alyssa were
some of the last to leave.  Even then Alyssa was reluctant.  Here, away from
the labels and pressures of the past few weeks, she felt happier and more
relaxed than… well than ever.  And those butterflies in her stomach?  They
weren’t all bad; she was kind of getting used to them. 

In the car on their way home they
sang along with the radio at the top of their lungs.  Alyssa thought they did
Still
Rock and Roll
better than Billy Joel.  Wheezer’s
Buddy Holly
was
more difficult, but really did anyone know all those lyrics?    She was out of
breath when they pulled into his driveway.

            “This was fun, Brent.  I’m glad you asked me.”

            “Well I guess that’s better than
I
appreciated it
.”  They both laughed at the memory of their first fake
date.  The laughter drifted off into silence.  Leaving the air between them
charged with light tension.  There was a whole ‘new territory’ feeling about
this night.  Alyssa wasn’t totally sure she liked that—but neither did she want
it to end.

            “Are you going to invite me in?”  Alyssa asked
after a few moments of quiet.

            “I’m still thinking about it.”  Brent’s whisper
was close to her, and Alyssa realized they’d been leaning toward each other. 
In the dark of the parked car she couldn’t read the expression on his face. 
But excitement was breaking out in her blood stream, and her body hummed at the
idea of kissing him. 

Kissing Brent!  Whoa!  Alyssa
straightened up.  She didn’t want to kiss Brent.  Brent was her buddy.  They
played Mario Cart and helped each other with their homework.  “I think I’m
tired.  I’ll call you tomorrow.”  She bolted out of the car and down the
sidewalk toward her house.

“Lyssa!  Lyssa, wait!”  She could
hear him behind her but she wasn’t stopping for anything.

Brent called her cell phone three
times before she turned it off.  She left it off all weekend.  Even though that
meant going to Pop’s by herself, and having to play chess.  Her mind was
running a mile a minute.  Brent had almost kissed her.  She was pretty sure
anyway that he’d been going to kiss her.  In the daylight and out of her fancy
dress it was hard to be sure exactly what happened.  Probably she could ask
Brent.  Right.  Like that was gonna happen.

The strangest part was that she
couldn’t even decide if she wanted him to kiss her.  At the time— sure she’d
wanted it.  But kissing Brent would change everything.  And she wasn’t very
sure she wanted things to change.  Besides, until that moment Alyssa had been
pretty well convinced that Brent wasn’t attracted to her.  He’d never said
anything anyway.  It must be all this fake dating—they were buying into their
own hype.

On Monday Alyssa left for school
really early.  Just in case Brent tried another breakfast ambush.  At some
point she was going to have to face him, this was not that time.  Before she
talked to Brent she needed to get her head on straight.  First order of
business—put the kibosh on the boyfriend charade.  Of course how does one go
about stopping a rumor?  Lucky for her Jennifer’s incessant prying finally came
in handy.

At lunch, when Alyssa settled into
her seat next to Beth at the cheerleader’s table, Jennifer, as always, began
digging for gossip.  This time she got some.

“So what were you and Brent up to over
the weekend?”  Jenn asked even before her butt was completely in the chair.

“Actually.  Brent and I decided we
weren’t working out.  We are going to cool things off, go back to being
friends.”  Alyssa hoped she sounded nonchalant, but just in case she took two
big bites of her taco salad to cover any betraying facial expressions.

“That must be hard.”  Jennifer
didn’t bother trying to cover up her grin.  “Was he seeing someone else?  A
girl at Hillfield I’ll bet.”

“What!?  No.”  Alyssa was
horrified.  She didn’t want them to think badly of him.  What had she gotten
him into?

“Brent would never do that.”  Beth
piped up, but she shot a questioning look at Alyssa.  “You don’t have to
explain to us—it isn’t
our
business.”  She continued staring pointedly
at Jennifer.

“No, it’s okay.  I just don’t think
we were meant to be more than friends I guess.  Brent is a great guy.” 

“Oh now I get it.”  Jenn started
again, completely disregarding Beth’s death stare.  “This is about Pete.  Now
that he’s available again, you just drop poor Brent.  That’s just awful of
you.  He  loved you for all those years, and you were just using him?  Poor
Brent.”  Jenn was shaking her head.  “He could probably use a friend to talk to
right about now.”  The grin was back.

Alyssa would have been livid with
Jennifer, accept that at the moment it was very clear to her that Jenn actually
was just as sad and pathetic as Brent had claimed, and not really worth being
angry at.  Besides in a roundabout way she was kind of right.  Alyssa had used
Brent.  Even if she was reasonably sure he hadn’t been pining for her.  After
all he’d gone out of his way the past three weeks to avoid kissing her, and he
never paid her any romantic compliments.  She’d actually come right out and
asked him several times if he thought she was pretty, and he always found a way
to avoid answering.  Everyone knew that was just a diplomatic way of saying
no,
not really
.  Then again… he
had
almost kissed her in the car. 
Crap.  She was going to have to have that conversation sooner than she’d
planned.

“Alyssa?  Are you paying attention?” 
Beth was waving her open hand in front of Alyssa’s eyes.

“No, I’m sorry what were you
saying?”

“Nothing very important.  Do you
want to go someplace and talk?  Someplace private?”  She shot another less than
subtle look at Jenn.

“No.  I’m fine really.  Just
tired.”

Beth nodded.  She looked like she
wanted to say something else but instead she went back to her own taco salad.