#3 Truth and Kisses (2 page)

I shook my head. “You can't tell by looking at someone,” I said. But the truth was, I'd never seen anyone who looked like Sophie. She had pale skin, long black hair, and violet eyes.

“Do you think her mother let her buy colored contacts for the wedding?” Amanda asked.

From the looks of her mom, it seemed possible. She was even more chic than her daughter. She had on a long eggplant skirt, a sheer black top, ropes of black beads around her neck, and high-heeled boots. Sophie was wearing a short-skirt version of her mother's outfit. Both of them had their eyelids done in dark, smoky eye shadow. As good as Brynn is at makeup, what she did to me couldn't compare to how good their makeup looked. They must have had it professionally done.

When Willy introduced Sophie to us, I just stood there like an idiot, staring at her. Even though he said Sophie and I are the same age, I had no clue what to say to her.

The good news is that I didn't stand there for too long looking mute, because Gaga announced it was time to start the ceremony, which fortunately was quick. When the justice of the peace asked Gaga and Willy if they vowed to love each other for as long as they both shall live, Gaga said, “It won't be all that long because we're so damn old.” Then she said she didn't want to waste another minute, grabbed Willy, and kissed him long and hard on the lips, and the justice of the peace pronounced them husband and wife.

“That's repulsive,” muttered my cousin Harry.

“I'm scarred for life,” said Amanda.

I didn't respond. What more was there to say? Everything about watching my eighty-year-old grandmother make out with her new husband was just so wrong. After the ceremony, there was a reception, and everyone made toasts to Gaga and Willy. Most of them were pretty forgettable. I guess there aren't that many ways to congratulate octogenarians who hook up. Willy's toast to Gaga was memorable, though. He told her how much he loves her, and then he said all her grandkids could call him Grandpa Willy.

“Sounds like a perv,” whispered Harry.

It's a definite possibility.

When Willy was done, Gaga made a toast to him. She tapped her spoon against her champagne glass until the room was quiet. “I wanted to get married on New Year's Eve so I could start the year off right.” Gaga raised her glass and gazed lovingly (two words I've never used in conjunction with each other and never thought I would, especially in a case like this) at Willy. “Today is the first day of the rest of our lives.” They clinked glasses and kissed again.

“Yuck,” said Harry.

Then Gaga launched into a long speech about the importance of making a New Year's resolution and sticking to it. “My resolution is to live every day like it matters,” she announced, slowly and loudly, enunciating each word, like we all might be deaf and she wanted to be sure we got how she plans to spend her time.

I thought the reception should have been winding down at that point, but Gaga said it was time to dance. There was a band (if you want to call it that). But there wasn't anyone to dance with, unless my dad or Harry counted (which they don't). So I was left standing there, trying to look like I was enjoying myself, until the clock struck midnight, when Gaga said we would throw confetti while she and Willy made their departure. Luckily, Sophie came over and started talking to me. “So this is what weddings are like in Faraway?” she asked.

“It's the first wedding I've ever been to.” I wondered if it sounded babyish to admit that, but Sophie was nodding her head.

“This is my first wedding too.” She paused like she was trying to decide if it was a good or bad idea to say what she was about to. “How weird is it that your grandmother and my grandfather just got married?”

I stood there with my mouth open. She had taken the words right out of it. “So weird!”

Sophie twirled a strand of beads around her finger. “So what does that make us, like, step-grand cousins?”

I wasn't actually sure. “Something like that.”

Sophie grinned.

I was trying to figure out what to say next. What I really felt like doing was explaining why I was wearing such a ridiculous outfit. I didn't want Sophie to think I always dressed like this, but before I could say a word she launched into her personal history. Born in France. Dad from Paris. Lived there until a few months ago, when she moved to New York City. I wanted to find out more, but Gaga broke up the party and made us dance. When the clock struck twelve, we all screamed
“Happy New Year!”
and threw confetti as Gaga and Willy left to start the rest of their lives together.

The whole night was surreal. I never expected to start the year off at my eighty-year-old grandmother's wedding or that I'd have a new super-model-slash-step-grand cousin.

It makes a girl wonder: What does the rest of the year have in store?

—Dostoyevsky

New Year's Day
Off to a bad start

The first word I should be writing today is
happy,
as in “Happy New Year!” But the year's not starting off so happy. Brynn just called and was like, “Get over here ASAP! My mom said I could have a New Year's getty at my house. It's going to be so much fun. I'm calling Billy when we hang up, and then I'm calling a bunch of other people. I'm super excited!”

I was super excited too, but when I went into the kitchen and asked Mom if I could go to Brynn's getty, here's what happened:

Mom: “Getty” isn't a word.

Me (Patiently): Get-together. May I please go to Brynn's today for a get-together?

Mom: We're going to be spending the day with family.

Me (Not as patiently): We spent last night with family.

Mom (Looking confused): Your point is?

Me (No longer patient): I was with my family last night, which happened to be New Year's Eve. Is it so hard to understand that I want to spend New Year's Day with my friends?

Apparently it was, for Mom, because she went on a long rant about how I shouldn't start the year off with such a fresh mouth and that Gaga only gets married once.

I corrected Mom. “This makes twice.”

Mom said that wasn't the point. “April, your family is spending the day together at Gaga's house, eating brunch and watching football. Since you're part of the family, that's what you'll be doing too.”

I often wonder if I was one of those sad cases of babies who are switched at birth and end up with the wrong family. Today I'm almost sure of it.

6:42 p.m.

I can't decide if today was more good or bad. It was definitely some of both. The good part was that Sophie was at Gaga's, and I hung out with her all day. She's really cool. When I got there, Sophie was nowhere in sight. I thought it was going to be just another long day at Gaga's listening to Harry complaining and Amanda trying to analyze people. Gaga had a huge buffet laid out. I loaded my plate with eggs, bacon, biscuits, and what Dad calls his “world famous” cinnamon rolls from the Love Doctor Diner. I was on my way to sit in the den with my cousins when Sophie materialized. (That sounds unnecessarily
Twilight
-ish, but it was kind of like that.)

“We should eat outside,” she said. I glanced at her plate. It was piled high with eggs and cinnamon rolls too. She didn't look like the kind of girl who would eat that stuff, but I was glad to see she was.

“It's pretty cold out there.” I pretend-shivered.

Sophie laughed. “I'm from New York. This isn't cold.” She started walking toward the patio like there was nothing about an Alabama winter day that scared her. I followed and sat down beside her. “So what's it like to live in this little town?” she asked.

Even though I'd be the first to admit it has never been my dream to live in Faraway, Alabama, part of me didn't want to make it seem so bad. “It's small,” I told Sophie. “But there are some cool things about it.”

Sophie raised a brow like she wanted me to elaborate.

“There are beaches nearby.” I had to think while I talked. “You can walk just about anywhere, and there's an awesome ice cream place in the middle of town called The Cold Shack that Brynn and I always go to.”

I waited for Sophie to say something like,
“That's the best you got?”

“Who's Brynn?” she asked.

“My best friend since kindergarten.” It was kind of hard to decide what else I wanted to tell Sophie about Brynn, but she kept munching on her cinnamon roll and not saying anything, so I kept going. “She's an only child, so in a way, we're more like sisters than friends.”

“But you have sisters.” Sophie had met May and June last night, and May had tried to pick her up, which is what she does when she meets people, and June stood there laughing like a crazy person while she did it. So I was pretty sure Sophie would understand how I felt about them.

“OK, Brynn is more like a sister I like.”

Sophie laughed. “Your sisters are cute.” I smiled. I'm not sure she meant it, but it was nice of her to say it. “So, are you and Brynn, like, the tell-each-other-everything kind of friends?”

I took a deep breath. I'd just met Sophie and I didn't want to tell her what Brynn and I have been through, especially over the past year. But Sophie just sat there, patiently eating forkful after forkful of scrambled eggs, and the story somehow spilled out. All of it.

I told her about Billy kissing me last spring, and then Matt, my hot new neighbor, kissing me, and how Brynn got mad when she heard about Matt and said some stuff that made me wonder if maybe she liked Billy. And how that was just before they went to camp together, without me.

Sophie raised a brow. “Wow,” she said.

I nodded. “There's more. Billy and I got together when he came home from camp, and things were great, but then I made the high school dance team and Brynn … kind of … had a hard time with that.” I paused. I wasn't quite sure what I wanted to say next.

Sophie smiled like she had ESP or somehow understood that things might have gotten complicated without me having to say it. She sat without saying a word until I started again.

I told her about Matt kissing me again and how it changed everything because it was so intense, and how I felt horrible about what I'd done to Billy, but I couldn't stop thinking about Matt.

“Juicy!” Sophie said, and laughed.

I smiled. I felt a little weird telling Sophie what happened, but she wasn't making any faces like she was judging me. “I knew I couldn't tell Brynn about Matt. Things had been weird between us because of dance, plus there were still signs that made me think she liked Billy. So I told this girl Emily, on the dance team, instead, but then she told everyone, and before I knew it, my life fell apart.”

I confided in Sophie about Billy breaking up with me, and how Brynn said she couldn't trust me anymore and that for a long time, the girls on the dance team weren't talking to me. I exhaled when I finished. It had been so horrible when it happened, but it felt oddly easy to tell Sophie about it.

“So who do you like? Billy or Matt?” she asked when I was done.

I hadn't thought about it like that. “I'm not sure,” I said honestly.

Sophie laughed. “TBD,” she said.

It was time to change the subject. “So what about you? Living in Paris must have been cool.”

Sophie flashed a huge grin when I said that. “Paris is great. I didn't want to move, but my dad got this big job.” She paused. “I hated leaving all my friends behind in Paris, but I like New York. I go to an art school, which is pretty cool. I want to be a painter.”

It definitely sounded cool. “They don't even have schools like that in Faraway.”

Sophie nodded. “When I turn eighteen, I'm going to get a tiny butterfly tattoo right above my ankle bone.” She lifted the leg of her jeans and showed me where it would go. “I love butterflies,” said Sophie. “They represent lightness, beauty, and freedom.”

I was overwhelmed just listening to her. I've never thought about what things like butterflies represent, and I certainly haven't done any planning for what I'm going to do when I turn eighteen. I think Sophie mistook my silence as judgment, because she kind of shrugged and changed her tone and said, “I just think butterflies are very Zen, and I like that idea. Know what I mean?”

I nodded like I got it, even though I wasn't sure I did.

When we finished eating, Sophie's parents said they had to leave. “We're flying back to New York tomorrow, but we should keep in touch,” she said.

“I'd love that,” I told her as we put each other's numbers into our phones. It was cool that she wanted to be friends. I was in a good mood the rest of the day at Gaga's, and I was still happy as we were driving home. I even laughed when May and June, prompted by the reminder Gaga had given as we left her house, made their New Year's resolutions.

“My New Year's resolution is to eat chocolate every day,” said May.

“My New Year's resolution is to eat chocolate every day too,” said June.

I tickled her ribs and called her by her nickname, which came from one of her favorite books when she was little. “Silly Sally, you have to make your own resolution.”

June thought for a minute. “My New Year's resolution is to eat vanilla every day.”

Everyone laughed, even June, who didn't really get why we were laughing. Dad looked in the rearview mirror in my direction. “April, what's your resolution?”

I shook my head. “TBD,” I told Dad.

I was still on a high when I got home, but that ended when I went to my room and called Brynn. “How was the getty?” I asked.

Brynn paused for a beat too long before she answered. “It didn't really work out.”

“That's too bad.” I actually did feel bad for her since she'd been so excited about having people over when she called me earlier that morning.