Unforgettable (6 page)

Callie’s brow unwrinkled and she broke into a wide, relieved smile. It was as if something had clicked in her head. How simple: just let him go and stay friends with her roommate.

She looked again at Jenny’s wide-eyed, rosy-cheeked, expectant face. What had Easy Walsh ever done for her, anyway? “That sounds like a plan.” Jenny threw her arms around Callie and Callie patted her back. The roomful of girls gave up pretending not to be listening and burst into applause.

“Now you two! Kiss!” Heath suddenly yelled, pounding the carpet with both hands this time. Once again, everyone had pretty much forgotten he was there. “Kiss! Do it! You know you want—” Brett picked up a heavy brocade pillow and smacked it into his chest. The meeting was definitely over.

Tinsley poked her head out of her dorm room after a two-hour-long, post-tennis practice nap that stretched all the way through dinner. It was already dark outside and the entire first floor was strangely deserted. The silence was eerie, and it felt almost as though there’d been a nuke scare and she was the only one on campus not hiding in the bomb shelter. What an excellent opportunity to summon Julian. Just the thought of him, sitting across campus, staring out of his Wolcott bedroom window, waiting to catch a glimpse of a little flame, sent shivers down her spine.

Her dorm room window faced the opposite direction, so Tinsley made her way to the bathroom, propping open one of the heavy, opaque glass windows. She flicked on Julian’s Zippo, watching the flame shine through the night air once, twice, three times. Her fingers traced Julian’s engraved initials.

Not even three minutes had passed—barely enough time for Tinsley to tweeze out some stray eyebrow hairs in the mirror—before she saw an all-black-clad figure veer off the sidewalk and over to the side of Dumbarton. He pressed his back to the brick wall and slowly slid along it, his head darting from side to side as he scoped out the scene.

“Hey,” a voice called from below.

“Shh!” Tinsley hissed, sticking her head out the window. Julian reached up and grabbed her hand, anchoring his feet against the brick outside wall and pulling himself up through the window. He stumbled awkwardly to his feet.

“This looks familiar.” His eyes darted around the bathroom—no doubt he was remembering that this was the very place they’d first hooked up. “I think I was in here in a dream once,” he said jokingly.

“Maybe you were.” Tinsley leaned backward against a sink and noticed that Julian was wearing a shell necklace, the kind a girlfriend would buy when she was on vacation in Nantucket or Fire Island. Tinsley, narrowed her eyes. Obviously, she wanted Julian to have had girlfriends before—she didn’t want to have to train him completely—but that didn’t mean she wanted to see remnants of them hanging off him.

“Nah, it couldn’t have been a dream.” He glanced over his shoulder at Tinsley and his dark eyes called her toward him. She wanted him to come to
her,
but she couldn’t resist. “You always wake up from them.” Tinsley stepped away from the sink, her bare feet touching the cold tile floor of the shower. She pulled the curtain closed behind her and ran one hand across Julian’s chest. She pushed him against the stall wall and kissed him like she hadn’t seen him in months, though in reality it had been about three hours.

“Did you miss me?” she teased, in between kisses. His hands were gripping her sides, his fingers playing with the bottom of her red American Apparel T-shirt, begging to be allowed to go underneath.

Julian growled and his hands touched Tinsley’s bare skin. She shuddered a little, as they crept oh-so-slowly up her ribs, and just as she was about to slap them away—he couldn’t go there without asking permission, of course—the bathroom door rattled open with a loud clang. They pulled their lips apart and their eyes widened in surprise, but Julian didn’t take his hands off of Tinsley’s body.

Tinsley pressed a finger to Julian’s lips, her pulse racing. As they held their breath the intruder started to sing, “Da de da de da dum … da de da de da dum …” Julian’s beautiful eyes formed question marks as Tinsley tried to determine the person who belonged to that voice. It wouldn’t be a big deal if it was a girl who was easy to push over, like a sophomore or a nerd—Tinsley could just enlist the girl’s help in sneaking Julian into her room, and they could continue their romantic interlude there. The two of them tried not to giggle as they listened to the sounds of peeing. Just as she was about to peek around the curtain, the voice broke into words: “Don’t stand, don’t stand so, don’t stand so close to me… .” Tinsley’s jaw dropped.
Fuck.
Of course Pardee was a cheesy Police fan. Tinsley had heard—the whole first floor had heard—the dorm adviser, Angelica Pardee, complaining loudly to her husband this morning to either fix their shower or find “a real man” who could. Apparently, he’d been unable to do so. Tinsley pressed her finger harder against Julian’s lips as they heard her flip-flops slapping against the hard floors. How was she going to spin this one if Pardee pulled back the curtain and found Tinsley in the shower stall with a guy?

Then came the sound of the curtain of the adjacent stall being pulled back and the water being turned on. Jesus. That was close. “Come on,” she mouthed, nodding toward the door. “We’ve got to get you out of here.” Julian feigned not understanding, and whispered back at her, “What? You want to make out some more?” He leaned in to kiss her.

“Later!” she accidentally said out loud, thankfully at the same moment that Pardee broke into song once again.

“
Her friends are so jealous, you know how bad girls get
... .” Tinsley rolled her eyes, inching back the shower curtain and sneaking through, pulling Julian behind her. She motioned toward the window, but just as he was about to step through it, a group of girls appeared on the sidewalk, heading toward the dorm’s front entrance. Damn it. There was no way Tinsley could let them see her sneak Julian out of the bathroom window—it would take about five seconds before the entire campus knew that she was hooking up with a freaking freshman.

“Not that way,” Tinsley whispered urgently. She tugged him away from the window, almost making him fall, then dragged him, tiptoeing, out the door. He tried to kiss her again but

Tinsley slapped him away, a little more violently than she’d intended to.

“You can sneak out my window,” she hissed. But before they were halfway down the hall, the front door started to open, and she quickly grabbed the handle of the broom closet, stuffing a protesting Julian inside.

“What are you doing?” His muffled voice came from inside the closet as a cluster of giggling girls turned down the corridor.

“I’ll get you in a minute, when it’s safe,” Tinsley growled under her breath. She quickly removed the irritated look from her face and strode toward her room, trying to look as natural as possible.

“T!” Sage Francis cried out just as Tinsley had reached the door to her bedroom. “Where the hell were you?” Tinsleylookedfromhertotheothergirls,notcomprehending. “What are you talking about?” she asked with icy disinterest, her hand poised on her doorknob.

“You missed the Women of Waverly meeting?” Sage shook her corn-silk-blond hair back and forth, chewing a wad of bubble gum too big for her mouth. Sage had recently read something online about how an hour of gum-chewing burned a hundred calories, and she had quickly adopted the habit, dying to shed the five pounds that were always plaguing her. But Tinsley thought the overpowering scent of spearmint had to be doing Sage’s love life more harm than good.

“The what?” Tinsley didn’t know what she was talking about, and she didn’t much care. So long as nobody knew what
she’d
been doing for the last half hour.

Sage’s jaw dropped. “Did you
not
get Brett’s e-mail?” Her eyebrows were raised in concern, but she clearly loved knowing something Tinsley didn’t.

“The … uh, Women of Waverly?” Tinsley made her voice as disdainful as possible. The
Women of Waverly
? It bored her just to
say
it.

“Well, you missed out!” Sage’s voice was bubbling over with excitement, and Tinsley couldn’t help feeling a twinge of jealousy that everyone had done something she hadn’t. Sage tugged at something underneath her thick navy turtleneck. “Sorry, this underwire keeps, like, stabbing me.” Tinsley simply raised a dark, neatly plucked eyebrow, trying not to be annoyed. She fingered the doorknob, part of her wanting to slam the door in Sage’s smug face and leave her there adjusting her bra, part of her wanting to know what Sage was talking about. She’d be damned if she’d ask another question about Brett’s stupid club, but still, that didn’t mean she didn’t want to
hear
about it.

Sage finally glanced up and saw Tinsley’s irritated look. “Sorry,” she said quickly. “I’ve got to change. But come up with me—I’ll fill you in.” “Sure, whatever.” Tinsley stalked up the stairs, following Sage as she prattled on, leaving a trail of yellow and orange leaves from the bottom of her magenta-and-lime plaid Burberry wellies as she walked. Tinsley was so caught up in how not jealous she was feeling that she’d forgotten all about what she’d been doing that night—and that Julian was in a dark broom closet, wondering what the hell was taking her so long.

Instant Message Inbox

EasyWalsh:
What’re you doing? I need to talk to you.

CallieVernon:
’Bout what?

EasyWalsh:
In person. Could you sneak out? Meet me at the stables tonight?

CallieVernon:
Tonite? I’m busy.

EasyWalsh:
Please? It’s important.

CallieVernon:
If you want to talk to me so badly, you’re just going to have to wait until tomorrow. In the daylight.

EasyWalsh:
All right. Before bio lab?

CallieVernon:
Whatever. I’ve got some news for you too.

EasyWalsh:
’Kay. Miss you. G’night.

CallieVernon has signed off.

Instant Message Inbox

JulianMcCafferty:
Dude, did you relock the tunnels on your way back home last weekend?

HeathFerro:
Whaddya mean? The door in Lasell?

JulianMcCafferty:
In Dumbarton.

HeathFerro:
UR shit outta luck—locked it behind us. Didn’t want any strangers sneaking in.

JulianMcCafferty:
U know any other ways out?

HeathFerro:
WTF
R U doing over there now? Tinsley give you a booty call?

JulianMcCafferty:
You’re such an idiot.

HeathFerro:
Listen, bro, if you’ve fi gured out how to get into her pants, you can defi nitely figure out how to get out of that dorm.

Jenny walked carefully over toward Callie, trying not to spill the mugs of hot cider she held in either hand. Her roommate was perched on the edge of one of the red couches, holding her cell and texting furiously. After the Women of Waverly meeting officially disbanded ten minutes earlier, Brett and Kara had been attacked by swarms of happy girls wanting to thank them for putting the whole thing together, leaving Jenny and Callie on their own. As she approached with the mugs, she saw Callie drop her phone back into the pocket of her navy Ralph Lauren raincoat.

“Thanks,” Callie said, looking up with surprise as Jenny handed her the mug. Her cheeks were flushed, and Jenny couldn’t help but wonder if it was due to the sweltering temperature inside the atrium or whatever she’d just been texting about.

“Wanna head back?” Jenny asked, putting down her cider as she realized she was too hot to drink it. Even though she’d taken off her heavy wool sweater and was just wearing a thin black Club Monaco tee, she could feel that her bra was damp with sweat. Gross.

“Yes,” Callie answered, looking relieved. “Let’s go.” The two of them headed out into the dark, chilly night, and Jenny stopped for a minute, letting the cool air hit her hot skin before pulling on her sweater. Up ahead of them a flock of other girls made their way back to the dorms. Callie and Jenny lagged behind a little, the only noise coming from the dried leaves crunching under their shoes. They weren’t talking, but for the first time Jenny could tell that it was a comfortable silence that had fallen between them.

In some ways it was sad that things with Easy were officially over, that she’d made a pact with Callie, and that now even if Easy came back and said he loved her, she’d have to refuse him. But looking into Callie’s eyes and promising in front of the whole world that their friendship would always come before Easy, or any other boy for that matter, made Jenny realize how crippled with guilt she’d been over the whole situation. Maybe if she were a different person, someone like Tinsley, she could have dated Easy without the guilt, and it could have been wonderful. But she was done with trying to be someone else. She was Jenny Humphrey, like it or not, and Jenny Humphrey did not steal other people’s boyfriends.

“Hey, I’m going to leave a note for Brett,” Jenny said as they stepped into the lobby of Dumbarton. The floor was covered with leaves and dozens of girls’ footprints. Pardee was going to be pissed tomorrow when she saw the mess.