A Girl Like Gracie (9 page)

“
She’s lived the last four years in
South Korea,” Noah tells her.

“
Explains the slight accent,” she
says. “Noah, she really is perfect. I like her.”

I’m glad his big sister like me, but
I’m not exactly sure
why
she
likes me.

“
Aigoo
,” I
say.

“
What?” Noah asks.

“
Nothing,” I say. “I’m just really
confused.”

Noah just puts his arm around me and scoots
closer. “I should keep you close.”

“
Just don’t expect me to start calling
you oppa,” I say.

“
What does oppa even mean?” he
asks.

“
Well, it depends how you say it. I
can call my brother oppa, but I would just say it… normal, I guess.
But if there is a cute guy, and I call him oppa, I’d say it
different,” I explain, though not very well.

“
You can definitely call me oppa if
you do it in a cute voice,” he says.

I push his arm off from around me. “I’ll
call you friend.”

He just grins. “Whatever you say.”

Spicy rice cakes.

The wedding was beautiful. And
extravagant. I can’t imagine how much it cost, and I probably
don’t
want
to know. Though,
for a moment, I wonder how many spicy rice cakes I could buy with
the money they spent. Though, that’s probably because I miss Korean
food really bad.

At the reception, I sit beside Noah, at the
same table as his dad and new stepmom.

The woman is young. Like, really young.
She’s probably in her early twenties. And she’s really beautiful.
She looks familiar. I’ve probably seen her on a billboard somewhere
around town.

When Charles and his bride, Poppy, are
announced, everybody cheers. They do the first dance as husband and
wife. Nobody joins them on the dance floor halfway through like we
did at my dad’s wedding. Instead, there are a couple of women with
cameras snapping pictures of the happy couple.

I look from them to Noah, and he looks
disgusted. But beyond that, I can see that he’s sad.

“
Are you okay?” I ask him.

He looks at me and forces a smile. “Fine. I
was just wondering how many more weddings I will have to sit
through before the state won’t allow him to get married anymore. I
hear there is a limit.”

“
Huh,” I say, wondering myself what
the law is. Not like it matters. I plan on getting married one
time. After seeing how hard my parent’s divorce was, I am going to
be
picky
when it comes to
picking out a husband. And if it doesn’t work out, forget it. I’ll
become a spinster.

Everybody claps as the song comes to an end
and I feel Noah tense as his dad walks over to the table.

As soon as the happy couple sits down,
the food is delivered. My stomach growls when I smell the food, but
when I see the food, I am disappointed. It’s definitely
not
vegetarian food, so I won’t be
eating.

“
Aren’t you hungry?” Noah asks, as he
takes a bite of the food.

I lean closer and whisper to him. “I’m
vegetarian.”

“
How did I not know?”

“
I never told you,” I say.

“
I’m sorry,” he says, putting his fork
down.

“
It’s okay. Eat. After we leave here,
I’ll make you buy me some yummy food. It’s the least you can
do.”

He smiles. “Okay. I’ll wait and eat with
you.”

Noah leans back in his chair, and watches
me. I’m wondering what he’s thinking, and I’m about to ask when his
dad says something.

“
Is something wrong with the food?”
Charles asks. He’s looking at me.

“
Aniyo
,” I
say, bowing slightly as I shake my head.

Charles looks at Noah. “Did you date just
bow to me?”

“
She’s from Korean,” Noah
says.

“
Huh,” he says, then looks at me
again. “You look familiar.”

“
I’m Gracie James,” I tell him. “I was
at your home a few weeks ago for the charity ball.”

“
James,” he says, then looks at Noah.
“This girl’s brother was the one who punched you and made a
scene?”

“
That would be her,” Noah says,
looking a little uncomfortable.

Poppy says something to get her husbands
attention, and he turns away from us. Noah visibly relaxes his
shoulders.

“
We will leave as soon as we possibly
can,” he whispers to me.

I’m definitely okay with that.

I see why Noah didn’t want to come to this
wedding alone. His father is kind of intense. When I see him
checking out a waitress, I feel a little sick to my stomach. No
wonder he’s been divorced four times.

An hour later, we manage to leave the
wedding reception without anybody noticing. Noah is in a much
better mood now that the whole thing is behind us, and the smile is
a permanent fixture on his face now.

“
What do you want to eat?” he
asks.

“
Spicy rice cakes,” I say,
sighing.

“
What is that?”

“
Korean food.”

“
There is a Korean restaurant not too
far from here,” Noah says. “Let’s go.”

“
Okay,” I say, sitting up straight in
my seat. “Oh, I wonder if they have kimchi. I don’t eat fish that
often, but when I do it’s usually in kimchi.”

“
Vegetarians eat fish?”

“
Some do. Fish is the only kind of
meat I eat. I guess it depends on the person’s preference,” I
say.

“
Why are you vegetarian?”

I shrug. “My mom is, so I’ve just always
been.”

“
Don’t you want to try
meat?”

“
Sometimes,” I answer. “I hear the
fried chicken in Korea is the best. It smells good. But I didn’t
try it.”

My phone goes off with a text from my
mom.

아마
Mom:
How are you?

My mom hasn’t called or texted me the
whole time I’ve been here. Almost a whole month. And
now
she decides to text
me.

“
What’s wrong?” Noah asks.

I lock my phone and put is back in my purse.
“Nothing.”

“
Are you sure?” he asks.

I sigh. “It was my mom. I’m rather annoyed
with her right now.”

“
You should text her bad, even when
you mad,” he says.

“
You’re right,” I say, pulling my
phone back out and begin to text a reply. “Do you talk to your mom
often?”

“
My mom died when I was seven,” he
tells me.

“
I’m sorry,” I say, because what else
can I say?

“
She was going through a really rough
time. My dad had just left her for another woman, and she was
struggling with depression. One weekend, while we were at our
grandma’s house, she committed suicide,” he tells me.

“
Oh, wow,” I say.

“
I try not to be mad at her, but she
left me and Vanessa all alone. She knew what kind of man our dad
was and what kind of life we would live,” he says. “But she still
chose to leave us.”

“
I’ve been mad at my dad for a long
time,” I say. “It’s not really healthy to hold onto anger towards
your parent, but sometimes you can’t help it.”

“
What did your dad do?”

“
He left my mom,” I answer. “And two
months later, he married Claire.”

“
At least he stayed with Claire,” Noah
says. “My dad ended up divorcing the woman he left my mom for three
weeks after my mom’s funeral. That’s the kind of man my mom thought
was worth dying for. It makes me sick.”

“
I can’t imagine,” I say, my chest
tightening at his confession.

“
Everybody talks about how I date a
lot of girls and break up with them. Vanessa thinks I’m like him.
But I’m not,” he says. “I date a lot of girls because I
don’t
want to be like my dad. I want
to find somebody that I want to be with forever.”

“
Do you believe that everybody has one
person they’re meant to be with?” I ask.

“
Like soul mates?”

“
Yeah.”

“
I don’t know,” he answers. “Maybe.
But even if there is one person for everybody, I still think they’d
have to work at their relationship. My dad’s marriages all fail
because he’s never willing to work. Usually, around the time the
honeymoon phase is over, he’s filling for divorce.”

“
I don’t know the reason why my
parents got divorced,” I say. “All I know is everything was perfect
and then one day, when Alfie and I were twelve, our mom and dad
came in and said ‘we got a divorce. Your dad is marrying somebody
else. Mom is moving to Korea. Pick who you want to live with.’ And
my life changed instantly.”

“
Wow,” he says. “You know, this is a
pretty heavy topic for a first date.”

“
First date?” I ask. “No. We’re
friends. I came with you to your dad’s wedding as a favor. That’s
it. It’s definitely
not
a
date.”

“
Fine, fine,” he says. “But someday,
when we really are dating, we will look back at this moment as our
first date.”

“
Nope,” I say. “If I ever date you, I
wouldn’t want your father’s fifth wedding to be our first date.
That’s just wrong. I won’t consider any outing with you our first
date until you confess.”

“
You’re going to make me do that?” he
asks.

“
Of course,” I say. “But don’t do it,
cause I would say no.”

“
Why?”

“
Because I don’t even know you,” I
answer.

“
Do you at least think I’m cute?” he
asks.

I laugh at the forwardness of his question.
“I like your hair like that. I also like your eyes. Guys in Korea
only have brown eyes, so it’s weird seeing people with green eyes.
They’re amazing.”

He grins way too big at my comment. “Amazing
eyes and good hair. I like that.” He glances to me, then back at
the road. “Do you want to know what I like about you?”

“
You like the fact that I can eat with
chopsticks better than anybody else you know?” I say, just
joking.

“
Well, that is true. And I do like
that you’re not just American. You’re Korean. And you embrace that
about yourself, even if other people think it’s weird. I also like
how cute you are. It’s not just the way you look, though I do like
that, but it’s the way you talk, the way you dress, the way you
act, even the way you correct our math teacher, even though he
hates you for it. You’re smart. And you never apologize for being
who you are. I like that.”

“
I’m proud to be a weirdo,” I
say.

Noah laughs.

And I’m glad I could distract him from the
awful day he’s had. Maybe, just maybe, I made it not so bad.

Monday, August 29

Fried chicken.

On Monday morning, when Jace, Alfie and I go
to get in Alfie’s car, I look longingly at my car that is sitting
in the garage. Since the day I got it, it’s just been sitting
there, waiting for me to get my license. I have just over five
months before then, and I’m really sad that it’s taking so
long.

Claire took me out driving yesterday. She
let me drive her car, which made me nervous. I think her car is
really expensive and I was scared to death I was doing to crash it.
Thankfully I didn’t. But it was a stressful trip, that’s for
sure.

“
Why don’t you ever drive?” I ask
Jace, once we’re in Alfie’s car.

Jace’s driver drives him over every morning
and drops him off in a limo. If I were him, I’d take the limo to
school. It would be awesome to have your own personal limo. I think
Dad has one, but we hardly ever use it.

“
When I was little, I was with my mom
and a drunk driver ran a stoplight and hit our car. My mom died
instantly, and I was in the hospital for about six months. Five of
those months, I was in a coma. They wasn’t sure if I would ever
wake up,” he says. “I have my license, but my dad won’t let me
drive. I’m taking these professional driving courses. Until I
finish that, I won’t be driving. Which means, I won’t be driving
until the summer after we graduate high school.”

“
Wow,” I say. “I’m sorry about your
mom.”

“
I was five at the time of the
accident and I don’t remember anything that happened before,” he
says. “I didn’t even know my own father when I woke up. So don’t
feel bad. I don’t miss her. I mean, I’m curious about her, but
that’s it.”

I couldn’t imagine not knowing my mom. She’s
been a good mom. She’s a great cook. When Alfie and I were kids,
she always cooked for us. When we moved to Korea, things were
different because she was working so hard, but Sunday was our
‘family day’, so she’d always cook me my favorites and I’d have
left overs all week.

Even when she was working, I could see the
things she did for me. Like I’d come home from school around eleven
at night, and my bedroom would be clean, or my favorite dessert
would be sitting on my bed for me. She always left these
encouraging notes. The thought of somebody not having that with
their own mom breaks my heart.