Alexis and the Missing Ingredient (8 page)

“Oh, yeah. Poor Emma with all those boys,” Katie said with a moan.

“Well . . . except Matt,” I cautioned, since I have
a huge crush on Emma's older brother.

“Right! Except Matt,” amended Katie. “Sorry.”

“And Sam!” called Mia from up in her bed. Sam is the oldest in Emma's family, and a supercutie.

We all laughed.

“And Sam,” agreed Katie. “Oh, and that little Jakie is so adorable, we really can't forget him!”

“Oh, for goodness' sake, will you all please stop talking about people I don't know?” asked Ava, aggravated. She sat up and fluffed her pillow hard, almost punching it, then she lay back down with a huff.

There was a brief silence. “Sorry, Avy,” said Mia. “Sometimes we forget.”

“I don't think we talk about people you don't know
all
the time. Just occasionally, and then only by accident or necessity,” said Katie quietly.

I agreed with Katie. Ava was being overly sensitive, but I didn't want this to turn into a fight. I had thought three would be a tricky number, but now I could see that numbers don't have much to do with anything. It all depended on who was in your threesome or foursome.

“It's just, none of us has any brothers, not counting Dan,” I said. Dan was Mia's newish stepbrother. “So we're kind of fascinated by the Taylors.” I
thought maybe if I explained it a little, it wouldn't seem so exclusive.

“Yeah, well, I do have a brother, and I do not find him fascinating,” said Ava crankily.

“What's your brother's name?” I asked Ava.

“Christopher,” she said.

“Older or younger?” I asked.

“Younger,” said Ava.

Wow, we weren't really getting anywhere with these one-word answers.

“Is he gross?” I asked.

“Yes!” said Mia. “Sorry.”

“I guess so,” said Ava. “Yes.”

“What's he up to tonight?” I asked.

“Probably home watching sports with my dad,” said Ava.

“Oh my gosh, he is sooo obsessed with sports.” Mia laughed.

“Yeah,” admitted Ava.

“I mean, he's good at sports too. It's not like all he does is watch them. Remember, we went to watch his basketball game that time . . . ,” Mia reminisced.

Ava propped herself up on her elbow and finally laughed a little. “Yeah. And he made that three-pointer from across the court, and my mom
screamed! That was so embarrassing!”

“It was hilarious! And he was, like, the champ of the game. His team picked him up and carried him around!”

“Oh boy, was he hard to live with after that!” said Ava.

I felt a little better now that I'd softened up Ava.

“That's like the time we went to Matt Taylor's game . . . ,” began Katie.

Aaargh!

I wanted to crawl under my covers and stay there. She'd just undone all the work I'd done making Ava feel included.
You just can't win,
I told myself. Shortly after that we all fell asleep, thank goodness. At that point, there was nothing left to do.

The next day was beautiful, and we all woke up early, but Mia's dad had been up even earlier and had gone out to get us delicious bagels from around the corner. They were still warm and very soft. Katie and I couldn't stop oohing and aahing over them.

“These are good bagels,” said Ava. “But the
best
ones are right by my apartment. Ess-a-Bagel, it's called. Those are
really
New York City bagels.”

Katie and I glanced at each other, like,
What does it matter? These bagels are delicious.

Mia changed the subject quickly. “So let's talk about what's on for today. Let me get my list.”

She returned and began reading off agenda items. “Breakfast, check. Clean up and get dressed, almost check. Shopping around the Flatiron. Maybe cupcakes at Billy's in Chelsea. Stopping by that baking store you're interested in, Katie. Lunch at Shake Shack. Then MOMA. Look for Wayne Thiebaud pictures. Next, Magnolia, of course. Walk through the park. Then maybe Dylan's Candy Bar, for market research, of course. Plus, Katie there's that place you asked about. You know . . .”

Katie nodded. “Right! Got it.”

I didn't understand half of what that girl had just said! MOMA? Thiebaud? Flatiron? “Whaaaaat?” I cried in frustration, and put my head in my hands. I looked up just in time to catch Ava rolling her eyes.

“Have you just never spent any time here before?” she asked icily.

“Well, we've come in to see a lot of Broadway shows,” I said. I knew I was being defensive, but she was being . . . offensive, actually.

“But you live pretty close. You never come in for the day or anything? To shop?” Ava wondered.

I shrugged. “My sister comes in. I'm just not all that into shopping.”

“Yeah,” agreed Ava, looking me up and down as if to say,
I can tell.

Well, look who woke up on the wrong side of the bed,
I thought.
Should have tried the air mattress, missy.
But I thought of Madame Khalil again and bit my tongue.

“We should try to come in more,” agreed Katie, stepping into the fray. “We just get so busy with work and school and little events and stuff out there that it never occurs to us to come in. It is fun, though.”

“I still come in all the time,” said Mia.

“Obviously,” said Ava. “Now, do we have to go to all these bakeries today?”

Mia and Katie and I all looked at one another. I was feeling less enthusiastic about the cupcake retail business in general after I did my store math last night, but at the same time, I actually didn't want Ava to “win.” (Isn't that terrible? And me, a peacemaker!) I also felt bad for Katie, who was honestly interested from a business standpoint but also as a true baker.

“Yes. We've had it planned for weeks,” said Mia firmly. What she didn't say was,
You don't have to come
, but it was kind of clear that that's what she was thinking.

There was a silence for a split second, and then Ava said, “Okay. But then let's go to the new Sprinkles or to the Magnolia at Bloomingdale's. I haven't been up there in ages.”

Mia looked at her and then said, “Let's play it by ear.”

“I remember Emma mentioned the Magnolia at Bloomingdale's,” I said. “She was in for a shoot or something for them, and she and her mom stopped in for a treat.” (Emma models, and sometimes work brings her into the city.)

I thought I caught Katie and Mia exchanging a look, but by now I was so confused about all the alliances and enemies and different agendas that I just didn't care.

“I'm going to get dressed!” I announced, and I cleared my plate, went back to the room, and made my bed (aka air mattress), and got on my clothes. It felt good to be away from all the squabbling, even for a minute.

I took a deep breath and opened my planner, adding to the notes I'd made last night from what I could remember of Madame Khalil. Then I chewed on my pen cap. My parents always tell us, when something seems big and intimidating (like the rest of this trip), to break it down into smaller,
more manageable chunks. So I just needed to get through this morning. Then lunch. Then the afternoon. After that, Ava would be gone, which would remove much of the tension but would return us to a threesome, which was still tricky, especially with Katie and Mia and all their inside plans and secret ideas. Then we had this evening and tonight and then home in the morning. It seemed like a lot, even in chunks.
The Beckers try harder,
I told myself. Sighing, I decided to turn it all into a game. Maybe for every fight I defused, I'd give myself . . . ten minutes of
Celebrity Ballroom
reruns when I got home! That ought to do it!

When I came back out, Mia and her dad were having a quiet chat in the kitchen, and I didn't want to interrupt. I thought I heard her mention Emma for some reason, and I kind of cringed. I didn't know how much Mia told her dad, but I just hoped she wasn't complaining about me missing Emma all the time. That would be embarrassing and make me seem ungrateful to Mr. Cruz for having me here, as if it wasn't good enough without Emma, too. I turned up the TV a little to drown them out and just sat and waited until everyone else was ready to go. I hoped it wouldn't be too long of a wait.

Okay, I will say this: Shopping with Mia is kind of amazing. It's like magic. You walk into a store and quickly think,
Wow, there's nothing here for me. Nothing that would look good, nothing I could afford.
And then Mia walks over and picks up some random and cheap little scarf and drapes it on you in a certain way, with flair, and suddenly, you look like a star. Like Taylor Swift! Ha. That happened a lot, and though I didn't buy much, I could have.

We hit a bunch of places around the Flatiron (it's a district, or neighborhood, Ava informed me, that is named for a funny-looking building there shaped like an iron). There were the expected chain stores, like Anthropologie, but also lots of cool local boutiques and street vendors selling unique stuff they'd made. We made our way west, into the area known as Chelsea, and stopped for cupcakes (midmorning snack) at a place called Billy's Bakery. Mia's dad had one and then pretended to cast a spell on us, so we wouldn't want any more cupcakes.

“I'm with you, Mr. Cruz. All this cupcake mania is wearing me down,” said Ava.

“It helps to have a theme,” snapped Mia.

“Okay, you two!” I singsonged.
Ka-ching!
Ten minutes of
Celebrity Ballroom
for me!

We shopped on, hitting a cool kids' bookstore
called Books of Wonder and some baking supply stores for Katie (Ava waited outside), and we wound up in a long but fast-moving line for burgers at the Shake Shack, which is a hamburger stand in the middle of a park. Once we got our food and sat on a bench to eat it, I could not believe how delicious it was.

“Oh, boy. I wish Emma was here. She'd love this!” I said.

This time I definitely caught Mia and Katie exchanging a look.

“What?” I asked.

Katie took a deep breath. “It's just . . . Why do you always talk about Emma? Aren't we your best friends too?”

I was taken aback. “I don't mean it that way,” I said. “I just . . . I know she'd love all this stuff, and I feel bad she's not here for it. Especially since we're all here making these memories, and we won't really be able to talk about it back home or she'll feel left out, you know?”

Mia looked down at her burger thoughtfully. “You know, it would have been more fun if it was the four of us,” she admitted.

“It
is
the four of us!” snarled Ava.

Mia looked up, surprised. “Oh! Sorry. No, I
meant, the four of us from home. You're always here. It's just a given!”

Ava was huffy. “I might
not
always be here. You never know.”

“Come on, Avy,” said Mia, grabbing her in a sideways hug. “You're home to me,
mi amor
!”

“Hey, I thought
I
was home!” Mr. Cruz protested, and we all laughed. We'd kind of forgotten he was there, which is I think the best thing you can say about a parent sometimes.

“Oh, boy. So many people to please,” said Mia, shaking her head. I felt sorry for her. It would be exhausting to have this ping-pong life, Mom to Dad, city to suburb, Katie to Ava. Phew.

“You don't have to please me, anyway!” I said cheerfully. “I'm about as pleased as I can be with this ShackBurger and my black-and-white shake!” (Ten more minutes of
Ballroom
!)

“Oh no, speaking of shakes!” cried Katie. Her shake had spilled. “Anyone have a napkin?”

“I do!” I yelled, and I hopped up to share the pile of napkins I'd grabbed.

“Always prepared,” said Mia, shaking her head and laughing.