Confessions of a Teen Nanny 03 - Juicy Secrets (9 page)

making plans

"L iz was totally wrecked when she slept over,"Adrienne said to Graydon. Adrienne and Graydon were finishing their Sunday brunch at Paola's, a funky little bistro on the Upper East Side."She's really torn up about Parker. I don't get it.Why would he want to break up with her now?"

"She should consider herself lucky," Graydon said. "I hate to say it, but the Devlins are ruined. And it's only going to get worse." He shrugged. "Parker just recognized the inevitable and did Liz a favor. At least now she doesn't have the guilt of breaking up with him." He took a sip of his latte.

Adrienne gaped at him."That's a terrible thing to say," she said."If your dad was involved in some kind of scandal, I wouldn't dump you.Would you dump me if the situation was reversed?"

Graydon laughed."Adrienne, I can't even imagine your parents doing anything that would cause a scandal. That

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hypothetical is so out of the realm of reality, I can't even consider it."

"But, still--" Adrienne pressed.

"Look, Adrienne," Graydon said. "I'm sorry your friend is caught up in Parker's mess. I'm only saying that distancing herself from it isn't such a bad idea. Besides, Parker is going to seriously need some space to deal with all that's going on. Having to worry about a girlfriend, too, might push him right over the edge."

"I guess . . ." Adrienne picked up her orange juice.

Graydon reached across the table and took Adrienne's other hand. "I know you're upset about your friend," he said, "and that's one of the things I love about you."

Adrienne flushed with pleasure. Graydon had never used the word "love" with her before.

"But let's change the subject to something more pleasant," he said. "It's my mission to keep you happy, remember?"

"I think you may have mentioned that in the past." Adrienne smiled.

"So now you can make me happy," Graydon said, leaning toward her over the table.

"How?" Adrienne asked. A nervous thrill went through her. Is he going to suggest what I think he is about to suggest? she wondered. Is he going to ask me if I'm ready to sleep with him?

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To her total astonishment, she realized her answer would be yes! How amazing--and terrifying was that?

"You seem a million miles away, all of a sudden," Graydon said. "Did you hear my question?"

Adrienne blushed and stared down at her plate. She was so wrapped up in thinking about having her first time with him that she had totally tuned him out! "Sorry. So what were you saying?

"You were totally on another planet, weren't you?" Graydon laughed. "What were you thinking about?"

"Nothing," Adrienne insisted. "Seriously!" She was NOT going to tell him what she had actually been thinking! "Now please tell me what you asked me while I was visit- ing Mars!"

Graydon leaned back in his chair and smiled a slow, lazy smiled. He took a long sip of his Bloody Mary.

"Graydon!" Adrienne pressed, giggling. "Tell me."

"Okay, I'll stop torturing you. I just invited you to the Young Lions Benefit next weekend. As my date. I mean--" He cleared his throat and sat up straight."I mean--" he said in a totally fake pretentious voice, "as the date of the co- chair of the hottest social event of the season."

Adrienne's green eyes widened. "Really?"

Graydon nodded. "Really!"

"I would love to go with you! Thank you!" Then she frowned.

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"What's wrong?" Graydon asked.

"I have absolutely nothing to wear!"Adrienne wailed.

Graydon shook his head, amused. He flipped open his cell phone. "You girls. So predictable." He hit speed-dial. "Cam?" he said into the phone, his warm, dark eyes never leaving Adrienne's face. "I have a favor to ask you. . . ."

Four hours later, Adrienne was in the Warners' Rolls- Royce beside Cameron.They had just finished a fitting at the studio of some designer friend of Cameron's and now they were off to buy shoes.

Adrienne's head was spinning. What was she doing out on a shopping spree with Cam? Could the fact that Graydon really likes me actually be getting Cameron to treat me with a smidge of decency?

Nah.

Adrienne figured Cam was just humoring Graydon so that in the future she could claim that he owed her. Besides, Cameron never turned down an opportunity to go shopping.

Might as well enjoy it while I can. Shopping with Cameron definitely came with perks: the best treatment, the best clothes, and the highest price tags.

The car pulled up in front of Manolo Blahnik's tiny boutique on West Fifty-fourth Street, near the Museum of Modern Art.

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The girls walked into the atelier, where shoes were displayed like works of art, on tables, hanging on the walls, and in Lucite boxes.

"Cameron!" one of the salesgirls greeted them. "Welcome back!"

"Hey, Maria," Cameron said. "Special request."

Adrienne looked around at the store. Liz was a shoe freak, but Adrienne didn't quite get them. Sure, they made her legs looks great, but hours on them made her crazy. She was more of a casual gal--sandals and low mules were more her style.

"Anything for the Warners," Maria chirped."What do we need today?"

As Cameron and Maria discussed possibilities, Adrienne's eyes wandered.Through the window, she saw a confused-looking floral delivery guy carrying a big bouquet of roses. He peered through the glass, and entered.

"Miss Lewis?" he asked.

"Here!" Adrienne called, raising her hand.

"For you," he said. "Sign."

They must be from Graydon, she realized. Who else knew she would be here?

Adrienne signed the slip and handed the delivery guy a tip.

"I'm supposed to wait for an answer," the guy said.

"Oh?" Adrienne quickly opened the card.

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"I'm at a party at the St. Regis," the card said."If you want to come and rescue me from terminal boredness, send one rose back. If you don't, send them all. Gray."

Adrienne blushed beet red, pulled a rose from the bouquet, and handed it back to the delivery guy, who winked.

Graydon is just too adorable for words, Adrienne thought. And he is seriously nuts about me.

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the scam

"I want a balloon," David demanded Friday afternoon. He tugged Liz's jeans and pointed back toward the entrance of the Central Park Zoo.

It had been more than a week since Liz's awful dinner at Hush and Adrienne's shopping spree with Cameron. For the first time, Adrienne felt awkward with her best friend--she felt guilty that her romance with Graydon was heating up so spectacularly while Liz's with Parker was falling apart. She really wanted to be there for Liz, so she had suggested they take advantage of the springlike March weather and get together in spite of their nanny duties.

"I promise I'll buy you a balloon later, David," Liz said. "But right now you kids are going to look at the animals, and Adrienne and I are going to talk."

"If we had stayed at the apartment, you could have talked there and I wouldn't have to wander around here with these children." Emma crossed her arms over her chest.

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Heather whipped around to face Emma. "I'm older than you!" she snapped at Emma.

"Not mentally," Emma countered.

"I can control an animal that outweighs me by several tons," Heather said haughtily."So watch it. I can use a crop on you, too."

Emma stared at Heather. Adrienne stared, too--she'd never seen the girl so assertive with Emma before. Way to go, Heather, she thought.

"Let's get them to the seals,"Adrienne suggested."The show starts in a minute, and even Emma becomes engrossed.We can talk while they watch."

"Sounds good to me," Liz said.

"I hate the seals!" Emma protested. "CSI is on!"

"Seals, or no TV ever," Adrienne threatened.

"You can't do that," Emma said."You know that I need to see CSI !"

"Watch me," Adrienne warned. "I can screw up the controls of a satellite-fed plasma TV so thoroughly, you will never get it to work again."

"You can't," Emma whined.

"Try me,"Adrienne said."Easy choice: the seals, or no TV till puberty."

Emma's eyes widened in horror, then her mouth twisted into an odd smile. "Okay," she said, apparently giving in. "As long as we go to the snake house next."

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"Thank you, Emma," Adrienne said. "I would love to see the snakes with you."

"Oh," Emma replied, obviously disappointed that the idea of snakes didn't freak out Adrienne.

"So seals it is," Adrienne said.

"Hey, Heather, race you!" David said. He dashed toward the seal pool, darting through the strolling families. Heather galloped behind him on an invisible horse. Emma glared at Adrienne, then slowly followed the other two.

"I have a feeling I'll pay for that later," Adrienne said. "Now tell me what's going on with you."

Liz looked at the three kids crowding around the seal pool with scores of other children and their parents. She shook her head. "I don't even know anymore," she said. "I'm just so confused."

"Still no word from Parker?" Adrienne asked.

Liz shook her head. "And I feel like after the way he just stalked away from me last weekend, he should be the one trying to get in touch with me."

"Have you called him?" Adrienne asked.

Liz stared down at her shoes. "Yes," she said. "I left a message on his voice mail saying we needed to talk. He ignored it." She ran her hands through her curls. Adrienne noticed Liz had dark circles under her eyes.

"Ever since Parker and I started going out I've been kind of preparing for when he dumped me," Liz admitted.

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"That doesn't sound like much fun," Adrienne said.

Liz shrugged. "I thought I was being realistic, you know? I figured he'd find some Park Avenue heiress, and that would be it."

"If he wanted a Park Avenue heiress,"Adrienne pointed out, "he'd have gotten one. He's dated them before. He likes you."

Liz swallowed hard. "I thought maybe he was just, I don't know, going out with me because I was different. Exotic.The scholarship girl."

"But you know now that's not true," Adrienne said.

"But that's what makes it so hard!" Liz exclaimed, her voice breaking."I could have handled him going after some- one more in his crowd. More like what he's used to. Instead, he's breaking up with me because he's going through a bad time and he doesn't want to share it with me." She took in a deep breath."He doesn't trust me with the serious stuff."

Adrienne thought for a moment. "Maybe that's not really it. Maybe he wants to protect you."

Liz looked at Adrienne, and Adrienne could see that her eyes were shiny from the tears she was fighting to hold back. "Wh-what do you mean?"

"Graydon said that it's only going to get worse for the Devlins. There's going to be a lot of gossip, and a lot of media attention. Some of that attention could wind up on you. Parker probably wouldn't want that to happen.

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Besides, with everything that's going on with his family, dating and romance are not exactly a priority."

Liz nodded very slowly. "Jane said something kind of similar. Girls want to confide in their best friends, but guys don't really talk a lot when they're freaking out."

"Exactly," Adrienne said. "Once things calm down, he'll be able to focus again."

"You know what I hate?" Liz said. "All the girls at P-B see that we're on hold. Isabelle Schyler actually came up to me on Friday and congratulated me for dumping him! I look just as shallow as Cam and Mimi and the rest of them. As if I were after his money the whole time, and there was nothing real to our relationship at all."

"Who cares what they think?" Adrienne said. "You know that's not true."

"But how do I make Parker believe it?" Liz asked.

"They all live in such a weird bubble," Adrienne said. "Their worldview is so skewed, it's hard to get someone like Parker to really understand where you're coming from." She looked at David, Emma, and Heather, com- pletely engaged by the seals. She shook her head. "I think that these kids never just have basic fun. They're being raised to think that it's not a good time unless you end up with a gift bag full of iPods."

Liz nodded. "Or if your birthday party isn't catered and star-studded."

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"Or if the underwear for summer camp isn't La Perla."

"Or if you don't go from your riding lesson to the Olympics . . ." Liz trailed off.

"You okay?" Adrienne asked.

"That's it!" Liz exclaimed, causing a seal to turn and bark at her."No wonder Parker is freaking out. He doesn't know how to be a boyfriend without spending big bucks. He's never just gone out and had plain old fun!"

"You may be onto something," Adrienne said.

"He thinks that unless it's a five-hundred-dollar din- ner, it's not eating," Liz said. "Or that if the music isn't coming out of the speakers of the hottest club, it's not music. It always has to be a production number for him. And if he can't offer that to a date, what's he got? Who is he? That's what I have to show him--I don't need any of that to have a good time with him."

"Liz, are you sure?" Adrienne asked skeptically. "You and I can lie in Central Park and gab, or grab a slice of pizza at Two Boots in the Village, or go window-shopping and not actually buy anything. I don't know if Parker's up for real life, do you?"

Liz smiled. "The great thing about real life is that it belongs to you. You can make it up as you go along! And if I can get Parker out into it, I can also make him see that none of this stuff happening to his dad has anything to do with us."

"I don't know," Adrienne said. "He's pretty down."

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"His dad isn't dying," Liz said. "So Parker's not as rich as he used to be. Should I like him any less? If the Warners lost all their money, would you abandon Graydon?"

"I don't think it would be an issue," Adrienne said."It seems like Parker's identity is all wrapped up in being his dad's kid. Graydon's really his own guy. He's like a changeling in that family."

"He is cute," Liz admitted.

Adrienne smiled. Now that it seemed as if her friend was feeling a bit stronger, Adrienne felt more comfortable talking about Graydon. She'd been desperate to talk to Liz ever since she had come to the momentous realization that she thought she was ready to go all the way with Graydon. In fact, she was starting to make plans--the night of the benefit would be the night. "You know, Liz," she said, blushing a little.

"Yes?" Liz said, turning to her friend.

"About Graydon. Graydon and me. I think I want to . . . I mean, that after the benefit . . ." She stopped.

"Adrienne, no." Liz's eyes widened.

"Yes," Adrienne said, nodding. "I think I'm in love." Just saying the words made her feel flushed and shy. "And . . . and I'm pretty sure Graydon loves me, too. Everything about the way he treats me makes it seem that way. I-I think that I'm ready to go further."

"Are you serious?" Liz said.

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"I'm seriously sick." Emma groaned behind them.

Adrienne whirled around to see Emma doubled over and clutching her stomach. "I thought you were watching the seals," she said. Did she hear our conversation?

"I was practicing tailing a suspect." Emma moaned. "But now my stomach is killing me!"

Adrienne knelt down beside Emma. "Okay, don't worry. I'll get you right home." She thought maybe Emma was faking it to get away from David and Heather, but she wasn't going to risk it. "Sorry," she told Liz.

"No problem," Liz said. "But we still have to talk about you!"

"I'll call you later," Adrienne promised.

"You'd better!" Liz said."This needs more discussion."

Emma tugged her hand. "Let's go!"

"We're going," Adrienne said.

"I think we'll hang here awhile," Liz said. "The kids are actually having plain old fun for a change."

Adrienne and Emma hurried out of the park and back to 841 Fifth Avenue, Emma moaning the entire way.

As soon as they arrived upstairs, Emma ran to her room. Is she going to barf ? Adrienne worried, following. But when she entered Emma's bedroom, the little girl was rummaging through piles of CDs on her desk. She seemed to have had a miraculous recovery.

"How's your stomach?" Adrienne narrowed her eyes.

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"That was a ruse," Emma said. "A scam. A ploy."

"No kidding." Adrienne shook her head, her frustra- tion growing. "Emma, it is not--"

"But it was for your own good!" Emma held up a CD. "You have to listen to this!"

Adrienne looked at Emma's desk. "What are all these CDs?" she asked.

"Data," Emma said. "Conversations. For evidence."

"You've been taping people?"Adrienne's eyes widened. "Emma, I told you that you couldn't secretly record people anymore."

Now Emma's expression grew cagey. "Ohhhhhhh. I thought you meant I couldn't videotape anymore.You didn't say anything about audio!"

Adrienne sighed. If there was a loophole, Emma would always find it.

Before Adrienne could figure out how to respond, Emma popped the CD in her stereo and Cameron's voice filled the room.

"She's such a little bitch," Cameron said. "I'd do any- thing to get rid of her."

"Would you?" Graydon asked."Really?" Even though it was just his voice,Adrienne grinned. She could hear him smiling.

"She gets under my skin," Cameron complained. "I thought the whole newspaper thing would help, but it didn't."

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Cameron is talking about Mimi, Adrienne realized.

"So what do you want me to do about it, Cam?" Graydon said."I'm in college. I don't have time for your silly high school games."

"I want you to seduce her and drop her," Cameron wheedled.

"No way!" Graydon said.

Thatta boy! Adrienne was thrilled that Graydon wouldn't do anything so sleazy.

"I want her wrecked," Cameron insisted."Her reputa- tion, her emotions, her job."

Wait a minute, Adrienne thought. What job? Mimi doesn't work!

"Forget it," Graydon said. "I don't want to waste my time on a little nothing like her."

"Well, I guess if you're not up to it . . ." Cameron taunted.

"What do you mean `not up to it'?" Graydon demanded. "I just don't want to. She's not worth my time."

"Sure, fine, whatever." Now Cameron sounded bored.

"You know I could do it," Graydon pressed.

"Just forget it, Gray."

"I don't want to forget it," Graydon said."In fact, let's make this interesting. Let's put a little wager on it."

Adrienne's brow furrowed. Could Graydon actually be

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going along with this horrible plot?

"I know," Cameron said, her voice excited again. "If you do it, if you seduce her and dump her, I'll give you my convertible at the beach."

"Okay," Graydon agreed. "And if I don't manage it-- and you know that's not going to happen, but in case every law of the universe goes awry, I'll buy you that coat at J. Mendel you keep whining about."

That is so wrong! Adrienne thought. I can't believe that Graydon could be so . . . so like Cameron!

"Deal!" Cameron exclaimed. It sounded to Adrienne as if the two schemers had high-fived."The day she leaves, either you get the keys . . ."

"Or you get the coat."

Cameron giggled. "I guess either way I win. You know," she added thoughtfully."I almost feel sorry for her."

Me, too! Adrienne thought.

"Why?" Graydon asked.

"Because she'll never know what hit her," Cameron said. "Poor Adrienne."

Poor Adrienne.

Adrienne turned off the CD player, her hand shaking.

They're talking about me!

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