He's With Me (11 page)

“What are you doing?” Lexie asked.

“I’m
trying
to do yoga,” her mother said. “But certain
dogs
were making it
very
difficult.” Alanna snorted and wagged her tail triumphantly.

“Yoga?” Lexie said, dropping her bag inside the door. “I thought you went

to a class for that.”

“Well, I got this DVD, so I thought I’d try it. It’s very good if you can get

through it without having your face licked off.” Her mom gave Thorn a stern look,

but the pug just sat there with a goofy expression.

“Can I watch?” Lexie said. “Maybe I can distract the dogs.”

“Of course,” her mother said delightedly. “You can ever join me if you like. I

just started.”

“Um...okay,” Lexie said. She had to admit she was curious. She sat down on

the carpet next to her mother as Mrs. Willis skipped back to the beginning of the

DVD.

“So how was tennis today?” Mrs. Willis asked.

“The same,” Lexie said. She imitated her mother’s cross-legged position,

trying to sit up tall and keep her back straight. The woman on the TV was

yammering about breathing.

“Anything exciting happening?”

Lexie debated with herself for a minute and then decided to share a small

part of her problem with her mom.

“It’s Jake’s birthday on Wednesday,” Lexie said, “and I have to get him a

present.”

“Ah.” Her mother shook her head. “I made the same mistake with your

father.”

“Mistake?” Lexie repeated.

“Starting to date him right before his birthday. Trying to come up with the

perfect gift when you barely know a guy – it’s terrible!”

“I wouldn’t say I ‘barely know’ Jake,” Lexie pointed out.

“Of course, dear. And he must be easier o shop for than your dad. I can’t

even get that man a tie without earning a lecture on appropriate colors for the

office.”

“Well,
I
thought the orange was cool,” Lexie said loyally. Dad had had to

buy all his own ties since that Christmas.

“Think about what Jake likes,” Mrs. Willis said, “and what he’s interested in.

Something personal is always better than something expensive.”

Then they had to stop talking because the woman on-screen was explaining

a position called the “downward dog” which, as far as Lexie could tell, was named

that because it brought her mom’s face down close to the flood, where Thorn and

Alanna could easily lick it.

She thought about what her mother had said. What did Jake like?

If only the answer was me...

Chapter 10

Bree wasn’t taking any chanced. At lunch on Wednesday, she sat down

across from Lexie and Jake, even though Sally was on the other side of Lexie. Sally

and Lexie exchanged glances. Bree hadn’t spoken to Sally since the incident at the

movies, but Sally still seemed to think they’d make up soon. Lexie wasn’t sure

where she’d gotten that idea, since Lexie had never seen Bree forgive anyone, but

Sally kept cheerfully saying, “Oh, Bree will come around.”

“Sally’s an optimist,” Colin had said when Lexie had told him about that.

“She can’t tell when people are genuinely evil because she’s too nice to be evil

herself. That’s exactly the kind of person the genuinely evil types like the best.”

“What on earth are you talking about?” Lexie had answered.

“It’s in plenty of movies,” Colin said with a shrug, keeping his eyes on their video

game. “Sally’s like Queen Amidala in
Star Wars
. She couldn’t tell Anakin was going evil until it was too late, because she was too good a person herself.”

“Queen Amidala?” Lexie said. “Sally had way better fashion sense than her.

But perhaps Colin was right about Sally’s people sense. When Bree sat

down, Sally said, “Hey, Bree, how’s it going?” and held out her bag of Mini Oreos.

“Want one?”

Bree ignored her.

“Where’s Riley?” she asked Lexie.

“I’m not sure,” Lexie said, glancing at Sally.

“Oh,” Bree said. “I thought you might know.”

Why
? Lexie wondered. “Mr. Giambi probably kept him to help find the

tennis balls he knocked into the bushes,” she said. “He seemed kind of mad about

that.”

“Oh, Lexie, dear,” Bree said, all sugary and fake. “That reminds me. Don’t

forget to come by and borrow that book tonight.” She winked in a really obvious

way. “I should be home by six. So
don’t forget
. It’s very important.”

“What book?” Jake asked. Lexie could understand his confusion. For one,

why would Bree be lending Lexie a book? Why would Bree even own a book?

“Um,” she said. Bree narrowed her eyes and smiled at Lexie, leaving her to

flounder through a lame explanation. “Um,” Lexie said again. “It’s – it’s about

volleyball, water volleyball, you know, for the tournament.”

Sally choked on her soda and got up quickly. Lexie could see her shoulders

shaking with laughter as she hurried off to the bathroom.

“They have books about pool volleyball?” Jake said skeptically.

“They do,” Bree said, “and Lexie is going to borrow mine.”

“Okaaaay,” Jake said. “Anything to give us a competitive edge. We’re going

to win this thing, right, Lexie?”

“Absolutely,” she said, and he stole a carrot stick from her, grinning.

Lexie glanced across the table at Bree, but the blond girl was delicately

crunching a piece of celery and didn’t look like she was going anywhere. And

really, the whole point of Lexie’s present for Jake was to prove her girlfriend

status to Bree, so she might as well give it to him in front of her, no matter how

awkward it made her feel.

“Here,” she said, pulling a wrapped gift out of her shoulder bad and

handing it to Jake. “Happy birthday!”

Jake looked surprised. “But –”

“I know we haven’t been dating long,” Lexie said, trying to communicate,

Shut up and open it
, with her eyes.”But hopefully you’ll like it.”

They’d already had a mini-birthday breakfast that morning, at Lexie’s

house. Her mom had made banana pancakes for her and Jake and Colin and

they’d stuck a candle in one and all sung “Happy Birthday” completely off-key.

Jake had probably thought that was the extent of his birthday celebrations. Boy,

was he going to be surprised.

“Wow, thanks,” he said, pulling off the ribbon. “You didn’t have to do this.”

“Of course she did,” Bree interjected. “She’s you
girlfriend
, Jakey.”

“Yeah,” Lexie said. “Exactly.”

“Oh,” he said. “Ah.” Then, as he ripped off the wrapping paper: “Wait, is

this...Tupperware?”

“Cool, right?” Lexie said. “You can put food inside it, and it’ll stay fresh. Isn’t

that a great idea? And look, the container is purple.”

Jake gave her a puzzled look and she shook her head at him, laughing. “No,

I didn’t give you Tupperware for your birthday. Open the container, doofus.”

He peeled back the plastic lid, and his face it up exactly the way Lexie had

been hoping it would.

Inside, nestled in rows across the bottom, were eighteen small chocolate

cupcakes. On the top of each one, Lexie had written a letter in white chocolate

frosting, so they spelled out HAPPY BIRTHDAY JAKE!

“Oh my God,” he said. “Lexie, this is amazing. It’s much too cool to eat.”

“I hope not, because I’m planning to help you eat them.” Lexie said.

“What?” Bree said impatiently. “Let me see.”

Jake tilted the container toward her so she could see the cupcake message.

He had a cute triumphant-looking smile on his face. Lexie guessed that she had

played her part perfectly.

“Cupcakes?” Bree said. “How... sweet. What a clever way to save money,

Lexie. I’m sure Jake appreciates your... thriftiness.”

“It’s the best present I’ve ever gotten,” Jake said, seeing Lexie start to

deflate. He took the first mini cupcake out, peeled away the cup, and bit off half

of it. Then he held out the other half to Lexie.

“Thanks,” she said, turning pink. He batted her hand away and made her

open her mouth so he could pop it in.

Colin and Sally had helped her bake them with her mom supervising. Lexie

suspected more chocolate had gone into Colin and Sally than into the cupcakes,

but at least they’d ended up with eighteen good enough to give to Jake.

“So what else did you get him?” Bree asked. “Anything... lasting?” Her

expression seemed to be saying,
Or is your relationship going to be as short-lived
as there cupcakes
?

“I hope you didn’t get me anything else,” Jake said. “This is perfect enough

for me.”

The truth was Lexie did have another present for him in her pocket. But she

was less sure about that one. She’d bought it a while before because it had made

her think of him when she’d seen it, but she’d never found the opportunity to give

it to him. But then, the day before, she’d shown it to Sally, who was convinced

that he would love it. If he didn’t, there was no way for Lexie to get it back. And

she kind of liked hiding it in her show box, next to the origami whale.

“I – I thought I’d give it to him later,” Lexie said.

“Oh, in
private
?” Bree said snidely.

Lexie nodded.

“Uh-huh,” Bree said. “I’m sure.” She clearly didn’t believe that Lexie had

anything else, but Lexie didn’t want to prove it badly enough to give Jake this

present in front of her.

“Well,” Bree said, collecting her lunch remain, “you can tell me what it is

later, Jakey, see you at six, Lexie, dear – of, and try to be punctual, will you?”

She swept off, evidently feeling that she’d seen enough. Lexie felt sick just

thinking about the evening. Who would Bree have invited? How would Jake

react? He didn’t love big gatherings of people any more than she did, although he

was better at navigating through them. She wished there were a way to get out of

it, but she hated the idea of a bunch of people standing around Bree’s house

wondering where they were and blaming Lexie for ruining the party.

“You don’t have to give me anything else,” Jake said seriously, taking her

hand. “I really love the cupcakes.”

“And Bree was convinced, don’t you think?” Lexie said. “That was

girlfriendly of me, wasn’t it?”

Jake looked down at their hands. “Yeah, it was,” he said. “Good job. You,

uh, nearly had me fooled too.”

“I do have something else,” Lexie said.”But it might be kind of stupid. I

don’t know if you’ll want it. If you don’t want it, just give it back to me.”

Jake grinned. “I’m sure if you picked it, it’s awesome.”

Hesitantly, she pulled a small cloth bag out of her shorts pocket and placed

it in his hand. He untied the strings and poured out the contents onto the lunch

table. A leather cord slithered out, and the small white whale strung on it made a

clicking noise against the wood.

Jake touched the little white whale, his smile growing. Lexie thought it was

made of whalebone or shell; anyway, it felt smooth and was polished to a shine.

Its little tail was lifted in a happy way, and tiny flippers were carved in the side.

“It’s a necklace,” Lexie said, “but it’s supposed to be a guy’s necklace. That’s

what the salesperson told me. But you don’t have to wear it; I know it’s weird to

get a guy jewelry. I thought Bree might make fun of me if I gave it to you in front

of her. But it made me think of you, because of the origami whales, but if you

don’t like it I can totally take it back –”

“Lexie, I love it,” he said, interrupting her babbling. “Will you put it on me?”

She blinked at him as he lifted the leather cord around his neck. “Really?”

“Yeah, of course,” he said. “I want to show off my girlfriend’s awesome

taste.”

He scooted around with his back to her, so he didn’t see her face as she

took the ends of the cord. She felt so strange, finally giving this to him. What if he thought it was just a pretend present? What if he had no idea that it actually

meant something to her? How could he know? She had always imagined giving

this to him and telling him at the same time that she’d liked him for ages, and that

she’d been saving the necklace all that time. But she obviously couldn’t tell him

that now. He thought they were only pretending.

She tied the ends of the cord in a knot, carefully keeping a finger between

the knot and his skin so she wouldn’t catch any of the soft golden brown hairs on

the back of his neck.

It looked perfect on him. The whale hung just below the hollow of his

throat, and it didn’t look girly at all, which Lexie had worried about. Jake just

looked ever more handsome, like he’d walked straight out of some CW beach

show.

“Thanks, Lexie,” he said, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her in

for a hug. She rested her head on his shoulder and felt the muscles in his back

below her palms. “This is the greatest birthday,” Jake said.

I hope you still think so after tonight,
Lexie thought.

Chapter 11

“Have I mentioned that I don’t get this?” Jake said as they parked their

bikes at the bottom of Bree’s long driveway. “Tell me again why you’re borrowing

a book from Bree?”

Lexie shrugged. “It seemed easier than saying no to her.” Well, that part

was true. Luckily, Jake had insisted on coming with her; he didn’t want to leave