Paper Cuts (18 page)

Joey’s eyes widen as I wash down a chocolate-chip cookie with hot chocolate.

‘Most girls I go out with don’t eat,’ he says.

I wipe whipped cream off my lip with a napkin. ‘They’re
alive
, right?’

‘Usually. And obsessed with calories.’

‘Think about how many I burned on the ice today.’

He snickers. ‘You barely moved.’

‘Are you saying I’m fat?’ It’s a dangerous question for a first date, but he had his hands on my hips earlier, so there’s not much left to hide.

‘I’m saying that it’s nice you’re comfortable enough with me to be yourself.’

I watch as he picks up his own cookie, crams the entire thing into his mouth, and chews. ‘I guess I could say the same about you.’

‘What you see is what you get,’ he mumbles around the cookie.

That might be true of him, but it’s not entirely true of me. If I were really being myself, I’d have put the kibosh on skating, tradition or no tradition. ‘So just how many non-eaters have you gone out with?’

He gives me a knowing glance. ‘I’m not as popular as
some
people. You’ve got guys hanging around all the time.’

Even if I wanted to pretend I’m a hot commodity, someone already destroyed that notion. ‘Well, like Paz said, they’re history.’

Joey puts his elbows on the table and leans toward me. ‘Did I mention I love history?’

I put my own elbows on the table, flipping a saucer over with a clatter. ‘It’s my favorite subject too. Well, tied with English.’

He wrinkles his nose. ‘English? Really?’

‘Sure. What’s not to like about mythology? Everyone’s running around in disguise doing whatever they want. Did you know that Athena turned Arachne into a spider because she bragged too much? I’d love to have that power.’ I scrape the last of the whipped cream from my mug before adding, ‘If I were Athena, Mariah would be in big trouble.’

Laughing, Joey says, ‘Remind me not to cross you. You’ve got a vengeful streak.’

I steer the conversation in a safer direction. ‘What are you going to do after graduation?’

Joey leans back in his chair. ‘Not sure yet. I don’t want to work in a factory for the rest of my life, but I may have to for
a couple of years to save for tuition. That buys me some time to figure out what I want to do.’

‘I thought you loved architecture.’

‘I do. But urban planning would be interesting too. Which reminds me …’ He checks his watch. ‘Drink up, Athena, we have somewhere to be in an hour.’

‘Wow.’ That’s the only word that comes to mind as I take in the view from the open-air observatory in the John Hancock Center, ninety-four floors above street level. Beneath us, the city stretches as far as the eye can see, and its buildings, lit by the setting sun, glow against a blue-black sky.

Joey leans close to my ear so that I can hear him over the wind that’s whipping through the open skywalk and says, ‘See, I told you Chicago is beautiful.’ His cheek brushes lightly against mine as he adds, ‘You’re freezing! Put your hat on.’

‘Actually, I didn’t bring it,’ I confess. ‘I didn’t want to mess up my hair.’

Had I known we’d be scaling Mount Hancock I’d have made a different choice. My hair is not only whipping in my face, but Joey’s as well. He plucks at a few strands that have circled his throat like tentacles.

‘You mean you lied to me already?’ he asks.

I didn’t actually say I had my hat, but there’s no point quibbling. ‘Well, I wanted to look good. You should be flattered.’

‘Believe me, I am,’ he says, pulling off his own hat and placing it on my head. Then he wraps his arm around me. ‘Better?’

Looking up at him I see the city reflected as pinpoints of light in his dark eyes. It’s such a romantic ending to a perfect day that I’m inspired to rise up on tiptoe and kiss him. He kisses me back with cool lips that grow warmer instantly. There’s an odd hollow feeling in my chest that comes either from being so bold or from being ninety-four floors above civilization with oxygen in short supply.

Joey doesn’t say a word when it’s over. Instead he pulls me closer, and his hands find their way under my jacket and around my waist. Although he’s wearing gloves, I can feel the heat of his hands through my T-shirt.

I close my eyes for a moment, and when I open them, Joey is pointing at the first star twinkling above us. ‘Make a wish,’ he says.

I try to think of one, but for the moment there’s not a single request on my list.

THE WORD … FROM NEWSHOUND
Once Upon a Time at Dunfield …

… there was a misguided columnist who was so insecure about his own manhood that he had to demean someone who is, in fact, a prince among men. It’s tempting to speculate about what Scoop is overcompensating for
with his big theories and big accusations. But I don’t have to go there. It’s pretty obvious that Scoop’s got a little something to hide.

Newshound’s prince is definitely not gay, unless you’re referring to the old-fashioned sense of the word. If you mean ‘happy,’ of course he is. He’s won the affections of his queen, and so far he’s satisfied with that.

Prince Newshound doesn’t need sex to prove he’s attractive and desirable. He knows that a meaningful relationship always transcends the merely physical. That’s the difference between a real man and a boy who’s still chasing tail around the school yard.

My co-columnist clearly feels threatened because Prince Newshound is everything he is not. I don’t expect a small mind like yours to grasp this easily, Scoop, so I’ll help you out here: you say you don’t want a committed relationship and that you want to play the field. I say you wouldn’t be so down on Prince Newshound if that were really true. If you were the prince of your lady’s kingdom rather than the court jester, you’d be more positive.

Face it, you want a real relationship, but with a personality like yours you probably can’t keep a girl around long enough to have one. I’m guessing you’ve been dumped so often that you’ve become scarred and cynical.

Don’t waste your next column arguing that you’ve done all the dumping. A pre-emptive dump doesn’t count. It just means that you sensed someone was going
to offload you and beat her to the punch.

If you’re wounded and suffering, I feel for you, Scoop. Newshound isn’t wholly without compassion. But she wants you to understand that experiencing a real relationship requires being open to it. That means letting down your blustery, chauvinistic guard and being yourself.

Friends with benefits might be easier and more exciting, but too much of a bad thing doesn’t work. Just ask Morgan McGee, who lost yesterday’s hot dog contest after eating so many wieners that he threw up on a cheerleader’s sneakers.

The moral of this story is don’t be a wiener, Scoop. No girl worth having will ever choose empty calories over prime beef.

‘God of Wieners?’ Izzy asks, as we rush down the hall toward Mr Sparling’s classroom.

‘Izzy!’ We have a quiz today and we’re supposed to be testing each other on Zeus and Hera’s family tree.

‘Okay, okay. God of War?’

‘Ares,’ I answer. ‘Goddess of the Harvest?’

‘Demeter,’ Izzy says. ‘Whose daughter was …?’

‘Aphrodite?’

‘Wrong. But it’s no surprise you’ve got the Goddess of Love on your mind.’

Rachel laughs. ‘More like the Goddess of Lust.’

‘I think I’m the only one feeling it,’ I say. ‘Joey’s walked me
home almost every night this week, but he hasn’t touched me since Saturday.’

‘What happened to meaningful relationships transcending the physical?’ Izzy teases.

‘Good in theory,’ I respond. ‘But the absence of anything physical is making me wonder if Joey is even interested.’

‘Maybe you should make the first move,’ Rachel suggests.

‘I did that, remember? It’s his turn.’

The uncertainty is driving me crazy. Although I profess to be the slow and steady type in my column, it turns out that I’m as impatient as anyone else, at least where Joey is concerned. I want to know how he feels, and I want to know now. After all, I put myself right out there on the ninety-fourth floor, and if he’s not into me, it’s going to be a
very
long drop.

‘He kissed you back,’ Rachel persists.

‘Yeah, but come on … He’s a guy. What really matters is the follow-up.’

‘Give him a chance.’

I sigh. ‘I shouldn’t have been so aggressive.’

‘It was just a kiss. It’s not like you proposed.’ Rachel turns to Izzy for support. ‘Right, Izzy?’

‘I don’t know what to think anymore,’ Izzy replies. ‘I made the first move with Carson, and where is he now?’

After leading Izzy on for a month, Carson showed up at last week’s talent show fundraiser with his ex-girlfriend. We watched in horror as the girl slid her hand into the back pocket of Carson’s jeans during Mariah’s performance. Since
Carson didn’t object, that’s where it stayed for the next half hour. Poor Izzy didn’t say much, but she went home that night and dyed her hair back to its natural color. I wouldn’t have believed
any
guy could reduce Izzy to mousy brown, but Carson managed it.

‘You could ask one of the psychics at the mystic fair today,’ Rachel says. ‘Or you could give me the five bucks and trust me that Carson is in the cold damp place all boyfriends go after turning back into frogs. Jason’s there too, remember?’

Izzy and I are still laughing when a shout echoes through the hall. ‘Move or bleed, people, move or bleed!’

One of Mariah’s Understudies charges around the corner, clapping her hands. Behind her the corridor fills with light, and Mariah dances into view. The other Understudy follows with an old boom box while four guys train lights and video cameras on our resident star.

Izzy stops Understudy One. ‘What’s going on?’

‘We’re making Mariah’s promo video for YouTube,’ she replies. ‘That way Solana G. can see what a perverse—’

‘
Diverse
!’ Mariah corrects, advancing on us with her crew.

Understudy One squints at her glittery notepad. ‘Right. Solana can see what a diverse and accomplished dancer Mariah is before they meet at the literacy gala.’

‘At which point she will
beg
me to be in her next video,’ Mariah concludes, now beside us. Striking a pose, she flings both arms wide and knocks my bag off my shoulder. Then she steps over my scattered belongings and continues on her way.

Stooping to collect my cell phone, I tell Izzy, ‘I just remembered Demeter’s daughter: it’s Persephone, Queen of the Underworld.’