Signs Point to Yes (22 page)

“Make a sharp left to go north on Melody Drive.”

“Yield to the left and then follow the road to keep right.”

“Find a safe place to perform a U-turn.”

“Drive off nearest cliff,” Ravi said in a spot-on impression of the GPS voice's cadence.

When they finally pulled up in front of the right condo—or at least what they
hoped
was the right condo—Jane was tense enough to snap. She turned off the car's engine and prepared to slide out of the driver's seat.

“You guys wait here,” she said.

For once, neither of her passengers complained. She must have really sounded like she meant business, if Ravi stayed quiet.

She rang the bell and stood on the front step under the small overhang and looked around, dripping wet and trying to ignore the lightning crackling in the distance. It was a nice-enough area. The lawns and bushes were well manicured. Teo wouldn't have to be on landscaper duty around here.

The door swung open and Teo stood on the other side.

“Jane?”

“That's me,” she said.

“This is…”

Jane nodded.

“You're here. In a dress. In a thunderstorm.”

“Yup, that's me.”

“You're really here?”

Jane nodded, starting to shiver.

“You came to find me in a thunderstorm.” He pulled her in for a hug just as lightning flashed behind her.

“I did,” Jane said.

“Come on, get inside,” he said, ushering her through the door and glancing back at her car parked at the curb.

“Is that Ravi and your sister in the car?” Teo asked, waving at them through the screen door.

“It's a long story,” Jane said.

“Are they going to stay in the car, or are they allowed to come in?” Teo gestured for Ravi and Margo to come inside, and they ran to the front door.

They entered into a wide-open first-floor condo in which the living room flowed into the dining room flowed into the kitchen.

“Hey, Margo,” Teo said.

Margo waved awkwardly.

“Hey, man,” Teo said to Ravi. “It's good to see you, no matter how surprising it is that you're here.”

“I missed you so much,” Ravi said, pulling Teo into a hug.

“I understand,” Teo said, patting him on the back.

“No, you don't. Last night was the worst night of my life. The three of us slept in the same bed. All three of us!”

“Was it a twin bed?” Teo asked Jane over Ravi's shoulder.

“No, it was huge. Definitely a king,” Jane said.

Ravi finally let go of Teo and started wandering around the house, looking at all the photographs.

“You guys want anything?” Teo asked.

They all shook their heads. Jane shivered.

“I'll get you a towel,” he said to her.

“Have a seat,” he said when he got back.

They arranged themselves around the living room, Jane pulling the towel over her shoulders and drying the ends of her hair.

“What are you guys doing here?” Teo asked.

“After I read your last text, I got worried that you thought staying here was a legitimate plan. And you wouldn't answer my messages or take my calls, so I panicked.”

“My phone was off.”

“I kind of figured that out.”

“And it
is
a legitimate plan,” Teo said. “Maybe not one I'm totally sold on yet, but it's not crazy talk. It's possible.”

“You can't stay here, Teo,” Jane said.

“Why not?”

“What about school?” Margo asked.

“What about me?” Ravi asked.

“And does your uncle really want you to stay indefinitely?” Jane asked.

“He hasn't explicitly said anything on the subject,” Teo replied.

“And even if you stay, you can't avoid your mom. You're under eighteen. She's going to have to give the okay on this.” His face softened after Jane said that, so she kept going. “You'll have to see her again, no matter what. Even if you stayed here, you'd still have to see her. She would still be in your life. You're her child.”

“I'll be eighteen in February,” Teo said. But his argument was weaker somehow.

“It's a fun fantasy, Teo, but it can't magically happen with a snap of your fingers.”

“And what about your sisters?” Ravi asked. “They're not quite as important as I am, but what would they think if you never came home?”

Teo smiled. “They'd hate me.”

“Yeah, we'd all hate you.”

“I don't know how I'm going to talk to my mom about all this,” he said, choking up.

“It's all good,” Ravi said. “Connie's cool. We know that. And maybe some of this is super messed up, but she's still your mom.”

Teo looked so sad.

“Remember that time she took us to see that concert at PNC?” Ravi went on. “The salute to country music, because you were so in love with Carrie Underwood? Connie surprised you for your birthday. What mom does that? She loves you so freaking much she sat through the world's most annoying concert for her twelve-year-old son.”

Before this, Jane had only seen outside Ravi, bold Ravi, too-much-to-say Ravi. This was a whole different kind of Ravi, talking Teo off the ledge. Jane couldn't believe how sensitive Ravi was when it came to Teo. How much he obviously cared about his friend. If he hadn't written
Jane Connelly is a B
on her locker in middle school, she might really respect him.

Around then, Mateo came in through the front door. After being introduced to everyone, he turned to Teo. “What's up?”

“My friends came to get me,” Teo said.

“They did,” Mateo said.

“They want me to go home with them.”

“And what do you want?”

“I don't want to deal with my mom,” Teo said. He sighed. “But I think I should probably go back with them.”

“I think that's a good idea.”

“I just don't know how to talk to my mom after everything you told me.”

“I'm sure she had her reasons. Just remember that. Try to see it from her side.”

“I'm a little too blinded by my own side.”

“Just give her a chance, for me.”

Teo took a deep breath and nodded. “Lemme get my backpack.”

Ravi made small talk with Mateo while Teo was gone, and Jane wandered around, looking at the family photographs on the mantel. Even though Teo hadn't gotten a dad out of this mess, it looked like he was going to get a ton of new family members.

Saying good-bye to his uncle was obviously tough on Teo. “Thanks, Uncle Matt,” he said as his uncle hugged him long and hard.

“Anytime. I mean, you're my namesake, man. I want to see more of you. Just next time tell Connie where you are.”

Teo nodded.

His uncle turned to the rest of the group. “Do you guys need anything for the road? Money? Food? Anything I can help you with?”

“No, we're good,” Jane said. “We can keep running up the balance on Margo's credit card.”

“And if we leave now, we might even make it home by midnight,” Ravi said, faking enthusiasm.

Matt hugged each of them and then gave one last hug to Teo, as though he really didn't want his nephew to leave. Uncle Matt said something to him in Spanish, and then all four walked back to the car.

The sun was starting to come out by then, drying up the morning's rain.

“This sucks,” Teo said.

“You wanna drive?” Jane asked. “Maybe that would cheer you up.”

“Of course Teo gets to drive,” Ravi muttered.

“Yeah, I think I'd like that,” Teo said, ignoring Ravi.

 

Chapter 25

As they set off, Teo was clearly upset. Jane took his hand from where it was resting on the gearshift.

“You okay?” she asked quietly, giving his hand a squeeze.

“Yeah,” Teo said, swiping at his eyes.

“Margo is taking up more than half the backseat,” Ravi whined.

“I am not!” Margo said.

“Children, children,” Jane said, using the same tone Margo had employed the day before. “It's time to calm down and get on the road.” Then she turned back to Teo. “You sure you're okay to drive?”

He had his face in his hands, and his shoulders were shaking, but when he looked up, he was laughing instead of crying. “How did you put up with them for the past two days?”

“It hasn't been easy—I'll tell you that much.”

“Put up with
us
?” Ravi asked from the back. “As if. It was all about putting up with you and your sister and your stupid king-size bed motel room.”

“Did Ravi really just say ‘as if'? Like he's Cher from
Clueless
or something?” Jane asked.

“I think he did,” Margo said.

“
Clueless
is a highly underrated movie, and I have learned more about life and style from Murray than I have from anyone else. On earth.”

“You know, Ravi, most guys would be psyched to share a bed with two girls,” Margo said.

“Whatever,” Ravi said, folding his arms and looking out the window. But there was a small smile on his face, because he had in fact shared a bed with two girls in one night. And maybe he could turn that into a much more interesting story while still having some basis in reality. Something to keep in mind for college.

Traffic was light as they set off, and they got to the state line in no time. “We're going to have to stop for gas sooner rather than later,” Teo said, looking at the gauge.

“Yeah, and we can switch drivers because I can't take any more of your old-lady slowness,” Margo said.

“
I
don't drive slow,” Ravi said.

“I'm not letting you drive,” Jane said.

“I'll take over. I promise to be careful,” Margo said before Jane could object.

Teo pulled the car up by the gas tanks. The rest stop was low on amenities—just restrooms and vending machines.

Margo and Ravi were ready to go a few minutes later, but Teo was nowhere to be found. Jane came back out with her hands full of vending-machine snacks.

“Where's Teo?” Margo asked as Jane slid into the backseat and dumped her snacks in the middle.

“He's not out here?” Jane asked, worried enough by his disappearance that she didn't even complain about Ravi's stealing the front seat.

“We thought he was with you,” Margo said.

“Stay here and I'll go look,” Jane said.

She found Teo around the back of the rest stop, looking out over a ravine with a brook at the bottom.

“Don't jump,” Jane said.

“I can't believe you came to rescue me,” Teo said, ignoring Jane's lame attempt at a joke. “You didn't have to, but you did.”

“Are we talking about right now?”

“You know what I'm talking about.”

“It wasn't really a rescue.”

“It was still amazing, and, I don't know, it's like you rescued me from myself.” He shook his head. “And you did it in a thunderstorm.”

“It's not a big deal.”

He turned to face her. “How about you accept the compliment, Jane? You're awesome and smart. There aren't very many people in the world who would do something like this for me.”

“Well, there are at least three.”

“Yeah, I feel like we haven't covered that properly. Why
is
Margo here?”

“She's the money.”

“Makes sense.” Teo looked thoughtful. “So Ravi came because he's Ravi, and Margo came because she's the money, but why did you come, Jane?”

Jane shrugged. “You know why I came.”

“Your love for road trips?”

“Yeah, let's go with that.”

“Come on. I need to hear you say it.”

“Fine,” Jane said, shoulders slumping. “I couldn't deal with the idea that you weren't coming home. Even if you weren't serious about it. Even if you were just blowing off steam. If I didn't come see you and try to change your mind, I would always wonder if I could have made a difference.”

“You could have called,” he said, grinning.

“I did call! You had your phone off!” Jane said, throwing her hands in the air.

“I know, I know.”

“Have you turned it back on?”

Teo slipped his hand into hers. “I'm not there yet. That would be facing reality.”

Jane nodded.

“I'm glad you're here,” Teo said.

“Then I'm glad I'm here, too.”

“What am I going to say to my mom?”

“I don't know,” Jane said.

“What would the Magic 8 tell me?” Teo asked, pretending to hold it in his free hand.

“Well, ignoring the fact that you haven't asked a yes-or-no question, I don't know. But I have it in the car.”

“You brought it along?”

“I didn't know whether I might need a quick consultation on the road.”

“And did you?”

Jane shook her head. “I've needed it less and less lately. Things haven't seemed as daunting for the past few weeks.”

“Why do you think that is?”

“I could hazard a guess.”

Teo smiled, and Jane decided not to wait even one more minute. She stood on her tiptoes just wanting to peck his lips, but it quickly turned into more.

Jane wasn't sure what she'd expected, but she was surprised by Teo's hunger. She was so wrapped up in his chin, his lips, his skin, and the way they were all working together and making her
feel
that she forgot to respond for a second.

Teo was about to pull away because seconds felt like minutes when the person being kissed wasn't responding. But then Jane put a hand on his cheek, feeling a little bit of stubble, and smiled into Teo's mouth.

It felt like all the tension, frustration, and attraction that had been building between them all summer was bursting out of their pores in a shower of sparks.