Speed Dating (20 page)

“I always brush before I see you,” Stephen said.

“Then there’s no problem,” Mads said.

“Really?”

“Really.” To prove it, she kissed him, flicking the missing tooth spot with her tongue. “Mmm, what a delicious gaping hole,” she
whispered. “Nothing turns me on like a missing tooth.”

“Glad you like it.” They kissed some more. Stephen peeled down one strap of her tank top, letting it flop over her upper arm.
Underneath, her new camisole showed. He admired it, playing with the strap.

“Where did you get this?” he asked.

“Quintana took me lingerie shopping,” Mads said. “It’s a camisole. We bought a thong, too, but“—she hesitated, remembering
the broken thong nightmare—” but it didn’t work out.”

“Well, Quintana might be wrong about French-kissing,” Stephen said. “She’s probably wrong about a lot of things. But there’s
one thing she got right: This little camisole is very sexy on you.”

“Glad you like it, Cletus,” Mads said.

She kissed him again, brazenly flaunting the Tongue Rule. Stephen didn’t stop her. They kissed and kissed late into the night,
so late that Mads almost missed her curfew. Which was exactly as it should be.

To:     hollygolitely

From: your daily horoscope

HERE IS TODAY’S HOROSCOPE: CAPRICORN: You’re in the mood to stay up late and sleep in. It’s always darkest before the dawn,
and why would you want to see the mess you’ve made in broad daylight?

H
ave you heard from Eli?” Sebastiano asked.

“Not since he called to break our date on Friday,” Holly said. “I have no idea what’s going on.” Sebastiano and Holly had come
to his house after school Monday for the next installment of
Los Días del Corazón.
Holly was a little nervous. She didn’t like the notion that her fate was being determined by a bunch of
TV writers in Mexico. She’d gone along with this bizarre setup out of curiosity, and then, to get back at him, and because
it was kind of fun. Along the way, she’d somehow let herself fall for Eli more than she’d meant to. She regretted it now.
Big mistake.

Sebastiano fixed her some chamomile tea to calm her down. He offered to raid his mother’s medicine cabinet for a sedative,
but Holly refused. If she needed to take a sedative to watch a soap opera, things had really gone downhill.

Sebastiano turned on the TV. “You know what I wish Otavio would do today?” Holly said. “Come clean to Marisol. Tell her everything.
Explain what he’s thinking.”

“I doubt that will happen,” Sebastiano said. “It’s not very dramatic.”

“He could at least tell her he’s sleeping with her sister,” Holly said.

Otavio is getting out of bed with Blanca. She wears one of his shirts. He is dressing. He kisses Blanca, preparing to leave.

Otavio: I have to go meet that pig, Marisol.

Blanca: But, why? Stay here with me.

Otavio: Don’t worry, darling. It will all be over soon.

Holly gripped Sebastiano’s hand. This was not looking good.

Marisol waits for Otavio at a fancy restaurant. He is late, but she’s not too worried. She innocently believes that he is
busy with his work. Otavio strolls in and kisses her.

Otavio: I’m sorry I’m late. The world of drug-dealing and international crime doesn’t stop for dinner.

Marisol: I understand, my love.

Otavio sits down at the table. He orders a Scotch and downs it quickly.

Marisol: Is something wrong, Otavio?

Otavio: Marisol. This is not easy for me to say. I don’t want to hurt you. But I must be honest.

“Honest?” Holly said. “He’s never honest. Why does he have to be honest now?”

“Keep cool, Holly,” Sebastiano said. “We don’t know what will happen yet. You know how these shows are, full of twists and
surprises and sudden, brutal murders….”

Otavio: Marisol, I must leave you.

Marisol (stricken): What?

Otavio: I love another. We must part. We shall never make love again.

Marisol (weeping): But, why? Who is this other that you love?

Otavio: I cannot say. Please don’t take it so hard. I’m sorry, but I must go now. (He leaves the restaurant.)

Marisol collapses, sobbing. Cut to the beach, where she and Otavio once made love. Where she lost her fear of the sea, because
of him. Marisol reaches into her bag and takes out a big bottle of pills. The label says sleeping pills. She pours them down
her throat, chasing them with vodka. Then she walks grimly into the ocean.

(Commercial.)

“He dumped her!” Holly cried. “I can’t believe he dumped her.”

“Drowning herself in the ocean,” Sebastiano said. “That’s how her mother died. Love the symmetry.” He paused. “And all because
of Otavio. I wonder if anybody would ever kill themselves over me?”

Holly slumped against the back of the couch. “Is Eli going to follow through with this? Will he really break up with me now,
after all we’ve been through—just because
of this stupid show?”

“How should I know?” Sebastiano said. “Are you going to go out with him again?”

“I might as well,” Holly said. “I have to see this story all the way to the finish.”

“But you already know how it ends.”

“I guess,” Holly said, but she had a flicker of doubt. Her thoughts flashed to a moment on the waterslide, the two of them
in their underwear, and Eli’s hand in hers. That Eli, the real Eli, wouldn’t dump her. He wasn’t slick like Otavio.

This was Eli’s last chance. She saw a tiny ray of hope. It was Eli versus Otavio. Which one would win?

To:     linaonme

From: your daily horoscope

HERE IS TODAY’S HOROSCOPE: CANCER: You know that saying, “Be careful what you wish for, because you may get it?” Well, don’t
worry—you’re not going to get it.

D
id you hear about the internship yet?” Walker asked. He and Lina were lounging in a hammock in his backyard. It was early Friday
evening and getting cool and dark out, but Walker kept her warm. The light from the kitchen window made her feel safe as they
lay together and listened to the frogs and the crickets.

“Yes,” Lina said. His hand was resting on her stomach,
and she absently played with his fingers. “I didn’t get it. Neither did Autumn. Nobody at RSAGE got it. I think they gave
it to a Griffith kid.”

“Did Erica say why?”

“Yes.” The memory of Erica’s phone call that afternoon was fresh and still a little painful. “She said she enjoyed Mood Swing
and Nuclear Autumn. She found them very entertaining and was kind of sorry to see the gossip die down. She even said she thought
my writing was good. But she was looking for investigative reporting skills. And Mood Swing definitely wasn’t about that.”

“No, it wasn’t,” Walker said.

“And my sports clips from
The Seer
didn’t help me there, either,” Lina said. “Sports writing is not investigative reporting. I guess I was hoping she’d be so
impressed with my writing skills, it would override that. I was wrong.”

Walker squeezed her hand. “You’ll get another summer internship—something better. You
are
a good writer. And you’re only a sophomore.”

“I know,” Lina said. “I still feel like kind of a loser, though, letting Autumn get me all caught up in her insanity.” She reached
down, where her slouchy leather bag sat half-open on the ground, and rummaged around inside it. “Look what I got.” She showed
him a small blue hardcover book with a lock on it and a key dangling from a loop. “It’s
a diary,” she said. “To write my thoughts and memories in. I’ve already written my first entry. I got one with a lock for maximum
security.”

“Good thinking,” Walker said. “No need to share every intimate moment with the world.” He reached for the diary. “Let me see
that.”

“Walker!” She snatched it away and hid it under her legs. “It’s private!”

“I just want to see if there’s anything about me in it,” he teased, grabbing for the book. “I won’t tell anyone what you wrote.” He
started tickling her. “You’ll have to let go sometime….”

“No!” She wrapped her body around the book and tried to shield herself from his fingers. They tumbled out of the hammock to
the grass. The diary fell about a foot away from where they landed.

“I’m going to get it!” Walker said, but instead of going for the diary he went for Lina. They rolled around on the grass, laughing.

To:     hollygolitely

From: your daily horoscope

HERE IS TODAY’S HOROSCOPE: CAPRICORN: You will hear the words “evil twin” today. Yes. Every single person born under the sign
of Capricorn will hear those words today. It’s one of those astrological flukes.

I
t’s so good to see you tonight,” Eli said. He reached across the table at Le Mas, a romantic restaurant just outside of town,
and touched her hand. Holly wondered why he’d bothered to bring her to such a nice place only to dump her. But, then, that’s
what Otavio had done to Marisol.

“I’m sorry I had to cancel our last date,” Eli said. “I felt
really bad about it.” He stared into her eyes.

Holly sensed an ax hanging over her head. It made her bold. “Why did you cancel? You never really told me.”

“It was… it was totally unexpected,” Eli said. “There was… a crisis… and I had to deal with it. A family crisis. I think I
told you that.”

Holly just nodded, waiting for more. Not that his family crises were any of her business. But he owed her a better explanation
than that.

“See—” he stammered, “I just found out I have a twin. An evil twin. A long-lost, evil twin. He showed up out of nowhere, threatening
to blackmail my mother because she abandoned him. It was a real shock.”

“A long-lost, evil twin?” Holly rested her chin on her hand and raised an eyebrow. She didn’t have the energy for this anymore.
“That is a shock.”

“Well, yeah. My mother was a wreck. And I was in no shape to go out.”

“Where is he now, this evil twin?”

“I don’t know,” Eli said. “He made his threat, then he left. He said he’ll be in touch with us later about how much money he
wants to keep quiet. So—you know—don’t tell anybody about this or anything. It’s kind of a secret.”

“Don’t worry. Nobody would believe me if I told them, anyway.”

He laughed nervously. “Ha. That’s for sure.”

Their appetizers arrived. They ate in silence.
Why don’t you just get it over with?
she thought.
Ijyou’re going to dump me, dump me!

But he didn’t. They finished their appetizers, ate their entrées, and ordered dessert. And he still didn’t dump her. It was
odd. Otavio had dumped Marisol before she’d had a chance to order a drink.

“Is something bothering you?” Eli asked. “Are you upset that I canceled our date?”

“No,” Holly said.

“Because sometimes things come up,” Eli said. “When your life is crazy like mine. The world of drug-dealing and international
crime doesn’t stop for dinner.”

Holly stiffened. She knew that line. It was one of Otavio’s excuses for standing up Marisol. Eli was grinning, making a joke
out of it. But it felt like a slap in the face.

“I understand, my love,” Holly said, pointedly, in a Mexican accent.
“Mi amor.”

Now he looked stricken. He dropped his fork. “What did you say?”

Holly pressed on. “Our fate is sealed. I am yours… Otavio.”

“Oh, my god,” Eli said. “You know.”

“I’ve been watching every day for a couple of weeks
now,” Holly confessed. “I know you do everything Otavio does. So why don’t you just get it over with and dump me already?”

“Dump you? Why would I do that?”

“Because Otavio did it. On the show. But, believe me, I’m not going to swallow a bottle of pills and try to drown myself.
I hope you won’t be disappointed that I’m not following the script. I’ll be fine. You don’t have to worry about me.”

Eli shifted in his chair. He looked down at his lap, wiped his mouth with his napkin, and put it on the table. Holly could
read his thoughts on his face. He was trying to decide what to do next.

“Okay, I confess,” he said. “I’ve been copying Otavio. The first words I said to you came from him. But it’s only because he’s
so cool. He’s such a stud. Girls will do anything he
wants.”

“Your motives are so noble,” Holly said.

“I know it sounds bad,” Eli said. “I’m never sure what to say or do around a girl I like. But when I pretend to be Otavio,
I always know what to do. He hands me great lines to say—and they work. It worked on you, for a while.”

“Please. I’m humiliated enough.”

“Don’t be! I’m the one who’s embarrassed,” Eli said. “I
only did it because I really like you. I wanted to impress you. I was afraid you wouldn’t like me if I was just plain old
Eli Collins. I wanted to be exciting.”

“But you’ve been lying to me!” Holly said. “And you did break our last date, and your evil-twin excuse is not cutting it.”

“All right, I’ll tell you the truth,” Eli said. “Maybe then you’ll see why I lied. The real reason I broke our date was because
it was my little sister’s birthday. I’d forgotten about it. Her party was the night of our date. My parents got mad at me
when they heard I was going out. They wanted me to go with them to Chuck E. Cheese and help them supervise the twelve screaming
brats my sister calls her friends. Happy now?”

Holly laughed. “Chuck E. Cheese? That’s almost as unbelievable as a long-lost, evil twin.”

“It’s not as cool,” Eli said. “I was afraid you’d think I was a geek.”

“Maybe I would have, but I’d still like you,” Holly said. “I wanted to get to know you, the real you. It’s pretty impossible
if everything you tell me is a lie. Didn’t you worry that I’d figure it out eventually?”