The Other Fish in the Sea (41 page)

Then he grabbed both my hand and my bag so we could re-join Kate and Jeff outside, both of whom were laughing their asses off at Tristan and his “false advertising lecture,” which actually was pretty hysterical to witness.

“Dude, you don’t play nice, you know that?” Jeff asked after quieting his laughter down to a chuckle.

“Whatever. I really hate it when people demean others just for the sale and places like that are the worst. Chicks have a hard enough time with positive self-esteem as it is without feelin’ like they need to wear a ton of makeup or have surgery to make themselves look better when they look perfectly fine in the first place. So Baby, listen up and remember the answer, ‘cause I’m only gonna say it once. No, that outfit doesn’t make you look fat,” Tristan mildly ranted and gave me a kiss on the head as he continued. “Besides, clothes don’t make people look fat, fat makes people look fat, and even if you
were
overweight, I wouldn’t give a shit unless you were unhealthy.”

Okay, so yeah, Tristan is totally in a mood. And what he said in his little tirade wasn’t the first time I’d heard his opinion on stuff like that. Even though it might not seem like it, he’s very much into taking care of yourself and that includes your mental opinion of yourself. He eats way less crap than most teenagers do, he stays in shape by making a concerted effort to swim daily and work out at least four times a week, and he’s never even been sick. Yes, he’s a typical guy and likes to look at beautiful girls in magazines, movies and on TV, but he knows it’s not real. Most of the “beautiful people” you see on the cover of magazines and such have either been airbrushed thin and blemish free, or had surgery of some kind, Botox and/or are wearing gobs of makeup. Tristan honestly prefers the natural look that only comes with “real” girls. That’s also one of the reasons he’s more than onboard with my parents’ rule of no unnecessary makeup. Sure he’ll admit to finding an actress beyond attractive when she’s all done up, but he wouldn’t wanna bring her home to meet his mother and actually, I sometimes think he’d prefer I didn’t even wear lipgloss.
 

Anyway, thought you might wanna know that, hot or not, not every guy out there wants to date a supermodel.

“Okay, down boy... You guys done now or do you still need us to judge what looks good?” Jeff asked, sounding a little more enthusiastic about watching Kate try on clothes.

“I still have one thing to get, but I’m not planning on trying it on,” I answered.
 

I’m almost out of my “signature scent.” I don’t wear actual perfume, but I do use essential oils of gardenia and honeysuckle mixed with a little water so it sprays, and then I also have it in a roll-on bottle. Both those fragrances remind me of my early childhood and home. The only other smell I’d choose to have wafting around me constantly is chlorine and well, that would probably irritate my skin after a while. Besides, all I have to do is lean into Tristan and inhale deeply to satisfy that olfactory craving.

“Well, I’m done here, but I can do a little private fashion show for you when we get home if you want,” Kate offered Jeff, making Tristan and I roll our eyes and Jeff eager to be off.

“Yeah baby! See you two tomorrow!” Jeff shouted, dragging Kate away as it started sprinkling on us.

Tristan and I laughed as we watched them go and then chuckling, he took my hand, kissed it and then he and I went to the little health store that carries my smell good stuff, both of us genuinely happy to see our best friends re-entering life after experiencing a death that could’ve devastated a weaker couple and their love for each other.

Speaking of death, it was hovering close by on Thursday…

21.

Aw Crap.

Like I said, Monday was the start of Jillian’s high school experience, but what I neglected to mention was that she seems to be trying to
not
experience it. Well, that’s how it appears to me anyway. Rather than Tristan driving the both of us to and from school, she’s chosen to walk. She also doesn’t hang out with any of us all that much. Not even during lunch. And from what I can tell, she’s not making the slightest effort to make other friends at all. I’m not entirely sure what’s going on in that genius brain of hers, but whatever it is, it’s keeping her holed up in the library or media center during her free time so that’s why I was a kind of surprised to see so much of her on Thursday.

During our short break after third period, I was in the process of gloating about my previous day’s victory over Kate and how much I was going to love seeing her in those jeans she hates with a passion when she essentially accused me of cheating.

“You know, you only won because you were privy to information I didn’t have…had I known about that whole conversation with Tristan, I would’ve never agreed to that bet. And that being the case, I think we should come up with something else to bet on,” Kate pouted but with good nature.

“Are you trying to renege on our bet?” I asked with a laugh.

“No, not at all, but I think we should be fair. I really don’t wanna buy them, let alone
wear
them, and I kind of feel tricked into having to, so, how bad do you really want those jeans?”

“I want them so much that I’d eat something gross or even better, risk a ride on the back of Brandon’s motorcycle to go get them mys—
OUCH!
” I hollered, my hand automatically flying to the side of my neck.

“What happened?” Tristan asked from directly behind me where he’d been talking to Jeff and Mike about why Pete was missing school today. He has a post-operative physical therapy appointment and hopefully, he’ll get the green light to start working his arm out in full in preparation for the baseball season.

“Oh, I just got stung by a bee…no big deal, but damn, it
really
hurt.”

“Well duh, it wasn’t a bee. Look, it was a wasp,” Kate informed me and pointed to the striped insect that was flailing around at my feet after I’d slapped it off my neck.

“I know they don’t lose their stingers like bees do, but I swear it feels like it’s still in there…can you see it?” I asked and angled my neck so Tristan could get a closer look at the spot that felt like it was burning.

“Yep, part of it’s in there…weird, you must’ve broken it off when you hit it. Hey Kate, do you have tweezers or something?” He asked while trying to use his way-too-short-guy-fingernails to remove the stinger for me.

“Oh, no, I don’t…sorry. Do you want me to try?”

“Are none of you
ever
prepared for life’s little emergencies?” The sound of my sister’s admonishing voice startled the three of us and had me whipping my head around to see her standing there with her hand outstretched, holding a Swiss Army Knife type gadget that included a pair of tweezers.

Tristan took the proffered tool from her, removed the stinger, and then handed it back to Jillian who I think was grumbling about knowing what to get everyone for Christmas next year. Kate was sort of laughing, but she’d also moved on to trying to come up with something to make me eat in order to win the bet fair and square. I was only listening with half an ear to both of them, though, because after Tristan finished whispering sweet nothings about Benedryl and cold compresses in my ear and learning I didn’t have any Benedryl on me, he’d decided to kiss my owie all better. Not that I think I’ll really need the medicine. I’m a big girl so I can deal with the stupid sting and the swelling and itching that comes with it, but I wasn’t about to turn down a little neck nuzzling first-aid. And although I’m sure Tristan is quite capable of doing so, he didn’t actually make it all better. But that’s probably because he didn’t actually kiss where I’d been stung at all, however he
did
distract me from it fairly well so I got that goin’ for me, which is nice.

“Well,
you
might be willing to risk having Brandon take you to get those stupid jeans, but I’m not and your vampire ball and chain here won’t allow it anyway, so what’s something Camie thinks is gross or hates eating?” Kate mused aloud while I rubbed the welt that’d risen on my neck and Tristan started laughing at her referral to his much loved tendency of nibbling on me when my hair is up like it is today.

Now apparently my distaste of them has become something of a scandal because just about everyone who was in earshot of her and who knows me, shouted the answer to Kate’s query at the same time. The answer, of course, was bananas.

Aw crap.

The bell rang and with it, it was decided that I would have to ingest my very least favorite food at lunch today if I want those jeans. I know that might not sound like a big deal to you, but I really don’t like them even a little. I was being polite when I told Tristan I didn’t hate them but the truth is, I really do. However, I seriously want those jeans
and
I want Kate to wear them, too, so it looks like I’m stuck. The other side to all this is that Kate is enjoying herself and I don’t want my weird food aversion to bring her down, so, bananas for lunch it is. I wonder if I can put a caveat in there though, like can I throw them up after five minutes or do I have to actually digest the damned things? I mean I’m already having raw butt and diaper flashbacks. Just
ugh
…

I gave Tristan a quick kiss goodbye and spent all of fourth period obsessing about lunch and trying to not scratch at my neck, knowing full well that if I do, I’m only gonna make it worse. But by the time fifth period was over and after Tristan had me hold a wet paper towel on my neck for most of class, the swelling and itching had reduced to almost nothing. It still felt a little irritated though. I’ve been stung by bees countless times, but I think this was my first wasp sting and really, I don’t recommend it.
 

So anyhow, the time for my much dreaded lunch bet rolled around and my friends along with my sister, who I have a sick feeling was surreptitiously video recording the whole thing, gathered to witness my intake of two bananas. I was unpleasantly not surprised to find it was as bad as I expected it to be. I’m sure I made some not-so ladylike faces and probably did a little swearing to boot, but I got down one and a half before Kate, who was laughing her ass off at me, told me I could be done. I think I really would’ve preferred to see what the outcome would’ve been if I’d tried to hitch a ride with another guy, but whatever, it’s over and done with and it only took about five minutes.
 

Because it was so disgusting to me and I couldn’t get the nasty taste out of my mouth, I was really looking forward to the bottle of water and even more so, the big cookie that Tristan promised he’d give me as a reward if I went through with it. So, when he presented them to me with an “I’m proud of you kiss,” I was tempted to not kiss him back and just guzzle the water. Of course I didn’t though. I mean come on, for me Tristan kisses are far and away better than big cookies so even
having
that thought in the first place just goes to show how much I can’t stand bananas.

About halfway through my cookie—which I wasn’t even able to enjoy because my mouth and throat were all tingly and kind of scratchy from eating the freaking yellow monstrosity of a fruit—and somewhere towards the end of lunch, my neck and face were starting to itch like mad and I was wishing I hadn’t used up all my Benedryl over the last few weeks because of some minor hay fever issues. Yeah, I know I said I’m a big girl and can handle a little insect sting but this is ridiculous. Not only that, but my stomach was cramping and I was starting to feel almost feverish and kind of sick. It was similar to how I felt after my dentist appointment the week after the car accident and so being reminded of that whole thing, some grisly mental images were produced and they only made my nausea worse. Most everyone around me was engaged in conversations so I’m pretty sure no one was really paying any attention to me anymore, and I was kinda grateful for that because I didn’t want anyone to see me try to slip away to go purge in private. However, as I stood up to do so, I got totally lightheaded and realized the voices swirling around me were becoming oddly muddled and confused. It was when my chest became tight and I started coughing and having a really hard time catching my breath that there was no doubt in my mind that something was
desperately
wrong with me.

“Camie, what’s wro—are you
choking
?” Kate asked and started patting my back when my coughing went from sounding like I was trying to clear my throat to full-blown hacking.

“No…I…just don’t…feel…right,” I rasped in between wheezing, shallow breaths while wobbling a little on my feet and looking up as I grabbed onto Jilly’s arm to keep from falling on my butt.

“Oh Camie! You’re
covered
in hives!” Kate told me with shocked eyes.

Then I threw up.
 

Thankfully I puked in a trashcan that was right there and not all over myself and/or the stage. Not that I would wind up caring about that later, but at the time it seemed important to not make a completely gross fool of myself in front of most of the school.

“Oh God…
TRISTAN!
” Jillian shouted and tried to help steady me as my undigested cookie and those f-ing bananas came back up with force.

The sheer panic in my sister’s voice penetrated whatever jocular conversation Tristan had been having with a group of people a few feet from us, but it was seeing his expression when he turned and saw me that her panic finally registered in my mind as being completely justified.
 

I swear he didn’t hesitate even a nanosecond before he was moving and tossing his car keys to Jillian while barking out orders to her at the same time. “Call 911 and tell them she’s anaphylactic and I’m bringing her to Grossmont, I’m parked by shop, run ahead and open the doors and get in the back,
GO
!”
 

Then he picked me up and cradling me in his arms like a baby, Tristan swiftly carried me in the direction my sister had just dematerialized in. And what was I thinking? Yes, that’s right;
Aw crap
. Another trip to the goddamned hospital…
 

“Camie, just stay calm and keep breathing, okay? Just take slow, deep breaths.”