True Love and Magic Tricks (16 page)

I search for the killer beast then
laugh my ass off.

“
Did you get
it?”

“
You mean this?” I ask and
move my hand to Lexie’s face. She screams and jumps back, tripping
on my magic wand and landing ass-first on my floor.

“
It’s your own hair,” I say
through my laughs before I offer a hand.

“
Not funny,” she says and
latches onto me, and I pull her to her feet.

“
Can we please just get
through this trick?”

“
Sorry Nate, but there is
no way in hell I’m going back in there.”

Great. I don’t have an assistant, I
don’t have an act. But come to think of it none of that matters
anyway. Not without Kaylee.

Chapter 17

I stare at the contents of my locker,
not sure if I’m happy or sad to see the newest blue notecard
sitting on top of my Chemistry book. Marcus keeps waggling his
eyebrows at me, and I laugh and act embarrassed like I usually do,
even though I’m not really feeling it.

He goes off with his new boyfriend,
the bell rings about a minute after he leaves, and I’m still
staring at the note.

I don’t want to read it.
The guy should know Nate’s my boyfriend, even though the last week
has been rough on us, we never
technically
broke up. I’m just sad,
and I think Nate is keeping his distance because I was a complete
witch with a capital B. But there’s so much space between us now I
feel like I have to cross the ocean just to get back to
him.

Nate’s still my boyfriend. So I slam
the locker shut and make my way to last period.

***

“Know your partner! Know yourself!”
Ava calls out to the class. Ryan’s eyebrow twitches as he raises it
at her. I point at a long scar I haven’t noticed before.

“
What happened?” I ask,
while he tries to master a simple box-step.

“
Nate convinced me I could
fly.” He grins. “Yeah… I couldn’t.”

“
Guess he’s not that good
of a magician.” I wince as Ryan crushes my pinky toe.

“
Sorry,” he mumbles, and I
try to put some space between us, but he trips into me. I’m
laughing as Ava gives us an exasperated look, and Ryan composes
himself. “I really think you should’ve called Nate for
this.”

I shrug. Ryan sets his hand
on my waist and pulls me close without asking any more prodding
questions. I secretly thank him for not pushing it out of me.
But
not
pushing
actually makes me want to talk about it.

“
I’ve been sad,” I say over
his shoulder.

“
Because of
Nate?”

I shake my head. “No… not
really.”

Ryan’s hand tightens around mine, and
I get no warning before he attempts to spin me out. I fumble and
trip and laugh my way back into his arms.

“
Then why are you sad?” he
asks.

I let my chin rest on his shoulder,
hoping he keeps to the side-to-side step so I don’t fall on my
rear.

“
My best friend
died.”

He stops dancing. “Oh man, Kaylee… I’m
sorry.”

A tiny laugh slips through my lips,
and I pat his shoulder. “He was a gerbil.”

He jerks back to look at me, and I
give him a pathetic smile, like, yes, my best friend was a pet. He
pushes his lips together and clears his throat.

“
Well… that’s just as
devastating.”

“
Thanks.” I shake my head
and settle it back on his shoulder. “Mr. Pippi would’ve liked
you.”

“
Mr. who?”

“
Pippi. My
gerbil.”

He shakes with laughter, making my
head bounce. “How’d you come up with that name? Was he a
pisser?”

“
Pippi
, not pee-pee.” I lightly smack his arm.
“Twelve-year-old.”

He laughs again, spins me out right
into another dancer. His face goes “Oops” as he pulls me back in.
He really needs to stop trying now.

“
So that’s why you haven’t
been around? You’ve been holding his funeral services?”

“
I’ve just needed to be sad
for a while. I think Nate understands that.” The lie falls from my
mouth so naturally I even believe it myself.

“
All right, dancers,” Ava
says, changing the slow music to a faster number. “Time for the
Lindy Hop.”

Ryan backs away looking like a deer in
the headlights. We both gaze down at my ruby red shoes that he’s
totally scuffed. I pat his shoulder and say, “Don’t worry. I think
I have that one down.”

“
Maybe Nate can go over it
with you one more time before your dad’s thing.”

I nod and smile, but it takes a lot of
effort. I’m not sure if it’s because I’m see-through with my
emotions or if Ryan is just really intuitive, but he takes a deep
breath and pulls me into a hug. I squeeze him back.

“
Yeah,” I say,
“maybe.”

***

Mr. Pippi’s cage looks so sad without
him. Water half full since he hasn’t been here to drink it. Wheel
sitting untouched. Not like he touched it all that much, unless I
was sleeping. I’d wake up to the rattling and pretend to throw my
pillow at him.

My Pandora changes songs
to
I’ve Got the Magic in Me
and I quickly skip the track.

“
I thought you liked that
song,” Dad says from the doorway. He’s wearing his Saturday shirt
that says SL,UT from when we went skiing in Utah last year. I tried
to explain to him that the shirt is a joke. That is says “Slut” but
he’s determined to believe that the Mormons wouldn’t sell something
like that. It just stands for Salt Lake, Utah. I’ve exhausted the
argument, so I don’t say anything about his wardrobe.

“
Can we talk for a minute?”
he asks.

I pat a spot on the bed, and he
shuffles into the room. His nose crinkles at my messy
floor.

“
You really need to clean
your room, bug.”

“
I know where all my stuff
is,” I counter.

He shakes his head, sits on the edge
of the twin and looks at the empty cage. “I’m sorry about Mr.
Pippi.”

I nod, staring at the cage as well. I
really should throw it out, or sell it, or something.

He sucks in a large breath, and I
flick my eyes to him gazing at his interlocked fingers in his lap.
“And I’m sorry for my part in it.”

“
Your part?”

“
Nate was only trying to
cheer you up because your mother and I were fighting.”

“
Again,” I say, and then
snap my lips shut. Dad just nods.

“
Yes, again. And she
wouldn’t have even been here if I’d just handled—” He stops,
flushes as red as a fire truck and slides so far on the edge of the
bed I’m worried he might fall off. “I should’ve handled it better,”
he finishes, eyeing the mattress.

“
You mean walking in on me
and my boyfriend?”

He lets out an exasperated sigh,
running his hand over his graying hair. “I’ve considered myself
lucky. Raising a teenage daughter on my own has been drama-free so
far. You’ve kept to yourself, eaten dinner with me every night,
come home with excellent grades…” He pauses looking at my
overflowing laundry basket. “The only thing I berate you about is
the state of your room.”

“
You do?” I tease, and he
laughs. Then he shakes his head at the floor.

“
When this boy came into
the picture, I wasn’t prepared. I’d noticed a change in you. And I
didn’t realize how unhappy you were until I saw you extremely
happy.”

I bite my lip, turn to the
cage, and focus on the blue and yellow wheel. I don’t think I was
ever
un
happy, I
just didn’t know what I was missing. Not a boyfriend exactly…
but
friends
. “It
wasn’t just him.”

“
The other two I met as
well?”

I pick at the door on the cage, throat
clogging up at how lonely I was—how lonely I’ve let myself become
again.

“
I didn’t have any friends,
Dad.” My voice catches, and I swallow hard, keeping my tears
away.

“
I know.” His voice catches
too. I turn to look at him. “I don’t understand why, but I
know.”

I lift a shoulder, bumping a braid
into my cheek. “It’s hard for me. I’m outgoing and loud so people
think I have an easy time making friends. But really, I’ve been so
afraid to ask the preschool questions, ‘Can I hang out with you
guys?’ ‘Can I sit with you?’ ‘Anyone want to come to my house to
watch a movie?’ I’m totally upbeat, but too shy to see what people
really think about me. I’m a walking oxymoron.”

“
Did you get the courage to
ask, then?”

“
Not really. Nate asked me.
See, I’m approachable, I think. I’m
friendly
with everyone, but I don’t
fit anywhere. I’m the puzzle piece that was stuck inside the wrong
box, and I hopped out desperately trying to find the box I belong
to. With Lexie and Ryan and… and Nate, I finally feel like I
fit.”

“
Do you want them to be
your friends even if Nate isn’t your”—he takes a deep breath—“your
boyfriend?”

I stifle a giggle, feeling the
awkwardness roll off his tongue with the word.

“
Yeah. I’m just not sure
if
they
will. I
think I ruined it. First time I get friends and I totally
overreacted and made a complete idiot of myself. And I don’t even
know what to say to him to make it better.”

Dad pats the spot next to him, and I
slide on the bed and cuddle into his side. He plays with one of my
braids and squeezes me tight.

“
You get that uncertainty
from me,” he says, voice gruff. “But once you find the people you
fit with, talking comes easier.”

I smile. “Like Mr. Pippi.”

“
And me. You always have
me.”

My heart thumps heavy, and I squeeze
him back.

“
I know.”

Chapter 18

Kaylee looks so damn beautiful today.
She is in her typical braids, a pair of jeans and a cute t-shirt
with a monkey on it, and even though it is pretty much the same
look she has every day, today is different. Maybe it’s because we
haven’t talked, and any chance I get to look at her is a blessing.
Or maybe it’s because I miss the feel of her lips on mine, the way
our hands fit perfectly together and how she should be in my arms
instead of dodging me in the halls.

Whatever it is, I can’t stop staring.
Though every time I try to find the guts to go to her, I turn the
other way like the biggest freaking coward around.

“
Dude,” Ryan says, and I
snap my eyes away from my fedora and place it back on my
head.

“
Huh?”

“
You okay?” he asks as he
pulls his head out from under the hood of the Lincoln.

“
Sure. I’m
good.”

“
Good. Can you hand me the
wrench then?” He points to the toolbox to my left.