The following morning Paige was at her locker when she felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned around and found Max standing behind her, his arms hidden behind his back.
“Hi!”
“Hi.”
“How was the rest of your weekend?” she asked.
“Okay. How was yours?”
“The girls and I went shopping yesterday. We bought a couple of things for this weekend.”
“Like?”
“You’ll just have to wait and see.”
“I did a little shopping, too.”
“You did?”
Max gave her a mysterious smile. “Uh-huh.”
Okay, something was up. “What’d you buy?”
“This.”
Max held out the tiny pink shopping bag he’d been hiding behind his back.
“For me?” Paige was touched. “Max, you didn’t have to do that.”
“I know I didn’t, but I wanted to.”
“What is it?” Paige asked, rustling through the white tissue paper inside the bag.
“You’ll see.”
“Oh, he’s adorable!” Paige cried, pulling out a small stuffed beagle.
“You seemed kind of bummed that you couldn’t have a dog of your own because of your allergies. I figured this might be the next best thing.”
“I love him.” Paige gave Max a hug. A tight-hold-you-close hug and not a quick squeeze. Anthony would be proud of her. Then again, when he found out that Max had given her a gift…“Thank you.”
“He even has a name. It’s on his collar.”
“Quincy,” Paige said, reading his dog tag. “Thanks, Max. That was really thoughtful of you.”
The bell for first period rang.
“I’m not going to leave him in my locker,” Paige said, popping Quincy into her shoulder bag. “I’m going to take him to class with me. That way when I look at him, I’ll think of you.”
“Thanks again for inviting me this weekend. I’m really looking forward to it.”
“Me, too,” Paige said, remembering Rachel’s comment about biology as she decided which sexy new outfit she was going to wear on Friday night. “Me, too.”
“Where’d you get the pooch?” Anthony asked as he took his seat next to Paige in homeroom that afternoon.
Shoot! She’d forgotten to close her bag. She hadn’t wanted Anthony to know about Quincy because she knew he’d get upset. She’d been trying to find the right time to tell him.
“It was a gift.” She paused. “From Max.”
Anthony stared at Paige in shock. “Max? Our Max gave you a gift?” His voice started to rise. “And you’re telling me now? How many classes have we had together today?”
“Anthony, calm down.”
“Calm down? Calm down? How can I calm down when he gave you a gift? For a teenage guy, that’s like getting down on one knee and proposing.”
“It is not.”
“It is too and you know it. Guys only give gifts when they’re serious.”
“Well,” Paige said, shrugging, “I guess Max is serious.”
Anthony shot daggers at Paige. “I guess so.”
“Please don’t be mad at me!” Paige begged.
At that moment there was a hissing sound outside the window Anthony was sitting next to. “Ssss! Psst! Ants!”
Anthony left his seat and stuck his head out the second floor window. Standing outside the building was Max.
“Catch!” Max called, tossing a wrapped package up to Anthony.
Much to his surprise, Anthony caught the square wrapped box. “What is it?”
“Something I thought you might like. I came across it yesterday. I’ll talk to you later. My mom’s picking me up in five minutes. Dentist appointment.”
Anthony slid back into his seat and started unwrapping the present from Max.
“What is it?” Paige asked.
Anthony gasped in delight. “A copy of Bad Movies We Love! I’ve been trying to get a copy of this book for years, but it’s out of print.” Anthony eagerly flipped through the pages. “There are hundreds of good-bad movies in here that we’ve never even seen and now we can hunt them down!”
Anthony gave Paige a smug smile. “Like you said. Guys only give gifts when they’re serious.”
“I wouldn’t be too smug if I were you,” Paige shot back, giving Anthony a smug smile of her own. “There’s still this weekend.”
Biology didn’t take care of things that weekend.
Mother Nature did.
The Friday they left for the Hamptons, it rained. And not just a light spritz, but buckets and buckets of cold gray rain. Max and Paige didn’t get to talk much on the drive up because he was driving and she was too busy giving him directions so they wouldn’t get lost. In the backseat, Bianca and Rachel were loudly complaining about being booted from the reality show “Working Girls” earlier that week.
“What happened?” Colleen asked.
“We refused to wash dishes,” Bianca said, holding up her hands. “Do these hands look like they should be soaking in greasy, sudsy water?”
“Ever hear of rubber gloves?” Colleen asked.
Bianca stuck her tongue out at Colleen. “We asked and they wouldn’t give us a pair.”
“Then what did you do?”
“We threw the dishes out and bought a new set at Saks,” Rachel said. “Limoges. Très expensive! They were trimmed in gold.”
“And the problem with that was…?”
Bianca waved a hand dismissively. “Apparently the dishes we threw out were family heirlooms. They’d been in the family for like, I don’t know, fifty years?”
“Sixty,” Rachel corrected.
“But you should have seen them!” Bianca wrinkled her nose. “All chipped and faded. They came on a boat with the grandparents when they immigrated from Ireland.”
“The dishes we bought were much nicer,” Rachel said. “I don’t know what the family was getting so upset about. They acted like we’d murdered their firstborn or something the way they were crying.”
“I think it’s called family history,” Colleen said. “Memories. Tradition. Those are things that are irreplaceable.”
“Whatever,” Rachel said. “Our thougtfulness got us cut from the show.”
“Don’t you mean thought less ness?” Colleen asked.
“If those dishes meant so much to the family, they wouldn’t have taken a check for $25,000 from the producers for the so-called mental anguish and distress that we caused,” Rachel said.
“So much for family history!” Max laughed from the front seat.
For the rest of the car ride, they listened to CDs, as well as Bianca and Rachel strategizing their next career move.
“I think we should get invited to a movie premiere and have a wardrobe malfunction,” Bianca said. “That would get us some attention.”
“Great idea!” Rachel shrieked. “But it’s got to be an event that’s televised live, or what’s the point?”
After a while, Paige tuned out the twins. As he was driving, she had the urge to place her hand on Max’s shoulder—just as a way of letting him know she was there for him—but she didn’t. It seemed like something a girlfriend would do.
Paige studied Max’s profile. He seemed unaware that she was watching him, so intent was he on making sure they arrived safely. He really was a handsome guy. What would it be like to kiss him? Would he be a gentle kisser, or would his kisses be hard and demanding? Some guys liked to go slow when they kissed while others seemed insatiable. It usually depended on the guy’s personality. In her experience, jocks were impatient. They wanted to get the kisses over with so they could move on to other activities (not that she allowed the other activities that they often wanted to pursue). Guys who were more into arts and culture took their time with kissing. They enjoyed it, savored it and made sure the girl they were kissing was as into it as they were.
Paige suspected that Max would be a very slow kisser. She could see kissing him for hours and hours. He’d probably even set the mood. If it was indoors, there’d probably be candles. Flowers. Or maybe an afternoon on a park bench. Red and gold autumn leaves falling from the trees. Small children running around with dogs barking and nipping at their feet. Couples walking hand in hand. And then the rest of the world would fade away as Max leaned closer, taking her face in his hands before leaning forward and…
“What are you thinking?”
Paige blushed. She’d been so preoccupied with thoughts of kissing Max that she hadn’t been aware that they were in line to pay a bridge toll. Thank God it was dark inside the car!
“Nothing,” she answered.
“You sure?” Max asked with a naughty grin, as if he could read her mind.
“Just daydreaming.”
Max pulled up to the toll booth and paid the attendant. “Must have been a nice daydream. You were miles away.”
Paige blushed again. “It was.”
From the backseat, she could feel Colleen pressing her foot into the back of her seat, signaling her to make some sort of move. But what? They were in a car! With three people in the backseat! She ignored the nudge and turned the volume up on the CD player.
Three hours later—the bad weather had made the ride longer—they finally arrived in East Hampton.
“Where can I park?” Max asked.
The driveway leading up to the house was being repaved so Max had to park at the bottom of the driveway and they had to carry their suitcases up to the house in the rain. By the time they got inside, they were all soaking wet. It didn’t help that the house was as cold as a freezer. The first thing Paige did was turn on the heat while asking Max if he would start a fire in the fireplace.
“We’re going to go upstairs and slip into some dry clothes,” Paige told Max. “Your room is at the end of the hall to the right. My room is on the left. If you can’t find it, just call out.”
“Will do.”
“This is the perfect opportunity to wear one of your new outfits!” Bianca whispered excitedly as they walked upstairs.
“Are you insane?” Paige said, her teeth chattering. “I’m freezing! All I want is a pair of thermal underwear, some thick socks and a sweater!”
Rachel pouted. “That’s not going to get Max’s attention.”
“Look, Rachel, there’s no way I’m going to be parading myself around in short little skirts and skimpy blouses in this weather. You think I want to get pneumonia?”
“We should have thought to put together a backup wardrobe,” Colleen said. “But the weatherman didn’t say anything about rain this weekend.”
“Maybe it’ll be sunny tomorrow,” Paige said.
“Well, if you’re going to insist on wearing a sweater tonight, then go braless!” Bianca said. “Boys like girls who bounce.”
“I will not!”
Bianca threw her hands up in the air as she and Rachel headed for their room. “Hopeless. Absolutely hopeless!”
“It’s only one night,” Paige called after them as she followed Colleen into their bedroom. “I’m sure the weather will be better tomorrow. When it is, I’ll be able to show a little more skin. But tonight I’m covering it all up!”
“Can I give you some advice?” Colleen asked as they started unpacking.
“What?”
“Listen to the twins. They know their stuff!”
“You’re saying I should go braless?”
“No! But you must have a low-cut fluffy sweater in one of your drawers.”
“Actually, I do,” Paige admitted, opening a drawer and taking out a violet sweater made of angora.
“Nice! Fabulous color! You’re going to look so cute in it.”
“But the sleeves are short! And it’s cold!”
“Hey, we all have to suffer for beauty. Now put it on!”
“Okay, okay,” Paige grumbled, pulling her head through the sweater’s opening.
After changing, the girls headed back downstairs to the living room, where Max had a roaring fire going. He’d also changed out of his wet clothes into a green turtleneck, brown pullover sweater and brown corduroys. His wet hair was slicked back and his cheeks were red from the heat of the fireplace. He looked like he’d stepped right out of an ad for Ralph Lauren. At that moment, all Paige wanted to do was snuggle up to him.
“You know what we need to set the mood?” Colleen said. “Some hot buttered popcorn and cocoa!” She grabbed Bianca and Rachel by the arms and headed in the direction of the kitchen. “We’ll be back once it’s ready.”
Paige wanted to kill Colleen. Could she be any more obvious that she was leaving them alone on purpose?
“Nice house,” Max said.
The décor of the summer house was very relaxed and laid-back. Lots of sheer draperies, pine and blond wood furniture, light green rag rugs scattered on hardwood floors, walls that were painted cream and yellow and eggshell white. It was like having a little bit of the beach indoors.
“Thanks. My dad does a lot of entertaining out here during the summer.” Paige sat down on the couch, hoping Max would join her. Instead, he remained sitting on the floor next to the fireplace. Should she join him? But then she’d be invading his personal space. And she’d already sat down. It would look strange if she got up and joined him, wouldn’t it? Why hadn’t she thought to sit next to him on the floor?
“Are you hungry?” Paige asked. “We can order in. I can call Nick & Toni’s or Della Femina. And Citarella has takeout. I’m going to call them to deliver some groceries in the morning.”
“I’m not really hungry.”
Even though Max had started a fire, the room was still cold. Paige walked over to the fireplace and threw some more wood on top of the fire. She shivered while watching the flames grow. Why had she listened to Colleen and worn this stupid sweater?
“Hey, are you cold?”
Before Paige could answer, Max was by her side, taking off his pullover. “Here, put this on.”
“Thanks,” Paige said, slipping into the sweater. And thank you, girls! I’ll never turn down your advice again! The sweater smelled like Max. Citrusy and soapy. They were standing so close together, their noses were almost touching.
Kiss him! Come on! Kiss him! For once in your life, be daring. Spontaneous. Take him by surprise! Make the first move. Think how shocked Anthony would be!
Paige was just about to press her lips to Max’s when he pulled away and said, “You know what? I’m pretty tired. That drive took a lot out of me. I think I’m going to turn in for the night, if that’s okay with you.”
What?! He wanted to go to bed? But it was only ten o’clock! The night was still young!
Say something, Paige. Anything! Don’t let him get away! If you do, you’ll only have one night left to figure things out.
Max smiled at her, and she smiled back as the silence between them grew.
Why wasn’t he saying anything???
“Are you sure you want to turn in?” she finally asked, unable to come up with a compelling reason for him to not want to go to bed. So much for being a femme fatale! If Bianca had been here, she would have used her cleavage in some sort of tantalizing way to hypnotize Max and get him to do her bidding. It was definitely doable. She’d seen it happen more than once at Peppington Prep. “The girls will be back any second with the cocoa and popcorn.”
“I’m going to skip it. Save my energy for tomorrow. Tell them I said good night.”
“Okay.” What else could she say? No?
Max got off the floor and brushed off the bottom of his cords. Paige couldn’t help but notice how they hugged him nicely in all the right places.
“I’ll see you in the morning. ’Night.”
“’Night,” she said, trying to keep the disappointment she felt out of her voice.
Paige watched Max disappear up the stairs. Ten minutes later, Colleen and the twins emerged from the kitchen with a bowl of buttered popcorn and a tray of cocoa-filled mugs.
“Where’s Max?” Colleen asked, looking around the living room.
Paige walked over to Rachel and reached for a mug. She needed a chocolate fix. Desperately.
“He went to bed,” she said, blowing on the steaming hot cocoa and taking a sip.
Bianca reached for a handful of popcorn and gave Paige a knowing look. “I hate to say I told you so,” she said, munching on the popcorn, “but I told you so. You should have listened to me and gone braless!”
Going to see a horror movie by himself on a dark and stormy night had not been a good idea.
Anthony hurried down the deserted streets of Manhattan, looking for a taxi but unable to find one. Why would he? When the weather was this bad, they were practically nonexistent. And the subway line he needed to take was nowhere near here. Anthony struggled to keep his umbrella upright as the wind blew through it. He was walking past the Frosted Cupcake when he saw a light on inside. That was strange. Usually the bakery was closed by eleven. Anthony pressed his face against the bakery’s dark window. He jumped back and screamed when a face loomed out of the darkness toward him. It took him a second to realize it was Roger. He was wearing black jeans and a black turtleneck, which was why he’d blended into the darkness.
“What are you doing out so late on a Friday night?” Roger asked as he unlocked the front door and let Anthony inside.
Anthony clutched his rapidly beating heart. “I could ask you the same question. You scared me!”
“Sorry,” Roger apologized. “I was doing inventory in the stock room and then I was going to give the place a fast sweep before going home. I wanted to see if it was still raining outside. That’s why I pressed my face against the window. I certainly didn’t expect you to be on the other side of it!”
Anthony shook the excess water off his umbrella before closing it and walking inside. “I went down to Film Forum,” he said. “You know, the revival house? They’re showing horror movies from the ’60s and ’70s.”
“I’ve been meaning to check that out.”
Anthony was surprised. “You have?”
“I love those movies. They’re so creepy. So much better than the horror movies made today with those indestructible killers. What are they up to now? Friday the 13th Part 13? Halloween Part 9? Gimme a break! What’s the point of seeing them? You know the killer is going to survive to come back in another sequel.”
“You’re so right!”
“What did they show tonight?”
“Rosemary’s Baby.”
Roger’s face lit up. “That’s one of my favorites.”
“Mine, too! I don’t know about you, but whenever I’m watching that movie, I feel like I can’t breathe. There’s such a great sense of paranoia. Is she really pregnant with the devil’s baby, or is she just nuts?”
“Did you know they actually filmed it on the Upper West Side at the Dakota?”
“Of course I do! Hello! You’re talking to a future filmmaker.”
“Oh. Cool! Well, what was the deal with those horror movies in the ’70s?” Roger asked, walking back to the stockroom and picking up the pad he’d been making notes on. Anthony followed after him. “Did you ever notice how they all had to do with the devil?”
“Yes!” Anthony exclaimed, getting excited. He loved talking about movies. “There was The Exorcist, The Omen and Beyond the Door. What I like about them is that everything is left to your imagination. You imagine the horror instead of seeing tons of blood and guts on the screen like what’s done today. What your imagination can come up with is way scarier than anything a director can shoot.”
“And then there are those TV horror movies from the ’70s,” Roger said.
“‘Satan’s School for Girls!’” Anthony shouted.
“‘Let’s Scare Jessica to Death!’” Roger shouted back.
“‘Trilogy of Terror!’” Anthony and Roger exclaimed at the same time.
“I didn’t know you were such a film buff,” Anthony said.
“There’s a lot of stuff you don’t know about me,” Roger said, scribbling on his pad before shutting off the light in the stockroom.
That was true. Anthony really didn’t know much about Roger other than that he worked at the Frosted Cupcake and was a babe magnet.
“You’re right,” Anthony said. “We should rent some scary DVDs and watch them one night.”
“That sounds cool.”
“I should let you finish cleaning up.”
“You can hang out if you want,” Roger said. “It makes the time go faster when you have someone to talk to.”
“I could help out.”
“You wouldn’t mind?”
“I wouldn’t offer if I did.”
“Okay. Thanks. You can just flip the chairs upside down on the tables. Then I’ll run around with a broom and we’ll be out of here.”
While Anthony turned over the chairs, he and Roger talked. He found out that Roger had three younger sisters and lived only a few blocks away from the Frosted Cupcake. He hadn’t decided where he wanted to go to college, but he was hoping he might win a scholarship to NYU.
“It would be nice to stay in the neighborhood, you know? And my parents can’t really afford to send me away to school.”
“My brother’s a sophomore at NYU and he loves it.”
“Are you thinking of going there?”
Anthony shook his head. “I want to go to UCLA. They have a great film program.”
Roger slapped himself on the forehead. “Duh. That’s right. You’re the next Spielberg.”
“Let’s hope so! And you? Do you want to be a designer?”
“I don’t know. I do like clothes and working with different kinds of fabrics, and I’ve made myself a few things, like shirts, but I don’t know if I have the talent to become a designer that everyone would want to wear.”
“You’ll never know unless you try.”
“True, true.”
Fifteen minutes later, Roger had finished sweeping up the bakery. “That’s it. We’re all set. Ready to go?”
As they walked back outside, Anthony realized something. He never really hung out with straight guys. He didn’t have anything against them and he had lots of straight male friends at school, but most of his close friends were female. Paige. Colleen. Bianca and Rachel. He just found it easier hanging out with them.
But hanging out with Roger had been fun.
“I was serious about the DVDs,” Anthony said as he opened up his umbrella and caught sight of an available taxi headed his way. “Taxi!” he called out.
“Just let me know when and where,” Roger said. “You know where to find me.”
The next morning the weather wasn’t any better than the night before. Paige woke up to the sound of heavy raindrops hitting the roof.
“Am I hearing what I think I’m hearing?” Paige asked.
“You are,” Colleen groaned from her bed across the room. Bianca and Rachel were in the guest room overlooking the garden at the front of the house while Max was staying in Paige’s father’s room across the hall.
“So much for Operation Hamptons,” Paige said, knowing she wouldn’t be wearing the skimpy outfits she’d brought. It was going to be another day of oversized sweaters and jeans.
“How about we console ourselves with a big country breakfast?” Colleen suggested. “I’ll do the cooking.”
Thirty minutes later, the kitchen was filled with the fragrant scents of hash browns, bacon, sausage, eggs, waffles, coffee and freshly squeezed orange juice. Bianca and Rachel were still sleeping, as was Max, but Paige and Colleen fixed themselves heaping plates and sat down at a table in the sun room, gazing out at a wet, sunless day.
“What should we do today?” Colleen asked.
“Unless the weather improves, we’re stuck inside. We’ve got DVDs that we can watch and there’s a bunch of board games.”
“Oooh! Monopoly! I get to be the little doggie! And when we play Clue, I want to be Mrs. Peacock. She was a full-figured gal.”
“We can also make cookies and brownies.”
“There’s also the hot tub,” Colleen reminded Paige. “That could take up a couple of hours. Why don’t you go turn it on so it’s all bubbling by the time Max comes down for breakfast.”
“Great idea!”
“And maybe while you and Max are soaking, the twins and I will go on a shopping spree, leaving you and Maxie with a little alone time.”
“Don’t you dare!” Paige warned.
“Anthony would be so disappointed.”
“Not if he doesn’t know!”
Paige headed out onto the deck where she pulled the tarp off the top of the tub and then reached for the switch that would begin heating the water.
But when she flipped the switch, nothing happened.
The motor for the hot tub didn’t come on.
The water remained still.
Paige tried the switch again and again, waiting for the bubbles to start appearing.
“What’s taking so long?” Colleen called out.
“It’s not working.”
“What?”
“You heard me,” Paige said, trying not to panic. “The hot tub isn’t working!”