Paige breezed into the Frosted Cupcake, where she found Anthony sitting at their usual couch. “I got your message and came as soon as I could. My phone was turned off during the show.” She looked at the empty cupcake wrappers in front of Anthony. “How many have you eaten so far?
“Two,” Roger said, placing another chocolate cupcake in front of Anthony. “And he’s been inhaling them, not eating them. He still won’t tell me what’s wrong. Maybe you can coax it out of him.”
“Remember Max?” Paige asked.
Roger frowned. “Max?”
“Our crush? The guy in the photo we showed you.”
“Oh, right. Him. The cutie.”
“We finally got an answer to our question.”
“Question?” Roger scratched the side of his head with his pen. “Sorry, but I feel like I’ve stepped into the middle of a movie.”
“‘Is he or isn’t he?’”
“Ah!” Roger said, his face lighting up with understanding as he gazed at Anthony. “He’s straight?”
“Straight,” Anthony said.
Paige sat next to Anthony on the couch while Roger went to take another order. “How are you holding up?”
“My life is over!” Anthony wailed, resting his head on Paige’s shoulder. “I’ve struck out twice in the romance department this year. First with Ian and now with Max.”
“If it’s any consolation, I struck out with Max, too.”
“But at least you had a fighting chance with him!”
“Did I?” Paige shook her head. “I don’t think so. We never really knew Max, did we? Sure, he was fun to hang out with, but it was like he was keeping everyone at a distance. I’m not just talking about you and me. It’s like he thought he was better than everyone else at Peppington Prep. Did you notice how he never belonged to any particular clique? He just coasted from one to another. And he was always throwing around his father’s money. It was like he was trying to buy everyone’s friendship instead of just being himself.”
“He was the new kid,” Anthony pointed out. “That’s what new kids do. He was trying to fit in.”
“Don’t defend him! I was the new kid once, too, and you went out of your way to become friends with me. So did Colleen and Bianca and Rachel. We tried to do the same thing with Max and he wouldn’t let us. Plus, he really wasn’t such a catch.”
“Then why were we drooling over him for so many weeks?”
“Temporary insanity?”
“Seriously.”
“Okay, okay, we were blinded by his cuteness and he could be thoughtful on occasion. But he also had a lot of faults.”
“Like?”
“I told you how competitive he was when we were playing Monopoly. It was only a game, but from the way he was playing, you would have thought it was for real money.”
“Did I ever tell you he wore socks with holes in them?”
“No!”
“I always noticed in gym class when he was putting on his sneakers. His big toe would always stick out. And they reeked!”
“Oh my god! So that’s where that odor was coming from!”
“What are you talking about?”
“When we were playing Trivial Pursuit on Saturday afternoon in the Hamptons, all of a sudden there was this horrible odor in the sun room. We thought maybe a skunk had passed and sprayed the side of the house—we had one of the windows open a crack—but it had to be Max’s feet! He must have taken his shoes off under the table.”
Anthony started laughing hysterically. “Maybe we should start calling him Stinky!”
“And did you ever notice how girly his handwriting was?”
“Yes! He definitely dotted with hearts!”
“That’s debatable.”
“Trust me, they were hearts.”
“And he was moody.”
“Moody?”
“You never noticed? Whenever he’d get mad or something was bothering him, he wouldn’t tell you. He’d just sulk like a spoiled brat. Who needs that? If I wanted a spoiled brat, I’d baby-sit.” Paige put a hand on Anthony’s arm. “Feeling better?”
“Much now that you’re here.”
“Me, too.”
In the message he’d left, Anthony had given Paige a recap of everything that had happened in the park, including Max’s rejection of her as well. Misery loves company, right? Although Paige didn’t look miserable at all. She looked happy. Very happy. Hmmm. Something was going on.
“How was the awards dinner?” he casually asked.
“It was fun.”
“Fun? When I think of Paolo I don’t think of the word ‘fun.’”
“Well, it was. And it didn’t cost us six thousand dollars. Were you crazy bidding that much for Max?”
Anthony shrugged. “Who can put a price on love?”
“In this case, we can!”
“Relax. Colleen’s mother is paying for it.”
“Thank God!”
Anthony squinted at Paige. “Is it my imagination, or are you glowing?”
Paige pulled out her compact and inspected her face. “Am I really glowing?”
Anthony gasped as he finally figured out what was going on. “Paige! Don’t tell me my brother kissed you?”
Paige snapped her compact shut. “No, he didn’t kiss me, but he did ask me out on a date!”
Anthony’s eyes lit up. “He did?”
“Yes, he did. After I listened to the message you left about Max. And you know what? I’m glad he did! Who cares about Max? Yes, I’m disappointed that he wasn’t interested in me, but even if we had dated, in the end things probably wouldn’t have worked out.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Think about it. Max wants to be actor. He was pretending with both of us and not letting either one of us see who he really was. For a relationship to work, you really have to know the person you’re involved with. Otherwise it’s never going to last.”
“So you think Pow is boyfriend material?”
Paige mulled over Anthony’s question. For years Paolo had always been Anthony’s older brother. Until recently, she’d never thought of him as anything other than that. But in the last few days she’d discovered that he didn’t think of her as Anthony’s best friend. He thought of her just as Paige. Someone to laugh with. To argue with. To talk to. And maybe even more.
At that moment, Paige realized something. Sometimes what you’re looking for is right under your nose and you don’t even know it.
“I think Paolo is excellent boyfriend material,” she said. “But ask me again after our first date.”
“Oh my god!” Anthony gasped.
“What?”
“It just occurred to me that you could wind up being my future sister-in-law!”
Paige rolled her eyes. “You are such a drama queen.”
“And on your wedding day, you wouldn’t have to worry about me wanting to kiss your groom!”
Paige laughed. “Let’s take things one date at a time.” She gave Anthony a hug. “Have I told you lately that I’m so lucky you’re my best friend?”
Anthony hugged Paige back. “And have I told you lately that I’m lucky you’re mine? Who needs boyfriends when we have each other?”
Just then Roger arrived with two cups of hot chocolate, placing them on the table in front of the couch.
“We didn’t order these,” Anthony said.
“I know. Compliments of me. Having a broken heart sucks.”
“Thanks, Roger,” Paige said. “That’s really thoughtful of you.”
“Not a problem.” Roger reached into the back pocket of his jeans and pulled out two concert tickets, holding them in front of Anthony’s face. “Here’s something else that might cheer you up. They’re for this Friday night. Wanna go?”
Anthony’s eyes widened with glee as he saw the name of the performer on the tickets. It was his favorite pop princess. “I love her! How did you get tickets? This show has been sold out for months!”
“I have my ways. So, you didn’t answer my question. Wanna go?”
“It’s sweet of you to try and make me feel better, Roger, but wouldn’t you rather take one of your glamazons?” Anthony asked, biting into a cupcake. He glanced around the bakery and was shocked to discover no glamazons in sight. Huh. That was a first. “You’re guaranteed a better time if you take one of them.”
Roger gave him a confused look. “What’s a glamazon?”
Anthony waved a hand while munching on a cupcake. “You know. One of your girlfriends. Tall, thin, leggy, big chest, long hair. The ones who look like they moonlight as supermodels.”
Roger began laughing hysterically. “You thought those were my girlfriends? Are you serious?”
“Weren’t they?”
Roger kept laughing. In fact, he was laughing so hard, his face started turning red. “No! I’m part of the tutoring program at my high school. Those glamazons are from our cheerleading squad. I was only helping them pull their grades up.”
“They weren’t your girlfriends?” Anthony asked, confusion in his voice.
Roger leaned over Anthony’s hot chocolate and gave him an extra blast of whipped cream. “You and I are two of a kind,” he whispered into Anthony’s ear. “If you know what I mean.”
Anthony started choking on his cupcake while an open-mouthed Paige started pounding him on the back.
“You’re gay?” Anthony asked between coughs.
Roger nodded. “Yep. As gay as you are.” He stuck the tickets back into his pocket. “Let me know by Friday if you want to go to the concert. You know where to find me. If you can’t make it, we’ll rent some scary DVDs. You said we were going to do that some night, remember?”
Roger then gave Anthony a wink before heading to another table.
“He’s not straight,” Anthony said to Paige in stunned disbelief. “He’s gay. Roger is gay.”
“Yes, I heard,” Paige said. “I was sitting right here.”
“I don’t believe it. Roger is gay and he wants to go out with me.” Anthony gasped. “Roger is interested in me. He wants to go out with me! All this time he’s been right under my nose and I didn’t have a clue! How could I have been so blind?”
“You jumped to a conclusion. Like you did with Max.”
“Max?” Anthony asked. “Who’s Max? I don’t know anyone named Max. I only know the name Roger!”
“Does this mean you’ve got plans for Friday night? We were supposed to go to the movies, remember?”
“Get Paolo to take you. I’ve got a date with Roger!”
“I have to tell you something,” Paige said to Anthony, taking a sip of her hot chocolate. “And I’m only telling you this because I love you, so listen closely, okay?”
“Yes?” Anthony asked, his eyes glued on Roger, as if he was afraid he might disappear. “What is it?”
“You really need to get your gaydar checked out!” Paige laughed. “For months you’ve had a hottie like Roger totally into you and you didn’t even know it!”
“Okay, okay, you don’t have to rub it in! So I’m not perfect.”
“But Roger is,” Paige said, watching him walk across the bakery. “He’s so cute!”
Anthony licked a bit of frosting off his upper lip and grinned at Paige. “Isn’t he?!”