Alexis held her finger to her lips. “Shhhhh.”
“Won’t Eve tell on you?”
“She threatened to, if I didn’t agree to switch roommates.” Alexis snorted as she flipped channels. “But I told her I’d tell Father Mark about her vibrator collection.”
“Her…what?” Emily sank down onto her own bed, wide-eyed.
“Why do you think she and Jenny wanted a room together?”
Emily blinked at her new roommate. “What are you saying?”
“Don’t be naive.” Alexis rolled her eyed. “They’re lesbians. They’re a ‘couple’ now.”
“They are?” Emily asked, although suddenly things made so much more sense. “Are you sure?”
“Trust me.” Alexis smirked. “It takes one to know one.”
“Oh.” Emily blinked at her roommate, surprised by this new information. “Wait… were you and Eve…?”
“For a while.” Alexis shrugged. “Then Jenny came along and got her to join the axis of evil.”
“Oh wow.” Emily was just now beginning to understand the scope of what had really happened in the roommate switch. “I’m so sorry.”
“I’m over it.” Alexis settled on a re-run of TMZ, clearly not over it at all. “You really didn’t know Jenny was gay?”
“No.” Emily grabbed the edge of one of the boxes and pulled it nearer, starting to pile books onto her desk. “But she never talked to me much. She didn’t like me. I think she was the one pulling all those pranks.”
Alexis nodded knowingly. “Oh it was definitely Jenny and Eve.”
“How do you know?”
“Julia told me that Ellie told her that she overheard Eve and Jenny talking about it in Spanish class.”
“I guess that shouldn’t surprise me.” Emily sighed, lining her books up in the shelf built into the side of the desk. She found a pack of Twizzlers in the box and held them up, grinning. “Score! Want one?”
Alexis took the offered strand of licorice, chewing thoughtfully, her eyes narrowing. “We could plan a little revenge, you know. We still have the keys to your old room, and all Eve and Jenny’s stuff is in there.”
“Nah.” Emily shrugged. “The best revenge will be you and me being the best of friends, I think.”
Alexis smiled. “Want some help?”
Together they finished unpacking and then settled in on Alexis’s bed to watch American Idol, and when Jenny and Eve came to switch keys, they were surprised to find the two of them singing bad karaoke into a hairbrush and laughing hysterically.
* * * *
St. Mary Margaret’s went all out every year for the Halloween carnival, and this year was no exception. Emily had volunteered to work the face painting booth because she had a flair for it, and she preferred to do something where everyone walked away smiling, instead of watching kids toss a ping-pong ball at a goldfish bowl all day and rarely, if ever, win.
Unfortunately, she was right across from the kissing booth, where Jenny and Eve were flirting shamefully, teasing all the boys from St. Luke’s. The good news was that her new roommate had joined her at the last minute, so she didn’t have to deal with the long line of waiting kids all by herself. Although Alexis, she noticed, wasn’t as artistic as she was, but she could handle the easy things like hearts, balloons and pumpkins, and leave the dragons and birds and more difficult things to Emily.
“Look!” Alexis nudged her, taking a little boy’s ticket-each of them cost a dollar, and they could use them at any of the booths or on the ferris wheel or teacup ride or the blow-up house the church had rented. All the proceeds went to the children’s charity at St. Mary Margaret’s. “It’s Father Mark over by the kissing booth!”
Emily’s head came up sharply and she saw Jenny laughing and waggling her fingers, calling out, but at first she didn’t see him-then she realized why. He was wearing jeans and a soft blue, denim button-down shirt, so casual that Emily did a double-take to make sure it really was him-but yes, there were those green eyes, the long lashes, the dark hair. And that smile. That smile was definitely Father Mark’s.
“But it’s for charity!” Jenny squealed laughter at the way Father Mark’s cheeks reddened, even as he laughed along good naturedly. He said something to both Eve and Jenny and both girls looked at each other, a little shame-faced. Good for him, Emily thought, watching Alexis painting a crooked batman symbol on the little freckled boy’s face.
Emily couldn’t take her eyes off Father Mark, couldn’t forget the feeling of his mouth on hers just a few days before. She flushed as he turned toward their booth, lifting his hand in a wave. Sure he was just going to keep walking, Emily ducked her head, pretending to bend down to tie her shoe. She wanted to see him, desperately, wanted him to come over and talk to her, even if they never mentioned or acknowledged the kiss.
But that wasn’t quite true. She did want to talk about the kiss. She wanted to do more than talk about it. Her whole body buzzed with the knowledge of his presence and she willed herself not to look up, to let him pass without a word, let him go.
Let him go.
“Hey Emily.” His voice lifted her head and her heart.
“Hi.” She smiled up at him, standing there in his blue jeans. He was even wearing tennis shoes. Let him go? How could she let him go?
“Hey Father Mark.” Alexis waved her paint brush at him.
Father Mark smiled at them both. “How’s it going, girls? Enjoying the new roommate situation?”
“She’s my new best friend!” Alexis winked at him, glancing over at Eve and Jenny and sticking her tongue out in their direction.
“It’s like a whole new world,” Emily told him, trying to keep her heart from beating out of her chest, standing so close to him.
“I’m glad.” His smile reached right down to her toes. She couldn’t help but remember how he’d kissed her, how he’d bridged the gap between them. Was he thinking about it too?
“Hi Father Mark.” A little voice interrupted and both of them startled. A little blonde girl, about the age of five, stood peeking out from behind him.
He glanced around, smiling down at her. “Hi there Samantha! Are you having fun?”
She nodded shyly, holding up a clear bag with a small wide-eyed goldfish swimming around in it. “My brother won this for me.”
“Awesome! And where’s he?” Father Mark asked, glancing around the crowd.
“Over there.” Samantha pointed to the booth next to Jenny and Eve’s, where kids were lined up to throw very dull darts at underinflated balloons. They both saw the teenager standing at the front of the line, his head shaved, a tattoo scrolling around his neck, who occasionally glanced back to make sure Sam was where he had sent her. “He’s going to win me that big stuffed moose! He told me to come get my face painted.”
“Well hop on up.” Emily patted the stool, reaching for her white board. She’d spent most of the night painting all the possible designs for the kids to choose from. “Which do you want?”
Samantha hesitated, kicking her feet in the grass, not getting up on the stool.
“Can’t decide?” Father Mark prompted, smiling at Emily, the heat in his look warming her belly.
“I’m afraid,” Samantha admitted, tracing her little finger over each design. “Does it hurt? My sister got a tattoo on her ankle and she said it hurt like a bitch.”
Emily’s eyes widened and she covered her laugh with her hand. She saw Father Mark’s lips twitch at the little girl’s phrasing, but he didn’t miss a beat.
“It doesn’t hurt, Sam, I promise.” Father Mark patted the stool. “Emily will be very gentle.”
“Does it wash off?” The little girl’s eyes widened as she looked between the two of them. “My sister’s tattoo doesn’t wash off, even in the shower!”
Emily smiled. “It’s not permanent.”
“Not like a permanent marker? That doesn’t wash off very good. I colored with permanent marker on my sister’s iPhone and she was real mad at me.” Samantha cocked her head at them, clearly aware that they were both trying not to laugh out loud and seemed confused by their mirth. “Are you going to get one, Father Mark? Is that why you’re at the face painting booth?”