“I’m sorry, and how is this his fault?” I asked, hands on hips.
She puffed out her cheeks and spluttered. Her lips were colored the same salmon as her nails, and they were thin and flaky. She should learn about cherry ChapStick.
“Well, he works here, doesn’t he?”
“It’s a very old building,” started Eric.
“I’m not talking to you right now. You had your chance.”
I was seriously going to kick this lady in the teeth.
“No, you had your chance. It’s not his fault that there was no hot water. Maybe it’s because you used it up taking a bubble bath the night before. I don’t know. And I don’t care! All I know is that is no way to treat somebody who has opened up his home to you. So you think about how to speak to someone before you open your mouth again, because if I were him, I wouldn’t give you any refund. I would tell you to pack your bags and get out of here!”
I hadn’t meant to go that far. But once again, my mouth was moving faster than my brain, and by the time I stopped, I was breathless. Both Einstein and Eric were staring at me, wide-eyed and stunned.
Finally, Eric spoke. “Mrs. Briley —” he began.
“No, that’s okay,” she said. Her voice was a lot lower and softer now. “I’ll be speaking to your father as soon as he comes in. Make sure you tell him it is urgent. And you —” She turned back to me, her teeth gritted together. “You have quite a mouth on you, young lady. You’d better watch it or one day it is going to get you into some serious, I mean serious trouble.” Her nostrils flared but I just concentrated on her flaky lips and didn’t budge an inch. Then she grabbed an apple from the front desk and marched up the stairs and down the hall.
As soon as we heard her door slam, I burst into giggles. Eric was laughing, too.
“What a witch,” I said.
“Yeah,” he said.
“Sorry I went off like that. Sometimes I get a little carried away. And she just pushed all my buttons.”
“No, I loved it. My dad always says to let him handle anyone who’s trouble, but I was having a really hard time.”
“Yeah, well …”
I nodded. My head felt heavy. I really needed some coffee. And there was something really unnerving about just standing in front of this guy. I thought of him sitting in the dark, drawing. He was kind of weird.
Dad and Kathy were in the corner by one of the floor-to-ceiling windows. “What was that all about?” Dad asked when I came over.
“Oh, nothing. Never mind,” I said, grabbing a coffee cup.
“Wanna join us for breakfast?”
He and Kathy both had plates full of eggs and bacon. I was pleasantly surprised to see Kathy chewing away. I had pegged her as a strictly cantaloupe girl. But still, the thought of food and Kathy made me pretty queasy right now.
“Sorry, gotta make a phone call,” I said, and headed out of the dining room.
I plopped down at my usual spot in front of the fire. I was thinking about getting a sign for this chair that said: Back off. Levy territory.
Mmm, the coffee felt good.
“’lo?” Her voice was faint and sleepy.
“Pheebs!”
“Hey, Sam!”
“Did I wake you?”
“No.” I knew she was lying and that I should let her go back to sleep. But I couldn’t help myself.
“Oh, Pheebs, it was amazing! We sang ‘Lost and Found’ — just the girls — and I closed my eyes like you said. And then we all went into this hot tub — did you get that? Hot tub? And Drew and I kissed — a lot. And it was really fun kissing him and did I mention he has this blond spiky hair and these incredible eyes and he almost went to the Olympics and he reads ravioli and eats lots of magazines but — no, wait. Whatever. You know what I mean. We actually didn’t do much talking; mostly kissing, but he told me I have kissable lips. Can you believe that? Is that even a real adjective? Kissable?”
“I think —”
“But I didn’t let him see my ears, even though he was really close and then he said, ‘I want to explore you’ and I was, like, what? And he totally wanted to have sex! And of course I freaked out and told him that I couldn’t because I was sharing a room with Jeremy, just because, I don’t know. I mean, I just met him, like, twenty-four hours ago, but I mean, no it’s been forty-eight, but still I don’t know, I don’t even know if he’s a serial killer or if he has a middle name or works for the CIA or anything! Help!”
“Okay, first of all Sam, that’s fantastic. And, do you realize how fantastic this is?”
“Oh! And you know what the best thing about him is? He is nothing like Leo! I’ve totally moved on. I am over him. You were so right, Pheebs. I just needed some crisp mountain air and a few kisses in a hot tub to realize there are other fish in the sea, you know? I mean, what did Leo and I have in common really except the play, right? We never really talked. I think I idealized him because he was my first kiss, but it wasn’t really a kiss. I mean, who says ‘purty’ right? And now that I’ve really been kissed, it’s so completely different. I mean, Drew is more confident, more serious, more mature….
“I wish that you could meet him, Pheebs. Well, maybe you will. Maybe he’ll come down to New York for spring break. I bet he has frequent flyer miles. Did I mention he’s eighteen! Oh! it looks like my dad and Kathy are done with breakfast. I gotta get ready to go to the slopes. Hey, but wait — I didn’t hear anything about you.”
“Oh, nothing. Same old. You’re the one with news.” Phoebe sounded excited for me, but there was definitely a little edge in her voice. Uh-oh.
“How’s Grandma?” I asked.
“Okay, I guess. She called me Florence the whole time, and she can’t find her cockatoo.”
“And what’d you do last night?”
“Murphy’s. The usual crowd.”
“Any time with Paprika?”
“No, but I didn’t even see him.”
“Really? Why not?”
“Oh … I don’t know … It just wound up being a few of us watching movies. It was stupid.” She sounded distracted and there was this weird pause at the end of her sentence. But then, before I could cut in, she started again, cheery and bright. “Anyway, you gotta go. You’ve got a man waiting for you.”
“Yeah!” I said. I tried to sound upbeat, too.
“Call me later,” she said.
“Or you call me!” But she had already clicked OFF.
By the time we got to Sugar Peak, there was already a long line for the ski rentals. It was so hot in the chalet with all the furry collars and matching leg warmers. Dad and Kathy were going back out to some of the cross-country trails, and Jeremy and I got fitted and headed to the chairlift. I tried not to look too eager as I searched for Drew’s dirty-blond spikes and orange goggles. It was 10:30. He would be teaching his new class by now, right?
“Looking for someone?” I felt a hand on my shoulder. I gasped, turning around.
“Gotcha!” said Jeremy, his eyes on fire, his freckles laughing.
“Dumb butt,” I said, and punched him in the arm.
“Oh, come on. Can’t you take a joke?”
“Not funny,” I replied, pushing past him. The chairlift came, and we slid into our seats.
“Come on, Sam. You can’t take everything so seriously. Anyway, how was it?”
“Fine.” There was no way I was talking about this with Jeremy. “So, what’s up with you and Liz?”
“Oh, you know. Whatever,” he said.
“What’s that? Whatever. You left the hot tub together.”