Chapter 31
“I’m still mad at you, Nick Dupont,” Emily said as she confronted him at school the next day. She was breathing heavily, with her hands on her hips, one green-and-white checkered sneaker tapping on the floor.
“I don’t know how I can make it up to you,” he said with a hopeless shrug.
In some ways he’d be happy when the project was over. He was tired of the drama of working with Cat.
Nick stared at Emily.
“I want you to stop seeing her outside school!”
“Our project will be finished soon,” Nick said when the bell sounded, and patted her arm.
Emily hesitated, shifting from one foot to the other, deciding if she had more to say.
“Come on!” Nick took her arm. “I’ll walk you to class. We’ll talk about homecoming tonight.”
****
After football practice, Nick decided to make a quick visit to see his grandmother. He texted his parents. On the way to the rehab hospital, he stopped at the store for a few things he knew she liked, and drove to the rehab hospital.
“Nick!” Grandma greeted him and held out a thin, blue-veined hand toward him. “So happy to see you!”
“Glad to see you too.” He pulled up a chair and put the magazine and box of chocolates on the table within her reach. Her eyes lit up at the sight of the chocolates. Grandma had a bigger sweet tooth than he did. None of the dark chocolate stuff for her—creamy and milky were her favorites.
She turned her attention to him. “You look glum today.”
“Oh?” He lifted his head and looked into her eyes.
“Yes, something’s different about you. Besides that shiner.”
He gingerly touched his cheek before slumping forward in the chair.
“Get that at football?” she asked.
“Sort of.”
Grandma snorted. “So what happened?”
“I, er, we got into a fight.”
“I can see that.”
He didn’t really want to talk about the fight with Bryan. “We have a big research project due in World History.”
Grandma responded with, “Hmm.” And gave him a sideways glance. “Did you find what you needed in Grandpa’s journal?”
“No, Cat wants to research the treatment of Romas in France instead.”
“Oh?” Grandma peered closely at him. “The girl with black lipstick?”
“Yeah, that Cat.”
“What’s a Roma?” Grandma demanded.
“Another word for ‘Gypsy.’ ”
“I see. Is Cat a Gypsy?”
Probably. But he responded with, “She’s adopted and doesn’t know.”
“I haven’t seen that cute girlfriend of yours in awhile. What is her name?”
“Cat.” He realized his slipup immediately. “I mean Emily!”
His grandmother raised a brow. “Honest mistake.” There was nothing wrong with Grandma’s powers of perception.
He felt his cheeks warm and quickly jumped up. “I better go. I’ve got homework.”
“It was nice of you to stop by,” Grandma said.
“I’ll come again.” He kissed her velvety soft cheek and squeezed her fingers gently before exiting.
On his way home, he called Emily and put her on speaker. “Let’s talk about homecoming.” He didn’t understand what the big deal was. He’d buy her a corsage and wear a nice suit, and they would dance and drink fruit punch unless someone laced it with something stronger.
“Oh,” she said softly. “I thought we were going to get together tonight?”
“I just visited my grandmother.”
“Hmm.”
“What do I need to know?” he asked, pushing down on the gas pedal. He was starving. He figured if he kept it under eighty, he’d be fine.
“I’m wearing a pink dress from Tiff.”
“What color corsage?”
“I think white.”
“Where to eat?” Nick remembered the drill from the other formal dances they had attended. “The usual?”
“Yes.”
“Anything else?” he asked.
“I guess I can’t think of anything else,” she said, although she sounded sad their conversation only lasted a couple of minutes.
“I better go and concentrate on my driving.”
“Umm. See you at school?”
A question? Why did she need to ask if he was going to be in school? Women!