CHAPTER
4- THE INVITATION
Two weeks passed and the dance
was never mentioned. Well, Max never
mentioned the dance. Isabel mentioned
it quite a bit. She was so excited about going with Alex. She got more anxious
every day. The closer it got to the dance the more real it all seemed. Maria
and Isabel were going shopping for dresses on Wednesday. Maria needed a new one
and Isabel had one of her mother's old dresses and was going to take it apart
and put it back together, but she wanted to get accessories. Liz didn't know if
she had the heart to watch her friends shop and talk about their plans for the
dance. Two guys had asked her, but she
wasn't interested in either one. She didn't really know them, she was just a
crush that they had probably been dared to ask out. But now she only had seven
days to get a date and she was almost wishing she had accepted an earlier
offer. She could just go solo, but this was the first year both her friends had
serious dates. She knew her friends would rather be slow dancing with their
guys than with her.
Maybe she should just bite the
bullet and ask Max. That wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. If he said
no, that would be the worst thing in the world. No, scratch that idea, he would say yes but the evening was sure
to be full of long silences and awkward pauses, no thank you! Maybe she should
just stay home, no one would really miss her.
She groaned in frustration. This
shouldn't be that important. She was not one of those girls whose life depended
on her boyfriend or her outfit or her car. Liz reminded herself that other
things were important "Like getting into Brown." She said out loud. That
brought her back! She had studying to do. There wasn't a test planned for a
while, but still. There was always work to do, she had to send in her
application soon, she couldn't get consumed by silly teen politics.
Liz concentrated on the book she
was looking at. It was study hall and she opted to work in the library. She
could do research for a paper she had to write over the next few weeks. She
read 5 pages and closed the heavy book. It was no use, she just couldn't get
into it. Just then Brad Palladino sat
down next to her. "Hey, Liz."
"Hi, Brad."
"What's up?"
"Trying to study! I can't
concentrate." Liz complained
"Well, it's Monday. No one works
on Monday."
"Yea, everything should just
start on Tuesday."
"No," Brad said seriously, "That
would never work."
"Why not?
"Because then everyone would get
bummed out on Tuesday. We'd get the Tuesday blues instead if the Monday blues.
We'd end up pushing it back to Wednesday."
"Sounds good."
"While by the time we're done no
one will ever work."
"Or they'll realize how hard it
is to get into work over a weekend and we'd never rest." Liz offered.
"Oh, I like the way you think!"
Liz laughed, "So what can I do
for you? Need notes or something?"
"No, I was just wondering if you
were going to the dance with anyone?"
"Are you taking some sort of
poll? No, I'm not going with anyone."
"Would you consider going with
me?"
"Are you serious?"
"Um, yes." He sounded surprised
at the question.
"Sorry, it's just—Aren't you
dating Kimberly?"
"Yea, she dumped me. I just
thought we would have fun together."
"Can I think about it?" She
asked tentatively.
"Yea, but I need to know soon.
The dance is only a week away.."
"Right, I understand. I'll tell
you first thing tomorrow."
"Great." Brad got up to leave
"Brad?"
"Yea?"
"Thanks for asking."
"Thank you in advance for
agreeing to go with me." He smiled at her and went back to his table. Liz
couldn't help smiling; she got invited to the dance!
"What do you think, Isabel?" Liz
had gotten home from school and called Isabel. She hadn't had time to talk to
her or Maria in school and she needed to talk to a friend.
"You really want to know what I
think, or do you want me to tell you what you want to hear?"
"You know I want your honest
opinion, I wouldn't have called otherwise." Liz answered.
"I think you should go with my
brother."
"We went over this, Isabel. He
didn't ask."
"He was too shy! You ask him!"
"Look, I'm not opposed to asking
guys out, you know that. But he has never even hinted that he likes me
more than a friend. I'm not sure how I fell about him yet. I don't want to
actively pursue him if I'm undecided and he hasn't dropped any hints." Liz
explained.
"Yea, I understand, especially
when you put it like that. But I would love for you and Max to hook up! If you
got married we'd be sisters in law! And if you had kids, they'd be beautiful.
Well, they'd be beautiful if—"
"They were lucky enough to get
some Isabel jeans." Liz finished for her, "I know. We've been over this."
"The dance is on Saturday, less
than a week away. I hate to admit it, but it doesn't look like Max is going to
ask you. And I hate admitting this even more, but I do understand your
reluctance to make the first move. You could go solo, but why pass up a
perfectly good hunk?" Isabel sighed in disappointment "Say yes to Brad."
"Thanks, Isabel. I just needed
you to be on my side in this."
"I am. Come shopping with us on
Wednesday. When you start planning for the dance it'll be great. Forget my dumb
brother."
"All right, that sounds good.
I'll talk to you soon, OK?"
"Yea, bye, Liz."
"Later, Isabel."
Isabel hung up the phone with
disappointment. She could not believe how dumb Max was being. He walked in
"What did Liz want?" He asked eagerly
"She wanted my opinion on
something." She didn't want to tell him, it would only hurt him, but she knew
he would find out eventually.
"On what?"
"She wanted to know if I thought
she should go to the dance with Brad."
"Brad Palladino?"
"Yes."
"What did you say?"
"I said she should."
"Isabel! How could you! You know
I like her."
"Yea, I do know you like her, I'm
the only one that knows! We both know that you were never going to get the guts
to ask her. What do you want her to do? Sit around waiting for you?"
"Brad Palladino?"
"Yup."
"Why would she pick him over
me?"
"He asked."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"I mean, I know I'll look amazing
no matter what I wear," Maria said, admiring herself in a stunning blue dress
in a floor-to-ceiling mirror. "The question is can I find a dress that makes me
look even more amazing? Which brings up the question, is that even possible?"
"I knew you were going to be
conceited," Isabel said, mocking Maria, "The question is, are you even more
conceited in that dress? Which brings up the question, is that even possible?"
Maria laughed and hit her friend
softly. "You'd be conceited, too, if you looked this good!"
"Uh-huh!" Isabel suddenly turned
her attention to Liz who was sitting on a couch in the corner of the store,
watching her friends with blank eyes. "Hello! Earth to Liz!"
"Huh? Oh, sorry guys! I guess my
mind just wandered. "
"Daydreaming about Brad?' Maria
asked, evilly
"No, not really." Liz admitted
"Then what?" Isabel asked
eagerly
"Nothing, Ok?" Liz snapped. Isabel
frowned, hurt by Liz's tone.. "Oh, I'm sorry, Isabel!" Liz said quickly "I
didn't get any sleep last night. I guess I'm just overtired."
"If you say so." Isabel said
doubtfully.
"Yes!" She gave her friend a
hug. "Evil Liz has left the building, I swear. Forgive me?
'Well," Isabel pretended to
think about it "Yea, I guess so."
"Good! Now, let's try and find a
dress that will," Liz rolled her eyes "Make Maria even more amazing!"
"Yes!" Maria cried happily
"Sounds like a plan."
This is a dance! Liz
reminded herself, my first dance as a senior. I should be excited and scared
and happy. Why do I feel like this is just a regular day? I'm shopping for
beautiful dresses, with my two best friends in the world. Why do I feel like
it's nothing?
"What do you think of
this dress, Liz?" Maria asked, twirling for her friends benefit.
"Um, not the one." Liz
responded, "The peachy color is pretty, but it makes you look kinda yellow."
"Hmmm. I guess you're right, but
I just love the butterflies all over it."
"Me, too. Isabel, why don't you
ask someone if it comes in a different color? Maria, change into the purple one
again, ok?"
"The one with the frills?" Maria
crumpled up her face in annoyance.
"I know it wasn't your favorite,
but your looked so beautiful. Humor me, ok?"
"Yea, ok." Maria went off to
change and Isabel was off finding a saleswoman.
"Why don't I care?" Liz wondered
to herself. "Maybe it's just not real for me yet. Isabel didn't get
really excited until a few days ago. Maybe I'll get excited in a day or two. I
am going with Brad Palladino!" Liz reminded herself, "He is sexy and smart and
one of the most popular guys at school. And he asked me. I am going to
have fun!" She quieted the little voice in her head that wondered if this was
all a mistake.
Max knocked twice on the door of
the Parker's apartment and shifted from one foot to the other nervously. He was
only here to pick up Isabel, but it still felt weird. Things hadn't been the
same between him and Liz since Brad asked her to the dance. Not that they ever
talked about it. Things just seemed...tense.
Liz opened the door happily. Her
hair was in a sloppy bun on top of her head and hair was spilling out
everywhere. She was clad in a dirty pair of loose sweatpants that were rolled
at the waist and a tight tank top that was obviously a size too small. She had
chocolate stains everywhere and white streaks of flour in her hair. She had a
line of icing from her ear to her cheekbone. Max thought she looked so good he found it a little hard to breathe.
"Hey, Max! Come on in!" She led him inside and sat him down on a couch in the
living room. "Sorry I'm such a mess, Isabel and I were just baking."
"Is that what girls do when they
get together? Sit around and bake?"
"No, we usually have pillow
fights and braid each others hair." She laughed to show she was kidding, "It's
my dad's birthday today. I've made him a cake as a gift since I was a little
girl." She shrugged her shoulders happily. "Tradition. Anyway, Isabel was
helping me. Things got a little out of control."
Isabel burst in from the
kitchen; she looked like the creature from the black lagoon. Chocolate was all
in her hair, making her looking more like a brunette than the blond she was.
Her shirt (which Max noticed wasn't really Isabel's) was soaked with God knows
what and her jeans had white flour handprints all over. "What happened to you?" Max demanded,
horrified
She just shrugged "Apparently
I'm not a baker."
"That's not true!" Liz said,
"You're just not my kind of baker!"
"Wait, what?" Max asked, confused.
"Isabel wanted to measure
everything exactly and count out each individual chocolate chip. I like to go
by how it feels. If it's too stiff I add an egg. If it's too wet I add some
flour."
"That's sick!" Isabel proclaimed
loudly
"It's not sick, Isabel. You're
just too uptight."
"I am not uptight!" She
screeched
"Sweetie, you are uptight." She
turned to Max "We had a little power struggle. The cake won. We're almost
finished, why don't you hang around for 10 more minutes until I take the cake
out of the oven and help me decorate? It won't take long."
"We should get home, mom—"
"Mom will be Ok for half an hour
Max! Come on, please?"
"Yea, Max" Liz joined in "Pretty
please?"
"With a cherry on top!"
"Fine, fine!" Max cried, giving
in "But only half an hour."
"Thanks, Bro!" Isabel said
happily.
"Yea, this is great. I hate
decorating cakes alone. It's a joyous occasion, it should be shared with many!"
"You should seek professional
help." Isabel advised.
"Isabel, I swear—"
"Hey, break it up!" Max
instructed. "I'm beginning to see how chocolate ended up in your hair!"
"Yea, speaking of that, do you
mind if I jump in the change?" Isabel asked, "Everything is starting to dry and
that's uncomfortable. I want to get back in my on clothes. I should call mom,
too and let her know we'll be a while."
"Ok, I guess—" Liz, said
"Great, I'll be out soon!" Isabel
promised.
"All right, I'll see you in a
few."
"Yea, yea." Isabel said, already
half way to Liz's room.
"Do you think this is my
sister's clever way of giving us a few minutes alone?" Max asked
Liz laughed "Probably! That girl
is bad. She treats us like we're all her pawns." They sat uncomfortably for a
minute. "Um, how is work?"
"Oh, Ok. There are a lot of nice
people working at the Olive Garden. But a lot of people quit last week, they
just wanted a summer job, so it's a little crazy. I'm working very long hours."
"I'm sure once you hire some new
people it will all calm down."
"Yea, I want to pay more
attention to school."
"I know what you mean. A girl
who works at Eat, Drink and Be Merry quit and it's impossible to find
anyone new right now so I've been a working girl. It's nice, but for the first
few weeks of school I like to concentrate on academics. I had to beg someone to work the counter so
I could go to the welcome back dance."
"You're going with Brad right?"
"Yea, it'll be cool. Are you
going?"
"Isabel bought me a ticket, but
I don't know if I'll use it."
"You should! It'll be fun. No
one's really taking this seriously. I mean, it's not like prom, we're all just
going with friends, you won't be left out."
"Maybe." There was an awkward
pause.
"I'll go check on the cake." Liz
retreated to the kitchen and opened the oven to see if the cake was done,
though she was sure it needed a while longer. She stuck a long toothpick in it
anyway, just to make sure. When it came up with some wet batter she closed the
oven door and decided it really needed about 15 more minutes. She and Max never had any trouble talking
before, well before everything. Suddenly things were tense and strange. She
reluctantly left the kitchen and went back to make small talk with Max till Isabel
came out of the shower.
Liz found Max watching MTV on
the couch. She sat down on the other end of the sofa. "Oh, I love this song."
Uncle Kracker was playing. Liz didn't really love the song, but it was much
better than uncomfortable silence.
Isabel appeared a few minutes
later and sat down on the couch in between them. She watched TV, happily
insulting the artists' voices, outfits, videos and lyrics till Max and Liz were
cracking up. The buzzer for the cake rang.
"It's ready!" Liz cried happily.
"Great!" They made their way to the kitchen and Liz took the cake out of the
oven. "It's going to need to cool," She explained, "Let's get out the
decorations and then it'll be cool enough." Liz, Isabel and Max dove into the
fridge pulling out every possible candy that could be found on a cake. When they were finished they had a huge pile
of goodies, varying from pop rocks to red hots.
"I think we have every kind of
candy known to mankind." Isabel said.
"I have a sweet tooth." Liz
shrugged.
"Just one?" Max commented dryly.
"Anyway," Liz said
pointedly "We have a lot to choose from. First let's put on frosting. What
flavor? Vanilla or chocolate? Both are good bases."
"I say vanilla." Isabel offered.
"It's easier to have a white back round if you want a really intricate design."
"Sounds good, Isabel. Max, what do you think?"
"Whatever. This is your
department."
"Fine, ignoring the sexist pig,
we'll go with vanilla." Isabel decided.
"Ok, what do we want to do with
it? Any ideas?"
"I have one." Max said.
"The sexist pig has an idea,
shoot." Isabel teased.
"What if we did a picture of
your dad? We could draw it in frosting and make hair out of chocolate sprinkles
and a mouth out of red hots." Max suggested.
"That's a really great idea…for
a guy." Isabel laughed
"It's brilliant! Dad will love
it!" Liz said, "Let's get started!" She grabbed a large container of frosting
and two spatulas. "I'll work on the frosting with Max, Isabel you start
dividing up the candy. If it can be used to draw my dad put it in a pile. If
not, stash it in the bottom drawer of the fridge."
"You got it!" Isabel agreed. She
started going through the candy diligently.
"I'll take the sides of the
cake," Liz said to Max, "They're harder. You do the top, ok?"
"Sounds good." They started to
work. Liz easily frosted the sides, covering all of it, and getting very little
on the tray. Max was having trouble, the cake was still a little warm and it
kept coming up with the frosting. She reached over and patted down the problem
area with her spatula. "So you're not great at icing. It's ok, I'll show you."
She took a glob of icing and expertly spread it over the cake. "It's all in the
wrist," she joked. "You try." Max did, but he couldn't get it to work. Liz
reached over and put her hand over his, "Like this." She positioned herself
comfortably so she could guide Max's hand, but also had a firm grip on the
spatula. "You have to press down while you do it," She swept the icing over the
cake, applying pressure, forcing the icing to stick to the cake. "See? All in
the wrist." She smiled and went over to Isabel, and started looking through the
pile she made.
It was hard for Max to be mere
inches away from Liz in a very hot, very small kitchen. But with her hand over
his, lining herself up behind him so most of their bodies touched was torture.
He had held his breath as she helped him frost the cake. Max hoped he couldn't
tell how nervous he was, how he was shaking slightly, how she had the most
innerving affect on him. He faced her, a little embarrassed, but she just smiled
at him and went on talking with Isabel about how the cake should look.
Liz pointed to a picture on the
fridge, "This is my dad. I'll draw the outline with frosting then we'll just
color it in with candy."
"Great!" Isabel agreed, "Let's
get started."
Half an hour later, the three
friends stood over a magnificent cake. The picture of Liz's father had evolved
into more of a caricature than a portrait, but it was unmistakably him. "This is so amazing you guys!" Liz shrieked.
"This is without a doubt the best cake I've ever made. Thank you so much for
your help! I couldn't have done it without you."
"Not a problem, Liz," Isabel
said, "I'm glad it came out. It was touch and go for a while there."
"Yea, and by the way, screaming
out 'code blue' does very little good." Max said, rolling his eyes.
"It turned out great despite
everything," Liz said, trying to avoid an argument. "I love it so much."
"Yea, you have to take
pictures." Isabel said, wrapping the cake in tinfoil.
"I will! And I'll give you two
copies! You did an awesome job!" She picked the cake up and putting it safely
in the fridge. Liz murmured mostly to herself, "Dad will love this."
Isabel looked pained for a
moment, overhearing her friend, "We'd better go."
"Yea," Max agreed, looking at
the time, "I hope mom isn't worried."
"Ok, thanks again," Liz hugged Isabel,
and after a moment of hesitation gave Max a half hug. "Drive safe. I'll see you
later."
"Bye!" Isabel called, walking
out the door. She and Max walked slowly to the car, both lost in thought. Isabel
buckled her seatbelt and turned to look out the window. Max started driving,
the car silent for a few minutes.
He finally broke the silence by
asking, "What's wrong Isabel?"
She turned to face him, her eyes
wet with unshed tears, "I miss Daddy.'
Max looked back at the road,
"Me, too."
"Are you serious?" Liz screamed
into the phone
"Sorry, Liz." Brad said.
"It is two days before the
dance! I bought a dress! I don't even have a ticket, you were going to get
them."
"It's not like I planned this—"
"No, you did plan it! You
planned it with me!"
"I can't help that Kimberly
asked me to go with her, what was I supposed to say?"
"That you already had a date!" Liz
yelled.
"Well, hindsight is 20/20."
"Maybe it would have been good
for you to turn her down, you wouldn't be the sad sack who walks around the
school completely whipped!" With that she slammed down the phone.
"What am I going to do?" Liz
wondered out loud. "The dance is in 48
hours and I don't even have a ticket!" She groaned loudly in frustration "That
bastard. Standing me up." She picked up the phone and dialed 7 familiar
numbers. She needed to complain and for that there was only one great person.
"Hello?'
"Maria!" Liz exclaimed happily
"What is it Liz?"
"You will not believe what that
S.O.B, Brad did today."
"Proposed marriage?' Maria
asked.
"No, he dumped me for Kimberly!"
"The waif with the obviously
dyed blond hair?"
"Yes! She's evil and he's taking
her instead of me." Liz whined.
"Then he is a blind moron," Maria
said assuredly.
"I knew I kept you around for a
reason." Liz said, smiling. She had felt really bad, but talking to Maria made
it all a little better. "I just feel so dumb. I have to tell everyone that Brad
is going with Kimberly, and not me. And I don't even have a ticket!"
"All right, calm down! First of
all, Isabel is in student council, she can hook you up with a ticket. Second,
you don't need a date. You can hang out with me and Michael and Isabel and Alex."
"I'll be a fifth wheel! That's
so bad!"
"Well, there is one thing you
can do…"
"What?" Liz asked, already
knowing what it was.
"You could ask Max."