"She was brave and strong and broken all at once." - Anna Funder
It was a few days after the Vulcans game before Adam managed to snag a few minutes with his dad in between physical therapy and hockey practice and his dad's business engagements. But they found themselves sitting across from one another in the dining room eating leftover coq au vin around nine o'clock on a Tuesday night while his mom was at her book club. The snow was coming down hard outside, and for long stretches of time, he and his dad just stared out the window between bites of food. It was the kind of snow that blew so hard it looked as though it was swirling back up toward the sky.
"Think Mom'll be okay?" He glanced over at his dad, taking a sip of green tea.
Dad nodded. "She's got new chains on her tires. Besides, this is supposed to stop in an hour or so. Hey, how was the game Saturday night?" He took a bite of his French bread and regarded Adam with interest as he chewed.
"Good," Adam reported. "They won by two points. Pretty close."
His dad winced. "They need a new coach. Time was, they didn't beat anybody by less than seven points. Hate I missed it, Son. Did your friends go?"
Adam smiled a little. "Yeah."
It was still odd to hear his dad refer to the Ducks as his friends. His father had never been very happy with the hockey team Adam had switched to six years ago, having considered many of his lower-income teammates to be unpleasant influences.
It wasn't always easy for Adam to understand his dad. It wasn't that the man was necessarily unkind; he just seemed distrusting of people who came from more humble beginnings than he had. Adam wasn't entirely sure why, but it irritated him. Of course, as a kid, he himself had been on the fast track to inheriting his dad's viewpoint until he was thrown together with the team members of the former District Five hockey team. It was there that the ground was leveled and he eventually learned that his teammates were just as human as he was.
"Hope they didn't drink all my beers. Or clog the toilet up for Pete's sake," his father wrinkled his nose with disgust after he patted his mouth with his napkin. "Who was the fellow who did that last time again?"
A laugh escaped Adam. "Goldberg."
His dad winced. "For a week after, my entire suite smelled."
Adam laughed again, this time a little harder as he covered his mouth with his napkin. "Dad… you have no idea how bad it can get with Goldberg. That was nothing."
"Let's not talk about it, I'll get put off my food," the man shook his head and turned back to his plate, though with the faintest smile.
The two of them went quiet again, eating slowly while still looking out the window. His dad finally set his fork in his plate and sat back, glass of wine in hand, a sign he was ready to engage his son in more conversation. But Adam had an agenda of his own. He'd been busy thinking about the Danielle Steel prank that had been planned the day before, and how it was the first time he'd seen Lacey so cheerful and animated.
That morning, he'd snuck into his mom's room after she'd gone to work in her studio and gathered about five of her Steel novels from the "To Read" shelf underneath her nightstand. After school, he ran them by the cat shelter.
Lacey had been ready for him, handing him over a grocery bag of her mom's own novels.
"Okay, so I have for you Jewels, Zoya, The Gift, Sisters, and Accident."
"Ah, crap," Adam laughed. "I have two of those already." He held out his mom's books.
"That's fine! Probably if we traded all five of them out for different titles, it would draw even more suspicion. Here, you take these and I'll take those. Be sure to put them exactly where you found the ones you brought, and I'll do the same. Mom had a huge stack sitting on her dresser."
"Who do you think will figure it out first?" Adam grinned.
"Good question. I don't know your mom, but I know mine has mad observation skills. So I'm betting on her," Lacey giggled. The sound drew another smile to Adam's lips.
As of the next time, Adam was pretty sure his mom hadn't noticed the switch-out yet. But he couldn't wait to report to Lacey when she did.
Something about the whole thing, silly as it was, thrilled him a little. Lacey's enthusiasm and mischievous spirit was apparently catching. However, the more he thought about Lacey and her mom, the more questions began rolling around in his brain. After he was finished eating, he played with his fork for a moment. "Hey, Dad?"
"Yeah?" His dad replied absently, squinting out at the snow. Adam was pretty sure his dad was hoping to spot the headlights of his mom's car. And he knew this might be a loaded topic his dad wasn't prepared for, but it had been on his mind for the several days since the hockey game.
"I was just thinking." He took a deep breath, then let it out and had another sip of his tea. "If Ms. Primmer's such a pain to deal with - you know, always complaining and paying rent late - why have you let her be a tenant for so long?"
At Ms. Primmer's name, his dad's attention was drawn back to his son as his brow furrowed. "Darlene? What's got that on your mind?"
Adam shrugged. "Just, I mean, I've been wondering ever since I went over there to pull down toilet paper. They seem nice, but I know it's not been easy for you to work with her, so why do you do it?"
Phil sat still for a moment, regarding Adam with an unreadable expression before setting down his wine glass and focusing his gaze somewhere behind his son. "Uh, well… I think I try to cut them a break because they've not had it easy since what happened to the daughter."
Adam finally put down his fork. "What do you mean?"
"That oldest daughter. Lisa, I think. You were a kid yourself when this happened, but I'd say it wasn't but a year or two after Darlene moved in. She had a kid that was eight or nine, then two little ones, and their dad. I think I'd assumed he was all three girls' father but I found out differently when, uh…" Phil took an unusually large sip of his wine. "... well, it's not such a great story, Son, but suffice it to say, that oldest daughter went through quite an ordeal-"
"I want to know about it," Adam cut in.
His dad's brow furrowed once more, obviously surprised by Adam's tenacity, but gave a small shrug. "Well, you're definitely old enough to know some stories about our tenants, now that you're helping me out some. Well, the oldest girl's dad, who was evidently strung out on drugs, showed up at the house one night around midnight, broke in and just went up the stairs and plucked her right out of her bed."
Adam stared.
His dad shook his head, swirling the wine around in the glass. "Parents tried to stop him from going up the stairs, but he cold cocked Mr. McBrayer right in the face and broke his nose, then kept right on going. Threw her in the back of his car and drove off."
Swallowing hard, Adam asked, "Was she awake?"
"Oh I'm sure. I mean, someone barging in and picking her up, everybody shouting… If she wasn't awake then, I'd guess she was when she was thrown into the back of the car. It was freezing cold outside, I do remember that. Somewhere around January or February. I remember how your mom kept pointing out that she wasn't wearing a coat. Anyway, he made it at least ten miles out of town with her before the police could catch him. An officer finally had to pull his car right in front of the guy, which caused an accident, and since the little girl obviously wasn't buckled up, she was thrown into the front seat and knocked unconscious by the dashboard. Then one of my buddies on the force told me the stepdad, or whatever he was referred to as, had been following close behind and when the car crashed into the ditch, he jumped out, dragged the guy out of the driver seat and beat him within an inch of his life until the officers pulled him off. They didn't, you know, report that part," Phil trailed off, giving a little nod to Adam to signify everyone felt Stuart to be justified.
"Anyway, they took her to the hospital, arrested the father, and everything ended up fine in the end. Except for her. I think there were some problems afterward. Darlene was taking her to alot of doctors to get her to kind of... " his dad seemed to be fishing for words, "...snap out of the trauma of it all. Not sure how she is now, but hopefully by this time she's recovered."
Or not, Adam wanted to snap, suddenly feeling very angry.
Evidently his dad could tell that he had been affected. "But you don't know her, Son. And you don't need to. They're our tenants, and we need to do right by them. It's what I've been trying to do all this time, what my dad taught me to do. But it's never a good idea to get overly involved. I've tried to cut Darlene a break because of what all she's gone through, but we aren't overly familiar with one another." He drained his wine glass and set it back down on the table carefully. "You were about the same age as the daughter back then, and if I'd let myself, I could have gotten really sucked into how upsetting the whole thing was."
"Her name is Lacey, Dad," Adam cut in before he meant to. "And I do kn-"
Just then, the sweep of headlights reflected off the dining room window and his dad stood up all too quickly. "Ah, your mom's back! That coq au vin was divine, wasn't it? Even better the second time around. Let's remember to tell her." He walked by Adam and squeezed his shoulder.
But Adam sat there, seething. He wasn't sure who he was angrier at - Lacey's biological father, who had traumatized his daughter for life after nearly killing her, or his own dad, who seemed to dismiss the incident so easily.
It all made so much sense - why Lacey had developed the PTSD and trichotillomania that went with it, why she dealt with high stress by harming herself the way she did. Why she could be so overwhelmed. Why she obviously felt she needed to try so hard to be this type of person Adam could sense that she wasn't.
"Hi Babe," his mom swept by, pausing to kiss his forehead like she'd done after coming home for as long as he could remember. He smelled and felt the cold on her, jostling him from his thoughts. He hadn't even heard her come in or his dad greet her.
"Hey," he forced a smile. "Food was good, Mom."
"Thank you! Everything okay?" she gave him a look of concern as she unwound her bright color-patch scarf from around her neck.
"Yeah, fine," he smiled again for her. "Just got a lot of homework. I'm going up for the night." He didn't wait for a reply as he picked his plate and teacup up to take to the kitchen, then made his way upstairs as quickly as he could get there, instinctively picking up the phone in his room. He dug a slip of paper out of his nightstand drawer, his fingers hovering above the numbers before he stopped.
What exactly was he about to do, and what would it accomplish? Hi Lacey, I know you were kidnapped by your dad. Is that why anything and everything makes you want to tear your hair out?
Adam heaved a sigh, setting the phone back down in the cradle as he sank down onto his bed, lying back and staring up at the ceiling.
What exactly were you supposed to do for a friend who was still suffering from something that happened so long ago?
"Hold still," Darlene murmured firmly, two bobby pins between her lips as she worked on piling Lacey's mass of fresh-from-the-curling-iron ringlets on top of her head. It was homecoming night, and the process of getting ready had begun the minute Lacey had gotten home from school. It was five o'clock, and she was already exhausted.
"I don't think it needs any more pins, Mom," she winced, already feeling them digging into her scalp.
"Remember to leave a little tendril down on each side to frame her face," Halen pushed beside Lacey in the mirror.
Darlene nudged her back, murmuring again around the pins. "I know what I'm doing, Halen."
"They did a great job on your makeup," Halen beamed, unfazed by her mom's order. "I'm going to have the Clinique counter do mine, too, when I go to homecoming."
"You mean if you go to homecoming, Loser," Ariel piped up from the other side of Lacey, fumbling with the old science fair ribbons Lacey still had hanging on her mirror from middle school.
Her mom pulled the last bobby pin out of her mouth, pointing it at Ariel. "Stop with the attitude."
Ariel huffed and marched out of the room, leaving Lacey confused. "What's with her?" She flinched as her mom jabbed the bobby pin in to hold one final coil.
"Who knows? She's been moping since she got home from school. Probably just hormones. The kid's been in a perpetual state of PMS." Darlene picked up the hairspray can and went to work furiously coating Lacey's hair until the bedroom was filled with fumes and Halen was coughing. Lacey reached up and fingered a now-crisp blonde curl.
But the finished product was amazing. She took the handheld mirror and turned around to check the back, noting the tiny wisps her mom had left down on her neck. And sure enough, a tendril was left down on each side of her face. Darlene had even managed to incorporate the rhinestones she had bought from the beauty supply store into the mass of curls.
"And now it all matches your dress," her mom stepped back and crossed her arms proudly.
In the seamstress's attempts to pluck the blue flowers from the bodice of the dress last week, she'd seen that the removal had left tiny tucks in the fabric. So she'd opted to cover them with small rhinestones which left a pretty, starlit sky effect.
Max had better notice all the trouble Lacey had gone through. What's more, his cummerbun had better match the shade of blue that had been clipped from the underside of her dress to be used as his guide.
As if on cue, Lacey heard the doorbell ring downstairs and Stuart answer it.
"Mom?" Halen bounced in anticipation as she looked up at their mother eagerly, eyebrows raised.
"What?" Darlene appeared clueless.
"Mooom…" Halen gave her mother an indecipherable look.
"What is it, you guys?" Lacey stood from her vanity after giving herself a squirt of Gap's Heaven perfume.
Her mom gave a lopsided smile, rolling her eyes. "Okay, okay. Sit down and I'll be right back."
Lacey paused before sitting back down at her vanity. She really wanted to get this night underway, and she knew Max was waiting on her. What could her mom possibly be doing?
Halen was grinning behind her.
After a moment, her mom reappeared carrying a small box. "Alright, you ready? Close your eyes."
Lacey obeyed, now unable to stop the smile from tugging at her lips. She loved surprises, and her mom evidently had one for her.
She then felt the whisper of cool metal against her neck, and her mom fumbling with something behind her.
"Okay, open your eyes."
Lacey did so, mouth dropping open. "Mom!"
It was a necklace - an absolutely beautiful one. It was made mostly of pearls and interspersed crystals. And, resting just at the perfect place, was a crystal heart.
"Now those aren't real pearls," her mom spoke up. "So don't get too excited. I found it on sale at Neiman Marcus while you were getting your makeup done, and I couldn't pass it up. You like it?"
"Mom," Lacey repeated, fingering the little heart. It was rare for her mom to buy gifts at any time other than birthdays and Christmas, mostly due to tight finances, so the gesture meant the world to her whether the necklace was real or not. "Thank you. It's beautiful, and look how well it matches," she smiled.
"And there are little earrings that go with it!" Halen raced out of the room and returned in record time, handing over a plastic card that held a pair of crystal drop earrings.
Lacey slipped them into her ears and stared at her reflection. She looked amazing, if she did say so herself. "You guys are the best," she gushed, standing up. "Mom… thanks." She threw her arms around her mother, and Darlene gave her back a quick pat.
"Careful, you'll mess up your hair."
Halen beamed at the scene and hopped over to join in on the hug, nearly knocking all of them over which made Lacey laugh. At last, it was time to go downstairs.
Lacey descended the steps slowly, unable to keep from wanting to give Max the shock of his life. He stood dapper in his tuxedo and thankfully matching cummerbun, hair slicked back and corsage in hand. He watched her take the stairs in obvious awe.
"Lacey, wow." He took a step toward her as she reached the last step. "Gah, you're beautiful."
Her boyfriend's eyes were earnest as he spoke, in the way they always were when they'd first begun dating. It lifted her heart. After saying their goodbyes to Lacey's mom and Stuart, who would be attending the football game just in time to watch the introduction of the homecoming court, Max surprised her further by opening his car's passenger side door for her.
Like Adam does.
The thought caused a tiny shard of pain to rake across her insides, and Lacey wasn't sure why.
It was homecoming. Max once again became the guy she'd fallen for over a year ago. The float was gorgeous, and Lacey felt like a princess. Despite the cold night air creeping into the school's sheltered football stadium, it was all perfect, but by the time she was introduced as a candidate, she was exhausted. It was nearly eight o'clock, and they had yet to make it through the rest of the football game before the dance.
Lacey's school, under the threat of another heavy snow, was forced to cram all the homecoming events into one night. She was never sure why the school waited until November to hold homecoming, whereas most other high schools held the event during late September or early October. But apparently this had been a tradition at Driskell since the sixties, the requisite legend behind it something she had long ago forgotten.
Following pictures and instructions from staff regarding where to stand and how to behave as a candidate, the rose bouquets were passed out. Lacey was dead on her high-heeled feet by the time Max led her onto the football field, but she fought to hang onto her final shreds of energy.
She easily caught sight of her family up in the stands, taking pictures and waving as she made her way onto the field when her name was called. Stuart whooped as she was announced, causing Lacey to blush profusely, but she still managed to keep the showtime smile plastered on her face.
Then came the moment of bated breath for every girl on the court. Lacey was surprised to realize that her own heart was racing, despite the assumption that she wouldn't have reason for it to. Once the introductions had all been made and the nominated girls stood in their designated spots, a kaleidoscope of colorful dresses and red roses, the principal's voice again sounded over the loudspeaker, wasting no time.
"This year's first runner up and R.C. Driskell High's Homecoming Princess is… Christina Marie Deitz!" the principal announced.
The crowd roared in the stands as the tall, slim brunette, a volleyball player, grinned and stepped forward for her sash to be placed over her shoulders. Tina had always been nice to Lacey, even if not exactly a friend, and Lacey smiled. She was glad to finally witness a girl on a sports team earn the honor of Homecoming Princess, at last overturning the school's habit of voting in one of the pretty and popular cheerleaders for both titles.
It was the next announcement that caused all traces of peace and normalcy to drain from Lacey's entire body.
"And, Ladies and Gentleman, the moment you've all been waiting for. The winner of R.C. Driskell 1997-1998 title of Homecoming Queen goes to… Lacey Isabelle Primmer!"
Everything was suddenly white. Applause roared in Lacey's ears and she promptly dropped her rose bouquet. Max scrambled to pick it up for her, giving her a gentle nudge forward. "Lacey, that's you! Go!"
It was a miracle that Lacey managed to stumble across the stage to meet the beaming vice-principal who gestured to last year's Homecoming Queen, Angie Lefler. The girl was poised to place the customary tiara on Lacey's head. Somehow, autopilot switched on and told her to smile and wave, but the whole time Lacey was so hot she could barely keep from ripping apart the neckline of her dress.
How did this happen? She wasn't a cheerleader. She wasn't a volleyball player. She was just a hockey star's girlfriend who did her best to play the part, all the while attempting to be as amicable as possible to the people around her. But that wasn't enough to earn the title of Homecoming Queen, was it?
The panic attack began to descend upon Lacey like a rock falling from the sky. She wanted desperately to make it back to her safe place beside Max where he could support her weight, which was growing increasingly harder for her to do. But a deafening roar in her ears overrode the crowd's cheering and Lacey felt a wave of nausea sweep over her. She began to go down.
Thankfully she was caught by Angie. "It's okay," the girl whispered. "I almost did the same thing last year."
Miraculously no one seemed to detect anything amiss. Cheers and whistles continued to blast from the stands, and the vice-principal kept on smiling. Lacey used all of her strength to pull herself back together as Angie helped her right herself.
You have to do this right. You have to.
Lacey tried to imagine herself standing in the sand on a beach somewhere, turning the crowd's noise into the roaring of the ocean. But nothing was working.
She made it back to Max and clung to his arm, resting her head on his shoulder in a gesture she hoped would be interpreted as sharing her happiness with her boyfriend. But it was alot more than that.
"Lacey, stand up for God's sake. What's wrong with you?" Max muttered through the gritted teeth of a smile for the onlookers.
Summoning the last of her willpower, Lacey held her head up and waved at her family, trying to focus only on them and their wide smiles, her mom snapping pictures as quickly as the camera would allow her to.
The cheering that seemed to last an eternity finally died down a little, and Lacey was led to the homecoming float to be paraded around the field.
Stepping onto the decorated float, smiling for all the pictures that would certainly show up in the yearbook, and making it back to the school's gym in time for the dance all felt surreal. But at long last, as she and Max stood facing one another to begin dancing to the first song of Senior Year Homecoming Dance, things seemed to come back into focus.
This was real. Loopy Lacey had transformed into Homecoming Queen at R.C. Driskell for 1997-1998, the school's most coveted title until time for Prom Queen would overshadow the honor. This would go down in the school's history. And as frightened as Lacey had been at first, she began to feel the glow of this special moment replace the embarrassment that had reddened her face. How she hoped that all the kids who had made fun of her in her younger years were watching. She had made it. This was surely a sign that she had conquered her demons once and for all, notwithstanding the surge of panic that had nearly taken her down on the football field. It was all she'd ever wanted, right? To be deemed worthy, coveted?
She rested her head on Max's chest, dancing with him absently as she let the pleasant thoughts flow into her mind like lifegiving water until she recognized the notes of the song and raised her head to face him.
Lacey beamed. It was "Eternal Flame," an old song that probably hadn't been played at a prom in ten years. This could only be the work of…
"Max? Did you do that?" she lifted her head.
He looked deep into her eyes. "I did. You deserved to hear your favorite song tonight."
"How did you-?"
"While you were posing for all your pictures, I came back here and tipped off the DJ," he smiled, resting his forehead against hers. "Lacey… you know I love you, right?"
She sincerely hoped there wasn't a hitch in her smile or hesitation in her voice as she whispered, "I do know. And Max… you're the best."
Max's own smile faltered slightly under the gym's dim lights, revealing that he'd expected Lacey to return the phrase.
But for some reason, she couldn't make herself speak the words. Instead, she leaned in to give him a deep, gentle kiss.
"You did great tonight," Lacey giggled as she and Max made their way back to his car a little before midnight. "I mean, it couldn't have been easy trying to smile like a Ken doll and pick up my roses for me and practically hold me up."
Max chuckled, opening the door again for her and helping her tuck her dress in before closing it and coming around. "Well, that's what we do for each other, don't we?" He leaned over and gave her a lusty kiss that she returned with zeal for several seconds before breaking it off. "Okay. Time for bed." She took off her gleaming tiara, which had been digging into her scalp far worse than her mom's bobby pins were.
"You look hot in that by the way," he grinned. "Of course, you look hot tonight, period."
"Why thank you," she leaned over once more and kissed his cheek. "And seriously, thank you again for all you did to keep the night flowing and to make it special." She gave him a sweet smile.
"Well, you're welcome. And," he held up his finger before reaching into the backseat. "One more present tonight. This is part of a bigger one, actually. But go ahead, open it." With that, he plopped a gift in her lap about the shape of a shirt box, not very heavy, and wrapped in shiny pink paper with a silver bow.
"Fancy, Max. Did you do this?" she gave a delighted grin and began to unwrap it hastily.
"Not exactly," he winked. "The woman at Victoria's Secret did it for me."
Lacey's heart skipped a beat at the words "Victoria's Secret", but she continued to unwrap the gift, lifting the lid of the plain white box to reveal something she saw at first to only be lace.
She lifted part of it out of the box and immediately blushed. It was a pair of lacy thong panties in a warm golden brown color with ribbons on the sides. Lacey laid them back down and picked up the other part, which was a matching bustier.
Letting it drop back into her lap, Lacey sat still for a moment.
"Okay so," Max began to explain enthusiastically. "I know you said no, erm… 'plans' after homecoming ever since the deal with Banks' car, but, well… I thought maybe you might have changed your mind by now, and if you hadn't, we can just spend the night cuddling. How about it?"
Lacey finally turned to look at him. "Cuddling where?"
"Well, that's the other part. I booked that room at the Wisteria Inn. I mean, wouldn't it be cool to spend a night in a place like that? If nothing else happens," he continued innocently, "at least you can say you stayed in a fancy place for probably the only night in your life."
So much of what Max just said caused Lacey to flinch that she didn't know which part to be angry at first. But she started here:
"Max, do you really think I'm that dumb? Of course you want to have sex. You'd never let it go if we didn't. You actually want me to wear this and 'cuddle' with you?"
Max's smile disappeared and he turned back around to face the steering wheel, sitting up straighter and taking a deep breath. "Lacey… I don't mean to push you into this, I really don't. But I'm a guy, and I just need this one thing from you. And it isn't just about the physical thing, it's that I really love you and I just want…" he leaned his head back on the headrest, closing his eyes and continuing earnestly, "... I want to seal the deal, make things official and real with us. I mean, I know I screwed up before when I'd said I was gonna play the field a bit in college, but I don't really want that at all. I want you and me, all the way. And this is the next level for us, can't you see that?" he looked back over at her, keeping his voice level, but with an unreadable expression in his eyes that gave her pause.
Lacey snorted, looking back at the box. "Okay, so you're a guy and you need it. Is that really what you're gonna go with?"
"Hey, I picked something really tasteful. It'll bring out your eyes," he reached up and rubbed the back of his neck, turning his eyes up toward her in a pleading fashion.
But Lacey's heart began to speed up as anger rose in her cheeks. So that's what this entire night had been about - the sweet, attentive demeanor, the patience, the song at the dance? "Take me home, Max."
His hand dropped into his lap as he stared at her, mouth open.
"I mean it," she lifted her chin a little in indignation. "You had no right to pull this card on me. I truly hope you can get your money back on that room. And this." She popped the lid back on the box in her lap, fumbling to get it back on there correctly.
"But you said you wanted the Wisteria Inn!"
Lacey looked back up in disbelief. "Yeah, I did! Months ago, when we were only just talking about this, Max. We never even really thought it through. What would my parents say when I didn't come back until morning? What kind of message would that send my little sisters? We couldn't really have gotten away with all that, and right now, that's not even the point!"
"Whoa, whoa, okay," Max laughed coldy. "So now you're backtracking on everything you said? All the stupid ideas you had about the first night?"
"Max, I've changed my mind! I told you I had, not two weeks ago, and a person has a right to do that. You took it upon yourself to set up this whole thing, and I'm telling you now, it isn't happening. Oh, and something else. How dare you say I'd be 'spending the night in a fancy place for probably the only night in my life'?"
"What?!" he threw his hands up, voice growing louder. "What's wrong with saying that? Wisteria Inn is a fancy pla-"
"What's wrong with it," Lacey found her volume matching his, "is that you're constantly making digs at me about being from a low income family. Constantly! It's 'Oh, poor Lacey, going to community college', or 'Where'd you get that new top, Goodwill?' Now you act like you're doing me a favor by booking a room for me at a nice place as opposed to what, Howard Johnson?"
"Hey wait, I said the Goodwill thing once!"
"Like you're so rich yourself. I'm done with you taking control of this relationship and constantly making it whatyou want it to be. Take me home." Lacey sat up straight and leaned in a bit, emphasizing her command with an expression of steel.
Max stared at her in utter disbelief and anger, then reached over and snatched the box from her, throwing it into the backseat. "Fine. Home it is, for scared little churchmouse Lacey. That's what this is, isn't it? You're scared. I mean you're scared of everything, even being crowned Homecoming Queen."
"Max," Lacey fought to keep her voice level, "home. Now."
He cranked the car and drove across the school parking lot a little faster than was necessary, pulling out onto the street. "You know," he continued, "not just anybody would put up with your stupid little quirks. All the nail biting, all the deep breathing whenever the hell you want attention…"
Each word Max spoke hammered another nail into Lacey's heart, but she swallowed and stayed quiet. She wasn't going to dignify his angry accusations with replies. She just wanted to get home, and once she was there, that was it for the two of them. For real this time.
"Loopy Lacey, isn't that what they used to call you?" He was practically shouting at her now, and Lacey noticed that his driving was becoming a little more erratic as they drove the back roads leading to the highway.
"Don't you dare talk like that to me, Max," Lacey finally spoke up. "Just drive. But for God's sake, be careful!"
The air in the car became electric, and Lacey's pulse raced, not only out of anger now, but also from fear. She had been around Max enough times to know his emotions were about to spiral out of control. White hot rage was lurking in the undertones of his voice.
He pulled out onto the highway barely slowing down, obviously ignoring her caution. He sped down the road going about sixty-five in a forty-five mile an hour zone. If it wasn't so late at night, he'd surely be pulled over.
"I'm just saying, GOOD LUCK finding somebody who wants to deal with you. At this rate, you never will. I've given you everything you've got!"
Lacey stared over at him. "Max, you're out of control. Pull over," she demanded.
But he kept on. "I made you who you are at school. How else do you think you'd ever have been crowned Homecoming Queen?! You're nothing but a teasing, white trash-"
"PULL OVER." Lacey found herself fighting panic again, as this was the second time in her life she'd ridden with someone so obviously unstable.
Get control, she told herself, reaching up to hold onto the handle above Max's door. This time, she wouldn't cower or cry. She just had to get herself out of the situation.
But Max continued to speed up. His burning hot anger was in total control of him now, and Lacey fought desperately to focus on figuring out how to get out of the car.
Maybe she wouldn't this time. Maybe Max, in his blind rage, was going to crash this car. Or just keep driving with her to God knows where.
The freezing fist of fear clutched Lacey's heart yet again, causing her to nearly double over. Just as she was about to scream at him to stop the car right then, Max suddenly took a reckless turn after barely slowing down, throwing her against him as he pulled into an old, closed down strip mall that sat a little way off the side of the highway.
"GET OUT!" he screamed. "YOU WANT OUT SO BAD, JUST GO!"
In Max's eyes, she saw the same expression she'd seen the night of the incident with Adam's car. And she knew better than to challenge him right then. No matter where they were, she was grateful for this opportunity to get out of the car alive. Lacey grabbed her clutch and quickly pulled on the car handle, tumbling out just in time for him to throw out her tiara and reach over to slam the door almost off its hinges. He hit the gas again.
Lacey stared after him, the roaring sound of his transmission fading as he turned back out onto the main road. So jarring was everything she'd just been through in the last several minutes that it took awhile for her ears to stop ringing enough to allow her to think about what to do next.
This was an abandoned building on the bad side of town, at midnight no less. As glad as she was to be out of Max's car, she needed to get out of here.
Lacey reached down and took her shoes off to start walking. But before she took the first step, she glanced behind her and did a double take. There against the brick of the building, almost hidden in the shadows, leaned an old payphone.
"Oh thank God," Lacey tossed down her shoes and rushed toward it. She had no idea if it even still worked, but it was very much worth a try.
She reached the payphone breathlessly, lifting the receiver and hearing the welcome sound of a faint dial tone. Hitting the "0" first to make a collect call, she punched in her phone number. It took a moment for the staticky recording to come over the line prompting her to state her name, which she did quickly, glancing around to stay aware of her surroundings.
But to her surprise, there was a busy tone.
"What? Why?" Lacey pressed the button to disconnect the call and try again with the same result.
Oh no, she thought, putting a hand to her forehead. This had happened once before. Halen was terrible about not hanging up the old phone in the kitchen all the way. She must have used it hours earlier.
And now, there was no way to get a hold of anyone.
Taking a shaky breath, Lacey decided the only thing to do now was walk. It might take her hours to get home, but she was far too terrified to flag someone down, as most people who would be driving in this area at midnight couldn't be up to any good.
She took a few tentative steps after hanging the payphone receiver back up. But after several yards, she gasped sharply, and turned to run back for the phone.
There was one more person she could call, provided she remembered the number.
"Um, think." She hit her hand against the side of the phone box several times, as if she could drum the phone number back into her head. Was it two sixes, or one?
Adam had had her number for awhile now, but he'd only given her his a few days before when they'd traded Danielle Steel novels for the mom prank. "I want to hear about it if your mom figures it out first," he'd grinned, scrawling the digits on a sticky note she'd handed to him from the Cat's Cradle's reception desk.
Lacey closed her eyes now, trying to envision the numbers she'd studied on the slip of paper before having crammed it into her jeans pocket. She had a photographic memory and should be able to do this…
It would be one of two combinations, and Lacey regretted that either way, she would be waking a family up - perfect strangers, or the Bankses. And she really, really hated for it to be the Bankses, but she was desperate.
However, she couldn't possibly call them collect. So how-
"Oh!" she chirped, pulling her small clutch out from the front of her dress where she'd secured it while using the phone the first time. Maybe she did have some change in there for an emergency.
Unfastening the flimsy thing, she dumped its few contents in the palm of her other hand and, sure enough, found two quarters. She snatched up one and dropped the other quarter, her lipstick and the chain that held Max's high school ring, which she always carried with her, into the clutch. Holding it under her arm this time, she dropped the quarter into the slot and dialed one of the two numbers she knew would be Adam's, holding her breath. Blessedly, she would have another quarter to use if this turned out to be wrong.
But it wasn't.
The phone only rang twice before it was picked up. "Hello?" came an uncertain voice on the other end, difficult to hear over the old phone line but unmistakably Adam's.
"Adam? Hey, oh my gosh you don't know how glad I am you picked up," the words rushed from her mouth as she glanced around her again. "Can you come get me? I'm… somewhere…" Lacey tried to think of how to explain to him where she was."
"I'm sorry?" Adam asked in a slightly irritated voice, probably unable to hear her well.
"It's Lacey," she repeated loudly. "I just wanted to see if you can come and get me. It was homecoming, and… well, Max dumped me out of his car. It's a long story, but if you'd pick me up, I'd very much appreciate it." It felt awkward to ask him such a big favor so late, but as walking was her only option, Lacey persisted. "I'll give you gas money later."
"Lacey?" Adam heard her this time. "Sorry, I thought it was a wrong number. Um… yeah, I'll come get you," he replied, sounding confused. "What happened? Nevermind, you can tell me later. Where are you?"
It took some explaining of the area and descriptions of the old strip mall, which weren't easy to convey because it looked exactly like so many others in the dark. And she didn't like potentially drawing attention to herself by shouting into the phone. But finally, Adam seemed to understand where to go.
"It might take me twenty minutes. You gonna be okay?"
"Yes, I'll be fine. But hurry if you can. I mean don't drive fast, but…" she broke off, shaking her head and closing her eyes. Her mind was beginning to shut down from exhaustion, and she was rambling.
"I'll be right there." He hung up.
That's when Lacey finally allowed herself to sit down on a lone bench in front of an old A&P and cry, sobs shaking her shoulders.
Adam managed to make it to Lacey in about fifteen minutes, and she was so grateful to be safe that she jumped into his car, nearly forgetting to grab her discarded shoes. "Oh, wait!"
The shoes were her mom's, and she couldn't leave them here. What's more, her tiara had been tossed down beside them, and she grabbed that too, getting back into the car. Lacey hoped her face was obscured long enough for his interior lights to go off so he wouldn't see her streaked mascara, evidence that she'd just been crying. She didn't want to make a big deal out of one of her very biggest humiliations. She just wanted to go home.
But before she got back into the car, she paused. Reopening her clutch bag, she reached in for a certain item and, forcing herself not to think too much about it, let it drop unceremoniously onto the concrete. Then she got into Adam's car, and, after exchanging a couple of sleepy words of greeting, they drove off.
Behind them, the moonlight glinted off Max's emerald and gold high school ring.
