Flat-Out Love - Park Jessica (книги txt) 📗

“I’ll remember that,” Jamie said, his dimples appearing as he grinned. He flopped back into his seat, adjusted his baseball hat, and rubbed the stubble on his cheek. He definitely looked like he had rolled out of bed about five minutes ago. “What dorms are you in? I’m in Thompson.”

“Actually, I’m living off campus in an apartment,” Dana said. “Julie, where are you?”

“Nowhere, actually. Well, somewhere obviously. I’m staying with some family friends until I can find a place. Do you guys know of anything?”

“Ugh,” Jamie groaned. “Family friends? Sounds awful.”

Julie shook her head. “No, it’s not so bad. They’re really nice.”

“I can ask around for you,” Dana said. “The dorms are totally packed, I know that.”

“Yeah, and the housing market around here is the pits. I’ll check the campus for signs, though. See if there are any roommate ads for you,” Jamie offered.

“That would be great. Thank you.” Julie gave Jamie and Dana her cell number and programmed theirs into her phone. “Look. They got the video working.” She glanced down at her program. “A thirty-minute campus tour video, followed by a lecture from the head librarian on how to use the online catalogue system. Fun.”

Jamie slumped down further in his seat. “Wake me when it’s over.”

Dana leaned over. “I’ll hump your leg to signal the torture has ended.”

Jamie shut his eyes and smiled. “Nice.”

**********

College orientation had been about what Julie expected it to be: boring, monotonous, and loaded with speeches that touted professors’ accomplishments and promised fascinating classes. They had been divided into smaller groups and given a more personal, non-video tour of the school, and that had been fun. Julie did her best to memorize where department buildings were so that she wouldn’t have to walk around school with the embarrassing campus map in front of her face. One might as well carry a sign that said FRESHMAN.

Afterwards, Julie took the T to Harvard Square and walked along the Charles River to get back to the Watkins’ house. It was a bit longer route, like Matt had said, but it was worth it to enjoy the scene. This would be a great place to study. She could take a blanket and sit on the grass, bring a snack, bury herself in a textbook. Who knew if she’d end up living anywhere near here, though?

She let herself into the house with the key Matt had given her. The lock on the front door was a nuisance, and it took a few minutes to get it open. She went into the kitchen to grab a drink. The fridge was positively packed with takeout cartons, and Julie had a suspicion that no one was ever going to eat the leftovers. Her phone rang, and she fumbled in her bag to find it.

She didn’t recognize the number that came up. “Hello?”

“Julie? Hey, it’s Matthew. How was school?”

“Jam-packed with stimulating information. Where are you? How’d you get my number? Don’t you have to get Celeste soon?”

“That’s why I’m calling. Is there any chance you could pick her up? I’m really sorry. One of my professors is insisting on meeting with me about the research I’m helping him with. I’m sure I could get him to reschedule, but it would look better if I didn’t.”

Julie moved a container of Thai food from the other night and took out a bottle of sparkling water. “Sure, I guess so. Is it far from here?”

“Only ten minutes or so. This meeting is important, otherwise I wouldn’t ask. You can take the car. The keys are hanging on the wall by the phone base. There should be paper there, too. I’ll give you directions. It’s easy. I promise.”

“You sure your parents won’t mind if I drive their car?”

“Not at all. They rarely use it anyway.”

Julie examined the large white pegboard on the wall that screamed obsessive-compulsive. Hooks and small compartments held everything from pens and thumbtacks, to business cards and the much-used takeout menus. She located the car keys and grabbed a sticky note and a pen. “OK, go.”

Matt gave her directions. “If you leave in ten minutes, that should give you plenty of time. Just pull the car into the drive-thru pickup in front of the school, and Celeste will be out there.” He paused. “And there’s one more thing.”

“I should bring Flat Finn?” she guessed.

Matt was silent for a moment. “Yes. The back seat is down, and there’s a blanket in there so you can cover it up.”

“You mean him.”

“What?”

“I can cover him up. Be respectful. How’d you like it if Flat Finn referred to you as an it, huh?”

“If Flat Finn referred to me as anything, I’d have a whole new respect for him. So far he’s refused to call me anything. It’s a little rude, if you ask me.”

“I’ll talk to him about it. See if I can soften him up a bit.”

“Excellent,” Matt said. “Thanks for getting Celeste. I think she’ll be OK with you being there. She seems to like you. Tell her that I’ll call her after my meeting.”

“She’ll be fine.”

“She’s rather regimented. Changes in her schedule and unexpected people—”

“She’ll be fine,” Julie repeated. “I promise.”

“You can’t promise anything—”

“Goodbye, Matthew. Have fun at your meeting.” Julie hung up before he could protest. For crying out loud, she was perfectly capable of picking up someone at school—with or without a cardboard boy in the back seat.

She ran upstairs and changed into a breezy knee-length tank dress and pinned her hair up. A quick touch-up to her makeup that had begun to smear in the heat, and she headed out the front door to get Celeste. She stopped on the front steps and spun around.

Flat Finn stood poised expectantly in the living room. Julie approached the figure. God, this was messed up. “Come on, dude. We’re off to get your pal. Now, normally people are not allowed to ride in the way back, so keep your head down, and maybe we won’t get arrested.”

She lifted up the cutout boy and tucked his waist under her arm. Figuring out how to open the front door without smashing Flat Finn was a bit of a challenge, and she had to set him on the front porch while she locked the door. She lifted the trunk open, got Flat Finn into the car, and covered him with the large blue blanket that was waiting there to conceal Celeste’s secret.

The old Volvo was blistering hot, and Julie wondered why a family that clearly had money would not bother to maintain what could be a perfectly-running car. Granted, it was a Volvo and would probably run forever no matter what. And they only had one car, too, which seemed odd since two busy professionals and a student could certainly get use out of two vehicles. Apparently, people with money did funny things sometimes.

She was pleased to note that Flat Finn had not left the gas tank empty. “Thank you, FF. I appreciate the consideration.”

Julie found Celeste’s school easily. She pulled into the arched driveway and idled behind a Lexus sedan. Students were just beginning to pour out of the front doors, and Julie scanned groups of girls, looking for Celeste. The middle school students milled around in easily identifiable social cliques, and Julie remembered exactly how it felt to be thirteen. It was such a strange age, that screwed up, early-teen time when you vacillate between desperately wanting to be a full-fledged adult and still feeling like a little kid. The torture of trying to figure out how to dress and get your eyeliner exactly like they do in music videos, which singers were cool and which singers you shouldn’t be caught dead listening to, what to do to get boys to like you and what to do if they did. Ugh. Thank God Julie that was done with that.

A girl in a miniskirt and a ponytail stepped aside, and Julie saw Celeste.  Julie dropped her head to the steering wheel, hitting her head lightly a few times. Why was Celeste wearing a pastel plaid shirt and pale blue-pleated pants? Julie lifted her head and sighed, wanting nothing more than to leap from the car and yank the dorky backpack off the girl’s shoulders. This kid stood out for all the wrong reasons. Like it or not, other kids cared about how you looked, and Celeste looked… Wrong. Gorgeous underneath the horrible clothing and totally unstyled hair, but still wrong.