The Amanda Project: Book One

The Amanda Project: Chapter Thirty

CHAPTER THIRTY

Four o'clock found me and my bike at the village green. I hadn't been able to come up with a list of any special places besides Just Desserts, but she had said it was her favorite place to get Frappuccino, so that was something. Then there was the tattoo place where we'd all gotten henna tattoos, but I hadn't gotten the feeling Amanda was, like, a regular there. One time we'd gone for a ride through Peak Park, and Amanda had said she absolutely loved being in this little gazebo by the lake at sunset, so that and Just Desserts were the two places I'd decided we might possibly find her. It was a beautiful, clear day with a hint of spring in the air. If ever there was going to be an evening to enjoy a cup of coffee al fresco while appreciating a beautiful sunset, it was tonight.

I almost didn't recognize Nia when she pulled up next to me on her bike. She was wearing a short, vintage black dress, a black sweater, high heels, and serious cat-eye glasses, and she had a long cigarette-less cigarette holder between her bright red lips. I had no idea how she'd managed to bike in that get-up.

"Hi." She managed a fairly elegant dismount, I had to admit.

"Hi," I said. "What's with the duds?"

"Audrey Hepburn film festival at The Villa," said Nia, naming Orion's art cinema where Amanda and I had seen 2001. "No way would she miss that if she's still here." Nia's skin was the color of caramel, and her eyes, outlined in kohl, popped behind her snazzy glasses. When, exactly, had Nia Rivera gotten so pretty?

Apparently when no one was looking.

I, meanwhile, had on an old pair of jeans and hiking boots in case we decided to hide out in the bushes and wait for Amanda at the gazebo. And just to make it lovelier, I had tucked my jeans into a plaid sock on one side for biking, and my sweatshirt had a huge shamrock on the front and said Bill's Tavern on the back. If Nia looked like Audrey Hepburn, I looked like Audrey Hepburn's leprechaun, fashion-impaired sister.

A minute later, Hal pulled up on his bike. I recognized him, but he was dressed almost as oddly as Nia.

"Bonsoir," he tipped his beret at us. He had on a black turtleneck and black jeans.

"Bonsoir," said Nia, and now it was her turn to ask, "What's with the duds?"

"Poetry slam tonight at Aqua," said Hal. "It was her favorite coffee shop."

"Aqua?" I said. "She never mentioned Aqua to me. Just Desserts was her favorite coffee place."

"She didn't even drink coffee," protested Nia, taking the cigarette holder out of her mouth. "She said caffeine is poison."

"You're joking, right?" Hal adjusted his beret. "That girl would down a double latte before you could say fair trade organic roast."

"Look, whatever else we do, we need to be in Peak Park at sunset," I intervened. "She had this place she liked to go to watch the sunset whenever she had the chance."

Shockingly, neither Nia nor Hal had a competing sunset location.