Across the Bridge

Across the Bridge - Chapter 22

Chapter 22

"I can't believe the dance is in one week!"

   I literally cringed, hearing Camilla and Lydia and Sam squealing in homeroom, the next day.

   "I finally picked out my dress," Lydia said, loudly. "It's ridiculous."

   "I'm totally going to have sex with Brett at the party after," Camilla went on. "It's at Derek Wheeler's. Brett's best friend."

   "Derek is a douche bag," Sam spat out. "He was so shitty to my cousin last year."

   I just hoped none of them would try to get me to go, again. I think they had given up, truthfully. I was pretty much ignoring them at this point, when I heard Sam say something that I couldn't ignore.

   "Oh, Cam, I totally saw your ex last night, driving his stupid nice car in Chelsea," Sam was saying. I looked over.

   "Ugh, that car is so nice," Camilla said, clearly not caring at all that Sam had seen Winston.

   But I cared, and I couldn't tell them. I couldn't tell anyone.

   I walked to the library after school, looking forward to the quiet, and to seeing Winston.  Mrs. Walsh was at the desk and smiled at me as I walked in.

   "Good news. My daughter is able to take a few extra shifts next week. So I just have you on the schedule for Monday and Tuesday," she told me.

   I had asked her about getting the following Friday off, but still wasn't sure if I would be able to go to the dance with Winston. Now, she was telling me I had it off, so of course I felt more nervous than ever.

   "Oh, thank you. Great," I said quickly.

   "Something fun going on?" she asked, curious.

   I swallowed hard. "Um, yeah. School dance."

   "Oh, how exciting! I bet it will be so much fun!" Her smile made me feel a bit more at ease.

   I agreed and tucked myself behind the desk to sign in for my shift.

   It was quiet, a few regulars, a couple of older woman coming in to borrow books for their weekend book club meeting. I spent most of the four hours reading a fantasy novel I had started that week, and waiting to see Winston, wondering what we would do that night together.

   I was re-entering a stack of books into the system when I heard familiar voices approaching me. I glanced up, my heart rate picking up. This was not going to be good.

   "Hey, Pen," Lex smiled, and I could tell he wanted us to be okay.

   We had talked at school that day, but it was still a bit awkward since our fight. Now, with Lydia beside him, he just gave me a look, silently begging me to pretend like we were okay. 

   "Hi," I said, after a moment. "What are you guys doing here?"

   "Lex thought you'd be off soon," Lydia began, in her perky voice. "We wanted to see if you wanted to hang out."

   It was almost 8:30 P.M. I was off soon, but I was expecting Winston. This was too close for comfort. I had to get them out of there.

   "Oh, uh, yeah... I'm off at 9 P.M., but..."

   "Oh, we can wait. We were thinking we could hang at the coffee shop," Lex interrupted.

   I forced a smile at them. "I would, but I kind of have to..." I was going to say get home to check on Asa. Which was an excuse and Lex would have hated that. "Be up early tomorrow."

   "Can't you hang out for an hour?" Lydia asked innocently. There was so much she didn't know.

   "Um, well..."

   "Pen, c'mon." Lex looked serious, pleading with me, and then just annoyed.

   And then the loud, heavy door to the library opened and slammed shut, and I knew - I just had a feeling - before I even saw who it was.  Our eyes met and I could tell he - Winston - was trying to decide what to do. I had no idea, so I couldn't help him. He must have known it was Lex and Lydia. He knew them. He knew what this meant.

   Lex turned and saw him immediately. I could tell he was not making any connections right away. For a moment, I wondered if Winston might walk right past us, pretending like he didn't know me at all.  Did I want him to do that? Lydia looked over and cleared her throat.

   "What are you doing down here?" she asked Winston, her voice stern.

   Winston walked closer, smiling at me. He wasn't backing down. I felt partly relieved and partly terrified for what was about to happen.

   "Uh," I said, which wasn't much. Lex was staring, eyes wide. "He's... we are..."

   "Penelope and I are friends," Winston finished for me.

   "What?" Lex yelled, now looking back at me. Lydia shushed him. "Pen?"

   "We are," I answered, nodding.

   My face felt hot, but Winston nodded at me, still smiling.

   "Since when?" Lydia asked him.

   "Penelope, are you serious?" Lex asked again.

   I nodded. Winston leaned on the desk, calm, collected. I felt like my heart was going to to jump out of my body.

   "I don't even... like... I have no idea what to say right on," Lex went on. "This is why you don't ever want to hang out? Because of him?"

   I didn't like how Lex was talking about Winston.

   "We have plans tonight," Winston said, adding another smirk.

   "Wow, alright. See ya, Penelope." Lex turned and took Lydia's hand.

   I wanted to call out to him but he was gone before I could react. Lex was my best friend, but he didn't understand. He only knew the bad things about Winston. He didn't know that he cared about me. He didn't know that I was happy with him.

   I was quiet as I finished up the last bit of my work. Winston stood close by, watching me. He didn't say anything until I was done and went around the desk, where he was waiting. I was happy that he was there, but my chest felt heavy.

   "You okay?" he asked me, carefully.

   "Yeah," I said quickly. "Not really how I thought that would happen, but..."

   "It's going to be okay," Winston told me, but it almost sounded like a question.

   "Yeah," I said again.

   "You want to go for a drive?" he asked, reaching out for my hand.

   I didn't even hesitate for a second.

   We drove around Manhattan for awhile, then through Chelsea. He showed me his school and then we ended up in a neighborhood of ridiculously huge mansions. These houses made Camilla's house look small.

   "This is where you live?" I asked him, finally.

   He had pulled up to a huge three story house with a massive attached garage.

   "My parents bought this house when I was twelve. Before that, we lived in the Upper East Side." He said this so casually.

   "It's beautiful," I gushed.

   "Yeah. But, like I said, it's all for show. And the nice house doesn't mean much if your parents break up anyway." He just shrugged as he said this, but it made me feel sad for him.

   "Sorry," I told him, touching his hand. "I didn't even ask about yesterday."

   He smiled, shaking his head. "Doesn't matter. We're here now. Want the tour?"