Almost Alice

The Trouble with Sadie It had to be in person, and they all had to be there. Gwen was at a meeting over the lunch period, so I couldn't tell them then. I waited till we went to Starbucks after school before I made the announcement: "Patrick asked me to the prom." Two seconds of silence were followed by shrieks of disbelief and excitement: "Five months in advance? Patrick?" "You're kidding me!" "When?" "Yesterday." I was grinning uncontrollably and couldn't help myself. "He called. We talked." "He called. You talked. What is this? Shorthand?" Gwen demanded. "Girl, we want details!" "Wait! Hold it!" said Pamela. She jumped up, went to the counter, and bought a huge cup of whipped cream, then liberally doused each of our lattes to celebrate. "Now dish!" she said. "Well, I was just hanging out in my room, getting my stuff ready for school, when I heard the phone ring." "He didn't call you on your cell?" "I'm not sure he knows the number." "I'd think he would have had it programmed in!" "It's been two years," I told them, working hard to defend him. Defend whatever there was between us, though I didn't know myself. Liz rested her chin in her hands. When she looks at you through half-closed eyes, you realize just how long and thick her eyelashes are -- longer than any girl's lashes have a right to be. "Oh, Alice, you and Patrick!" She sighed. "I knew you'd get back together. It's in the stars." Gwen, the scientist, rolled her eyes. She was looking especially attractive, her hair in a new style of cornrows that made a geometric pattern on top of her head. The gold rings on one brown finger matched the design of her earrings, and she was definitely the most sophisticated-looking of the four of us. She was also the only one who had visited three colleges so far and who had even picked up scholarship forms. "How long did you guys go together, anyway?" she asked. "I guess it was about eighth grade that I really started liking him. The summer before eighth through the fall of ninth grade." I was embarrassed suddenly that I remembered this so precisely, as though it were always there at the front of my consciousness. "We actually met in sixth, but sixth-grade boyfriends aren't much to brag about." "He did have his goofy side," Pamela agreed. "Remember that hot day at Mark's pool when you fell asleep on the picnic table? And Patrick placed two lemon halves on your breasts for a minute?" "What?" Gwen shrieked. "Yes, and when I woke up, everyone was grinning and no one would tell me what happened. And I couldn't figure out what those two little wet spots were on the front of my T-shirt. Like I was nursing or something!" We yelped with laughter. I continued. "And the year he gave me an heirloom bracelet for my birthday that turned out to be his mom's, because she didn't wear it anymore." "I never heard that one," said Liz. "And Mrs. Long had to call me and ask for it back," I said. We laughed some more. I wondered if I was being disloyal, telling all this. That was the old Patrick. The kid. That was then, and this was now. "So what attracted you to him in the first place?" asked Gwen. "Besides the fact that he's a tall, smart, broad-shouldered redhead? I wasn't in on that early history." "Well, he wasn't always as tall or broad-shouldered," I said. "I guess it's because he's the most motivated, focused, organized person I ever met. His dad's a diplomat, and they've lived in Japan, Germany, Spain....In some ways, he's a man of the world." "And then he falls for Penny, the jerk," said Pamela. "I'm glad that's over." I saw three pair of eyes dart in my direction to see how I was taking that, then look away. Wondering if I'd cry myself sick again if things didn't work out this time with Patrick. I remembered Elizabeth's organizing a suicide watch when Patrick and I broke up, so that a friend called every quarter of an hour to see if I was okay. I triedNaylor, Phyllis Reynolds is the author of 'Almost Alice' with ISBN 9780689870965 and ISBN 0689870965.