That made him laugh, so he had to wait a second before he kissed her.
It wasn’t terrible. Eleanor’s lips were soft and warm, and he could feel her pulse in her cheek. It was good that she was so nervous – because it forced him not to be. It steadied him to feel her trembling.
He pulled away before he wanted to. He hadn’t done this enough to know how to breathe.
When he pulled away, her eyes were mostly closed. His grandparents had a light on, on their front porch, and Eleanor’s face caught every bit of it. She looked like she should be married to the man in the moon.
Her face dropped after a second, and he let his hand fall to her shoulder.
‘Okay?’ he whispered.
She nodded. He pulled her closer and kissed the top her head. He tried to find her ear under all that hair.
‘Come here,’ he said, ‘I want to show you something.’
She laughed. He lifted her chin.
The second time was even less terrible.
Eleanor
They walked together from his grandparents’
driveway to the alley, then Park waited there in the shadows and watched Eleanor walk home alone.
She told herself not to look back.
Richie was home, and everybody except her mom was watching TV. It wasn’t that late; Eleanor tried to act like there was nothing strange about her coming home in the dark.
‘Where have you been?’ Richie said.
‘At a friend’s house.’
‘What friend?’
‘I told you, honey,’ her mom said, stepping into the room, drying a pan. ‘Eleanor has a girlfriend in the neighborhood. Lisa.’
‘Tina,’ Eleanor said.
‘Girlfriend, huh?’ Richie said. ‘Giving up on men already?’ He thought that was pretty funny.
Eleanor went into the bedroom and closed the door. She didn’t turn on the light. She climbed into bed in her street clothes, opened the curtains and wiped the condensation off the window. She couldn’t see the alley or anything moving outside.
The window fogged over again. Eleanor closed her eyes and laid her forehead against the glass.
CHAPTER 29
Eleanor
When she saw Park standing at the bus stop on Monday morning, she started giggling. Seriously, giggling like a cartoon character … when their cheeks get all red, and little hearts start popping out of their ears …
It was ridiculous.
Park
When he saw Eleanor walking toward him on Monday morning, Park wanted to run to her and sweep her up in his arms. Like some guy in the soap operas his mom watched. He hung onto his backpack to hold himself back …
It was kind of wonderful.
Eleanor
Park was just her height, but he seemed taller.
Park
Eleanor’s eyelashes were the same color as her freckles.
Eleanor
They talked about The White Album on the way to school, but just as an excuse to stare at each other’s mouths. You’d think they were lip-reading.
Maybe that’s why Park kept laughing, even when they were talking about ‘Helter Skelter’ –
which wasn’t the Beatles’ funniest song, even before Charles Manson got a hold of it.
CHAPTER 30
Park
‘Hey,’ Call said, taking a bite out of his Rib-aQue sandwich. ‘You should come to the basketball game with us Thursday. And don’t even try to tell me you don’t like basketball, Spud.’
‘I don’t know …’
‘Kim’s going to be there.’
Park groaned. ‘Call …’
‘Sitting next to me,’ Call said. ‘Because we’re totally going out.’
‘Wait, seriously?’ Park covered his mouth to keep a chunk of sandwich from flying out. ‘Are we talking about the same Kim?’
‘Is that so hard to believe?’ Call opened his carton of milk completely and drank out of it like a cup. ‘She wasn’t even into you, you know. She was just bored, and she thought you were mysterious and quiet – like, “still waters run deep.” I told her that sometimes still waters just run still.’
‘Thanks.’
‘But she’s totally into me now, so you can hang out with us if you want. The basketball games are a blast. They sell nachos and everything.’
‘I’ll think about it,’ Park said.
He wasn’t going to think about it. He wasn’t going anywhere without Eleanor. And she didn’t seem like the basketball game type.
Eleanor
‘Hey, girl,’ DeNice said after gym class. They were in the locker room, changing back into their street clothes. ‘So I’ve been thinking, you’ve got to go to Sprite Nite with us this week. Jonesy’s got his car fixed, and he’s got this Thursday off.
We are going to do it right, right, right, all through the night, night, night.’
‘You know I’m not allowed to go out,’ Eleanor said.
‘I know that you’re not allowed to go to your boyfriend’s house either,’ DeNice said.
‘I heard that,’ Beebi said.
Eleanor should never have told them about Park’s house, but she’d been dying to tell somebody. (This was how people ended up in jail after committing the perfect crime.) ‘Keep it down,’
she said. ‘God.’
‘You should come,’ Beebi said. Her face was perfectly round, with dimples so deep that when she smiled she looked tufted, like a cushion. ‘We have so much fun. I’ll bet you’ve never even been dancing before.’
‘I don’t know …’ Eleanor said.
‘Is this about your man?’ DeNice asked. ‘Because he can come, too. He don’t take up much space.’
Beebi giggled, so Eleanor giggled, too. She couldn’t imagine Park dancing. He’d probably be really good at it, if all the Top 40 music didn’t make his ears bleed. He was good at everything.
Still … She couldn’t imagine the two of them going out with DeNice or Beebi. Or anybody.
Thinking about going out with Park, in public, was kind of like thinking about taking your hel-met off in space.
Park
His mom said that if they were going to hang out every night after school, which they definitely were, they had to start doing homework.
‘She’s probably right,’ Eleanor said on the bus. ‘I’ve been faking it in English all week.’
‘You were faking it today? Seriously? It didn’t sound like it.’
‘We did Shakespeare last year at my old school … But I can’t fake it in math. I can’t even
… what’s the opposite of faking it?’
‘I can help you with your math, you know.
I’m already through algebra.’
‘Gosh, Wally, that’d be dreamy.’
‘Or not,’ he said. ‘I could not help you with your math.’
Even her mean, smirky smile made him crazy.
They tried to study in the living room, but Josh wanted to watch TV, so they took their stuff into the kitchen.
His mom said it was okay; then said she had stuff to do in the garage. Whatever.
Eleanor moved her lips when she read …
Park kicked her gently under the table, and threw crumpled-up pieces of paper into her hair.
They were almost never alone, and now that they almost-practically were, he felt kind of frantic for her attention.
He flipped her algebra book closed with his pen.
‘Seriously?’ She tried to open it again.
‘No,’ he said, pulling it toward him.
‘I thought we were studying.’
‘I know,’ he said, ‘I just … we’re alone.’
‘Sort of …’
‘So we should be doing alone things.’
‘You sound so creepy right now …’
‘I meant talking.’ He wasn’t sure what he meant. He looked down at the table. Eleanor’s algebra book was covered with her handwriting, the lyrics to one song wrapped and coiled around the title of another. He saw his name written in tiny cursive letters – your own name always stands out – and hidden in the chorus of a Smiths song.
He felt himself grin.
‘What?’ Eleanor asked.
‘Nothing.’
‘What.’