with separate sides, Charley would never know or question.
Once everyone settled with their unique plates of food, Charley prepped for the question. “So, Leena.” Charley bit into a morsel of decadent chicken.
Lily popped a cherry tomato into her mouth. “Hmmm?”
“There’s a dance coming up at the end of the week.” Charley picked from between grapes and blueberries, her fingers at play over the bumps and colors.
“Mmm, hmm.” Lily’s murmur came from a full mouth.
Charley swirled pasta onto her silver fork, dipped it into both of her green and red sauces which she guessed to be avocado and roasted red pepper. “Since Wyatt, Stuart and I are going, we thought you might want to join us.”
Lily’s eyes alighted with excitement-a sucker for a party. “Cool!”
Cael shifted in his chair. Stuart’s jaw dropped open, his own utensil of pasta held ready at his lips.
Lily hesitated before she bobbed her head forward and chewed longer than necessary. “We’ll have to go dress shopping.” She pointed at Charley with another red tomato between her fingertips. “You know that gown shop on first, downtown? I soooooo want to go there.”
Charley shifted her gaze toward James and Cael. Their worried expressions mirrored each other-one a frown, one a grimace.
Lily hadn’t been home the day she’d told them about the dance. They’d both stormed through the house; anger bellowing through the halls. Their response had been worse than when she’d registered at West as Mira, a foreign exchange student from New Zealand. Lily had gotten a kick out of the planned ruse.
‘He still wouldn’t be eighteen,’ James had said once and again. ‘He can’t make that kind of decision until he’s an adult,’ Cael repeated. Charley countered that she would walk away if and when she agreed with them.
It had taken her three months to convince James and another two to get Cael’s buy-in, not that she needed either. She wanted them to support her need to know if she and Wyatt could have a future together.
“You don’t have to go with me, Leena,” Stuart said between bites.
Charley glared at Lily.
She giggled. “Oh no, Stuart. It’s totally, cool. I’d love to go.”
“Sweet! So, do you guys, like, have parents? Cause like mine would never let me have guests-’cept for Wyatt- when they aren’t around. S’cool an all. I was just wondering.” Stuart took another forkful of dinner.
“We do.” Cael spun the pasta sauces tray on the table until the red ended up closest to him.
“They’re in Africa right now.” James spun it back around and smiled, pouring the remainder of the cream sauce on his second helping.
Stuart dug further into his own goodies. “They let you guys have an exchange student?”
“Timing issue.” Lily sipped her tea. “Couldn’t not give her a place to stay.”
“So… think they’ll let you stay out all night, Leena?” Stuart asked.
She shrugged, but Charley caught the humor in her eyes. “Yeah, I think so.”
Stuart directed his noodles at Wyatt. “Eighteen, out all night. It’s gonna kick.”
“When’s the dance, exactly?” Lily asked.
“Friday night,” Charley said.
“That’s the night before your birth-” Lily stuttered to a halt. “Uh… the night before you leave, Mira.”
Charley caught Cael and James’s intake of breath. She hadn’t told Wyatt of her departure plans or that they shared a birthday. His smile fell. She hoped the expression came because she’d leave soon, not that he’d picked up on Lily’s slip.
“Dessert!” Lily’s announcement pulling them all up from the black-hole funk they’d fallen toward.
Cael relocated a silver tray loaded with a variety of pastries, chocolate and cream-filled sweets from the buffet to the table. Lily pushed it to Stuart, then Wyatt, before she moved it to the center and left it open to the entire group. Unlike dinner, no directions preceded its delivery.
Lily’s bright eyes filled with sweet deviance. “You guys want to watch a movie?”
Charley smiled into the cup she held between her palms.
Stuart’s eyes lit like Lily’s. “You got action for that sixty-inch out there?”
“Oh, yeah.” Cael laid one hand on the back of Lily’s chair. “And the subwoofer’s bass shakes the entire house.”
“Sweet!”
All four boys loaded their palms with sugary goodies.
Charley moved with Lily to clean up. Wyatt and Stuart followed Cael, James close behind. Charley caught James’s gaze before he turned the corner.
“Be careful.” His whispered words reached her with ease.
The warning came not from over protectiveness.
“It’s not my birthday today… Jack. I can do whatever I want.” She smirked as he disappeared.
In a teen’s body, Charley would have to deal with all its hormonal nuances. When she’d been in the same position before, at midnight on her birthday, her lack of control around Wyatt left her vulnerable.
The boys flipped through movie channels and their own collection while Charley and Lily cleaned up. The repetitive wash, dry and organize process gave Charley a moment to breath and to think.
“I’m so sorry, Char-Mira. Do you think he noticed?”
“No. He’s hung up on me leaving. The fact you almost blurted out my birthday is inconsequential.” Charley rolled her eyes, bumping her hip with Lily’s. “Don’t worry about it.”
“’K. Going to take him up to the balcony?” Rag in hand, Lily circled the last of the plates and stacked them in the cabinet.
“Yeah.” Charley’s mind wandered to all manner of possible scenarios, though she’d vowed to let Wyatt lead her. For once in her life, she liked being at someone else’s mercy.
Lily turned with bowl in hand. “I don’t know how they eat it all, but I’ll keep ’em full. You have fun. Popcorn!” She disappeared into the living room.
Charley circled back through the dining room, into the foyer and back to the living room’s other door. Wyatt sat, relaxed but apart from the group as if in wait for her. James and Cael sprawled, their legs stretched and crossed with Lily between Cael and Stuart.
“Psssst!” Charley cupped her hands over her mouth. Stuart might not hear her, but the rest would.
Wyatt turned, grinned.
Charley flicked her head back as if to say ‘come on!’
He twisted to Stuart, whose gaze stayed fixed on the screen. Without a word, he rose from his chair, moved in Charley’s direction, and the rest of the group gave no sign they’d heard.
“Hey,” he said.
“Hey.” Her smile grew wide.
Charley grabbed his hand, tugged him up with her. They scurried up the stairs two steps at a time.
“Where are we going?”
“You’ll see.”
Wyatt slowed on the second floor, where art adorned cloud-grey walls. “These are amazing.” He shifted from one side to the other, tracing air again in line with the many silhouettes framed in solid black.
Each of her family members had a gift-Lily in the kitchen, Charley in oils, Cael in watercolors and James with wood.
“They have so many… it’s like an art gallery in here.”
“Yeah, it’s kinda cool.” Charley pulled him forward.
Ten pieces of art and nearly twenty feet later, they reached her door. Hand on the knob, she hesitated, blew
