Page 21 of Looks Real Good Now
“A year’s supply of brownies,” I said aloud.
“Fine. I’ll get back to you on what I want.”
“Are you ready to go?”
“Yeah, I just need to put a sweater on.”
I watched her move from the vanity and squat down next to her still-unpacked suitcase. I’d unpacked while she had been in the bathroom, making use of all the pockets of space in her room that I knew she was unlikely to fill because they had alwaysbeen empty when we were teenagers. I forgot that I wouldn’t need to show that level of consideration because Lenny showed no signs of unpacking. Instead, she seemed perfectly content to simply lift things and move them somewhere else in the suitcase until she found what she wanted. She let out a noise of triumph as she pulled out a sweater.
A million years ago, I lost a sweater. It had been as close to perfect as you could get. It didn’t feel too tight around my neck, the sleeves were the perfect length, it was soft all the time and was so perfectly snuggly that I wanted to live in it. And I did, until it went missing. I had worn it to a practice and assumed I had left it in a locker or on a bench in the locker room. But it never showed up, no matter how many times I checked lost and found. I mourned the loss of it for about a month and then let it go and searched for a new favourite sweater.
I never found one.
I was now looking at my favourite sweater, draped over the curves and edges of Alana’s body. I thought I was imagining it, but no, it was definitely my sweater. It looked just as soft as it had been thirteen years ago, the sleeves just as perfectly long. The neckline looked a little looser, but it still looked like the perfect sweater.
It looked perfect on her.
Lenny caught me staring and quirked an eyebrow like she was daring me to say something while she flicked her hair out from under the neckline of the sweater.
“Nice sweater,” I said as I stood up. “Let’s get you a doughnut.” I held my hand out to her. She stared at it, and I expected her to say something, but she simply put her hand in mine and I led her out of the room.
17
Alana
Walking around town with Liam Mulligan was an exercise in pretending that you didn’t know that people were staring at you. Whilst also being pinned down by the weight of all their stares.
Once upon a time, I was used to those looks. When Liam was around, I was shrouded by his presence and the way everyone loved him. It was a position I was happy with because while they were looking at him, they weren’t looking at me, and Liam played the part of being the superstar well.
But back then, he had just been playing at being a superstar. I mean, he was always great, but it was still unclear if he was justhigh school great. But he made it to the big leagues, and he’d been great there too. He’d lived up to the hype, to the promise. He was the Golden Boy. People had been so devastated when he announced his retirement, they wanted to stop playing Fantasy League if he couldn’t make up the team.
“Remind me again why I let you drag me out of the house?” I asked, trying to avoid looking at the family across the street who looked like they were about ready to accost Liam. I would endup taking photos if they got the idea that they could approach, and if I did it once, then everyone else who was pretending they weren’t staring at us would come over. It would become a revolving door of phones being passed to me while they pawed all over Liam. He wasn’t theirs to fawn over. That didn’t mean he was mine, but he wasn’t theirs.
“I believe I promised you doughnuts,” he replied, looping his arm around my shoulders and pulling me closer to him. I fell into him easily.
“Are we walking to the city for them? Because we’ve walked past two places that do them and I am without a doughnut. The rule is whenever I see a doughnut I buy a doughnut.”
“Fair enough. I see your point and I raise you. Why would I buy you any old doughnut from those places when I could buy you the best one that also happens to be your favourite?” I felt the gentle press of his lips on my temple and felt both warmed and chilled by the easy affection. I couldn’t be out here getting attached to all this. We werefake dating.
But it was hard to not get attached when he remembered something as minor as the fact that, even now, I thought that the best doughnut in the world came out of Westchester Bakes. My dad had bought me one the day Aaron was born, and it was my first taste of how food could change your life. Years later, I realised that I wanted to make other people feel the way that doughnut made me feel and started baking.
“How are you so sure that I haven’t found a new favourite?”
“Because they were your first food love,” he said simply as he threaded his fingers through mine and kept us walking.
There was a queue for Westchester Bakes, which wasn’t unusual, especially at this time of year. It did, however, serve as a reminder to me that when we were younger, not only did Liam bring me my favourite doughnuts regularly, but he used toqueuefor them. For me.
As we joined the back of the queue, he turned around so his back was to the line and grabbed my other hand, holding them both.
“I forgot how cute you look in winter,” he said, his green eyes looking blue in the crisp sunshine.
“Thanks?” It was all I could think to say in the immediate aftermath of a sincere compliment from a man whose eyes were literally sparkling at me.
“It’s a compliment, Len. I dunno, I guess I forgot that you always preferred the colder months because the weather finally matches your stylistic choices. I still haven’t met anyone who loves knitwear and a coat as much as you do. Winter suits you.”
“Thanks. Winter doesn’t—”
“Liam. Mulligan. Well, I never.” I was cut off by the person in front of us, hidden behind Liam’s back. I knew the voice, though. I’d know Chantelle Smith’s voice until the end of my life. She had been my co-captain on the cheerleading squad our junior and senior years, which she wasn’t jazzed by, but the squad couldn’t pick one of us, so we shared the captaincy. She held that against me for those two years because cheering was her everything and it was just something I did because Ihappened to be a good tumbler. I also needed to kill time while my ride home was otherwise occupied. She also held Liam being my friend against me. She was convinced that I was the reason Liam didn’t want to date her. I wasn’t. I begged him once to go on one date, so she’d leave me alone.
