Goodbye Earl(21)

“How much was it?” Kasey asked.

“Like, ninety-nine dollars.”

“I have ninety-nine dollars, but it feels like a waste when I could save it.”

“You won’t be saying that when it’s on Silas Castelow’s bedroom floor at the lake house. You’ll be looking at it there on the floor next to his nightstand where he keeps his…”

Kasey nodded a go ahead.

“His…I don’t know! What’s he keep on his nightstand?”

“Last time I was there, it was a Garfield book; like, a half-empty can of pop; and his wallet. He also has this plastic Yoda next to his alarm clock,” Kasey said, showing Rosemarie how big it was with her fingers.

“Wow. Okay. So, you’ll look at that blue dress on the floor next to Silas’s Garfields and think to yourself, I’m glad I let him take it off me. Rosemarie was right.”

“I don’t know if we’re gonna have sex on prom night or not, though. I haven’t decided yet.” Kasey put her hands behind her head, keeping her eyes on the sky.

“Right, I know. Okay, so, think of this as one of many possibilities. You need the dress anyway. Listen! We’re getting the dress, damn it!”

“Yes, ma’am. Now that that’s out of the way, are you gonna ask Leo to go with you or not? Who’s Sparrow going with?”

Ada, Caro, and Kasey knew about Rosemarie’s crush on Sparrow, and they teased her about it the same way they would’ve if Sparrow were a guy. No one else knew, not even Rosemarie’s mom. Even though her mom was one of those women who was excellent at intuiting things, she and Rosemarie hadn’t spoken about it outright—at least, not yet.

“I don’t know. I heard maybe Frankie was gonna ask her,” Rosemarie said, shrugging and lying down. The spring sun was warm, not hot; the wind, refreshing and cool. Rosemarie could’ve stayed like that all day with the big oak tree half shading them and the birds happily clicking at the seed in the feeders, even though they reminded her of Sparrow.

“Are you too jealous to talk about it?”

“Eh, I don’t know,” Rosemarie said, imagining Frankie Mattingly with his hands all over Sparrow, the two of them dancing together, what color her dress was and how she’d do her hair. “Yeah. I guess I am,” she said, unable to keep it in.

“For what it’s worth, I think she likes you back. Maybe she’s shy about it too. She’s always talking about how cool and funny you are. I’ve heard her!”

“Leo ain’t too bad of a second choice,” Rosemarie said after some quiet. He was cute and breezy. Charming. They’d been friends their whole lives. Leo was a brilliant musician and could play every instrument. He was going off to Boston to study music theory in the fall. He was cool in an important, nerdy way and reminded her of Dave Brubeck, whose bespectacled face she found adorably smiling back at her from her dad’s jazz albums. Leo had dark, floppy hair and glasses, plus a pair of dimples that she and a lot of the girls she knew went crazy for.

Rosemarie really did like Leo in a huge way; she’d never liked a boy this much. She liked him in a way she had to like somebody she spent so much time with. Meaning his mouth didn’t make too much noise when he ate and she liked his natural smell and he was extraordinarily easy to be around. He wasn’t a know-it-all like so many other guys, and he had a Mister Rogers gentleness about him.

Also, he was a good kisser. They’d made out a few times, the last time being less than a month ago at one of the Castelow parties by the water. They sat outside roasting marshmallows and warming up, and when Rosemarie went inside to use the bathroom, Leo pulled her into one of the empty bedrooms and asked if he could kiss her again and she said yes. They turned the lights out and stayed in there for so long by the time they emerged, some people had already left, and Kasey and Silas were asleep on the couch.

Rosemarie and Leo hadn’t had sex; she hadn’t had sex with anyone. She’d made out with Leo enough that she thought she could imagine what sex with him would be like, and it was pleasing to think about from time to time and keep it separate from the times she thought about kissing Sparrow or being in a dark bedroom with Sparrow for so long they had to squint when they walked out.

Rosemarie knew a lot of girls at school were jealous of her because she was the one whom Leo was so into, and he had been for so long. Maybe she and Kasey should walk to his house right now so Rosemarie could ask him to prom. Kasey’s mom was working late, and Kasey was spending the night at the Kingstons’ to get away from Roy again, and neither of them had any homework.

“He’s obsessed with you. That’s a plus,” Kasey tacked on. She nudged herself closer to Rosemarie and put her head on her shoulder.

“I wish Caro could go with Beau somehow. He’s the only boy she likes.”

“I know. Sucks. But! Ada is on the case to find her a date. One of Grayson’s friends, apparently.”

“Aha. Of course she is. Okay. Get up. Let’s go. Let’s go find Leo. Time to lock it down,” Rosemarie said.

“Can we stop by Myrtle’s so Caro can hook us up with some pie and ice cream first?”

“How can you be hungry?! We just ate, like, four tacos!”

“But doesn’t raspberry honey pie with vanilla bean ice cream sound so good?” Kasey asked, making far too much sense for Rosemarie to object.