Marianne by Elizabeth Hammer (best books to read in life TXT) 📕

giving Patrick just then. She slapped her smile back in place. Fine; she could do this all day. “Wow. That means so much coming from you. Are we ready to get going?”

“Certainly.”

“You know,” she said, suddenly inspired. “Instead of going out on our own, we should just meet up with those friends you canceled on, earlier.” Take that, Patrick. No way would he embarrass himself by showing up somewhere with Marianne in this mood. He’d have to back down, now.

Patrick did not respond as expected. In fact, he almost laughed at her. “That sounds lovely.” He stepped to the side, allowing her to precede him out of the kitchen.

Marianne saw Mom and Dad smile at each other as she walked toward the door, but she ignored them. Marianne stopped when she came even with Patrick, turning and looking up into his face. “Your friends are going to love me.”

He smiled back. “I have no doubt.”

10

Telepathetic

Marianne changed her clothes quickly, hid the bag of Goth paraphernalia in the back of the linen closet till she could dispose of it properly, and then met Patrick out front.

Patrick drove to the outdoor mall in Orange and pulled into a spot in the crowded parking lot. “If you think you can stand being near merchandise and not using your dad’s credit card, you can go ahead and leave your purse. I wouldn’t want you to get tired carrying it around.”

“Oh, will you be paying for the movie?” asked Marianne. “I didn’t really take you for the gentlemanly type.”

He smiled and shook his finger at her. “Silly girl,” he laughed falsely. “You know you just want to reapply your makeup at hourly intervals.”

Stupid mind reader; that one was actually true. Marianne threw her purse on the floor and got out. They walked through the open mall toward the theater. As they passed by the indoor skatepark, however, a whole table of boys looked up, yelled, and then all started talking to them at once. They didn’t even say hello.

“Frick, dude, what took you so long?”

“Yeah, we’ve been dying in this heat.”

“No dude, that’s just you because your pants are so tight.”

“Dude, Patrick, did I leave my new board in your truck?”

“These aren’t the tight pair. I can’t even skate in the other ones.”

“No duh. That’s why guys shouldn’t buy girl jeans.”

“Hey, Patrick, my friend. I need to borrow five bucks.”

Patrick laughed and handed some money to Husky-Hispanic-guy. “I only have a twenty, Hector.”

Hector hissed in a breath and shook his head as he took it. “It’s going to take four times as long to pay back.”

“Since when do you pay me back?” Patrick pocketed his wallet again.

Bearded-white-guy caught Patrick’s eye and nodded toward Marianne.

Patrick put his hand on Marianne’s elbow and pulled her forward to stand next to him. “This is Marianne, the reason I wasn’t going to come.” He pretended to lower his voice. “She’s really demanding and insisted that I take her out tonight.”

Everyone nodded at her, not seeming the least concerned that Patrick was insulting his date in public. Boys are so stupid. Patrick gestured toward Beard-guy. “Marianne, this is Christian.”

“Hi, Marianne.” Christian shook her hand. He was a white guy, tatted up as much as Patrick, with a light brown beard and shaggy hair. His eyes were a bit downturned; he’d probably look sad no matter his mood.

“And this is Ivan.” Patrick pointed toward the good looking, well-dressed Asian guy.

“Greetings,” said Ivan, without getting up.

“That’s Sammy-” Patrick pointed out a pale, shrimpy little guy who reminded Marianne of Dark Lord Alvin. “And Hector.” The Hispanic dude. They waved lazily at her, and she waved back.

Christian-the-beard grabbed his stuff off the table. “Well, since we’re too late to skate,” he said, “why don’t we all go do something else?”

Patrick shook his head. “Nah. Marianne doesn’t want to hang out with you losers.”

“I don’t?” she said, watching his face carefully. Did he really want to be alone with her, or was there another reason to back out? She smiled up at him. “You’re not ashamed of me, surely?”

“Oh, sweetie,” he said, brushing her face with his finger. “I would never say anything so rude.” Marianne’s leg twitched with the urge to kick him in the shin, and he seemed to see it. He covered a laugh. “We can join them if you like, though. I wouldn’t want to rob you of the chance to mope all night because I’d ruined our date.”

Marianne sighed. “You’re so considerate.”

They followed the motley group of boys over to the restaurant slash arcade at the corner of the shopping center. The interior of the restaurant was all dark wood and dim lighting, like a bar. Patrick talked to the hostess, and she led them over to a sunken area with a pool table surrounded by tall tables and stools. The waitress took their drink orders, and then it was time to play. Patrick split the teams: Ivan-the-model, Marianne, and Hector-the-husky versus Sammy-the-shrimp, Patrick, and Christian-the-beard.

Ivan chose a cue and stood chalking it while he regarded the table. He looked up at Patrick and said off-handedly, “A date, huh?” He took his shot. “It’s been so long that I was sure you’d lost your mojo.”

Sammy-the-shrimp said, “No, that’s you, Ivan.” Then he took his turn, failing to pocket the six.

Ivan gave him a dirty look. “I’m not the one who wears girl pants. Patrick, explain to him about girl pants.”

Marianne leaned over the table and aimed at a random striped ball. “Yes, please, Patrick,” she said, shooting half-heartedly. With her level of skill, trying harder would have made no difference. “Share with all of us your incredible fashion secrets. I’m on pins and needles.” That one earned her at least two snickers from the crowd.

“Don’t mind her,” said Patrick, stepping up to take his turn. He aimed, sunk a green ball, and stood up. “She’s just jealous because she’s looking rather haggish tonight.”

Marianne felt her face turn to stone. Don’t react. Take a sip of iced tea.

Hector-the-husky