Page 36 of Something in Between

A kiss I’ve been waiting for, for a very long time.

Here’s a secret: waiting is worth it.

12

I smiled at him. America, I said quietly, just like that.

What is it? The sweepings of every country including

our own. Isn’t that true? That’s a fact.

—JAMES JOYCE,ULYSSES

WHEN I OPENmy eyes the next morning, I forget where I am. Am I late for school? Light streams through the windows, blinding me. I can’t see a thing, and the alarm is going off. My heart feels like it’s beating through my chest. Where am I?

Then I remember. I’m in the Ritz-Carlton. I’m in Washington, D.C., for the National Scholarship Program.

Finally, I lean way over, trying to get out of bed. I haven’t gotten any sleep; I was with Royce all night. We kissed up there on the roof for a while. Until after midnight, actually. I touch my lips as if I could touch his by touching mine, smiling to myself a little. I’m away from home for the first time, I got a little tipsy on champagne, and I kissed a boy. And not just any boy. A sweet and handsome boy. One of the nicest guys I’ve ever met.

Royce couldn’t be more wrong about himself. That he’s Congressman Blakely’s son is theleastinteresting thing about him.

I check my phone. Kayla left a message, thankfully. She says she won’t quit the team, she was just emotional, but she’s okay now. Good. I want to tell her all about my night with Royce, but it’s way too early back home to call.

There’s also a text from Royce at half past midnight, after he walked me back to my hotel room when we left the roof. I smile to myself and text him back, tell him I’ll see him later. Then I hear the sounds of girls chattering in the bathroom on the other side of the suite.

Ugh. Mallory, Nina, and Carrie. My roommates...

I pull the pillow back over my head, dreading talking to them. When I got back last night, they were all in the other bedroom, Carrie on one bed, Nina on the other and Mallory in a pullout, with sleeping masks pulled over their eyes.

While the girls talk, I finally take the pillow off my head and look around the suite, my eyes adjusting to the daylight. It’s a disaster, with clothes strewn all over the couch and the floor. There’s only one bathroom, despite the two bedrooms, so I grab my things and sit on the couch to wait for my turn in the shower.

Carrie steps out of the bathroom. Mallory and Nina follow behind her. All three of them look perfectly put together. Plucked and filled-in eyebrows, tousled hair, classy boots that go up over their knees. Carrie slips her bag over her elbow and looms down at me. “So, I heard you were with Royce Blakely last night.”

I nod warily. “Do you know him?”

“We’ve hung out,” she says, with a possessive air. “I’ve known him for a long time. Our parents are friends.”

She’s so eager to point out that he’s from her circle. I want to ask Carrie what she means by “hung out,” but she’s the one with the twenty questions it seems. “So did he take you somewhere nice? His dad knows everyone in Washington and gets the best tables.”

I really don’t want to answer Carrie’s question, but she’s not going anywhere until she gets an answer. Meanwhile, Mallory and Nina just stare at me, googly-eyed. I must look awful, I barely got any sleep.

“No, we just stayed here,” I tell her. “He had to go to an early breakfast with his family.” I don’t know why, but I’m feeling defensive about this all of a sudden.

“You stayed in the hotel? Why didn’t you guys come to the after-party?” Carrie asks, looking overly confused. Then she elbows the girls with a knowing smile.

I feel my cheeks burning, as if I should be ashamed, even though I didn’t do anything wrong. Carrie and the girls are acting as if I did something tawdry and scandalous, when last night was one of the best and most magical nights of my life.

“Guess you guys had a party of your own, huh?” Carrie snickers.

Thank God Nina interrupts. “Let’s go, I need coffeeeeee.”

“Fine,” Carrie says. “Let’s go.”

As the girls file out of the room, Carrie stops at the door and turns back to me. She’s not done sticking her knife in yet. “I’m just trying to watch out for you, Jasmine,” she says disingenuously. “Royce Blakely isn’t what he seems like. I’ve been there. He’s a total player. Trust me on this one.”

The door clicks shut.

I’vebeenthere?

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