“Yum,” I said sarcastically.

Jake then kicked my leg playfully under the table, and I kicked him back. We kept taking turns doing this, and at one point, he locked my feet in with his so that I couldn’t kick him anymore. It was a strange way of making contact, but I delighted in it.

My attention then turned to a family who had just been seated at the table across from ours. The little girl was rocking back and forth and seemed very agitated. I noticed Jake wave at them.

“Hey, Jake,” the girl’s mother called out.

He got up from our table to go over to them and knelt down by the girl’s seat, getting in her face to garner her attention. “Hey, Marina.”

The girl, who looked about eight or nine, didn’t say anything and started to cry.

“She’s having a bad night,” Marina’s father said.

Jake snapped his fingers and said, “Wait. I have something for her. I almost forgot.” He then ran out of the restaurant to head upstairs to our apartment.

I turned to Ryan. “What’s up with Jake and the little girl?”

“That’s Telly’s sister Georgette’s daughter, Marina. They’re in here a lot. She has autism, so she doesn’t really talk.”

“I see,” I said, trying not to stare too much at the beautiful girl with short brown ringlets framing her face. She was starting to hum loudly, as her mother tried to console her.

Jake walked back into the restaurant holding the collection of pinwheels I had first noticed the night I snuck into his bedroom. I couldn’t help but smile.

He knelt down next to the girl again and handed the whole bunch to her. “Marina…look. I remembered you had one of these the last time you were in here, and you really liked it. Every time I pass by someone selling them now, I have to get one for you,” he said.

Marina took the four pinwheels and lined them up on the table. One by one, she lifted each and blew on it, laughing hysterically each time it spun around. The joy in her eyes made me forget about my earlier brooding and put a smile on my face.

“I figured that would put you in a better mood,” he said to her as he stood up.

The girl’s mother beamed at Jake. “Honey, you are so sweet. Thank you. We’ll actually be able to have a peaceful dinner now.”

“Don’t worry about it. It was my pleasure,” he said, before returning to our table.

Jake didn’t seem to notice the look on my face of complete awe, as it dawned on me that he was really just as beautiful on the inside as he was gorgeous on the outside. “That was so sweet that you actually collected those for her. I had noticed them in your room,” I said.

“And you thought I was just a f**king weirdo?”

“Well, you are still a weirdo, but…” I scrunched my nose at him jokingly.

Tarah echoed my earlier sentiment. “Yeah, man…seriously. Look at her. She is totally content now.”

Jake looked over at the little girl as he spoke. “Cedric, my brother-in-law, has a sister who’s autistic. When I first spotted Marina, her mannerisms reminded me so much of Callie. It was crazy, and I just knew. It’s like they’re locked inside their bodies, but there is so much in there waiting to come out. You just have to know which keys to use to unlock it.”

The four of us continued to look over at Marina playing with the pinwheels until Desiree approached with a tray full of food. As she placed the hot plates onto the table, her eyes were placed firmly on Jake. God, I may have been obvious in my checking him out at times, but she was flirting relentlessly, and I immediately hated her for it. It didn’t help that she was absolutely gorgeous. Jake, on the other hand, dug right into his food and didn’t seem affected by her one way or the other. I suppose he was probably used to girls throwing themselves at him.

After we finished eating, a group of people in the corner started dancing in a circle to the Greek band’s music. Desiree came by to clear our plates and glared at me. I wondered if it was because she was jealous. Jake and I had been joking around flirtatiously all night and she constantly looked in our direction, even when she was serving other customers.

Bring it on.

I didn’t like the looks of her. Even if my relationship with Jake stayed platonic, I felt protective of him and certainly didn’t want that cheap hussie to have him.

The four of us lingered until almost closing time and shared an entire platter of baklava. It was late by the time we went back upstairs to the apartment, so all of us retreated to our rooms.

Exhausted from the day’s events, I went to the bathroom to wash my face but skipped a shower. I couldn’t wait to bury myself under the covers. As my head hit the pillow, staring back at me on the nightstand was another origami bat. I chuckled and opened it.

Congratulations again on making the grade.

Imagine the possibilities when you finally get laid.

P.S. Kidding, Nina! Just retesting your ability to take a joke.

P.P.S. Your blood tastes like bananas.

He was certifiably nuts, but he never ceased to make me laugh.

CHAPTER 10

Friday morning, I awoke with the jitters, anxious about my date with Alistair that night. He was supposed to be picking me up at seven and taking me to a popular Italian restaurant down the street from the university.

It was bugging me that I was not looking forward to it as much as I had hoped and that I couldn’t stop thinking about Jake. Thankfully, as usual, my roomie would be headed to Boston for the weekend straight from work and wouldn’t be a distraction tonight. It wasn’t healthy to be focusing on him so much, and I was convinced that going out with Alistair was a necessary step in the right direction.

I would have to get through a day of classes, though, before I could concentrate on things like what to wear and how to do my hair for tonight.

Alistair sat in his normal seat next to me in math and he immediately acknowledged our plans when he turned to me and whispered with a twinkle in his eye, “I can’t wait to take you out tonight.”

I just nodded, not wanting Professor Hernandez to overhear anything. It’s a good thing I was paying attention to the lecture, because Hernandez called on me to come up to the dry erase board and work on a problem about Venn Diagrams. “Ms. Kennedy, shade in the parts of this diagram which correspond to the named set.”

When I colored in the correct parts of the circles in red, he nodded in agreement. “Very good, Ms. Kennedy.” Then, he whispered to me with a slight smile. “Most improved student, so far this year, it seems.”

Maybe he wasn’t such a jerk after all. Feeling a sense of achievement, I couldn’t contain my smile. Alistair high-fived me when I returned to my seat.

After class, we walked down the hallway to the exit, and Alistair’s blue eyes gleamed as he said, “I’ll pick you up at seven.” He truly was a handsome guy; maybe tonight, I would feel something stronger for him in a different setting.

“Yup, sounds good. See you later,” I said.

***

That afternoon, Tarah was making an early dinner in the kitchen when I got home from school, and the apartment smelled like garlic and onions.

“Hey, girl,” I said as I placed my backpack down on the couch.

“Hey! I am just making some rice and chicken. This gluten-free diet is a bitch. Want some?”

“No, I can’t. Thanks. Actually, believe it or not, I have a date tonight.”

Tarah dropped her spatula and picked it up, waving it at me. “Excuse me? How did I not know this?”

“It’s no big deal. I’m not sure if I even like him like that. He’s a guy in my math class. His name is Alistair.”

“Interesting name.”

“Yeah, tell me about it. He is really cute, though…and nice…and smart.”

“As opposed to really hot…not so nice…and super smart, like Jake? You know, I thought that something was developing there, but I guess I was wrong?”

“Why would you think that?”

“I don’t know. There is just this vibe between you two lately. I really sensed it when we were at Eleni’s the other night. You guys are opposites, but you seem to fit together somehow.”

I know.

I shrugged my shoulders in frustration. “Well, tell that to him.”

“I knew it! I knew you liked him,” she said pointing the spatula at me.

I held out my hands in protest. “Please don’t go there right now, okay? I am supposed to be focusing on this date.”

She rolled her eyes. “I wanted to slap that bitch Desiree the other night. She clearly wanted to get her paws into him.”

My stomach knotted up when she mentioned Desiree. “Can we not talk about Jake right now?”

“Okay, okay…your date. First off, what are you wearing?”

“My black Donna Karan dress…”

“You mean your only dress? No. Boring. You are borrowing something from my closet. Next: what are you doing with your hair?”

“I was going to wear it up in a twist.”

“No. I’ll blow it out straight and do some loose sexy curls for you. What about makeup?”

“The usual. A little mascara and some lipgloss.”

She closed her eyes and shook her head in disagreement. “Nah. Let’s do a smoky eye on you. You are gonna look so hot for this date, Nina. What’s his name again?”

“Alistair.” I laughed.

“Alistair is not gonna know what hit him.”

“Alright, whatever you say, T. I’m going to take a shower. Maybe we can do this thing after you’re done eating.”

A half-hour later, I emerged from the bathroom to find Tarah already in my room with a handful of dresses laid out on the bed. The small towel I was using was not quite big enough to cover my breasts, so I struggled to keep it closed over my chest to avoid giving her a private show.

“Nina…good God girl…you have the best rack! I don’t know if I have ever really noticed before now. We are definitely showing those off tonight.”

Letting Tarah dress me from head to toe might not have been a great idea after all.

“What do you mean show them off?”

“The girls—all three of you—will be hanging out with Alistair tonight.” She winked. “Which of these four dresses do you want to try on first?”

“That one,” I pointed to the dress that looked the least revealing.

“I figured you’d say that. Let’s try this one,” she said picking up a different dress, a strapless pink lace number. I couldn’t get the top to fit over my boobs and nixed it as an option.

No luck either with the next two I tried on. The last wrap-style dress was fluorescent purple and low-cut but fit me like a glove. The color was a little bright for my taste, but it seemed this was the one out of the group. It was pretty revealing, but there was no denying how good it made my body look.

“You are curvy in all the right spots. I would kill for your body,” she said.

I thought back to my ex-boyfriend and how he always told me I would look better if I lost weight to look more “athletic,” even though I was already fairly thin except for my br**sts and butt.

“Okay, this one is the winner. What’s the next step in making me into a drag queen?”

“Let’s get you into a zip-down jacket, then we’ll do your hair and makeup and get dressed last.” Tarah started taking out curling irons and makeup from a large black satchel.

After an hour and a half of blow-drying, curling, buffing and puffing, she handed me a mirror. My transformation into a glamour puss was staggering, actually. My light blue eyes appeared at least three times bigger with the gray shadow and mascara. She also applied a dark pink lipstick that made my lips look pleasantly plump. My hair was perfectly styled into big, soft curls that she sprayed to make sure they held. Her skills were amazing. Alistair wasn’t going to believe his eyes.

It was 6:30 and Tarah helped me slip into the purple dress to avoid messing up my hair and makeup.

“Wait right here. I have the perfect shoes,” she said as she ran to her room.

She returned with the most striking pair of purple stilettos.

“These are gorgeous.” I looked at the inside. “Manolo Blahnik? Are you kidding me?”

“I used to have a shoe issue. Not anymore, but I have amassed quite a collection. What size are you?”

“Well, excuse me, Carrie Bradshaw. Apparently, I am the same size as you,” I said as I slipped my foot into the shoes to discover they were a perfect fit. Several inches taller, I looked at myself in the mirror that hung on my closet door.

Not bad.

Actually, I couldn’t have been more pleased with how I looked. “Wow. I can’t thank you enough, T.”

“Anytime, babe. You were like a clean slate. It was fun.” She smiled.

Tarah packed up her hair and makeup accessories and left momentarily to return them to her room, leaving me standing in front of the mirror. The purple was a little bright for my liking, but it was kind of refreshing to wear something other than my usual black.

My body jerked suddenly when a male form appeared behind me in the mirror. Not just any male form. It was like that moment in a horror movie. Except, in my mind, this was worse.

“Nina, Barney the dinosaur called. He wants his skin back.”

“Jake! What are you doing here? You’re supposed to be on your way to Boston.”

“Nice to see you too.”

“Well, it’s just that you usually leave from work and—”

“I missed the 5:15 Amtrak, so I might either catch the last train at 9:30 or just go in the morning.”