Becky gasped, but she and Trevor weren't the only ones surprised by my rash words.
"In your dreams! I was only asking you out of pity. No one else would show up with you, unless he was dead."
"Well, we'll just see about that, won't we?"
"I'm leaving," Matt shouted from the car. "Are you coming?"
"Thanks for the ice cream, psycho," Trevor said, getting into the Camaro. "But next time remember, I prefer Rocky Road."
I watched my double-dip Chocolate Attack screech away.
"I'd offer you mine, but I know you don't like pure vanilla," Becky said consolingly.
"Thanks, but I have bigger things than ice cream to worry about. Like getting a date!"
Every time the phone rang, my heart jumped. Was it Alexander? And when it wasn't him my heart would break into a million pieces. It had been two long days since I had seen my Gothic mate. I was so preoccupied with Alexander, dreaming of the next time we'd be together, nothing else mattered. I didn't wash the spot where his tender love lips had pressed against my flesh. I was acting like I was straight out of a Gidget movie! What had happened to me? I was losing my edge! For the first time in my life I was really afraid. Afraid of never seeing him again and afraid of being rejected.
If I asked Alexander to the dance, he might freak out. He might say, "With you?" or "No way, not a lame, school dance. I'm so beyond that! And I thought you were, too."
I was beyond that, even though I'd never gone to any dances to actually get beyond them. I wouldn't be going to homecoming or the prom or any of the other dances scheduled throughout the school year. I would stay home with Becky and watch the Munsters on TV. But Trevor's challenge had forced me to fight back, with a weapon that I didn't even have: Alexander.
This feeling of not being able to eat or sleep was new to me. To hang my heart on every ring of the phone, to scream at the top of my lungs for Billy Boy not to tie up the line with his addictive web surfing, not to be able to watch Nosferatu without crying, or to listen to a silly, sappy, drippy, lovesick Celine Dion song without thinking she had written it just for me—I wanted it all to go away.
I think some people call this love. I called it hell.
And then it happened. After two long, torture-filled days. When the phone rang, I thought it was for Billy Boy, and when Billy Boy called my name, I thought it was Becky. I was ready to pour my heart out to her. But before I could speak, I heard his dreamy voice.
"I couldn't wait any longer," he said.
"Excuse me?" I asked, surprised.
"It's Alexander. I know guys aren't supposed to call right away. But I couldn't wait any longer."
"That's a stupid rule. I could have moved."
"In two days?"
"It was only two days?"
He laughed. "It seemed a year for me."
His comment was like a love letter sent straight to my heart.
I waited for him to go on, but there was silence. He said nothing more. This was the perfect chance to invite him to the Snow Ball. The worst he could do was hang up. My hands were shaking and my confidence was oozing out with my perspiration. "Alexander…um…I have something to ask you."
"I do, too."
"Well, you first."
"No, ladies first."
"No, guys are supposed to do the asking."
"You're fight." There was silence. "Well…would you like to go out? Tomorrow night?"
I smiled with delight! "Go out? Yeah, that would be great!"
"So what were you going to ask me?"
I paused. I can do this! I took a deep breath. "Would you…"
"Yes?"
"Do you…"
"Do I what?"
"Like to dance?"
"Yeah, but I didn't think this town had any hip clubs. You know of one?"
"No…but when I find one, I'll let you know." I was such a wimpola!
"Great! Then I'll see you tomorrow at my house, after sundown."
"After sundown?"
"You said you lived for the darkness. So do I."
"You remembered."
"I remember everything," he said, and hung up the phone.
17 Dream Date
My first date! Becky said my first date was dinner at the Mansion, but I didn't agree. Tonight we would be going out: to watch a movie, to play miniature golf, to share a soda at Shirley's. I spent all afternoon talking with Becky, speculating about where he'd take me, what he'd be wearing, and when he would kiss me.
I was so excited, I ran the whole way there. I had to meet Alexander at his iron gate. My mom would have freaked if she had known I had a date with the guy who lived in a haunted house. I couldn't bear the thought of his showing up at my door and my dad's asking him questions about tennis players and his plans for college. So I had to meet my Romeo on his balcony.
And there he was, leaning against the iron gate, sexy in his black jeans and black leather jacket, holding a backpack.
"Are we going on a hike?" I asked.
"No, a picnic."
"At this hour?"