Robin Wasserman: Lust

“You know I love you,” he whispered. He released her, then tipped her chin up, forcing her to meet his eyes. “You know I love you,” he said again, his lips only a breath away. “And you know I’ll wait.”

Beth nodded. She knew he loved her, and she knew he would wait-but for how long?

Kane surveyed the tacky surroundings in disgust. Magazine clippings from the fifties papered the walls, fake plastic records dangled from the ceiling, and a giant neon jukebox blasted out oldies while bored waitresses plodded back and forth between the crowded booths and the crowded kitchen, snapping their gum and pretending they didn’t desperately wish they were somewhere, anywhere, else.

“Remind me again why we keep coming back here?” he asked.

Harper hit an imaginary Jeopardy! buzzer.

“What is ‘the only diner in town’?” she reminded him. She took another spoonful of her ice-cream sundae and moaned with pleasure. “Besides, who could deny the appeal of a restaurant with a motto like that?” She tapped a perfectly manicured finger on top of the fluorescent menu: LIFE IS SHORT-EAT DESSERT FIRST.

“Good point,” Kane admitted, scooping off a good chunk of her ice cream, complete with cherry-he’d finished his own sundae within minutes of its arrival.

“Hands off!” Harper laughed, smacking his spoon away. “Sure you don’t want some, Miranda?” she asked, pushing the giant bowl across the table toward her friend. Miranda squirmed back, waving it away.

“Some of us actually want to have room for dinner,” she pointed out.

“Oh, come on, Miranda, live a little,” Kane encouraged her, grabbing a spoon and digging in once again. “Be a rebel-I know you’ve got some bad girl blood in there somewhere.”

Miranda hesitantly took a small bite of the ice cream, flushing as his deep chocolate eyes paused on her and a slow, satisfied smile lit up his face.

“Atta girl. I knew you had it in you.”

Is he flirting with me? she wondered.

If only.

Miranda had known Kane for almost as long as she’d known Harper (and, basically, everyone else in this town)-a few minutes short of forever. She doubted that he remembered the time they’d spent a third grade recess playing dominoes together, or the knight in shining armor moment when he’d tossed her a towel after an embarrassing “wardrobe malfunction” at Shayna Hernandez’s eighth grade pool party. In fact, she doubted that he would even remember her name-or at least admit to doing so-if she wasn’t usually joined at the hip with Harper, one of the only people that Kane didn’t find to be a yawn a minute. But whatever the reason that put him across the table from her so often, she was grateful. And sometimes wondered whether this wasn’t perhaps the year that he’d get sick of the bimbos and finally notice her. A girl could dream, couldn’t she?

Besides, thanks to Harper’s intervention and some-okay, a lot of-careful dieting, she now had much better hair, clothes, and body than she’d had in eighth grade. Maybe the next time her bikini top popped off, Kane wouldn’t be so quick with the towel…

“Earth to Miranda,” his voice punctured her reverie. “Dreaming about my hot bod again? You girls just can’t help yourselves, can you?”

Miranda snorted, hoping her face wasn’t too red. “As if.”

Did she sound believably casual-but not so disgusted that he would think it inconceivable that she’d been thinking about his tightly toned forearms?

Miranda knew there was a middle ground somewhere between obsessed stalker and mortal enemy, but she’d never had much luck finding it. (This likely explained why all her carefully constructed flirty banter, designed to make junior high crush Rob Schwartz realize she was interested, but not too interested, had instead left the JV quarterback with the unshakeable conviction that she hated him.)

She’d gotten a little better since then-but not much.

Beth and Adam were late.

They came into the diner arm in arm, whispering to each other. Harper waved to get their attention, then quickly looked away. It was too sickening to watch.

“Where’ve you guys been?” Kane asked with a leer when they arrived at the table. “As if I have to ask.”

Beth tucked her hair behind her ears, blushing, and Adam began to stammer out something about lost keys and car trouble and-

“Oh, just sit down,” Harper interrupted. “We waited for you to order dinner, and we’re starving, so let’s just get to it.”

“Spoken with your usual grace and accuracy,” Kane said. “I second the motion.”

Beth and Adam squeezed into the booth next to Miranda, smushing her up against the window, since the bench was meant for only two people. But Harper chose not to say anything about it-the way things were going, Beth would probably just smile politely and offer to spend the rest of the night perched on Adam’s lap, to save room. She was just so accommodating. And, Harper had to admit, beautiful. She’d changed out of her first-day-of-school outfit (standard Beth: classic-cut jeans, black T-shirt, gold hoop earrings, bland and forgettable) into a backless turquoise sundress that matched her eyes and perfectly set off her sun-drenched hair. And Harper wasn’t the only one to appreciate it. As Beth leaned forward to order her food, Adam reached over and began slowly rubbing her bare back; Harper couldn’t pull her eyes away from his hand, lightly playing its way up and down Beth’s skin. She could almost feel its warm pressure on her own.

Harper shook her head violently to knock the fantasy away, and then waved them all to be quiet. There was a reason she’d invited them out tonight-aside from the understandable need for large amounts of grease and sugar after the long first day of school. And, since she was losing her appetite by the minute watching the lovebirds fawn, it was probably time to get started.

“Okay, now that you’re all here”-she tried not to glare at Beth-“here’s the deal. We’ve got two weeks until the annual lame back-to-school formal, right?”

Kane groaned. “Don’t remind me. What a joke.”

Harper ignored him and continued. “And two weeks until the annual top secret after party, organized by a select group of seniors.”

“Kerry Stanton and those girls did it last year, right?” Beth asked. “Wonder who they tapped for this year.”

Harper gave her a withering stare. Was the girl an idiot?

“Kerry e-mailed me this afternoon,” Harper explained with a self-satisfied grin. “Looks like I’m up.”

“You?” Miranda asked, grinning. “Awesome.”

“Actually-us.”

Adam held up his hands in protest. “Hold up, Harper-look, we’re all impressed that you’re now officially the coolest of the cool and all, but if you think you’re roping me into some kind of dance committee…”

“God, it’s not a dance, Adam. It’s a party. A secret, illicit, just-for-seniors party?” She smiled winningly. “And I know you all want to help out, get on the inside track, be adored by the masses-”

“Not to mention, get first dibs on the best beer and the comfiest mattresses,” Kane pointed out. “Sign me up.”

Harper smacked him and was about to launch back into her spiel when the diner door opened, and in walked Kaia. On anyone else, her Little Black Dress would have looked ridiculously out of place amidst the neon and trucker chic, but Kaia seemed oblivious of context, striding forward with purpose and grace as if, to her, the waitresses appeared clad in Hugo Boss, not polyester. She looked completely at ease, though Harper could tell, just from the little things-the single finger she’d used to push open the door as if afraid of the germs, the delicate steps she took as if expecting at any moment to splash her kitten heel into a puddle of mustard-that she was not.