Ann Martin - Mary Anne And Too Many Boys

"I like to be organized," I said, sighing, "and things will be really busy in the morning."

"You're always organized," she said coolly. "I would find it very boring to live that way."

"Uh-huh." I looked at Stacey's cosmetics strewn over the dresser. Not much danger of that, I thought.

She ran her finger lightly along the edge of my T-shirts. "You're so neat, I'm surprised you don't iron your underwear." She paused. "Or maybe you do when we're all asleep." She flounced out of the room before I could think up an answer to that one.

I didn't find out about Toby until that evening. Stacey had calmed down a little after

dinner, and she and Mal and I were sitting on the porch swing. It was dusk, my favorite time of day, and a salty breeze was blowing off the ocean.

"I guess tonight is the time for good-byes," I said quietly.

"Toby already said good-bye. Last night," she sniffled. She buried her face in her hands, just for a minute.

"Stacey?" said Mal, glancing at me.

Stacey looked up, her blue eyes misting over. "He broke up with me. Can you believe it?" (Mal's eyes widened.)

"Why? Did you two have a fight?" I asked.

"Of course not." She ran her hand very quickly over her eyes. "We never fight."

"Then what happened?"

She shrugged. "I can't figure it out. He just said that these past two weeks have been great, but that it's over. He wants to go home and date other people. He doesn't want to be tied up with me."

"Gosh," said Mal breathily.

I thought guiltily of Logan. "But couldn't you date other people and still stay in touch with each other?"

Stacey shook her head. "He doesn't see it that way." She stood up and leaned against

the railing. "You're really lucky you have Lo-gan waiting for you back home, Mary Anne. As you always say, he's your one true love."

Oh, yes. I had been saying that, hadn't I?

Stacey gave a long sigh. "It must be nice to have someone to count on."

Mal looked from Stacey to me with interest. She's just beginning to think that not all boys are jerks.

Margo and Claire came out on the porch then, so the conversation was over, but I couldn't stop thinking about Logan and Alex and how confused I was. Whenever I was with Alex, 1 had a wonderful time. Maybe I was even in love with him. I wasn't sure. And when I thought of Logan — that sweet smile, that deep voice — I thought I was in love with him! You can't be in love with two boys at once, can you? I just didn't know.

Alex and I decided to spend our last night together at the "real" restaurant, since we had had so much fun there before. As it turned out, it was a big mistake. Everything seemed different this time, and I couldn't put my finger on it.

For one thing, Alex had absolutely nothing to say. Naturally that made me very nervous, and when I get nervous I clam up. So both of

us were sitting there like ventriloquist dummies, waiting for someone to make us talk.

I had to break the silence or I would go crazy, so I made a big deal out of choosing dinner. "Let's do something wild and not order fish," I said gaily. "That's the rule tonight. You can order anything but fish or shellfish."

Alex smiled politely. He must have thought I was crazy. "Whatever you say." He glanced at the menu. "There won't be much of a choice, though. After all, this is a seafood restaurant."

"Oh, there will be enough to choose from. It will just be a challenge." I tried a little laugh that didn't quite come off. Why had I started this?

"I suppose we could try the spaghetti." Alex smiled, but his heart wasn't in it.

"No way," I said. I shook my finger at him. "It has clam sauce."

"Oh, sorry." He stared at the menu for a long time. "Well," he said finally, "we could try the giant sub sandwich. I'm sure that doesn't have any fish in it."

"Sounds good to me!" I laughed like I was having the time of my life. When the sandwich arrived, I felt like crawling under the table. In the first place you should never order a sub sandwich when you're eating out because they

are incredibly messy. Tomato slices slide down your chin, mayonnaise squirts out of both ends, and salami slithers into your lap. Not a pretty sight. In the second place, they are huge. This sandwich looked bigger than my head. I realized too late that we should have split one between us.

The only good thing was that now we had an excuse not to talk. We were too busy working our way through a mountain of cold cuts and French bread. I told Alex a little more about the Pike kids, and he talked about his softball team, but somehow the conversation never got going. We weren't really talking, we were "saying lines," just like you do in a school play. Except it felt like we were doing different plays, because the lines didn't sound right.

I thought the meal would never end, and when it finally did, I reached for the check.

"You can't do that," Alex said, making a grab for it.

"Why not?"

"Girls don't pay for dates."

"Sure they do. Logan and I always take turns paying."

"Who's Logan?"

Uh-oh. "He's my, uh, boyfriend. Back home in Stoneybrook." The truth was finally out!

Alex didn't seem too upset. "I have a girlfriend back home, too," he said casually.

"That's nice," I said. What was I talking about?

"What is?"

"That you have a girlfriend. And I have a boyfriend."

Alex looked at me and burst out laughing. "What's so funny?" I asked.

"I can't believe we're having this conversation, can you?"

I started laughing. "Not really. It sure beats hearing about your pitching arm, though."

Alex laughed even harder then, and I knew that everything would be okay. Suddenly he was the warm, funny Alex I knew, and we talked until it was time to go. (He ended up letting me pay the check.)

Later on, when we walked along the boardwalk, I thought about how much I liked Alex, and how much fun we had had at Sea City. We were pals — friends — and it was much nicer than being boyfriend and girlfriend. After all, we each had a romantic relationship back home. Why complicate things?

"You know what?" Alex said, walking me up the Pikes' porch steps. "This has been one of the best nights of my life."

"You know what? I feel exactly the same

W*Triends?" He leaned forward and gave me

a big hug. I nodded. "Forever."

Chapter 14.

Mr. and Mrs. Pike were sitting in the kitchen when I got home from my date with Alex.

"Did you have a good time?" Mrs. Pike asked.

"I had a wonderful time." We were speaking in low voices, because everyone else was in bed.

Mrs. Pike smiled. "Mmm, sounds serious," she said teasingly. "Maybe you better sit down and talk about it over a piece of apple pie."

I laughed. "No, that's the great part about it. It's not serious at all." I realized they had no idea what I was talking about and decided to leave it that way. "And thanks for the pie, but we had a big dinner, and I'm stuffed. I think I'll just go to bed."

"Sleep well," Mr. Pike said. "Tomorrow's a busy day."

I tiptoed up the stairs, suddenly very tired. I was all set to open my bedroom door when I saw a faint light at the end of the hall. It was coming from under the door to the room Mal and Vanessa were sharing. I decided to check on things.

"What's up?" I whispered, sticking my head in the door. Mallory was sound asleep, but Vanessa was sitting up in bed, her notepad

balanced on her knees, a small reading light on.

She motioned me over to the bed. "I'm writing to Chris/' she said quietly.

I sat down carefully on the edge of the bed. "What did you decide to tell him?"

"Well," she said, "I tried to look at the problem from every angle, and I figured out there was only one solution."

I was impressed with how grown-up she sounded. I had been thinking about the problem all day and didn't have a clue what to do. I was totally stumped.