Before the Boys Say No Read online

  “Oh,” Brody said. “That’s all right. I’ll just tell the gardner.”

  “Really? I mean, we’ll pay for it, of course.”

  Brody shook his head. “No. It’s really okay. There are so many of the bushes that I don’t think anyone would notice anyway.”

  I took a deep breath as an awkward silence fell between us. “Look,” I said, “I want to apologize for my family. I mean, you’ve been around them long enough. You know the crazy things they say about me dating. And trying to give you advice? What can I say? They’re Italian.”

  Brody laughed. “They actually gave me some good advice.”

  “They did?” I couldn’t believe that.

  “Yeah. Your Mom helped me realize that I wasn’t being very clear about asking a girl out.”

  “She did? I mean, that’s great.”

  Brody came closer to me and looked into my eyes. “I don’t know how to say this.”

  “What?”

  “I’ve been wanting to go out with you for a long time, Bea. You probably think of me as just a friend, but do you think you would consider it?”

  Pull me up from the floor because I think I just melted all over it. I blinked hard, trying to let his words sink in. Had Brody really asked me out? I mean, I’m not one of those skinny little girls like guys want.

  “Are you serious?” I asked. I could hear the crack in my voice.

  His face was very serious. “I’ve wanted to go out with you for a long time. I really wanted to ask you to Homecoming, but you acted like you weren’t interested. My parents pressured me into taking Lanie. Living next to her has really complicated things for me. My parents have pressured me to date her, kids at school think we’re dating. But we’re not.”

  “You’ve never gone out with her?”

  “I can hardly stand to be around her,” he said with a shake of his head. “She’s been great to give me rides and all, but she knows I don’t want to date her.”

  “But that time she came into the restaurant and you chased after her--”

  He laughed. “I didn’t chase after her. She had gotten really angry with me for telling her I didn’t want her. She’s just not my type.”

  “She isn’t?” I asked softly.

  He shook his head and looked at me with those amazing blue eyes. “You’re my type, Bea. I’ve tried to tell you, but you’re so--I don’t know the word.”

  “Overbearing?” I offered.

  “I wouldn’t call you overbearing. You’re sassy and you speak your mind. I really like that about you.”

  “I really thought you were dating Lanie,” I said. “I mean, I can’t believe you’re interested in me.”

  “I’ve liked you for a long time. I thought you knew that and just didn’t want to go out with me. I wanted to take you to Winter Formal, but you always seemed to come up with some excuse. I had pretty much thought you were off limits until I talked with your parents. For some reason, they think I should just come out and tell you how I feel.”

  I could barely hear for the pounding in my ears. This ultra cute guy was telling me he liked me. I mean, I’ve always thought I needed to get rid of my big butt; I’ve been self-conscious of my big boobs, my big fat mouth. I felt like I was in a dream. Brody seemed to take my silence as rejection.

  “Sorry, Bea,” he said quietly. “I don’t want to make you uncomfortable. I mean, if you just want to be friends, I’m totally cool with that.”

  Was he kidding? All this time, he had no idea how much I liked him? All this time, I had no idea how he felt about me? I smiled up at him, feeling tingly all over.

  “I’d love to go out with you, Brody.” My voice was barely above a whisper.

  His eyes searched my face for a minute, then he broke out in a big smile. He crossed over to me and took my hand. I felt a surge of excitement run up my spine. Slowly, so slowly, he lowered his face and I felt his lips softly connect with mine. My first kiss. Seriously. I had never been kissed before. I had just moved closer into his embrace when the kitchen door flung open and we heard a screech. Brody’s mother was standing in the door, staring at us with a shocked expression. I broke away from Brody and stepped back, my heart fluttering.

  “What is going on in here?” she demanded.

  “Calm down, Mom,” Brody said over her loud breathing. She looked like she was going to have a heart attack the way she clutched her chest.

  “Is this why you brought her family in here to cater? So that she could make moves on you?”

  “For you information, I made the first move,” Brody said cooly.

  “What about Lanie and--”

  “For the hundredth time, Mom, there is no Lanie. I will not date her. Ever.”

  She looked me up and down with a distraught face. “You would choose this girl over Lanie?”

  “Absolutely,” Brodie responded quickly.

  “But Lanie’s perfect for you--”

  “Lanie is perfect for you,” Brody said firmly. “Bea is the one for me.” He looked over at me and gave me a smile.

  “Honey, leave Brody alone,” Jim said from behind her. He must have heard enough to know what was going on.

  Brody gave his father a grateful look as he stepped in the room to usher her out. But his Mom wasn’t going lightly.

  “Jim, you don’t understand what’s going on,” she said with a whining voice.

  “I heard enough,” he relied. “I can see why Brody is interested in Bea. She’s a beautiful girl.”

  Jim gave me a wink and literally pushed his wife out of the kitchen and closed the door with a snap.

  “Your mom doesn’t seem too happy,” I said uncertainly.

  He crossed back to me and took both my hands in his. I felt his soft lips plant a kiss on them. “She’ll come around.”

  “I don’t know. She really seems to like Lanie.”

  “Well, I happen to really like you. And prom is in a month. And I would kick myself if I didn’t ask you.”

  “So, are you asking?”

  Brody laughed. “That’s right. I need to be more specific. Will you go to senior prom with me?”

  I wanted to squeal. I giggled instead. “Yes. I would love to, Brody.”

  He smiled and hugged me close to him. I placed my hand on his chest and could feel his heart beating just as fast as mine. This felt like a dream. Brody had just asked me to senior prom. My first date.

  I just didn’t know what a fiasco it would create.

  CHAPTER 14

  Everything in my big Italian family is larger than life. Especially when it comes to me. And my first real date. Can I just say that I thought shopping for a prom dress would be fun? I mean, isn’t it supposed to be fun? Ever since Mom found out I was going to the prom with Brody, she and Marge have dragged me out every weekend to find the perfect dress.

  I only have two weeks to get one. Frankly, I’m getting worried. Nothing seems to fit me just right. Marge picked up Mom and me early to take us to the big city to find a dress. I have to admire their determination. I have a certain trust in Marge’s taste after the whole pink shoes incident.

  Shop after shop brought disappointing results. Either my boobs were too big or the dress hugged my hips too tightly or it was the wrong color, the wrong length. Nothing was working out. I even sensed Marge and Mom getting frustrated. We called it a day and went back home empty handed.

  Johanna had offered to go with me several times, but Mom wouldn’t hear it. This was her first chance to shop with me for a dress and she was adamant that it was going to be a family affair. Marge is kind of family by default.

  “Let me help,” Johanna begged at lunch on Monday. “I know I can help you find a dress.”

  Johanna was probably more shocked than me at Brody asking me out. It had been a crazy month and now that prom was in two weeks, she was feeling the pressure for me. She still couldn’t figure out how I had gotten Brody interested in me. I tried to explain that he liked me for me, but she said that didn’t calculate proper
ly into her formula. No guy liked a girl just for who she was. I stopped trying to argue with her logic. Anyway, her formula seemed to be working for her. She had started seeing Steven, another Honor Society student. He was a junior but they seemed to really hit it off. I tried to tell her it was because they already had so much in common, but she just looked at me like I was clueless. So here we were discussing prom dresses because Steven had just asked her to the special event.

  “Can you believe it?” Johanna asked suddenly. “Who would have thought that we’d have dates to the prom? And with such cute guys?”

  I giggled and leaned back in my chair to look at the kids in the lunch courtyard. Everything just seemed so much sweeter now that Brody and I had hooked up. We spent as much time together as possible. I was expecting him to meet me for lunch, and just as I had the thought, I saw him across the courtyard. Walking with none other than Lanie.

  Lanie had a fit when she found out Brody and I were together. I know because I witnessed it. She confronted him right in front of me the week we were back in school. Everyone found out pretty quick because Brody took every opportunity to hold my hand or wrap his arm around my shoulders. Lanie was so jealous that she started screaming at him right before lunch.

  I had just gotten out of debate class and heard her asking him how he could date someone like me. Brody lost his cool and told her I was the best thing that ever happened to him. He walked away from her when she started yelling insults about me. Then he saw me and determinedly walked straight for me and planted a hard kiss on my mouth. I was shocked he would do that in public. So was Lanie. It shut her up and I hadn’t really seen much of her since.

  So, imagine my surprise to see Brody walking with her. And straight for my table. Johanna groaned under her breath. She still hadn’t forgiven Lanie and Bradley. I never knew what had happened between them, but I never saw Lanie with Bradley again.

  Brody plopped down beside me and reached over to kiss my neck. Lanie’s eyes flashed with jealousy, but she didn’t say anything. Instead, she faked a smile and looked right at me.

  “Hello, Beatrice,” she said with a flick of her hair. “I was just talking to Brody about you running for prom queen. I’m on the prom committee, as you probably know, and I’m taking nominations.”

  “No, thank you,” I said with forced politeness.

  She looked taken aback at my response. “I think it would be good to have a diverse group of nominees,” she insisted.

  Lanie never talked like that. Diverse group of nominees? Did she mean because I’m a bigger girl? She was up to something, I could tell.

  “Come on,” Brody said encouragingly. “You’d make a beautiful prom queen.”

  “Nope,” I said decisively. “However, I would like to nominate Johanna.”

  Johanna choked on a piece of salad and looked at me through watery eyes. “Me?”

  “Absolutely,” I said with enthusiasm.

  “Well, I don’t know,” Lanie hedged, “I mean, your name came up, Beatrice, but I’m not sure about Johanna.”

  “Take my name off your list. I don’t want to be prom queen.” I didn't say it mean, but I said it firmly enough that she couldn’t push it any more.

  “Fine,” she said stiffly and walked away without another word.

  “Come on,” Brody said with a smile. “Why don’t you want to be prom queen?”

  “I’m definitely not prom queen material,” I said flatly. “Besides, I don’t trust Lanie.”

  “Lanie has nothing to do with prom other than being on the committee,” Brody said with a smile. He grabbed my hand and linked fingers with me.

  “Let’s drop it, okay?” I asked softly.

  Johanna cleared her throat to pull our attention away from each other. I loved staring into Brody’s eyes. He made me feel like the most beautiful girl in the world. I still couldn’t believe we were together.

  “The bell’s about to ring,” Johanna said, rising from the table. “We’ll talk about dress shopping later. Okay?”

  I sighed. “I’ll check with Mom if you can come with us.”

  “You don’t have a dress yet?” Brody asked.

  “You don’t understand my mom,” I said with a rueful smile. “She is determined that I will have something beyond amazing.”

  “You’re already beyond amazing, Bea,” Brody said with a twinkle in his eye. “How is a dress going to help that?”

  I loved how he talked to me. I mean, girls dream of this stuff. I know I had spent my entire high school imagining my first boyfriend. My imaginations certainly never came close to Brody.

  I wanted to stay in my dream state, but the reality of debate called my name. I was supposed to have a meeting with Mr. Robarb after school the next day. Our next debate tournament was coming up and I had heard nothing from Jared. Mr. Robarb wanted to strategize with me if Jared was calling it quits.

  I made the dreaded walk to the metal building to find Jared during detention period the next day. Mrs. Tole wasn’t too happy, but she supported my debate efforts and let me out of my teacher’s assistant duties. If you could call sitting silently through an hour long class of whiners and cry babies complaining about why they had been put in detention.

  Jared was surprised to see me. He came out of class when he saw me peeking through the door.

  “What’s going on, Beatrice?” he asked in a really loud voice. Then he realized he had ear plugs in from the loud machines and pulled them out.

  I wanted to laugh at him yanking his ear lobes, but I needed him to know I was there on serious business. “Listen, Jared, I really need your help. We’ve got just two debate tournaments left this year and I need you to be my partner.”

  Jared rolled his back, stretching and yawning. “I can’t, Beatrice. Spring is really big for cow shows. I already committed myself to those. Just get someone to read the stuff like I did. They don’t really have to understand it. I know it was way over my head.”

  “Come on, Jared,” I urged. “Just two more weekends and one of them is the state debate. State. We have a chance to win this all the way.”

  “No, you have a chance to win this all the way,” he said with a sniff. “I can try to get you another Aggie, if you want.”

  “It’s too late to try to get someone completely new. There are too many details to try to throw at someone in less than a week.”

  Jared crossed his arms and looked at me with narrowed eyes. “I have an idea,” he said. “I’ll do those debate tournaments if you’ll go to prom with me.”

  You could have knocked me down with a feather. Jared was actually asking me to prom. I’m sure he had no idea about Brody because we never talked. I had to take this on carefully so I wouldn’t insult him and chase him away from being my debate partner.

  “I’ve already got a date for the prom,” I told him, “but how about if I help you find a date?”

  “You already have a date?” he asked incredulously. “How did that happen?”

  I tried not to frown. I wasn’t that bad. “Look, do you want a prom date or not? I mean, you have to be pretty desperate if you wanted to go with me.”

  “You don’t have to be ugly about it, Beatrice,” Jared drawled. “I thought you’d be as desperate as me and at least we could go to prom together.”

  “What do you say?” I asked. “Be my partner and I’ll help you find a date.”

  “I’ll agree only if you find me a date first.”

  “Let’s be real, Jared. The next debate is this weekend. That only gives me a couple of days. How about you debate with me this weekend and I’ll find you a date to prom before we debate at state. Look, there’s a lot more at stake for state. I’ll get you a date before then, believe me.”

  Jared knew full well how important debate was to me. I could see the conflict on his face. He was seriously considering my proposal. “I’ll agree on one condition. I need your help with getting a suit.”

  “You mean a tuxedo, right? Most guys will wear one of those.”r />
  “Well, I’ll look for a tuxedo, but they might not have one,” Jared said. Then I understood what he meant.

  “You’re not talking about shopping at a thrift store for a tuxedo for prom, are you?”

  He nodded enthusiastically and I groaned. “You’d be amazed at what you can find there, Beatrice. Shoot, you might just find a dress for yourself.”

  “I went already, remember? And no, I’m not shopping for a prom dress at a thrift store.”

  “Is it a deal, then?” he asked, holding out his hand to shake on it.

  I shook it with reservations. I had bought time for the first debate tournament, but I wasn’t so confident I’d find him a date for prom in time. Johanna to the rescue. When I told her my problem, she immediately pulled out her handy dandy formula. We input every piece of information we had into that formula. The end result? We needed to find an Aggie girl who was skinny and shy and insecure.

  I started looking around school, but was having a hard time identifying any prospects. Johanna joined in the search and started pointing out different girls. Unfortunately, they didn’t meet many of the requirements.

  At the debate tournament, Jared was relentless in his quest for me to get him a date. I had to reassure him I would be successful at least fifty times before the debate ended. With us as the victors again. I knew I owed him big time.

  Without even having a date yet, Jared dragged me to some thrift stores to help him find a suit. I dreaded going with him because they all smelled old and musty. We had struck out in two stores before we found one larger than the others.

  We walked into the thrift store and made our way to the men’s section. To my surprise there were two tuxedos. Jared immediately looked at the tags and groaned when he saw a ten dollar price tag.

  “Are you kidding?” I asked in a hushed voice. “Ten dollars for a tuxedo? That’s crazy. Go try them on.”

  He went into the dressing room and I waited outside. And waited. He was worse than a girl. I called him a couple of times to make sure he was all right, and he mumbled in response. Bored, I started walking through the thrift store, peeking at all the junk it held. I smiled to myself at the women’s clothes. And yes, Jared was right. There were dresses at the thrift store.