Forks, Knives, and Spoons Read online

  “I know, Dad, but I wish she’d be happy with my milestones,” Veronica whispered.

  “We both know you’ll be great.”

  “Thanks, Dad.” As she gently replaced the receiver, she felt a familiar disappointment and a subtle envy toward her brother that made her feel guilty.

  SORORITY RUSH BEGAN SOON after classes started, and on the final day of parties, Veronica woke early to pounding on the door. She and Amy had stayed up late with Kate Anula, who lived down the hall, watching the Steve Martin movie Roxanne until two in the morning. The romantic comedy left Amy in tears and had her new friends teasing her as they handed her tissues.

  “Who’s knocking at eight on a Saturday morning?” Veronica muttered, getting up when the rapping persisted. She shuffled to the door to find Jenny smiling, already showered, made up, and hair sprayed high.

  “Let’s go! Up and at ’em! It’s the big day!”

  “But we don’t need to be there until nine thirty,” Veronica grumbled, moving to close the door on her, but Jenny slipped in with her hyper, radio-static wake-up call.

  Jenny plunked herself at the foot of Amy’s bed and started prattling. Veronica shook her head as Jenny chirped a morning narration.

  “So what are your first parties today? I think we’re together for the first round. I really met some great girls in Kappa, I so want to get into that house. Who did you meet there? Didn’t you love the songs they sang? I like Tri-Delt, too.”

  Amy had no choice, so she rolled into the day and hopped out of bed, grabbing what she always grabbed first: her toothbrush. Veronica still marveled at how her roommate could be perky and full of sunshine, even when she was tired or the Syracuse weather was dismal and dreary.

  All the girls who were rushing bustled about the bathroom in varying states of undress and wakefulness. Aqua Net filled the air and curling irons sizzled split ends. For the longest day of rush parties, Jenny wore a dress with a ditzy floral print, Amy had on her favorite Esprit skirt with her gold Add-a-Bead necklace, and Veronica settled on a navy V-neck dress, trying to downplay her plentiful breasts.

  They fell into step with the parade of young coeds and found themselves on display. Neighboring fraternities dragged out living room couches, lined up lawn chairs, and hung along porch railings to view the prospective pledges marching before them. Whistles and cheers erupted and waned above the music that blasted from window-sized speakers and echoed off buildings.

  The hours were filled with nibbling, smiling, and chattering. At the end of the day, as the rushees walked along Comstock Avenue, they were given a glimpse, or a full exhibition, of college-boy behavior. On the sidewalk, a naked masked man jogged by, swinging around to whoops of male encouragement. One pass wasn’t enough, so the disguised streaker dashed across the girls’ path again, earning smirks and discreet but curious stares.

  Amy leaned toward Veronica and said, “I wonder what kind of guy is under that gorilla mask. Do you think he’s a poor spoon being suckered into this? I bet a nice knife wouldn’t bare all and run around campus, right?”

  Veronica hesitated, unsure if Amy was seriously evaluating this guy with a code of cutlery she’d assumed was just a lark.

  “I bet an arrogant fork would drop his pants and swagger around like that, but maybe a fork wouldn’t use the mask,” Amy continued.

  Veronica wrinkled her forehead and was saved from responding by Jenny’s howl.

  “Woo-hoo!” Jenny shouted, and pumped her fist, moving closer to the naked gorilla. “Take off your mask! Let’s see all of you, hunky!”

  The guy turned back around, standing just outside of Jenny’s arm’s reach. The flock of girls shrunk away from her. Jenny looked directly at his crotch and then took a deliberate step closer. Whispers flitted and eyebrows raised.

  “What is she doing?” Amy asked Veronica.

  “I have no idea.”

  With her hand cupped, Jenny reached for him. His peripheral vision was impaired by the mask, and he startled as she clenched his parts. He grabbed her wrist and pulled her away, but Jenny’s other hand yanked at the mask. She tugged it up, exposing his chin then his mouth before he released her, grabbed at the gorilla head, and ran off toward Phi Delt.

  “What are you afraid of, hunky monkey?” Jenny called after him as the crowd of girls dispersed, perhaps a little worried about what house she would be joining.

  When Bid Day came a few days later, both Veronica and Amy pledged their first choice, Kappa Kappa Gamma, and excitedly pulled on sky-blue T-shirts printed with a deep blue fleur-de-lis. Jenny had listed Kappa first on her pref list, too, but instead of becoming their sister, Jenny put on a stiff smile and, with a protective word of criticism toward the house that had declined her, accepted her bid from Alpha Phi and skipped off with her pledge class.

  AS WAS ALREADY PART of their routine, whenever they returned to Brewster, they crossed the lobby to their mailboxes. Amy insisted on the daily mail checks like Veronica insisted on weekly laundry room trips.

  Veronica had never seen anyone her own age write so many letters. Her mother sent handwritten notes by the dozen for her philanthropic duties, but Amy wrote long narratives nearly every day on brightly colored stationery. She was a writer through and through, Veronica supposed, reporting her college days to her dad and friends afar. As Amy reached into the metal cubby and fanned through the stack of envelopes, searching for the hallmarks of a letter—the licked stamp, the paper sturdier than bills, her address written in script—it seemed to Veronica that Amy worked to delay opening them to savor the wondering of what lay inside.

  Veronica smiled at how quickly they’d become aware of each other’s quirks and habits. Besides being a letter writer, her roommate wrote articles and quietly submitted them to the school paper; she was a sucker for romantic comedies, brushed her teeth constantly, and had an optimism that Veronica found slightly annoying if she was being honest, which Veronica always was.

  “It’s a letter from the Daily Orange.” Amy carefully slid the letter from the envelope. “They accepted it, V, my article profiling the National Panhellenic Conference.”

  “Congratulations! That’s awesome.” Veronica searched her stack of mail and tore open the envelope from Rhode Island. “Eric’s coming to visit next weekend,” she announced. “I didn’t think he’d be able to visit before Thanksgiving. Is it okay if he stays with us?”

  “Of course. I’ll stay down the hall with Kate and I’ll clean up my side of the room, promise,” Amy said. “Then when he leaves on Sunday, we’ll have to analyze if he’s your steak knife.”

  “Amy, you’re not really serious about this Utensil Classification thing, are you? I thought it was just for fun.”

  Amy looked up from her pile of mail with a confused expression. “Well, it is fun, but it also works. This is how I’m going to find the right guy. When my dad told me about the different categories, I could totally fit my high school friends into each group. It works, V. Think of that cute guy, Andrew, I told you about from class. He’s sweet, smart, and confident, too. See? Knife!”

  AMY MET ANDREW GABEL in marketing class, by chance sitting next to him on the first day. His sandy-brown hair was swept to the side and cut short around his ears, and he wore a navy J.Crew rollneck sweater. Human nature drew them to find the same seats on the second day of class, and by day three, everyone had created assigned seats for themselves. Because they had randomly sat beside each other on day one, they ended up in the same group for their first assignment.

  “Please pick five people for your group project,” the professor announced, and was answered with muffled groans.

  Everyone looked around awkwardly, tentatively trying to assess one another before a history had been established, before anyone knew who were the slackers or the overachieving, perfectionist control freaks. In the end, people formed groups with those at the desks closest to theirs, with the students in between jockeying for an affiliation.

  “Want to get started together, tomor
row after class?” Andrew had asked Amy after their group dispersed. His greenish eyes were happy, if a little narrow. His smile, which shone as if only for her, reached outward across his face, creasing his cheeks, instead of turning upward. She agreed to meet him, thinking, My dad would like him, and recognizing that she did, too. After that first invitation, she and Andrew completed their share of the group work together. She found she was disappointed that even though she felt like the center of attention when she was with him, she got conflicting signs about whether he had a romantic interest in her.

  Weeks into the school year, Amy was surprised when she then met Chase. Could she like more than one knife at a time? She met him in anthropology class and the irony of that was not lost on her. Boys were one big anthropological study, and she had been taking notes as if researching an important news story.

  As she sat in the theater-style lecture hall, rummaging for a pen in her canvas Gap bag, she felt his presence before she saw him. With her head tipped forward, her straight shoulder-length hair shielded her view. His aura sidled up to her, and then he eased into the seat to her right.

  “Hey there,” his strong voice said with both familiarity and seductiveness. He offered his name and his hand. “Chase.”

  “Uh, hi, I’m Amy,” she replied, clumsily yanking her hand from her catchall bag.

  His hand held on to hers just a moment longer than was socially appropriate. She looked up at his face, his defined, square jaw line, a wisp of chocolate hair falling into his smoldering eyes. How did I not notice him before? Amy thought. No name could describe the way the blue of his eyes drew Amy to him. They are to-die-for blue, she thought. Crayola should make a crayon that color. To-Die-For Blue.

  Her mind jumped ahead romantically. This is the way it happens in the movies: hot guy falls madly in love with ordinary girl. Amy struggled to focus on the professor. She got as far as jotting the date into her notebook, but she felt Chase beside her and the smell of his Drakkar Noir distracted her from any logical thought.

  By the time class ended, he had entranced her into scribbling her name and the floor pay phone number into his notebook. He told her he would call to take her on a date, and Amy silently congratulated herself. He leaned away, allowing Amy to exit the row of seats first, and his arm brushed against hers. As they parted ways in the hallway, Chase winked and blessed her with his smile. She walked away, still gazing over her shoulder at his magazine-model face, and slammed directly into a body. The impact sent her stumbling back; she could see only the Led Zeppelin logo she’d met with her cheek.

  “Sorry,” the guy said to Amy before she could apologize for crashing into him.

  “Oh, it’s me, I’m sorry,” she corrected, but she was talking to the side of his exiting head.

  Timid spoon, she thought, immediately labeling him as she watched his tall, lanky frame and his red backpack trundle away. She noticed small details, like she envisioned any good journalist would.

  “Amy, over here.” Veronica waved.

  In one long, nonstop sentence, Amy told Veronica about Chase. She analyzed his handshake, his leaning into her, and their date.

  “I wonder where he’ll take me. I hope we go somewhere to eat.”

  “You’re always thinking of your stomach. I don’t know how you stay so skinny.”

  Amy laughed. “Come on, let’s go get lunch.”

  The two roommates chose a table by the windows. As Amy opened her mouth wide to bite her sandwich, Veronica slapped the table. “Oh, I forgot to tell you, I got an invitation to our first big fraternity party. I’m not counting that beer-funnel thing we ended up at, or the one on that porch where we only stayed for a little while.”

  “So is he cute?” Amy smirked behind her sandwich.

  “Cute? I’ve got a boyfriend, remember?” She pulled out a neon-orange square of paper splashed with Greek letters.

  “Fun! A frat party, we should—”

  “It’s uncool to say ‘frat,’” Veronica interrupted. “Some of the sisters told me that. We don’t want to stand out as clueless freshmen. It’s ‘fraternity,’” she corrected, taking a spoonful of soup. Veronica was orderly in her space and her words. Somehow getting the language right aligned with her innate honesty.

  Over Veronica’s shoulder, Amy noticed Andrew standing to leave. She leaned into the space between the banquet-style tables and waved. Andrew spotted her and changed his course. He put down his tray then encircled Amy in what she already thought of as his signature tight squeeze, pulling her snuggly to him and resting that way for an extra beat. Amy liked to think that he reserved those deep hugs for her.

  He released her and greeted Veronica, who waved her fingers, her mouth full. He dug into the back pocket of his jeans, which fit him just right, Amy noticed, and extracted a bunch of orange papers, molded together. He peeled off one square and handed it to her.

  “You’re both invited, Friday night, ask some of your Kappa sisters, too. It’s my first big party as a pledge,” he said, focused on Amy.

  “That’s the same party.” Veronica tapped the other orange invite on the table. “Eric will be here, he can come with us. We’ll be there.”

  Andrew looked into Amy’s eyes. He seemed sincerely glad that they, or that she, would be there.

  “Want to meet at the library tomorrow after lunch?” he asked.

  Just as Amy pulled out her Filofax organizer, a high-pitched voice yanked their attention to the side like three marionettes.

  “Hey, Andrew,” a light-haired girl cooed, walking past and twitching an eye at him.

  Amy’s lips parted slightly as she registered that the girl had winked at him. A twinge of jealousy fluttered across her heart. Andrew’s body drew taller, his affection redirected toward the girl. Things moved slowly in Amy’s consciousness while they moved too quickly in her sight. He was hugging the girl, giving her the same whole body wrap he’d pressed her into only moments before.

  Amy blinked her eyes without removing them from Andrew’s back. She tried to glance away, tried to dismiss the feeling nudging at her, when she saw him lift the orange wad from his butt pocket again. Winky’s hair looked model perfect, poufed high and crimped down to her shoulders. Her blushed cheeks and dark eyeliner were flawless.

  Andrew turned back. “See ya later, Aim.” He scooped up his tray and followed Winky.

  “Did you see that?” Amy asked Veronica, and sulked, thinking of Andrew retracting his attention from her.

  Veronica pursed her lips, nodding. She dabbed her mouth with a paper napkin. “Maybe he’s not a knife after all. I’m still not convinced your Steak Knife Theory works,” she teased, winking a dramatic wink.

  “It works, you’ll see.”

  “Besides, you’re having a date with Chase, remember?”

  Chase, Amy thought. How did seeing Andrew make me forget gorgeous Chase?

  “Now that’s a good day, one orange invitation and two shiny knives,” Amy said as Veronica rolled her eyes.

  ERIC SHERIDAN AND VERONICA had been going out since junior year of high school, though they had played together since the time they were toddlers. Their parents golfed and arranged charity events together for their Newport society friends, and Eric and Veronica were volunteered by their mothers time and again. One night, as they worked side by side at a gala registration table, it all changed. That night, Eric flirted. And Veronica flirted back, noticing the boy who had dappled her childhood in a whole new way.

  Veronica was looking forward to his visit, eager to introduce him to her new friends and her life away from home. Amy flopped on Veronica’s Laura Ashley comforter and glanced across the now-familiar pictures on her shelves.

  “I’ve heard so much about him that I can’t believe I don’t even know him yet.”

  “In a few days you will and it can’t come fast enough,” Veronica said, finishing her nightly tidying before they turned off their lights for bed.

  A BLARING BUZZ SHOT Veronica from sleep. “Ugh, I guess it’
s true,” she groaned.

  Their dorm, filled mostly with freshmen, was known for frequent fire alarms; that this was the third one, so early in the year, supported the rumor.

  Amy shifted in bed, and Veronica jiggled her to keep her from going back to sleep. Pulling on sweatpants and oversized Syracuse sweatshirts, they slid on shoes and walked into the screeching, brightly lit hallway.

  “Um, Amy, you still have those curlers in your hair,” Veronica said. “Hurry up, we have to evacuate.”

  Amy muttered a single, sleepy “Hmm,” as she yanked at the spongy pink rollers she sometimes slept in with hopes of waking up with curls. Inevitably, the waves that thrilled her in the morning were nearly gone by the time she brushed her teeth.

  Other drowsy, confused girls shuffled out of their rooms and herded toward the stairs. Ahead, Veronica saw Jenny walk out of her room, holding her door open with her hot-pink toes. Her blond hair was tousled around her shoulders and her bare legs peeked out between flip-flops and a long T-shirt. Jenny glanced back into the room as if she were waiting for a roommate, though she had the only single room on the floor. Amy walked leaning sleepily against Veronica. Suddenly, Veronica felt her stiffen. She was fully awake and grabbed at Veronica’s sleeve as an incredibly hot guy sauntered out of Jenny’s room buttoning his fly.

  Unable to divert their gaze, they stopped and watched Jenny look up at him, giggling. He casually swept the fringe of hair from his forehead. Even all rumpled he was gorgeous. His hand neatly cupped Jenny’s butt. She was chatting away like his hand was just a regular part of her body.

  “No way,” Amy said. “I guess I can’t really blame her for being drawn into his shiny silver force field, too.”

  “What?”

  Amy elbowed Veronica as if she didn’t already have her attention and she pointed to the guy. In a whisper-shout she said, “That’s Chase. My anthropology Chase.” Amy’s eyes widened impossibly. “With Jenny, that’s Chase,” she clarified, though Veronica already understood.