Operation Beautiful

“Have you ever had sushi before?” Spike asks me as the large platter is placed in front of us. I shake my head.

“What?!” Trevor is incredulous. “It’s amazing! You’ll love it!”

“As someone who started eating sushi a few weeks ago,” says Matt, looking intently at the sushi rolls. “I would say that it’s an acquired taste.”

“But once it’s acquired...” says Spike, sidestepping the rolls for the nigiri. “Damn, it’s good.”

I reach tentatively for the nigiri: the view of raw fish sitting innocently on top of rice turning my stomach slightly. “Maybe I should start with a roll?”

“Try this one,” Matt says, pointing at one of the rolls. “It has this great sauce on it.”

“What are the little orange balls?” I ask.

“Salmon eggs,” Trevor says calmly.

“Oh.” I look at the roll and then at the guys around me.

“Just try it,” Spike says, patting me on the back. “You’ll like it, promise.”

The first piece is pretty good, but Matt is right: definitely an acquired taste. But as we get through the platter, I’m beginning to like it more and more.

“We should do this again,” I say, leaning back with a satisfied sigh.

“Indeed,” says Spike. He looks down at his cell-phone display and jumps a bit. “Hey, it’s like six now. We should probably get going.”

“Crap!” Trevor stands up suddenly. “Let’s hurry up with the bill, yeah? I have to...Haley...yeah. You get the idea.”

Matt and I end up at home with no clue as to where Emmaleigh and Jessica are. I mean, we tried calling but Haley picked up and said the girls were having some “girl time.” So now I’m sitting in my and Matt’s room, apprehensive about this whole thing. I feel really bad about Emmaleigh.

“They’re home,” Matt says, popping his head into the room. “I’m going to go watch TV. Wanna come?”

“Uh...yeah. I’ll be there in a minute.” He leaves and I sit there for a few minutes, trying to think of how to face Emmaleigh after this. Just as I get up to leave, the door opens and I very flustered Jessica comes in.

“Oh...uh, hi,” she says, more nervous than I’ve ever seen her before. She’s holding something behind her back. “I...uh, I need to tell you something.”

I shift uncomfortably on the bed. What could she be talking about? “Okay, um...”

She stands in front of me and shuts her eyes tightly for a second. “Just...listen, okay? And...don’t laugh.”

“I won’t. I promise.”

“Okay.” She pulls a heart-shaped box of chocolates out from behind her back. “Corey, I really like you. Would you be my Valentine?”

Oh. Oh, crap.

“Uh...Jessica...” I look up at her, but her eyes are on the floor, the box of chocolates still in her hand. Oh, God, why do I have to do this? I really don’t want her to get upset. “Jessica, I’m really sorry. But...I don’t really like you that way.”

She looks up at me. “Oh, uh--”

“I’m really sorry, Jessica it’s just--”

She cuts me off with a hand. “It’s okay,” she says with a shaky smile. “I kinda knew but I thought...I thought there wasn’t any harm in trying, right?”

She looks really upset which, in turn, makes me feel really upset. I stand up and give her a hug. “I’m really sorry, Jessica. But...thanks for letting me know. That was really brave of you.” She hugs back.

“Thanks for not being a jerk about it.” I sigh and ruffle my hair as she heads out the door. Maybe...maybe I should apologize again?

“Jessica,” I call out, walking to the door. I stop short as something hits my foot. It’s a box of chocolate. I can’t accept this from her.

“Yes?” Jessica turns around, the heart-shaped box in her hand. I kick the one on the floor behind me.

“Um, nothing...just...nothing will change because of this, so don’t worry.”

“Thanks, Corey,” she says. “You’re a really great guy.”

She disappears down the hall, shutting her bedroom door behind her. I look down at the box. There’s a small note on the top.

Sorry.

I pace agitatedly around my room. I need to talk to Emmaleigh. And I really can’t stand to walk in right now with Jessica sitting there.

Finally I hear the door down the hall open and shut. I peer through the crack in the door as Jessica leaves the room, wipes her eyes, and thumps down the stairs.

Okay...how am I going to do this? I didn’t get anything for her. Besides what am I going to say? Did Jessica tell her that I turned her down? Will she be mad at me for that, too? I don’t know how it happens but at some point I end up at her door.

Holy...okay. Okay, Corey, just calm down. Take a deep breath. What would Haley do? Okay...she probably wouldn’t do this. Janice? She’d probably make it worse. Trevor. There we go. What would Trevor do? Or Spike? Or Matt? I take a deep breath and open the door.

“Uh...Emmaleigh?”

She jumps up from the bed where she’s been spacing out. “Oh, uh...I wanted to apologize for--”

“I know,” I say, cutting her off in my nervousness. “I saw the box.”

“Yeah,” she ruffles her hair a little. “I thought it would be a good idea. I didn’t mean to yell at you like that. It was just...this is the first time I’ve had to watch so many people devour chocolate and not be able to do anything about it. And then everyone started treating me differently.”

Her face twists into a grotesque mimic of her classmates. “ ‘Emma, are you okay?’ ‘Emma, I heard about your diabetes.’ ‘Oh, you poor thing. So you can’t eat anything but vegetables now, right?’ And it’s just been killing me! I didn’t want anyone to know in the first place but then Jess just yells it out to the first person who tries to hand me chocolate and...”

She looks at me imploringly. “And then you got all weird and defensive. I mean, I know you guys mean well. That’s why I didn’t say anything when we were hanging out over the weekend. But...I’m a big girl. I can handle this myself. If I need help, I know I can trust you guys but at the end of the day, I want to be able to take care of myself.”

“I’m sorry,” I tell her honestly. “I guess I just...I was just worried about you. I didn’t know you were having such a rought time. I’ll try to back off but, please, don’t scare me like that again, okay? I seriously thought you’d scarfed down a chocolate with your insulin back in the car. And from what I’ve read...potatoes are not good diabetic food. Lots of starch which ends up as lots of sugar.”

Emmaleigh grimaces and rubs her stomach. “I know. I’ve been high all afternoon. But we walked around a lot, so it ended up coming down. Did you know that exercise causes your cells to absorb sugar without insulin?”

I raise an eyebrow. “Someone’s been reading up.”

She smiles. “A little. Jess told me about it.”

“I’m glad you guys are friends again,” I say honestly. She just smiles.

“Anyway, I just wanted to apologize for blowing up at you,” she says, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. “So...I hope you enjoy the chocolate.”

“I will,” I say, stepping closer to her. “But, uh, I didn’t get you anything.”

What the hell am I doing?

“Oh, you didn’t have to,” she says, her eyes flashing in alarm as I move closer.

“Well, I was hoping...”

What the hell am I doing?

I lean forward and kiss her. “...I was hoping that would make up for it.”