Instead, we hung out. Accepted everyone’s comments about our performances in the game that night. Until I felt as if I’d put enough time in without looking like a desperate puppy who needed to see his girlfriend.
Oh my God. Was I becoming pathetic?
“Darcy!” I looked over at Jeff, who was hanging with this linemen crew. “You need to move your car. You’re blocking me in.”
“Fuck off, I didn’t block anyone in.”
“I did,” Ed said quickly. “Sorry man, I’ll move it.”
Ed jogged off and it had me wondering where he’d gone when he’d excused himself to take a call. I’d known from the expression on his face it had been Bee on the line, so I hadn’t questioned his absence when he’d finally returned to the party.
He came back to the circle around the bonfire and dropped my keys in my hand.
“What did you need the car for?”
“I thought I was going to need to go see…her. I pulled out and was on my way, but Mrs. Etheredge called and said not to. I didn’t realize I blocked anyone in.”
“Ed,” I started.
“Don’t say it,” he said, quietly resigned. “Okay. Just don’t say it.”
“You okay getting home on your own?” I asked him.
He frowned. “You’re going to go see Beth.”
It was a statement as opposed to a question. Still, I nodded. “Just picking her up after her shift to take her home.”
“Because you can’t wait a day to talk to her. Because not seeing her affects you. Like something is missing.”
So maybe I wasn’t pathetic after all. Maybe someone else knew what it meant to feel this way.
“Yeah,” I said. “Just…yeah.”
* * *
I satin the parking lot of The Club and checked my phone for what felt like the hundredth time in ten minutes. How long did it take to clean up the kitchen and change out of her uniform?
I told myself I wasn’t going to be one of those boyfriends who pouted when my girlfriend had to take extra shifts or passed on hanging out at my place during the week because she had to study for an AP History exam. Beth had responsibilities and I respected that.
However, I was going to be the boyfriend who left a boring party in The Woods to pick her up at the end of her shift so we could spend time together.
I watched the back door open, and a crew of people spilled out into the parking lot, which really wasn’t as well-lit as it should have been, I thought. Beth wasn’t the only girl among the staff working tonight, but she wasmygirl.
Getting out of my car, I shut the door and leaned against it looking, I hoped, like romantic hero out of one of those bad eighty movies that were now retro-cool and popular again.
Was I the only one who thought Danielson fromThe Karate Kidwas a shit and Johnny seriously needed counseling after being exposed to a sociopath?
“Bennet!” I shouted, when I could see her chatting with a waitress, letting her know I was here.
She turned in my direction, smiled, then turned back to say goodbye to the other staff. She jogged, yes jogged, over to where I was standing, and I took profound pleasure in that. Bennet wasn’t much of a runner.
Leaning into me, she kissed me first before asking questions next.
“So what are you really doing here?”
“Apparently kissing you,” I said.
She smiled. “You’re supposed to be parting in The Woods so I don’t feel guilty about you missing out on your victory party.”
