“I’ve eaten a lot of these. Plus, we havetortas.” He removes the foil and sure enough there’s atortaunderneath it.
“Thank—this is really good,” I say instead because he gives me this look that warns me not to thank him.
“Yeah, you’re welcome by the way,” Pen deadpans at her brother.
He sighs exhaustedly. “I told you I was going to be busy. Did you forget about the swimming lessons?”
“I’m sure Josie would’ve understood.”
“Understood what?” I ask.
“That you would’ve been okay to cancel the lesson. Our parents own apanaderíaand met me halfway to deliver thebolillosfor thetortas. Danny was supposed to come but didn’t.” She stares at her brother under her thick lashes, irritated when he shrugs indifferently.
I mask the shock because I had no idea his parents owned a bakery and now to think of it, I don’t think Ireallyknow him. Though it’s my fault because I’ve never gone out of my way to ask about him. It’s always the other way around.
“I’ll go next time, I promise, Pen.” He sweetly smiles at her, but his lips look a little too forced, like he’s fighting between looking happy or not.
That satisfies Pen because she lets it go, not noticing the tension behind his eyes or shoulders. While everyone is busy eating and talking, I gently jab his side to get him to look at me. When he does, I smile at him and instantly notice the tension from him subside.
I communicate with my facial expression if he’s okay. I’m not sure if I did a good job, but when he smiles at me, small and soft,neither nodding nor shrugging, I know he understood what I’m asking.
I shouldn’t but I take his hand in mine when no one is looking and squeeze it. I attempt to let it go, but he holds on to it. He squeezes in return before he lets it go. Then we proceed to scoot closer to each other.
Not very confident I won’t fuck this up, but he definitely needs a person or friend or someone to confide in.
Whatever it is, I’ll be.
30
JOSEFINE
“Almost done.”Vienna grunts a little, struggling to get the right leg in her turquoise and silver mermaid tail.
I marvel at the way she finally gets it in then applies conditioner to the other leg and stuffs it in the tail. “I can’t believe you have to do all of that just to get it on.”
She huffs out a fatigued breath. “The first time I put it on, it took me a good thirty…forty-five minutes-ish. The silicone makes it really hard to put on; that’s why I have to lather myself with lots of conditioner.”
Once both legs are in, she lays on her back and has me help her roll the rest of the silicone over her stomach.
“Thanks so much,” she pants, wiping the dots of sweat on her forehead away with the back of her hand. “And thanks for coming. It would’ve been so much harder to do this on my own.”
“How could I say no? You texted me over twenty times.” I hand Vi her mirror.
Vi scoffs and takes it. She inspects her face and hair again before giving it back to me. “Don’t exaggerate. It was like fifteen and how else would I have convinced you to leave your house?”
I set it back on the white table that’s supposed to be a makeshift vanity made for her. “I didn’t want to come because I don’t really care about these things.”
MCU is having their annual bonfire. It’s a tradition that’s been going on for years, to commence the start of baseball season. The parking lot and beach get decked out with the university’s name and colors: turquoise, black, and white. They have all sorts of games on the beach, food, and a fair in the parking lot. Once the sun starts to set, they start a large bonfire and announce all the players and talk about the upcoming season and other things regarding baseball.
The whole town and every student at the university comes.
I came once with Bryson freshman year and regretted it. It had nothing to do with the number of times he forgot I was there. But when we were together, he’d make little snide comments about how I wasn’t smiling enough or doing enough to make it known that I was enjoying being there withhim. Then he’d throw little passive comments saying he’s “thankful I’m hot otherwise it would’ve been a problem.”
If I could go back in time, I would slap the shit out of myself.
Vi scoffs dramatically. “What? That’s not very school spirit of you.”
I stare at her, unamused. “I am showing my school spirit.”
