Just as we’re about to take off down the path, a car pulls up. I glance back and see it’s the golfers from our school who practiced today.
“Oh God,” I say. They spent the same amount of time in the sun as I did, yet none of them looks like a crispy critter.
“What? Who is it?” Sophie says.
“It’s Locke,” Charlie says, but drags his name out in a weird way.
I turn around and look at him. “Why do you say it like that?”
“I didn’t think you could blush with a sunburn, but you can!” Wes and Charlie high-five, thinking they are hilarious. Sophie and I punch them.
“He texted you today. Apologized for being mean,” Sophie whispers since they’re walking this way. “I didn’t respond because I didn’t know if his apology should be accepted.”
She told me I got a lot of texts, but I haven’t gone back through and actually looked at them yet.
“Hey,” Lily says when they get close. And then she winces when she sees the sunburn. “Oh no, you forgot sunblock.”
And I know this will be the one thingeveryonewill comment on tonight.
“Yep,” I answer. “I’m surprised y’all are here.”
Most of the guys don’t look happy about it.
Em Beth pipes up, “We forced them. All they care about is golf, and it’s no fun to miss every single senior party, so they agreed to make an appearance.”
“One hour,” Locke says.
“You seemed to be okay with being at the Wagon Wheel last night.” I told myself I wasn’t going to talk to Locke anymore, but here I am.
“That was the night before practice. Not the night before a match.”
Lily pulls David, and Em Beth latches on to Cal as she says, “Well, we shouldn’t waste a single second, then.”
Locke is slower to walk away. I can tell he has something else to say, but he eyes Wes, Sophie, and Charlie, clearly not wanting an audience. Finally, he follows his friends.
Sophie claps. “Oh, he was giving you eyes!”
“Eyes. What does that mean?” Charlie is clearly confused.
Sophie’s face scrunches up. “Eyes. Like he couldn’t quit looking at her. Love eyes. Heart eyes.”
“You’re seeing something that isn’t there,” I say.
We give their group a head start, then follow them down the column-lined path, which wraps around the back of the house. There is a pool in the middle of the yard and more white columns, along with small fire pits sprinkled throughout the space. It’s like something you’d see on TV.
There are already of lot of people here and quite a few like Charlie who decided to forgo the traditional white sheet for something more entertaining. There’s a guy wearing aStar Warssheet and carrying a lightsaber and a group of girls decked out as every color in the rainbow. We stick together and circulate through the crowd, finding people we know.
Ross, one of the honorees, joins us, giving Wes and Charlie fist bumps. “Y’all made it!”
“This is insane!” Wes says.
Sophie and I are both just trying to take everything in.
“My wedding reception won’t be this nice,” Sophie leans near me to say.
“Yeah, mine either.”
There is a tent with food on the other side of the pool and a band toward the back, getting ready to play.
