“Okay,” Tom jumped in. “A, who’s gonna believe that? And B, seriously?!”
“Tommy,” she said.
“Isabelle.” He matched her inflection exactly.
But she was just getting started. “But don’t you see?” she enthused. “I’ll be safe. You’ll be there—hiding in the bushes. Shelly, too. Ready to jump out and save me. And Jules and Sadie and Hobbit can be at the party?—”
Hobbit tapped his evidence board. “Hello. Alone.” he said.
“Okay,” Belle said. “Right. All right, okay,Sadieshould be in the bushes with Tom and Shelly, but...” She gasped. “I know! Hobbit and Jules can pretend they’re together, and it’s new and it’s hot and it’s heavy and sososexy, and they’re not paying attention toanyonebut each other, least of all drama-queen me.”
Ohhh-kay.
Jules glanced at the younger boy, whose expression wasextremely doubtful. “I’m gonna borrow Tom’s A,” Hobbit said, “and go withWho’s gonna believe that?”
Shelly and Sadie both raised their hands. Of course they did.
Belle shrugged. “You’re an actor, Hob. You make ’em believe it.” She turned to Tom. “So I’d be alone according to the chart, but notalone.”
“Where’s the party?” Tom asked flatly.
“Carter Dorbert’s. He’s got that big, open backyard? We used to play dodgeball there, back in middle school,” she added for Jules’s benefit. “There’s a fence at the property line, with really thick bushes—evergreens—in front of it. It’s perfect.”
“We’ll need a shit-ton of DEET,” Sadie muttered.
“I have those hats with mosquito netting,” Shelly whispered back.
Hobbit was not on board. “Can wemaybe, pleaseask Jules if this is okay with him because you’re all justassuming?—”
“I think,” Jules said. “It could actually work. But Belle, you do not leave that yard and we—” he turned to Hobbit “—donotdrink from that keg.”
“I promise I will not,” Hobbit confirmed, hand on his heart.
“This could go pretty late,” Shelly pointed out. “We usually don’t stay long at these things, but they can go on forever.” She looked at Sadie. “We should probably tell our moms we’re sleeping over at Belle’s.”
“Is it okay if I do that, too?” Jules asked Belle.
“Of course,” she said. “You, too, Hob.”
“Mmm, probably better if I just don’t ask,” Hobbit said. “They might not notice if I don’t come home, but if I ask, in advance...? Nah.”
Jules turned back to Belle. “Can we go see where the party’s gonna be—maybe drive by? Better yet, is there something we can drop off? Bags of chips or maybe a case of soda? Bottles with screw tops, that we know will be safe to drink from?”
“Absolutely,” Belle said. She looked around at her friends. “Who’s got money?”
“Great.” Tom took out his wallet and pulled out a ten. “Now I’m paying for this, too?”
Belle kissed him as she took the bill from him, even as Jules gently took his car keys from his other hand. Tom had the bigger car that would fit all six of them.
“I’ll drive,” Jules said.
“Fine with me,” Tom said, a tad more forcefully than usual.
“Maybe... you should try pretending that I’m David...?”
Jules sat beside Hobbit on the bench of a wooden picnic table on Carter Dorbert’s patio. He’d been gazing across the bluestone pavers, to the far edge of the patio where Belle was near the keg, dramatically telling the story of her recent “breakup” with Tom to a small group of kids, most of them girls. That was okay, because word would spread quickly, as was the small town way.
But now he turned and looked at Hobbit, realizing, “I’m doing this badly, aren’t I?”
