I gasp, and then we all erupt into hysterics. Kayla accidentally knocks over the hummus, and the planchette flies off the board like it’s had enough of us.
I know it’s silly. Probably not real.
But that A?
It scrambles something inside me. Not in a big, meaningful way or anything. Just in a tiny, oh-no-my-heart-did-a-weird-flip kind of way.
It could’ve been D. Probably should’ve been D. Logically, D made more sense.
But nope. There it was.A.
And now I’m sitting in the flickering candlelight tryingreally hardnot to read into anything.
It’s fine. Everything’s fine.
Nothing to see here, ghosts. Move along.
Friday, July 25th
Ace
“Surprise!”we all yell as Finn pushes Scottie inside Zip’s Diner and the door closes behind them. He’s been planning this party for a minute—wanting something special and unexpected for Scottie in the middle of her finding her new normal—and freaking out to me every five seconds in the process.
“Do you think she’ll really be surprised?”
“Is Zip’s special enough?”
“Should I have told her instead of surprising her?”
My best bud is normally composed as fuck, but my God, he’s been a whiny weenie about this shit, and really, with everything I’m juggling on my own, it’s been a lot. It’s like putting on your oxygen mask before helping others on a crashing plane—I can hardly save someone else from hysteria when I’m on the brink of breakdown myself.
Last year, when he was in the throes of drama with Scottie, it was easy. I was composed. I was promiscuous. I was naïve. I was, however, in love—I just didn’t realize it yet.
But when I’m honest with myself, I know I’ve been in love with Julia since the beginning. Since we first made our decree. Since we first laid eyes on each other.
“What?” Scottie exclaims, over the moon at our turnout and the volume of our yell. “I thought you were all out of town!” She looks over her shoulder and meets Finn’s eyes, and he’s looking like a proud Pete. “This is your doing?”
Finn grins, the cool customer extraordinaire, and I nearly roll my eyes.
Oh yeah, like he hasn’t been losing his fucking figs over this shit for weeks.I haven’t dogged him about it too much, though. Number one, he’d beat the shit out of me. And number two, I’m a fucking weenie too.
I’ve been officially in the game of pursuing Julia for almost two months, and this shit isn’t getting easier. If anything, it’s getting harder and harder to keep myself under wraps.
Drew isn’t here tonight since he’s still in Aruba—thank fuck—but he’s always there in the background, lingering on her phone with texts and calls and surprise flower deliveries to her apartment. She deserves all of it, but I fucking hate that it’s coming from him.
I should bethe guy. I should bethe one. This should be us and our families still all together in twenty years with Julia as my wife and our own kids in the mix. Sure, I’d probably have our fathers talking to each other instead of still kind of fighting over a crocodile, and Julia’s mom here instead of dog-sitting Yoko for us, but the bones of the evening really are perfect.
Finn winks and leans down to kiss Scottie, and Julia nudges me with her elbow, the excitement over seeing our friends finding some normalcy again overwhelming her. It’s been a rocky road for Scottie, especially, but Finn too. I’m happy they’re both finding some footing in each other, even if my smile isn’t as chummy as my girl’s.
“Happy?” I ask, slinging an arm over her shoulder and rocking her into my side as Kayla claps in front of her face before teasingly punching Blake in the shoulder.
Julia is nearly bursting. “Are you kidding? I’m freaking ecstatic. I haven’t seen Scottie this happy in months.”
Tell me about it. Julia is the first to take off for the birthday girl when Finn finally stops monopolizing her space, trapping her in a hug and nearly squashing her limbs with the force of her love. Scottie laughs and, if I’m not mistaken, even squeaks out a few tears.
I wait my turn along with everyone else—there are so manypeople in here, I can barely fucking move—but when we’re all done with our initial hugs, Julia steals Scottie from the front and wheels her toward the cheerleading squad over by the big speaker in the corner.
Zip’s Diner is literally packed to the brim with friends and family, but my focus, for now, is on Finn and making sure he takes a well-deserved fucking breath. Blake Boden follows me over, evidently having the same instincts as me.
