“Hi!” Daniel says, standing above us.
“Hi,” I say, though I’ve already greeted him earlier.
He’s holding out his hand to Vin. “It’s Mr. Infinity,” Daniel says with a grin.
Vin shakes his hand. “Sorry?”
“Nothing!” I fill in quickly.
“I’m Daniel. The teacher. Glad you could make it. Let me know if you ever want to make a few bucks modeling for the class. Oh, Em’s here.” Daniel is waving and wandering off.
“What’s Mr. Infinity?” Vin asks me.
“Oh, it’s really nothing. Just something he said after he saw some of the drawings I’ve done of you.”
“Oh. That person has seen a drawing of my dick,” Vin says, and takes a big bite of his burger. “Not quite sure how to feel about that.”
“If it makes you feel better, that person has probably seen more drawings of dicks than almost anyone else on earth.”
I wait a long time for Vin to respond. And then finally…
“Good stuff,” he says.
Which for whatever reason just really cracks me up. I’m wiping tears from my eyes when Shan comes to sit next to us with her pie. She’s brought the slicer and a stack of paper plates, too, bless her.
“Soooo.” She’s grinning and slicing at the same time. “How’d you two meet?”
“Bachelorette party,” I say. “He was the stripper. Fireman costume.”
She’s laughing but then sobers, leaning forward confidentially. “Wait, really?”
“She’s my brother’s friend. I met her and asked her on a date.”
“Oh.” She’s fatally disappointed. “Pie?”
And then we’re swarmed with classmates seeking pie.
Vin has to unhand me to eat his, a concept he clearly disapproves of. Which makes me very happy.
Fabi and Liam and Sari chase the first few fireflies. Asoftball game is dramatically lost within hearing distance. Reggie’s accidentally gotten way too drunk and Carina thinks it’s hilarious. Penny and Lauro are sitting on either side of Em, watching her draw everyone’s slow disintegration toward blankets on the grass.
When the pie is gone, the universe does a backflip and treats us to a rising crescent moon so thin you could pick your teeth with it.
Vin leans back on his palms and I lean back on Vin’s chest. Let’s cast it in bronze, all of it, even Stacia’s very dry brownies.
I’m so filled with fluffy gold clouds I could cry. I tip my face up toward Vin. He tips his face down toward me.
“I have to pee,” I say.
“Wow, I really thought you were going to say something, I don’t know…lovely,” he says on a laugh and then helps me to my feet.
I go to the bathroom and on my way back toward the group (now just a silhouetted blob in the dim distance) I hear a familiar voice speaking in a very unfamiliar way.
“You can’treallyhave thought I’d like this, Lauro. Not in your heart.”
That’s Em. And she’s…seeming quite fierce.
“So I drew a portrait of you, Em. What’s the problem?”
