“You should come to this party I’m planning,” he said.
I scoffed so hard I started coughing. The students on the bus bench glanced at me, concerned. But David said nothing,watching me with his resumed unbothered gaze. We waded back to normalcy.
“A party?” I asked.
“You’ll be fine,” he said.
I laughed at his attempt to encourage me. “Of course I will. Will you?”
“I’m hosting it, so it’d be concerning if I weren’t.”
“David Evans, hosting a party?” I teased. “What bet did you lose?”
“As you’re aware, I don’t make a habit of losing.” He pulled out his phone to text me the details.
I eyed the off-campus address. “What is it for?”
“Why does it have to be for anything?” He feigned offense. “Can’t I just host a party?”
“You can’t just do anything.”
David paused for a moment, watching me with a small smile. “A friend. It’s for a friend.”
“David Evans hosting a party for a friend?” My teasing tone melted into surprise. Between football, schoolwork, and our dares, I didn’t think he had much time (or interest) in socializing. But once again, I was reminded that despite how much we knew about each other, we didn’tknoweach other.
He seemed to sense my thoughts, or somewhere along the line of them. “I’m just offering you a chance to relax around halfway decent humans. Don’t read too much into it.”
I nodded, still trying to read between the lines and uncover everything he hid from me by just staring into his eyes. The bus rolled up, forcing me to let it go prematurely.
“Okay, fine,” I said. “I guess I’ll see you at your party.”
He nodded and waited for me to get on. I claimed a spot at the window, glancing at the place where I had left him on the sidewalk. He was already walking away, back to me, and focused once more on whatever he did outside of us.
10
“If we cut backto finger foods.” Haven untangled her locs with one hand and punched numbers into a calculator with the other. “And make them ourselves, we could save the eight hundred on catering.”
I chewed on my pen cap, staring at the whiteboard we’d been moving stuff around on for hours. Event logistics were more of a hassle than anticipated since I didn’t have the resources of the three other orgs. Women in Business excelled at hosting small gatherings, but their roster of connections was almost as thin as ours.
“That’s a lot of hand-rolled pigs in a blanket,” I said.
She shrugged. “Beats an over-charged credit card.”
“You’re right.” I sighed and erased the caterer from the board. “Maybe we can make it into a bonding event for the board and members.”
“We’ll have much more control over the menu that way,” Haven said around a yawn as she updated our finance tracking sheet.
“You want to call it for the night?” I asked.
She shook her head. “No way. I’m having the time of mylife. We haven’t even dived into the exorbitant amount of money our potential locations want as a down payment. Not to mention their insurance fees. Did you know most of these places give you one week after booking to cancel, and then, you’re locked in? No matter how far away the event is. Did I mention I’m having the time of my life?”
Groaning, I fell onto the couch, face-first. “I just wanted to do a cute little ball. I don’t think that’s too much to ask.”
Haven patted my head. “It’s not too much; it’s just… a lot.”
“What’s the difference?”
“One’s exhausting; the other’s obtainable with a bit of elbow grease.”
