Zharia, Lincoln's friend, nodded and leaned into the table cupping her hand beside her mouth. "He was a senior and I was a freshman."
Lincoln sighed. "You make it sound like I was some kind of gross old man."
Zharia sat back and touched his arm in a soothing gesture. "Lincoln," she shook her head, "you've always been a little old man." She rushed on. "But that's not a bad thing. I just meant that you were... mature for your age."
MATURE, he mouthed the word and slumped over the arm of his chair. "Hand me a cane."
Lincoln jumped up in the chair a moment later and Seaton barely smothered a laugh behind her hand when she saw that Zharia had poked him in the side. Well, poked or pinched, she hadn't seen it happen, just his reaction and her smile.
Seaton struggled to tamp down her laughter, but beside her, Sam wasn't holding it back, he just managed to keep it quiet.
Leaning in a little more, Seaton asked them, "How did you meet each other?"
The two turned toward each other as if they were connected with a string.
A whole conversation happened between them using just their facial features and it seemed that they decided to let Zharia start the story without a single word being spoken.
"I was in the Junior Varsity Cheer Squad and Lincoln was in the Varsity Cheer Squad."
Seaton's eyes widened at that. "I couldn't even do a cartwheel."
Zharia gave her a wink. "I can teach you."
Seaton sat back and held up her hands in front of her. "No. You might end up getting hurt. The only thing I could do passably well when I was in school was square dancing."
She almost sank into herself after she said the words, but she felt Sam's hand on her back just over the top of the chair.
With his reassuring touch there, she straightened her back, looking up and across the table.
She heard Sam beside her.
"We did that during P.E. If they'd given us a grade on it, I would have failed."
Seaton turned in her seat and pulled a piece of her garlic bread off from the whole slice she was holding. "I find that hard to believe. You're athletic."
Lincoln coughed and Zharia had to pat him on the back.
Seaton saw Sam look across the table at his friend.
Sam grinned, showing his teeth. "Laugh it up, Lincoln."
Lincoln shook his head. "I was just going to speak, and I started to choke on the bite I had in my mouth."
"It better not be my enchiladas," Zharia gave him a pointed look.
Lincoln started to laugh and almost choked again.
Zharia handed him a glass of iced tea and he took a long, grateful drink from it.
When Lincoln came up for air he was smiling again. "I was just going to say that people can be athletic, but dancing is sometimes entirely different... uh..."
"Sport?"
That came from Sam, but Lincoln gave his head a decisive shake. "No... Not that."
When no one came up with the right word, Lincoln continued. "I can't dance to save my life." He sighed. "It's the reason I didn't even think about going to prom. Two left feet."
Zharia gave him a glare. "We'll talk about that later."
