“Yeah… I decided it would be best to stick to Bower for the first year at least.” But even I don’t believe me as I say it. “It’s too late to apply anywhere else now anyway.”
“Well, youdidget into one other school.”
“UCLA?” I laugh. “Yeah, right.Hey, Mom and Dad, just wanted to let you know I applied to UCLA behind your back months ago and my memory hasn’t come back but I’m still gonna go across the country.They wouldneverlet me go.”
“I mean. You can make your own decisions. We’re kind of all adults now,” he reminds me from atop his donut floatie like we weren’t just playing copycat off the diving board five minutes ago.
I keep forgetting that Iameighteen, but even so…
I shake my head. “At least now I have Nora here. I want to be with her, but I still have things to fix here.”
Right on cue, Nora pops back out of the sliding door holding armfuls of chips and cookies and sodas. Way more than one person should be carrying.
“Yo, Ryan, your parents’ kitchen isstacked.Did you guys know Oreos are vegan?Shit.” She drops the package of Oreos on the walkway, and when she bends down to pick them up, she drops two more things. “You are one lucky son of a bitch,” she says, even while fumbling with the cans of soda.
“Oh, sure, just help yourself, Nora,” Ryan says as I grin, watching her.
“Yeah. I’m definitely not leaving that,” I whisper to Ryan.
CHAPTER 31
MY ARMS ARE GOING TOfall off. Here,” I say, handing my marshmallow stick over to Nora at the fire pit on my back deck.
My parents both drove over to Tipton with a bunch of the other adult volunteers for the spaghetti dinner to go to some kind of outdoor concert. In other words, they’ll be gone until close to eleven tonight. I try not to be frustrated that my dad can make time for that and not for the boat trip we still haven’t rescheduled, because at least it means Nora could come over.
“You gotta hit the gym or something, babe,” Nora replies, giving me a judgy look as she relieves me of my marshmallow-roasting duties.
“You should’ve seen all the tables I set up today! They were the heavy metal ones too. Not those plastic ones.”
I spent all morning helping get the hall set up for this Friday, on the latest leg of my guilt trip. I completely lost track of time at Ryan’s house last week and didn’t get home in time to watch a movie with my mom. She said it was no big deal, but she’s been a little… off since then.
Even today, as I tried to pump her up about how great the dinner is going to be, it was like she always had someone elseto talk to. Maybe I’m reading too much into it, though. Maybe she’s just been preoccupied with making sure this thing goes off without a hitch. I mean, it was only one night, right?
“I’m just saying…” Nora shrugs, pulling me back to the moment.
“I’m strong!” I lift my arm up to flex my bicep in front of her face. She reaches out and clamps her hand around it until I jerk it away from her. “Well, don’tsqueezeit. You’ll make it disappear!”
She laughs until her eyes land on my marshmallow, which is now a flaming weapon of destruction. She pulls it out of the flame and frantically blows it out, both of us looking at the little black blob on the end of the stick.
I start to reach for a new marshmallow from the bag when I hear her say, “It’s perfect.”
I turn and look at her. “Oh, so you’re one of those.”
“One of who?”
“The people who pretend to like burnt marshmallows, but really they’re just lazy roasters.”
“Whoa. Whoa. Whoa.” She drops her jaw open. “This thing right here is cooked to absolute perfection. Just hand over the graham cracker and chocolate and watch.”
I do as she says, then I watch her slide the outer layer of the marshmallow off to create a little cup. Instead of smashing it between the two crackers, she stuffs them inside the marshmallow along with the chocolate chunks.
“Reverse s’more,” she says, presenting it to me and watching eagerly as I bite half of it off.
“Tastes like burnt marshmallow, but I’ll give you points for creativity.”
She mumbles something about my “untrained palate” as she pops the rest of my gooey marshmallow into her mouth straight off the stick.
“I thought you said those weren’t vegan!” I yell, my eyes wide.
