But I have to pick something.
There’s one memory that sticks out among all the rest and I jot it down before I can think it through. But as all of our partners are called back into the room, I wonder if I chose the right one.
I’m starting to think I didn’t.
Mine is old. Too old. If this isn’t the moment he supposedly fell for me, then I’m fucked. I should have gone for something more recent. Something that would make sense.
“Nate? What was your answer?” the emcee asks. Nate glances at me, his smile fading. I know he’s trying to figure out which moment to say, even if it is a lie.
He’s going to pick the all-nighters. I just know it.
I send up a mental apology as he answers. “I ... was ten,” he begins slowly. “We were in the cafeteria. My mom had forgotten my lunch, and this girl next to me sees me not eating and asks about it.”
My hands tighten on my board as I remember the day. Gray walls surrounded us, and I remember seeing him slam his book bag down with a glare. I’d seen him around. He had his friends and I had mine. We’d not crossed paths other than in the hallway.
I was a goody two shoes, and he was the kind of boy whodidn’t seem to have a care in the world. We shouldn’t have gotten along, and I avoided him because I thought we wouldn’t.
I was wrong.
Nate continues on, a small smile on his face. I know he’s remembering it too. “And, fuck, I was a little jerk to her. She didn’t know it, but I didn’t wanna admit that we were too broke for school lunch and Mom had messed up. I asked why she was bothering me. I figured it would get her to leave me alone, but she went red in the face and snapped something right back at me.”
“Looks like everything is bothering you,” I recall before I can stop myself. “Not just me.”
Nate laughs and looks back at me. He looks younger, just like the day he’s describing. “She was right, of course. I just didn’t expect her to call me out on it.”
“You deserved it,” I mutter. Back then, I had a little more fight in me, just enough to tell off the boy who was acting like a jerk.
“The plan was to go sit somewhere else, but as she glared at me, she gave me half of her lunch. It was strawberries.Onlystrawberries, which is a fucking ridiculous lunch, by the way.”
“I was a picky eater. My parents just wanted me to have something.”
“Andit was the best lunch I ever had. And that was when I knew.”
My cheeks burn. He means he knew we’d be friends, but here, with all these people, I could pretend it meant something else. But it’s one of our best memories. It was the start of everything for us, my nickname, our friendship.
Hearing it framed like this makes me feel like I’m lighting on fire.
The audience coos, completely oblivious to my internal screaming.
“Well, Maisie?” The employee looks at me. “What was your answer?”
I turn my board around slowly.
When I shared my strawberries at the lunch tableis displayed for everyone.
chapter nine
The prize wasa tumbler with the cruise line’s name on it. Not even one of the nice ones either. Nate holds it like it’s his most prized possession nonetheless.
“We earned this,” he says as we leave the game. “With our blood, sweat, and tears. And that last question—you killed it, berry.”
“That was my goal,” I say with a laugh. Ever since we’d left the event, I’d felt off, as if my world was tilting.
I’m trying my best not to let it show.
I’ve never been confused about Nate before. We always were ... us. Nothing more, and certainly nothing less. But both of us picking the lunch table as the day we fell in love has me thinking things I shouldn’t.
“Wow, you guys really know each other.” We turn to see that Aaron and Trixie have caught up to us. Trixie gives me the same smile she has ever since I met her. Aaron is eyeing us carefully. When his gaze drifts to my left hand, which has been bare ever since the night of Rob’s bachelor party, I hide it. I’m not sure why.
