2PLAYLIST:that’s not what i meant
TWENTY MINUTES LATER WE’REwading ankle-deep in the surf and still reminiscing. We’ve covered the annual Summerfest event, going out on the boat, fireworks over the water on the Fourth of July. Honestly, our summers in Kingfisher Cove have been so epic, we could be here all night.
I wouldn’t be mad about it.
“Oh!” Kat cries, startling a couple walking hand in hand along the shore. “What about when we found Margarine?”
Margarine, my sweet yellow-Lab-mixed-with-something mutt. Kat and I found her behind the grocery store several years ago, all dirty and hungry.
“She was the sweetest thing,” I remember. “Climbed right into your lap.”
“I’m so glad your parents agreed to take her in. After my dadsaid no, I was scared we’d have to take her to the shelter. Actually, I’m not sure my mom ever forgave him for that. She always wanted a pet. Maybe that’s why they got divorced.” Humor is Kat’s defense mechanism when it comes to discussing her parents’ recent split. “She can get as many as she wants now, I guess.”
I’m about to say I wouldn’t be surprised if her mom accumulated a couple of dogs now that her big house will only be half full. It hasn’t been that long since Kat’s dad moved out, and now Kat’s joining him, leaving just her mom and brother, Luke, here. But before I can, a voice calls out behind us.
“Amelia! Kat!”
We turn to see Jade Frederick walking toward us. Like us, she just finished sophomore year. She was named Most Likely to Get a Tattoo, probably because last year alone she added three new piercings to her body (nose, cartilage, belly button). She’s trying a little too hard, if you ask me—something I’d never say out loud. She’s nice, and we worked well together on a history assignment last year, but she’s pretty committed to sticking with the fine arts crowd.
“I haven’t seen you two out here in forever.”
I forgot Jade lives out this way. “It’s been a while,” I say. “I forgot how quiet it is.”
Jade laughs. “That won’t last long. The party’s just getting started.”
“Party?” Kat asks.
“Yeah. Just there, on the other side of the dunes.” She points. “We found the perfect spot last spring, and made it the wholesummer without anyone’s parents finding us. Plus, none of the tourists make it that far.”
“Nice,” Kat says.
“Wanna come? Lots of people from school will be there.”
I say “Nah” at the same time Kat says “Yeah!” We look at each other.
Jade laughs and starts walking backward, as if she doesn’t want to get in the middle of that. “Well, maybe I’ll see you later.”
When Jade’s out of hearing distance, I look at Kat, trying to figure out whether she was just trying to be nice. Tonight was supposed to be the two of us, and surely she doesn’t want to go to a big party on our last night to hang out…?
“You don’t want to go?” she asks, disappointment in her tone.
Or maybe she does.
“It’s not that,” I start, even though it’s exactly that. “I just thought we’d go to all our old places tonight. Like a little time capsule of Kat and Amelia, you know?”
She chews on her lip and faces the ocean again.
“Doyouwant to go to the party?” I ask.
“I mean, it sounds like fun.” She tugs a strand of blond hair over her shoulder and twists it around her finger. “We’ve obviously been missing out, and this is my last chance to check it out.” She must see my still skeptical face. “What if we just go for a little while? We can even take our sunset selfie there. Then we’ll go back to eat our weight in popcorn and watch movies until we fall asleep.”
I nod, not wanting to be selfish. Did I want Kat all to myself tonight? Yes. But she’s right, this will be her last chance to scopeout whatever this party is, while I’ll be free to become the life of every other party this summer. (I almost laugh out loud just thinking it.) “Okay, sure. Let’s go.”
She grins and drapes an arm around my shoulders. “We’ll stay together, promise.”
Spoiler alert: We don’t stay together.
Which leaves me feeling completely off-kilter, because even at the few parties we hit up in the past, we were always a package deal. Kat may have talked more and seemed to know twice as many people as I did, but she always looped me in, her elbow perpetually hooked around mine. We both always had fun.
