When we get to Agnes’s, Freddie is sitting on the front porch waiting for us in shorts and a striped tank top.
“Is this the piece of meat you ran off with the other night?” asks Saul. “He’s even cuter when I’m sober.”
Ruthie rolls her eyes and nudges me to scoot over so that I’m sitting in the middle. “I hate uneven numbers.”
“Get over it,” I tell her. It’s not so much uneven numbers but new people that Ruth isn’t a fan of.
Freddie hoists himself up using the roll bar and slides in next to me. “Thanks for inviting me.” His voice drops to a whisper when he asks, “You sure your friends don’t mind?”
I laugh. “This is the most exciting thing to happen to them all summer.” I pat his bare knee. “Guys, this is Freddie.”
Saul whistles, and Ruth offers a short wave, which is probably the closest thing to cordial I can expect from her.Ruth is all hips and thighs and makes no apologies about it, plus Freddie and I are definitely not small people, so it’s a squeeze, but we fit. And to be honest, this is my ideal platonic people-sandwich.
“You know Hattie,” I say. “And that’s Saul and his little sister, Ruth. The three of us will be seniors together.”
Saul speeds down the coastal highway to Gulfport, which is about a thirty-minute drive and has the closest movie theater.
“You got a girlfriend, pretty boy?” hollers Saul over the wind.
“I do,” Freddie shouts. “Her name’s Vivienne.”
I turn to him with a raised eyebrow. A girlfriend?
He grins and shrugs.
I feel a little uncomfortable that he didn’t tell me about her, and I’m not sure why. I almost say something or crack a dumb joke, but then I remember my own lie of omission. I promise myself to tell him about Grace as soon as I can.
“Long distance?” asks Hattie once we roll to a stop at the red light off the shipping docks.
“We’re making it work,” says Freddie. “When it’s supposed to work, it does. But you gotta make it happen.” He speaks with such conviction I almost believe him.
“Long distance is bullshit,” Hattie tells him, but I know it’s me she’s talking to. “Just askin’ for someone to get hurt.”
Freddie grins. “That’s how you know it was worth it. When it hurts.”
Ruth and Saul both sigh for entirely different reasons.
The wind silences us for the rest of the drive and myhair swirls above us, like a blue demon chasing us out of town.
When we arrive at Gulfport Galaxy 9, the storm clouds that hovered over the coast all morning have nearly caught us, so we help Saul put the vinyl top on his Jeep, which he’s always lovingly referred to as the Heap (of shit) since it’s broken-down more often than it’s actually running. The Jeep is a yellowy cream color and before she was the Heap (of shit), he used her for mudding—which is part of the reason why she’s in such tough shape now.
“All right, kiddies,” says Saul as we stand below the marquee, studying the showtimes available to us.
“I want to seeSilent Bloodbath,” says Ruthie with determination.
Me, Hattie, and Saul allooooohin unison.
“No can do,” says Freddie.
“Is Freddie Floaties scared?” says Hattie in that horrible whiny voice she used to tease me with when we were kids.
He shrugs. “Promised Viv we’d see it together.”
Saul rolls his eyes and mimes pointing a loaded gun to his head.
“It’s cool,” Freddie says. “Y’all guys see it and I’ll chill in the arcade or see”—he scans the marquee for a moment—“Kissing in French?”
“Sounds good to me!” Saul steps up to the window to buy tickets for himself and Ruthie. “Two forSilent Bloodbath.”
