Mom sighed and looked between us. “No wandering off. And you come and introduce us to him after you two meet. Don’t think I won’t be watching.”
Sydney laughed and pointed two fingers at her eyes and then at me. “We will be watching, Josh. Whoever you are.”
When we arrived at the club, Mom and Sydney veered off to the champagne wall and I headed for the rocking chairs that overlooked the cliffside golf course. On my way, I took a lemonade from a waiter and whispered a thank-you.
The thing with the rocking chairs was that all the teenagers congregated there while they slipped alcohol and joints back and forth among one another.
On the ground level below was a temporary dance floor with string lights hung overhead, heavy round bulbs and paper lanterns.
Bennett was there with his friends, clustered against the nearby railing. He kept running rough hands through his hair and he looked about as restless as I felt.
His eyes darted over to me a few times, but the way he acted toward me in front of his friends didn’t feel as important to me anymore. I had someone, and he was going to be there soon.
That’s not to say I wasn’t anxious. Josh didn’t run in any of the same circles as the Calvin Prep kids. What if he was nervous to showup here? Maybe he worked part-time as a valet or in the kitchens and didn’t want me to know. That would be a relief, actually. To know that he lived on the edges of wealth just as much as I did.
I opened my phone to check my messages, but the last message was from this morning.
JOSH
morning angel
CLOVER
Good morning! I can’t believe by this time tomorrow we will have met.
He hadn’t saidI love youagain, so neither had I, and the more distance I got from the confession, the more foolish I felt for it. But he hadn’t really given me any reason to feel that way.
Bennett’s friends—Valerie in particular—kept glancing back at me and laughing. It was something I was used to, but it still hurt.
Over the summer, Bennett and I had found a middle ground. A sort of quiet contentedness. But then after I came home from Texas, he was cold and arrogant. I felt cheated out of a week of normalcy. Bennett usually loosened up over summer break, like those warmer months were a time of truce. I would have been pissed if I weren’t so full of anticipation.
The sunset burned against the horizon and the blue night sky crept into the high points of the atmosphere above.
I checked the time. Josh was an hour late. I hate that younger version of myself for holding on to hope. For not just leaving then and there.
Forty-five minutes later, the maintenance staff at the club was preparing for the fireworks.
Bennett’s friends had dispersed a bit, though he’d remained, talking to some guy until he was all alone.
I’d kicked off my wedges and sat on one of the rocking chairs with one leg tucked under me. The distance between us was loud and I looked up, searching for stars, trying desperately to avoid Bennett as I came to terms with the fact that I was being stood up.
“Clover, you need to go,” he said.
I lowered my gaze, but he was standing with his back to me, hands resting on the stone railing ahead of me.
“I can sit wherever the hell I want, Benny.”
He shook his head and then turned around, taking a step closer to me with a pained expression. Desperate.
“Oh, Joshua!” a female voice called in a falsetto. “Josh!”
Slowly, I stood, my head turning to where all Bennett’s friends were inching closer to us. My mouth tasted sour as a terrible feeling began to dawn on me.
“There you are, Josh!” Valerie said as she flung herself against Bennett’s side, tugging on his arm before turning to me.
Oh my god. I looked back to Bennett, a vein bulging in his neck, anguish burning in his normally cool blue eyes.
It was all a lie. Every message. Every word.
