There were so many places we could’ve gone, but I took Dove to the Zen rock garden, down one of the streetlamp-lit cross-country trails.It’s been a while, I thought to myself as I spotted twopairs of initials carved into the massive sycamore tree nearby:CCC + NMD.
Dove clung to me on our way back, arms locked around my waist and face buried in my shoulder. “Why are you walking so fast?” she asked. We were all but jogging up Belmont Way, closer and closer to Hardcastle.
“Because it’s almost eleven,” I answered. Curfew for underclassmen was 11:00 p.m. on Saturdays, and midnight for seniors. So while Dove’s evening was ending, I had a whole other set of plans.
She sighed and picked up her pace, not wanting to face the wrath of Mrs. Collings. And when we made it to The Meadow, I scooped her up fireman-style and did my best to hightail it across to ensure we’d beat the clock. Her laughter rang out into the night. “Don’t you drop me, Charlie!”
The girls’ porches were packed, and from the sea of stars and stripes, it looked like Nick’s brainchild had been a raging success. Dove rose on her tiptoes and slung her arms around my neck, and I put a hand on her lower back. “Good night, Dove darling,” I said after a quick kiss. “Feel free to dream about me.”
Mrs. Collings was standing behind us. She looked the same as always: wearing a BEXLEYSWIMMINGwindbreaker, her salt-and-pepper hair pulled back, and smiling tightly. “While I am glad to see you haven’t forgotten our arrangement,” she said to me, “it’s time for you to say goodbye to Miss McKenzie for tonight.”
I nodded, not needing to be told twice—in my mind, I was already en route to my next stop. “Of course.”
Thayer,Sage had texted me earlier, before dinner.We’re ending the night in Thayer. Feel free to crash!So I wasn’t surprised when I walked into the common room and found my friends lounging on the furniture. Reese, Jennie, Luke with Nina’s legs across his lap, and interestingly enough, Sage was missing.Hmm, I thought.
I groaned when I realized what they were watching:Mamma Mia.“Jesus, what are you doing to him?” I flipped on the lights and glanced at Luke. “Did you lose a bet or something?”
He opened his mouth, but the girls spoke first:
“He said it was okay!” Nina exclaimed.
“He has sisters,” Jennie said.
“Did Sage find you?” Reese asked.
I nodded, never one to be slow on the uptake. “Yup.” I watched one of her eyebrows un-arch itself. “All good.” And before any of them could inquire about Sage’scurrentwhereabouts—I’d text her later to find out—I looked back at Luke and jerked my chin toward the door. “Let’s go.”
“What are you doing?” Jennie asked.
“Guy stuff,” I answered as Nina slipped her legs off Luke’s lap. “Something to get—”
He was wearing my clothes. I hadn’t noticed it at first, with Nina draped all over him, but Luke was wearing my clothes. I’d recognize the T-shirt anywhere: blue with an American flag and reading BACK-TO-BACKWORLDWARCHAMPS.My brother, a World War II aficionado, had given them out as Christmas presents last year. Red sweatbands were on his head and wrists, leftover from some half-assed Halloween costume a few years back. I suddenly wished I hadn’t turned the lights on; it was athousand degrees and I felt sort of dizzy.Get it together, I blinked.Ignore it.
“So what is this guy stuff, pray tell?” Luke asked once we were outside, cutting across the freshman grove toward Darby Road. I released a deep breath. Without the underclassmen around, Bexley was quieter, calmer, more relaxed. It was easier to breathe.
“I don’t know.” I shrugged. “I didn’t have anything specific in mind. I just said that to get you out of there. You shouldnotbe spending your Saturday night watchingMamma Mia…”
“It was actuallyMamma Mia 2.”
“Is there a difference?”
Luke laughed, and our shoulders brushed—I hadn’t realized how close we were walking. “You’d be surprised,” he said as I put a couple of feet between us.
I nodded, but before I could say anything, my stomach rumbled. Dinner tonight felt like days ago.
“Time for a midnight snack?” Luke suggested.
“More like a midnightdinner.” I motioned for us to turn left. “I’ve been craving a steak all day.” At home, Dad always grilled steak on Saturday nights.
“How do you like it?”
“Rare, obviously.”
“Good, because that’s the only way I do it.”
“You can grill?”
“In my sleep.”
