“Only to crash on your couch, Mrs. Gallant,” he said. “I promise I will have no involvement in whatever mischief these miscreants get up to tonight.”
He’s charming, I thought.Charming on top of being very cute.
“He’s married,” Yasmin whispered in my ear, making me blush. She’d caught me checking him out.
Katie’s mom laughed. “Don’t even think about the couch, young man,” she said, giving him a tight hug. “We have a full house tonight, but Amanda’s room is free.” She conferred with her daughters. “Since I assume you’ll all be in Katie’s room?”
The Bride led the way up the sprawling staircase after Mrs. Gallant told us the pantry was stocked with every type of snackimaginable, freshly washed towels were in the linen closet with extra pillows and blankets, and breakfast would be waiting in the morning.
I forgot Katie’s house is literally a five-star hotel, I quickly texted my parents.
Dad responded with how much he would list it for should the Gallants ever decide to put it on the market.
I’d never been in Katie’s bedroom before, light blue walls with white bedding and accents. There was a beautiful bulletin board over her white desk, made out of old-fashioned blue toile fabric and spring-green grosgrain ribbon. Family photos, concert tickets, and little doodles that I recognized as Austin’s artwork had been tacked to it. “My mom made that for me when I was little.” Katie noticed me admiring it. “Amanda has one, too. Somehow they’ve held up after all these years.”
“It’s beautiful,” I said, then gestured to a doodle. “Austin can’t draw to save his life.”
“Tell me about it.” Katie smiled before turning to her king bed. “Three of us can cuddle in here.” She patted the bed’s white duvet. “We have air mattresses—”
“In the linen closet!” her bridesmaids chorused back, but once everyone had gotten cozy in their pajamas, we crowded together on Katie’s bed with the cheese plate and charcuterie board Mrs. Gallant had delivered. Plus, a couple bottles of Whispering Angel rosé.
“Thank you,” I said when Katie’s mom handed me ablackberry-cucumber seltzer. “And thank you so much for having us.”
“Are you kidding?” She grinned. “Madeline, Ilivefor this stuff.”
“Good night, Mother!” Amanda chirped.
Hint, hint.
“I feel like I’m back in high school,” Yasmin said once Mrs. Gallant left. “Except instead of fancy meats and cheeses, we had greasy pizza and then went to town on popcorn, M&Ms, Twizzlers, and Sour Patch Kids.”
“A feast fit for queens,” Meredith noted.
“And instead of expensive rosé, my best friend and I used to steal Coronas from the garage fridge,” Courtney said.
Paige groaned. “Corona tastes like cat piss.”
“Paige!” Amanda feigned shock and clamped her hands over Katie’s ears. “We have young minds in the room!”
“Haha, very funny.” Katie shook her sister off with a smile. “And, for the record, Coronadoestaste like cat piss. Even when you add lime.”
“What was your go-to sleepover activity?” Meredith asked. “My friends and I’d binge old seasons ofThe Bachelorette.”
“Oh, I did that too!” I exclaimed, the forgotten young mind in the room. My friends and I’d been middle schoolers on a mission; the Bachelorette and her suitors had to at least fly to Europe before we’d go to bed.
That feels like ages ago, I thought, and after a beat, realized itwasages ago. This was my first sleepover inages. Because once I’d started taking field hockey so seriously…well, my life had gotten very busy very fast. With all my practices, games, and tournaments, I didn’t have much time for a weekend social life. I still had a good group of friends, but the majority of them were on my team and weren’t local. The school friends I used to have slumber parties with? We’d drifted apart once hitting high school. My constant was Connor. Between his lacrosse and hanging out with his girlfriend and my field hockey, we still managed to grab dinner and binge some Netflix every week.
“Katie, Amanda, and my sleepovers were exactly how Hollywood makes them out to be,” Reese said. “We gave each other makeovers, gushed over boys, and obviously someone always had a Ouija board…”
“And we always,alwaysplayed truth or dare,” Amanda said, giving her sister’s sleek ponytail a tug. “Katie here was our little daredevil.”
I almost choked on my seltzer.Excusez-moi?Katie chosedareovertruth? I never would’ve expected that from her. She seemed so prim, proper, and play-it-safe.
Reese laughed. “Oh, yeah, the time she walked to Wawa at midnight and brought us each back an Icee isiconic!”
“She was only thirteen,” Amanda said.
What?!I thought, ears almost ringing.
