Tugging my hand, she pulls me the rest of the way towards the truck. Joey hangs out the window, an infectious grin on his wide lips.
“’Sup, trouble one and trouble two.”
“Ha ha ha,” Andy fake laughs. “Regular for Harp, pork sliders for me. Chop chop, we’ve got things to do.”
Joey rolls his eyes dramatically before hurrying back into the truck. The sounds of Joey cooking filter out to us, metal on the stove, bags being opened. It’s a familiar and comforting sound to me now. Beau and Joey have been best friends for as long as I can remember, since before I was born. I actually had a small crush on Joey when he was a teenager and I was a little kid. Evenback then he was hard to resist with his black curls, light blue eyes, and sweetness. He’s too sweet for me, but I think he’d be perfect for Lee. If they ever admitted what they are to each other. I have epilepsy, I’m not blind. Those two are madly in love, they just can’t see it.
Andy leads me towards one of the large picnic tables by a firm hand on my wrist. It’s pointless to tug away from Andy. She’s going to get what she wants and I’ll not even be that annoyed about it. We sit down opposite one another, with Honey curled under the table at my feet.
“So?”
I aim a confused look at her. “Yeah?”
She rolls her hand in atell-megesture. “How did it go with Jackson the other night?”
“Oh.”
Joey thankfully interrupts us by placing our plates down on the table. He holds up one finger, returns to the truck, then jogs back to hand me a bowl of water for Honey and a few slices of cheese.
“I know she’s working, but for later. I’d hang out and pester you both, but there’s an event tonight, so I’m in the middle of food prep.” Joey reaches out one hand to ruffle my hair with a wink.
We both watch him disappear into the truck with dreamy sighs. I amend my earlier mention of a crush,wehad a crush on Joey growing up. Pitiful. Andy won that one when Joey was clearly not gay. He’s got the whole DILF thing going on though since the birth of Savannah. But I still think him and Lee could be magic together if the man ever admitted to himself that he’s in love with one of his best friends. I read too many romance novels. Alas.
“Sooooo…” Andy takes a giant bite of a slider, a huge glob of barbecue sauce drips out the other end. Gross.
Taking a small bite of my grilled cheese, I try not to moan indecently at the flavor. Comfort and home. I wish I could hire Joey to make this for me every night. I’d never have a sad thought ever again.
“It was alright,” I finally say with a shrug.
Andy rolls her eyes and kicks me under the table. “You’re such a little shit. I heard he kissed you like they do at the end of a Hollywood blockbuster. All romantic and shit.”
I narrow my eyes in her direction. “Who told you that?”
Andy grimaces, silently returning to her pork slider like it’s suddenly the most interesting thing in the entire world. She mumbles something, but I can’t make it out.
“What was that?”
Andy sighs loudly. “Beau.”
A wince rolls through me. “Beau saw us kiss?”
“I mean, you kissed in front of all of them. They all saw.”
I carefully place my sandwich back on the plate. “Oh.”
“Harper, I am seriously begging here. So, first kiss? First, what else?”
“It was perfectly fine. He came back to my place after, but all we did was sleep.”
Andy slowly lowers her own sandwich onto her plate. Her eyes are full of fire as she stares me down. “All you did was sleep?”
I nod, hoping she won’t see through the lie. “Yes.”
“Bullshit!” Andy yells loud enough for metal to clink in the food truck. Joey’s head pops out the window, but Andy waves him away.
“I like him,” I say dejectedly. I push my plate away, suddenly no longer hungry, and tiredly rest my chin on my palm.
“What’s so bad about that? We can all see how he looks at you.”
