Halfway through the reception, I felt a dark cloud swirl around me. I didn’t want Chris to be my “great love.” He barely liked me most days. I only married him because no one else was interested in me, and I was desperate to get out of my stepfather’s house. Now, Chris was dead, and I was nursing a crush on a man so far out of my league.
Throughout the reception, Boone moved around the Sorority House’s massive backyard. I saw him stop to talk to Clint and Ivy. If I had been standing with them, I could have momentarily felt his gaze on me. I always seemed to be in the wrong place for us to casually meet up. Instead of approaching him, I admired him from afar.
“What’s wrong?” Stevie asked me as I watched Boone carry Cher on his back around the party. “And don’t lie because I’m too stoned to know the difference.”
I glanced at Stevie and admired her pink hair wrapped up in a sort of Bride of Frankenstein design. The girls had been so impressed when they first saw her hair. Once again, I felt lame compared to the wild women around me. Even my dress tonight was overly long and dowdy, like something my stepfather would have appreciated.
“I’m considering whether to stick this Eddie Murphy face in Boone’s jacket,” I said, showing her the paper in my hand. “But I’ll probably chicken out.”
“You wuss,” Stevie said and then told Vanessa nearby, “Distract this lovely fox, will ya?”
“What’s happening?” Vanessa asked.
Before I could answer, Stevie swiped the little paper from my open palm and dropped to the ground. I nearly leapt on her back as she crawled wildly toward the chair where Boone’s jacket hung.
“No, seriously,” Vanessa whispered in my ear. “What’s happening?”
“Stevie is doing what I can’t.”
Brushing aside her blonde hair, Vanessa asked, “Why can’t you do it? And what is it that is happening?”
Stevie shoved the paper into a jacket pocket. I waved wildly when I realized she wasn’t at Boone’s chair. Vanessa made a bird noise to get Stevie’s attention. Instead, she gained the notice of Cher, who directed Boone back toward us.
“No,” I mumbled and nearly ran away.
“Caw-caw,” Vanessa said and waved Cher off.
“Tweet-tweet!” Cher yelled back.
“Hee-haw,” Boone announced. “You know, because I’m Cher’s donkey.”
His gaze met mine, and I think maybe I smiled. I wanted Boone to know how much I liked him. However, based on his confused expression, my face did not, in fact, smile.
Once Boone walked away with Cher on his back, I scurried over to Stevie giggling on the ground next to the chairs.
“I don’t know what that bird noise means,” Stevie said, laughing against me as I fished the paper out of Clint’s jacket and tried to stuff it in my pocket.
“No, love is forlorn and lusting.”
“What?” I asked Stevie.
“I have no fucking idea,” she replied and began laughing again.
Vanessa crawled over to us and asked, “What’s the end game here, foxes?”
“She wants to stick this paper into Boone’s jacket pocket,” Stevie said and stole it from my hand.
Vanessa took the Eddie Murphy face and shoved it in Boone’s jacket. We all froze when we heard Cher calling for Stevie.
“Flee,” Vanessa whispered. “Tweet, caw, just go.”
We crawled in different directions. I ended up bumping into Rock, who frowned down at me. I lifted my gaze to meet his annoyed one.
“We’re playing a game,” I explained and stood up. “Sorry.”
After he eyed me like I might be fucking with him, I ran inside the Sorority House, where I nearly collided with Goldie.
Boone’s older sister smiled at me. She’d always been friendly, yet I feared sharing my feelings with her. What if she said Boone wasn’t interested? I couldn’t handle such truth.
