She pulled back and primly smoothed out her muumuu. “Well, the especially good news for you is that I’m allowed to bring a guest. Isn’t that lucky?”
“Me?” I asked. “You wantmeto be your guest?” The thought of Ruby and me trying to navigate the security line and boarding process at an airport was nightmare-inducing, but the fact that she wanted me to be her guest felt—
“Well, technically Hollis is going as my guest, and I’ve listed you as my personal assistant.”
I snorted. “Well, my travel is still covered, right?”
She nodded. “Exactly! And that’s what counts. They’ll hold a special gala and I’ll be on panels and—goddamn it, I need to go shopping.” She looked me up and down, a determined spark lighting her eyes. “As do you, my dear. Badly. ”
“That’s fair,” I said, my jeans and oversize blue-and-white-striped button-down from Old Navy not really feeling very guest-of-the-lifetime-achievement-recipient-y.
“You’ll really go, then?” Ruby asked, and in a rare moment, she seemed almost timid. It made me want to be there for her even more so. For her to ask point-blank like this meant that she needed me, even if she couldn’t bring herself to say it.
“Of course,” I told her. “I wouldn’t miss it, Rubes. Plus, a free trip is definitely in my budget.”
She laughed, almost surprised that I was clever enough to say something funny, and then hopped up from my chair, muumuu fluttering behind her as she left.
ELIAS BUCKLEY
SEVENTEEN YEARS AGO
TRUTH OR DARE
We’d only been in Vegas for five hours and Brody had already lost six hundred dollars of my dad’s money at the roulette table while Vera and I sat at two nearby Dolly Parton slot machines, pulling the levers over and over again.
Now we were in the bowels of one of the casinos, eating New York–style slices from some Guy Fieri–branded pizza parlor while Brody chugged his beer, then finished Vera’s and eventually mine.
“Let’s play a game,” Brody said.
“We’ve been playing games all night,” Vera told him. “I think I’m on the verge of crashing. That drive wiped me out. I did the opening shift this morning and I barely slept last night. I got to that point in the night where it was just easier to stay awake than it would be to try to get up at four thirty.”
“No one needs smoothies that early,” I said.
Vera looked at me, a little taken aback that we were both in agreement or maybe that I even knew where she worked. But of course I knew. I regularly drove past Smoothie Hut just to see if she was there in the glow of the drive-through window.
She sighed. “I never see anyone before eight a.m. anyway.”
“You are not fucking crashing,” Brody said, his words tripping one over the other as he slung an arm around her shoulder.
I almost told him to fuck off, but then Vera giggled and dropped her head against his chest.
I’d gotten used to it. The bitter burn I felt every time they touched. Every time her body arched toward him like he was the sun on a chilly day. I wanted to know what it felt like to be her fucking sunshine, but I doubted I’d ever been anyone’s light a day in my life.
He came home from one of their study sessions at the library theWednesday before spring break. They’d rented a private room and he said he’d kissed her. A kiss turned into making out and ended with her going down on him. I wanted to hate him for it. But when he told me, it wasn’t some sort of trophy or locker room story. He was delightfully surprised and not even a little worried about what it might do to their friendship. There was no mention of him reciprocating the favor, but maybe she didn’t want that. It wasn’t my business, anyway.
That didn’t stop me from imagining myself barging in on the two of them. But the scenario always ended there. I never knew what came next. Did I sweep her off her feet? Did I try to beat the shit out of him? What right did I even have to imagine the possibilities?
“What’s the game?” I asked.
“Truth or dare on steroids,” Brody said. “If you refuse your truth, you have to do whatever you’re dared to do next. No exceptions. Same goes for dares.”
“I’ve never actually played truth or dare,” Vera admitted.
“Seriously?” I asked.
Brody practically jumped out of his seat. “Oh shit! We’re about to conquer some virgin territory!”
Vera’s cheeks warmed with a soft pink. “Truth or dare, then,” she said to Brody without missing a beat.
