Page 82 of I Wish You All the Best

Me: Not really, I don’t think so at least. Why?

Me: Are you back?

“What’s he saying?” Mariam asks.

“He’s talking about this weekend.”

“Ohhh, I’ll leave you two alone. I’m about to pass out anyway.”

I blow a kiss to the camera. “Good night.”

Mariam blows a kiss too. “You too, lover kid.” I close the laptop, leaving it right where it sits.

Nathan: Yeah got back this morning, wanted to see if you want to hang out or something?

Me: Oh um sure.

Nathan: There’s this cool thing happening in town on Saturday, want to check it out?

Me: What is it?

Nathan: It’s a surprise ;)

Nathan: If you say yes of course.

Me: Okay…

Nathan: Awesome

Nathan: I can pick you up around 5? It doesn’t start until 6:30 but we’ll want to get there early.

Me: That’s fine.

Nathan: Trying to make sure we get there with enough time. These things can get a little wild.

Me: okay… so how was your grandma’s?

I lean back on my bed and grab my sketch pad, needing something to clear my head. I flip past the pages of sketches. Right near the end, there’s the one of Nathan. The one of him on his bed, still mostly unfinished. And that just makes me think of his portrait back at school.

If I agree to this art show, will Mrs. Liu want that one? She seemed to really like it. I don’t know how I feel about my classmates seeing it. It just feels too personal.

Nathan: It was cool, a little boring though. She doesn’t have wi-fi and the service down there sucks. Basically the only time I could text you was when we went to the Walmart.

Oh. So he wasn’t ignoring me.

Me: That sucks, I’m pretty much lost without wi-fi

Nathan: Same!!!!!!!!

Nathan: So, I’ll see you tomorrow?

Me: Sure

Nathan: Awesome, good night Benjamin

Me: Good night, Nathaniel

The more I think about what I’m going to wear tonight, the more worried I get. Nathan still won’t tell me exactly what we’re doing, just that it’s something in Pullen Park. He’s also forbidden me from looking at the park’s website for a list of events. I’m not really clear on how he expects to enforce that last one, but I keep to my promise.