“Call me when you’re ready,” Mom says in the Rallyburger parking lot. “Otherwise I’ll be back at eleven.”
“Okay.” I leap out of the car and slam the door.
As is usual at seven thirty on a Friday night, Rallyburger is hopping with kids from school. I weave among table after table of classmates and acquaintances. Is it me, or do people glance away more than usual as I pass? Are they laughing extra hard so they can throw their heads back and avoid eye contact?
Alex is sitting all the way in back at a table for four, with our friends Bill and Scott.
“We’re only here for a minute. Kerm and I have something we need to do,” Alex is telling the others. He turns to me. “Hey, bud.” He pushes out my chair with his foot.
I flop down across from him. “Hey.”
Alex is the only one looking at me. Bill and Scott become suddenly very interested in their fries.
“Hey,” I repeat.
“Hey,” they mumble, mouths full. Then no one says anything for about a full minute.
“Geez, you guys. Who died?” I joke. I’m the only one who laughs. Bill blushes redder than the sunset. Scott just chews and stares.
Alex pushes his plate toward me. “I saved you half of my burger.”
I scarf it in record time. Three and a half bites. Fries, straight down the hatch like sailors into a submarine.
“You ready?” Alex throws eight bucks onto the table.
I swig water, spitting back the ice cubes. “Yep.”
“Bye, guys,” we say.
“Bye.” Bill and Scott seem relieved that we’re going.
We weave back through the tables, headed for the parking lot. It’s not my imagination. People avert their eyes. People who were not invited to Steve Burns’s party, and who will be stuck at Rallyburger for the next three hours, are trying to make it seem like the cool place to be. A group that usually includes Alex and me. Come to think of it, why did we get invited to Steve Burns’s party?
Alex seems to know where he’s going. I follow.
“Well, that was weird.”
“They don’t know what to say. We were talking about it before you got there.”
“Great. So everyone is talking about me?”
“Not everyone. Well, kinda.”
“Great.”
“People feel bad.”
“Good for them.”
“It’ll be fine.”
Right. I’m sure that fine is exactly what it’s going to be.