I’m still thinking about cakes the next day—probably because the sugar high doesn’t show signs of wearing off for a few weeks at best. I head to Flying Biscuit to meet Jonas for lunch. Apparently he’s been there all day continuing to work on college admissions essays, because he doesn’t know how to use his summer vacation for anything other than evil. I barge in the door and glance toward my and Jonas’s normal booth.
To my surprise, sitting to Jonas’s right is Anna Clemens. She looks up at me and waves with a big grin on her face. I nod and wait for Jonas’s eyes to rise and meet mine. He shrugs, and I wind through tables and empty chairs to take a seat across from him in the booth. The table is covered in papers with college logos at the top, but very little work seems to have actually been done—the legal pad beside Jonas’s plate is empty. I step toward their table, but Ruby suddenly steps in front of me, cutting me off.
“I got you an early birthday present!”
“My birthday isn’t till November,” I remind her.
“A really, really early birthday present, then. Jeffery, cover my table for a second?” she calls across the restaurant, and he nods. I raise my eyebrows as Ruby ducks behind the hostess station, then pops back up with a Victoria’s Secret bag.
“They’re not the expensive ones—do you have any idea how much nice lace naughty panties cost? I was floored. Especially considering they’re made to end up on the floor.”
I peer into the bag, where a pair of black panties with little pink bows on them rests amid tissue paper.
“For Ben, you know. So you can knock this thing out. See, I’m a supportive friend, even if I don’t keep your list!” she says.
“Much appreciated,” I say, grinning. I look back at Jonas and Anna. “So has she been here all day?” Flying Biscuit is sort of my and Jonas’s and Ruby’s place, I thought, and I’m surprised that Anna’s presence feels so… strange.
“Yep. Why?” she asks.
“No reason.” I shrug and walk over to the booth. I try to hide the pink bag from view, although I can tell from Jonas’s expression that Ruby has already told him—and probably shown him—her pity gift to me. Anna grins as I sit down.
“Hey, Shel!” she says. “How’s your summer going?”
“Pretty good, yours?” I ask.
“I got invited to the drama department’s year-wrap party next Saturday,” Anna says with a shrug, though her eyes are sparkling with delight.
“The wrap party? Who goes to that?” Jonas asks with a note of concern. “Wrap parties” are the drama department’s way of throwing giant alcohol fests. I don’t know why they need an excuse—the cheerleaders certainly don’t—but they always call them wrap parties.
“Everyone, especially since Kell was in the spring play,” Anna says gleefully. Kell was a cheerleader who somehow got into the musical-theater class. She managed to bring a huge crowd to the spring play’s opening night, despite the fact that she had a nonspeaking part and kept waving at people from the stage.
“Huh,” Jonas says, and dives into his grits.
“Will—” I hesitate. “Will Ben Simmons be there?” Jonas’s eyes dart up at me.
“It’s at Ben Simmons’s house, actually,” Anna says. “I think he’s providing all the beer. Or his parents are or something.” Ben’s parents are famous at Ridgebrook for being of the “If you want to drink, I’d rather you do it in the house” mentality.
“Do you think I could tag along?” I ask carefully. Best to play it casual. If I get too eager, Anna will think I’ll embarrass her and I’ll never get the invite.
“Um…” Anna studies me, and I can tell she’s playing through various scenes in which I might kill her fragile popularity. “I guess,” she finally says. “Why? Wait, didn’t you ask me about Ben Simmons during finals week?” she says, a sly grin tugging at the corners of her mouth.
I lie. “I’m just a little interested in him. I thought maybe I could talk to him at the party or something.”
“Talking isn’t his strong point,” Anna says, giggling and shimmying her shoulders a bit.
“Well, that, too,” I add, but I can feel my cheeks turning a little bit red.
“I so don’t want to hear this conversation,” Jonas says.
“Ah, sorry,” Anna says, though her giggly voice continues. “Anyway, Shel, just give me a call on Saturday and I’ll swing by your house and pick you up if you want. Do you know what you’re going to wear?”
“Not really.”
“Maybe I’ll bring over some of my clothes just in case,” Anna says, a warm smile trying to disguise the “your clothes might suck” expression underneath it.
“Sounds good,” I answer as Anna slides out of the booth, then heads to the bathroom.
“What’s she doing here?” I ask as she disappears.
“I do hang out with people other than you and Ruby, you know,” Jonas says, smiling. “I mean… not often. And not many people. But sometimes I do.”
“All girls, though, I’ve noticed,” Ruby teases, swinging by the table to hand me a drink. She flashes a grin as she walks away.
“Not exactly a bad thing,” Jonas calls after her.
“You should come to the party, too,” I suggest when Jonas turns back to me. He raises his eyebrows.
“Not my scene. Also, rumor is that if you get too close to Ben Simmons, you wake up ten years in the future in a community college production of Oklahoma!”
“He’s not that bad.”
“Bad? No. It’s hard to have personality traits as intense as ‘bad’ after crushing all those beer cans on your head.” I roll my eyes but laugh anyway.
“It’s the only way,” I say when I see Anna coming back from the bathroom.
“I’m not debating that,” Jonas says. “But that doesn’t mean I want to think about you and Ben Simmons if I can avoid it.”
I wouldn’t say it out loud, but to be honest, I don’t really want to think about me and Ben Simmons, either—especially when Anna slides back in beside Jonas and I remember that she and Ben hooked up once. I’ll be kissing the same lips Anna Clemens did. That’s just wrong.
But what choice do I have?