Eight

Robin

“Stupid Aaron is a lost cause,” Carla said.

I rolled my eyes, frustrated with this topic. I should have known my cousin wouldn’t give up this easily. And I should have known better than to answer when she called.

“He’s in love.”

She made a disparaging noise. “Who cares about love? This is about prom. Desiree is furious, and now she won’t help me find a date for you.”

That, at least, was good news.

“I don’t need a date to your prom. I told you I didn’t want to go.”

Carla sighed. “I hear you. I don’t understand it, but I hear you.” There was a brief pause before she added, “The problem is, I told my mother that we were going together, and she won’t drop it. So, I can’t either.”

It was the first time my cousin had actually sounded nice. I almost felt sorry for her. Almost. I knew how irritating our mothers could be when they decided they both wanted something. There’d be relentless pressure from both of them until we either gave in or distracted them. And distracting them from something as big as prom would be next to impossible.

“Let me think about it,” I said.

“Think fast,” she said. “Mom’s planning this whole dress shopping date for us. I’m putting her off as long as I can, but I need to get a dress.”

“We can go dress shopping,” I said. “I need one for my prom, anyway.” Assuming I’d go to my prom. I hadn’t mentioned anything to Ryan. In the past, I would have assumed he’d go with me. Now, I wasn’t sure. We’d made up and had shared all the things we’d kept from each other, but something felt different, and I couldn’t figure out what that was.

“Okay,” she said. “I’ll schedule something for next weekend.”

“Fine.” I hung up the phone and fell backward onto my bed. I had a week to figure this out.

My phone buzzed, and I answered it. “Yes?”

Ryan’s warm laughter calmed my frazzled nerves. “Is that how you’re answering the phone now?”

“I thought you were Carla calling back.”

“She’s not dropping her scheme?”

“It’s a little more complicated. Her friend has dropped it, but our mothers haven’t.”

Ryan sighed. He’d seen what happened when my mother and aunt colluded. It was nice to have a friend who understood everything.

“So, what is your game plan?”

“I don’t know.” I covered my face with one hand. “The easiest thing would be to find a date for Carla’s prom.”

“But that’s not what you want.”

“It’s not.” I sat up and stared out of my bedroom window. “But I don’t know how to get my mother to drop it.”

“Maybe if we talked to her together?” he suggested.

“We can try, but I’m not getting my hopes up. Plus, if we talk to her, and she doesn’t agree, there’s no going back.”

“Right,” he said. “We’ll save that as our last attempt. Maybe we’ll think of something better.”

He was quiet for a second and then said, “I hate to make this about me, but I had a reason to call.”

I laughed. “Other than to hear me complain?”

“Believe it or not, yes.”

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine. If you want to ride with me, you can vent some more.”

“Where are you going?”

“To Danna’s. I’d told her about the tilt-shift lens I’d ordered and said I’d show it to her when it came in.”

“So, you are making friends?” I forced myself to smile. If he had to move to her school, he wouldn’t be alone. That was good. It made me happy. It was exactly what I wanted. So, why did I have to unclench my fists and force myself to sound happy?

“Maybe,” he said. “Or a professional contact.”

I laughed, and the tension left my body. “I’ll ride with you,” I said. “If you think Danna won’t mind. I mean, I did crash her party. I don’t want her thinking I’m just going to barge into her home whenever I feel like it.”

“I asked,” he said. “Don’t stress about it. Plus, I’m meeting her at an ice cream shop, so it’s a public place.”

“Then let’s go.”

I met Ryan in his driveway, and as he drove to the store, he offered to let me complain more about my situation. But I was tired of talking about it. So, I encouraged him to talk more about the exhibit he’d seen, and he filled the time gushing about techniques and compositions and other aspects that I didn’t really understand. But I loved seeing his face light up and how excited he was about his craft.

We arrived at the ice cream shop, and as soon as we stepped inside, I regretted it. Danna and two of her friends were sitting at a table near the back of the store, and I recognized the girl behind the counter as another of her friends. I pasted a wide smile on my face and greeted them, hoping they wouldn’t object to my being here.

“You didn’t bring your annoying friend, did you?” one girl asked, and I recognized her as the girl Matt had hit on.

“He’s at home,” I said.

“Good.”

“Friend?” Ryan asked me as he stepped up to the counter.

“Matt.”

“Ah,” he said and then ordered ice cream for us both.

“Tabitha’s threatening to boycott my house once he moves in,” Ruby said.

“That might be a good idea,” Ryan said. “I’m Ryan. Matt’s brother. And I’d boycott him if I could.”

The girls introduced themselves to him, with the last girl saying, “I’m Ruby, your neighbor.”

“Just let me know if Matt annoys you too much. He can be intense sometimes.”

“He’s fine,” she said. “Plus, it’s funny seeing this one get flustered.”

“I do not get flustered,” Tabitha said.

The girls around her grinned.

“I don’t,” she insisted. “He’s annoying.”

“He is annoying,” Ryan agreed.

“See!” she flung her hand in his direction. “He gets it.”

“You brought the lens?” Danna changed the subject.

Ryan pulled the box from his camera bag, and the two of them immersed themselves in camera talk.

I sat awkwardly next to Ruby and slowly ate the ice cream Ryan had bought me.

“Looks like we’ll be the last women standing,” Ruby lowered her voice and tilted her head toward Danna.

Tabitha grinned. “That was the plan all along, right?”

Ruby nodded.

“Once Danna and Aaron are officially dating, we can back out of going to prom,” Tabitha said.

“You’re not getting off so easily,” the other girl said. “You started this. I can guarantee they’ll make you finish it.”

Tabitha scoffed. “Aaron won’t care whether we go to prom or not. He’ll have Danna.”

“True. But Megan and Danna will. Better accept it. You and I are each other’s dates to prom.”

“Ugh,” Tabitha wrinkled her nose. “I really don’t want to go.”

“Me, either,” I said without thinking.

“Who’s forcing you to go to prom?” Ruby asked.

My face heated. I hadn’t meant to share my issues with these girls that I barely knew, but with Ryan and Danna geeking out over his new lens, I would not get any help to avoid the conversation. So, I gave in and told them the basics, how my mother and aunt wouldn’t let go of the idea of me joining Carla at prom.

A slow grin formed on Tabitha’s face. “Do you have to go with her, or can you just go?”

I shrugged. “Just go.”

“Then, just go with us.”

My mouth dropped open, and I stared in shock at the girls.

Ruby grinned. “Sure. I can get you a ticket, and you can hang out with me and Tabby.”

It wasn’t a bad idea. “I don’t want to intrude.”

“Whatever,” Tabitha said. “We’ll stand in the corner, looking fabulous, and complaining about how much we don’t want to be there.”

I tried to think of any excuse why I shouldn’t agree to the offer.

Ruby placed her hand on my forearm. “Just think about it. Ticket sales end the day before prom, so you have plenty of time to make up your mind.”

I nodded. “I’ll think about it.”

Tabitha and Ruby got my cell number and gave me theirs. “We’ll keep in touch,” Ruby said. “And let me know as soon as you decide. This could be fun.”

My shoulders relaxed, and I smiled at the girls. I wasn’t sure I’d do this, but at least I had an option. Ruby changed the subject to one of her favorite reality shows, and we spent the rest of the time just chatting and having fun.

Maybe hanging out with them at prom wasn’t such a bad idea.

Ryan

“It’s not a bad idea,” I said after Robin told me what the girls offered.

I parked my car in my driveway and turned sideways to face her. “We could go with them to their prom and just hang out. Your mom should be cool with that.”

Robin bit her lower lip. “Um, Ryan, as much as I want you to go, they didn’t invite you.”

I sat back in my seat, surprised. She was right. They hadn’t invited me. Though it had never crossed my mind that Robin would attend prom—even another school’s prom—without me. Even if she’d agreed to a blind date with Aaron, it had never crossed my mind that I wouldn’t be there.

“You could ask,” I said and let the rest of my thought trail off.

“They’re doing me a favor by letting me tag along. It’d be rude to ask if you could come, too. Right?”

I sighed. “Yeah, probably.”

“Especially after Carla and I crashed Danna’s cookout.”

I hadn’t thought of that. “You have a point.”

“We can go to my prom,” her voice trailed off, and I knew what she was thinking.

We could go to my prom—if I could stay at my school. “I guess that’d be one silver lining to transferring at the end of the year. We’d both be at Morgan High’s prom.”

She reached across the seat and grabbed my arm. “Still no word?”

I shrugged. “Who knows when they’ll decide.”

“Should we complain at the next school board meeting?”

I laughed, imagining how ridiculous we’d look. “Yeah, forget about budgeting for art programs and tell me if you still want me.”

Robin laughed with me, though a sadness remained in her eyes. “You know you’re wanted. Right?”

I shrugged off her concern. “Of course, I’m wanted. That’s what’s taking so long. Both school districts are fighting to have me.”

“Ryan,” her voice sounded sad, and I looked out my window to avoid meeting her eyes.

“I’m fine. It’s this whole situation that’s wearing on my nerves.”

She sighed. “And I’m not helping with my own drama.”

“You’re not the cause of my stress.” I wanted to face her and grab her hands so she’d know I was serious. But I couldn’t move.

“But it’s not helping.”

I shrugged. “I always knew we’d forge our own trails. I thought about us attending colleges in different towns and meeting up on holidays. We’d call and text and keep in touch, and our friendship would enter a new phase. It was all so very mature and logical. I didn’t plan for this phase.”

She was silent for a moment. “What is this phase?”

“Where we separate early.”

The interior of the car became silent, and I felt like my heartbeat was audible to us both. She didn’t deny it, and the longer she let that sentence hang between us, the more real it felt.

Robin finally cleared her throat after several minutes. “I guess you’re one step ahead of me.”

The softness of her voice forced me to turn toward her. She stared out the windshield, her eyebrows lowered and her fingers tightly gripping the strap on her purse. “I knew college would make it challenging to stay connected, but I never considered it a separation.”

I wanted to say something, but the single tear that slid down her cheek slammed any words from my head.

She quickly wiped it away and nodded. “It makes sense. We’re separating.”

“During college,” I forced out.

“But isn’t that your issue? That you feel like it’s happening early?”

I didn’t have an answer for that. Of course, she was right, but if I admitted it, I knew what she’d do. My best friend would plan a way to ease our pain. And that scared me.

When I didn’t respond, Robin unbuckled her seatbelt and opened the car door. “I need to think,” she said.

“Will you ride with me to take Matt to school?”

She absently nodded. “Until we figure out what to do.”

Then she left the car.

I watched her walk across her yard and enter her house. She never looked back at me or waved.

This wasn’t how I was supposed to spend my senior year. We were supposed to be happy and have fun and build memories to last us the rest of our lives.

I wasn’t sure I wanted to remember any of this. Because it would only remind me of how stupid I had been and how easily I’d lost my best friend.

I wanted to blame my stupid brother for all this chaos. It would be so easy to say none of this would have happened if he hadn’t been kicked out. But he wasn’t the only stupid Baker brother in this equation. I should have told Robin about it from the very beginning. If I had, maybe I wouldn’t be losing my best friend.