ON WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON, CALLIE AND I scanned the chalkboard with the Sweet Shoppe’s specials of the day.
“Um, we’re so getting frozen yogurt,” Callie said. “They’ve got strawberry-mango today.”
“Done,” I said. “Large, of course.”
Callie grinned. “Natch.”
We got our orders and picked out a table in the back of the shop, where it was quiet. We started to eat and I smiled to myself, thinking how good this felt. Callie and me hanging out with no pressure and zero weirdness. Maybe things were finally going to be back to normal.
Callie stuck her spoon into her yogurt and leaned forward. “So, did you hear the latest about Julia and Ben?”
“Nooo! What?” My spoon hovered in the air halfway between my cup and my mouth.
“They just got back together,” Callie said. “They’re keeping it on the DL, though.”
“Why? No one cares if they’re back together.” I took a bite of yogurt.
“You’d think, but I heard Julia telling Alison that she’s sure Jas will try to steal Ben if she knows they’re together just because she hates Julia so much.”
“Maybe,” I said. “But we’ve all got to stop being afraid to go public with our boyfriends.” I laughed. “It’s just wrong!”
Callie raised her spoon and we touched them together. “Agreed! And we really need to work on said boyfriends. The hating-each-other thing is getting old.”
“Totally. It would be so much easier for all of us to hang out if they’d chill.”
Callie rolled her eyes. “Jacob can be so stubborn. He just won’t get over his thing with Eric. They both need to grow up.”
“You think?” I smiled at her. “But no matter what—even if they never even look at each other again—we’re still best friends. They’ll have to deal.”
Callie nodded. “Yeah! I mean, we can have boyfriends, but it can’t take up all of our best-friend time.”
I smiled. Callie sounded more like herself than she had in months. She wasn’t clinging to Jacob and she wanted to do things with me. We were gossiping and joking like we used to.
I took my time eating my yogurt and so did Callie. We got into a long and very important conversation about whether or not Amberlynn, a ninth grader, had made the right decision to get bangs.
“You could totally do them with your face shape,” Callie said. “They’d look amazing.”
I touched my hair. “It’s too wavy. I’d be attached to my flatiron.”
Callie giggled. “I can imagine you keeping it in your purse and straightening your bangs in between classes with one of those portable ones.”
“But you could do bangs,” I said. “Your hair is straight. Sideswept bangs would be pretty.”
“I might,” Callie said. “And whatever. If I don’t like them, they’ll grow out.”
I ate a few more bites of yogurt, then my phone buzzed. I checked it.
“A reminder from my calendar,” I explained. “I’ve got to tell Livvie that I’m going to stay with Paige during fall break.”
“You guys are going to have sooo much fun,” Callie said. “My parents are excited that I’m coming home for a week—I’m totally taking advantage of them.” She grinned. “They’re going to take me to all of my fave local restaurants and Mom will probably take me shopping.”
“I love the way you think,” I said. “I know Paige I and will do some serious shopping in Manhattan. She was telling me about sample sales and how you almost have to fight people to get the good stuff because the prices are so awesome.”
“If you see anything I’d like, you better snag it for me,” Callie said.
“Duh.”
We gossiped and talked about what to look for at the sample sales—purses and shoes—for another hour before hugging and starting back toward our dorms. I wrapped my arms across my chest as I walked. Maybe I’d been making too big a deal out of everything over the past week and a half.