He’s silent for so long, I’m unsure if he’s going to respond. “I rent it out on one of those home-sharing websites. I can’t take you there.”
“Oh, I hoped it might help. Maybe I could drive by the outside?”
“Ask one of my siblings. They can…” He inhales deeply and squeezes his eyes closed. “I’ll take you there Saturday. I’m off and I can get you in before the next renter comes.”
“That would be great,” I say, unsure what else to say. “Thank you.”
“Stop thanking me.” His phone rings and he pulls it out of his pocket, looking at the screen. “I might want your memory to come back more than you. I gotta go.” His thumb slides over the screen as he walks away. “Hey, baby,” he answers and climbs into his truck.
I act distracted and not fazed at all that he uses some generic term of endearment for the new girl in his life as a memory resurfaces. He was more original at the age of sixteen.
Junior Year of High School
“What are you guys going as?” Cora asked when we placed our lunch trays on the table and sat down.
I eyed Adam, who was in deep conversation with Toby about the homecoming game. He didn’t much care about the dance, but more about beating our rivals, Lake Starlight High School.
“I was searching all the Broadway shows last night.” Cora cracked open her pop and took a sip.
“And what did you decide?”
She shrugged. “I’d like to do Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, but an expulsion isn’t going to help me get out of this town.”
Cora had wanted to get the hell out of Sunrise Bay and Alaska for as long as I’d known her. Her grades were good, plus she was the student body president and played on the girls’ soccer team. It was bound to happen for her. But her future saddened me because I never wanted to leave Sunrise Bay. I loved our town and everyone who lived there.
“Then there’s Kinky Boots.” She laughed, and I loved hearing her laugh because it had a magical way of making everyone around her happy. It was one of the reasons she was the class president.
“You could get away with Chicago probably.” I ate my fry and side-glanced at Adam as he pulled a notebook out of his backpack and wrote down a football play for Toby and a few of the other players crowded around them.
“That’s a good idea. At least I won’t be in some big puffy dress,” Cora said, then elbowed me. “What’s Adam think?”
“He doesn’t even care about the dance. I was asking him last night about what we could go as and all he could talk about was how much they had to win and how Nick isn’t fast enough off the line—”
“Give him a break. He’s under a lot of pressure. I mean, his brother got a scholarship to a huge school last year.”
Cora was right. Xavier, Adam’s brother, had gotten a full ride to the University of Michigan the year before. Everyone in town sent him off with a parade and the expectation that he’d be returning as a professional player. Adam had gotten Xavier’s spot as starting varsity quarterback and he’d only been a junior. But he felt the pressure to continue the winning streak his brother had started three years ago.
“I just wish there was a balance,” I said, watching Adam with his friends and the way his teammates hung on every word, as if he was Xavier.
Cora elbowed me again. Being my best friend meant she knew when to pull me back to sanity and tell me to stop obsessing. “Tell me. What do you want to be?”
I sat up straighter, excited to tell her my idea. Only Cora would understand why I chose who I did.
“Frenchy,” I whispered so no one would take my idea.
Cora stared blankly.
“From Grease,” I clarified.
She nodded and a smile formed on her face. I knew she’d get it. “Is this just your brilliant idea to get your hair dyed pink?”
I nodded.
“Susan won’t let you.”
“It’s for a character, and as she says, anything worth doing is worth doing the best.” I smiled proudly as I bit into my fry.
“She’s going to lock you in your room,” Cora said.
She had a point. My mom was controlling and I’d been trying to convince her for the last month to let me dye my hair pink. She always said absolutely not.
“Hey.” Adam kissed my cheek and threw his backpack on the table. “What am I missing?” He stole a fry and popped it into his mouth.
His sweet eyes and boyish grin stirred butterflies in my stomach even though we’d been a couple for almost a year.
“That you’re about to be Doody.” Cora laughed.
“Doody?” Adam asked.
Toby threw his backpack on the table and leaned across the table. “Who are you gonna be, Shefield?” he asked Cora.
“What do you care?” she snipped.
Those two hated one another.
“Rumor is you’re going with Justin?”
She smiled and nodded. Justin was class vice president, and although he was a great guy, he wasn’t right for Cora. Cora bossed him around and he followed her around like being vice president meant kissing the president’s ass. “I am. And I heard you’re taking Amara?”
“Yep.” He stole a fry from her plate, and she narrowed her eyes.
“Adam, you really need to improve your social circle.” Cora slid her tray away, but we all knew that Toby would try to snag another just to piss her off before he left.
“What are we gonna be?” Adam asked me, straddling the bench so he was as close to me as he could be without getting in trouble. His hand absentmindedly ran along my lower back.
“I already told you, you’re Doody,” Cora said, laughing again.
“What is she talking about, Luce?” Adam took a chicken nugget from my plate and swallowed it in one bite.
“Well, I figured we could go as characters from Grease.” I shrugged.
“Isn’t that a movie? I thought the theme was Broadway?” Toby asked.
“And to think people say you’re a dumb jock.” Cora rolled her eyes. “It was a Broadway play first.”
“Thank you for the useless tidbit of information.” Toby narrowed his eyes.
“Well, you should expand your knowledge to other things besides a pigskin ball that flies through the air.”
Adam snaked his hand around my waist and tugged me closer. I loved that he wasn’t embarrassed to show people how much he loved me. Everyone in town thought we were young and blinded by hormones, but what I felt for Adam wasn’t puppy love.
“What is she talking about?” he whispered and sneaked in another kiss right below my ear.
“If you don’t stop, we’re going to get detention for being handsy.”
He laughed. “They’re not going to chance the game.”
Sadly, he wasn’t wrong. “I want to be Frenchy.”
“Frenchy?”
“You’re going to drop out and go to beauty school?” Toby asked.
“Whoa, look whose light bulb just turned on!” Cora gave him a saccharine smile.
“Tell me, Shefield, what’s a bootleg play?”
“Right after you tell me the chemical formula for glucose?”