I Was Told It Would Get Easier(62)

I smiled and nodded, although I’m not entirely sure what that is. She narrowed her eyes at me; I was so busted.

“The town in Gilmore Girls.”

“I know that.” I totally didn’t know that.

“Folks,” said Cassidy loudly, saving me from having to prove it. “Gather around.”

We dutifully gathered.

“We’re going to check into the Beekman Arms, the oldest hotel in America. Such a treat for you history buffs! It was built in 1704, and George Washington drank here, as did Benedict Arnold. The argument that led to the duel between Aaron Burr and Hamilton started here.” She considered the group of disheveled and hungry parents and sped up her patter. “FDR was a frequent guest, as were writers and celebrities of all kinds.” She turned and led the way down the street.

I turned to Emily. “Are you heading off? You have your phone?” Stupid question.

She nodded. “I’ll text you later.”

“We’re meeting Helen at seven.”

“Here?”

“No, someplace in town.”

“Cool, later.” She turned to walk away, and I watched her and Will wander down the street, pausing to presumably synchronize phones or whatever. She looked up at him and smiled, and I knew I was literally the last thing on her mind.

Which is as it should be.





EMILY


Rhinebeck is nuts. So cute. We walked for a bit, checking it out, and came across a totally awesome sweet shop.

Two words: Pop Rocks.

And not only Pop Rocks, but also all kinds of candy I’d never even heard of, and it’s not like we don’t have candy stores in LA, we totally do. It turns out we both love gummy candy, so, you know, there was some spending. Then, feeling mildly sick from gummy sharks, I suggested we go to the aerodrome.

Sitting next to Will in the Lyft, which took, like, twenty minutes to come because apparently Rhinebeck only has three Lyft drivers for the whole town, I prayed he wasn’t going to bring up the cheating thing again.

“This is nice,” he said, smiling at me, and it was. “The tour is a bit intense, right? I think it’s making my dad crazy.”

I laughed. “My mom is already crazy, so I can’t say I’ve noticed any difference.”

Will shrugged. “My dad worries I’m going to end up like my sister, I guess.”

“What’s her deal?”

We were arriving at the aerodrome. “She didn’t want to go to college, she wants to be an actor.”

“Actresses go to college. Emma Watson went to Brown.”

“Lupita Nyong’o went to Yale.” We got out of the car and started walking across the grass. Will continued, “But my sister went to Vancouver to hang out with our mom and vlog about her experiences.”

I laughed. “She’s an influencer?”

His face relaxed. “Only mildly.”

“Do you want to be an actor?

“Not in a million years.”

“You want to be a programmer?”

We had reached the visitors’ center, and Will held the door for me. “Programming will mean I always have work, and that’s a good thing.”

We went in.

“You’re very practical.”

He let the door swing closed, and shrugged. “I guess.”

“What if it doesn’t work out that way?”

“Then I’ll do something else.” He took in the scene. “Wow, this was totally worth the trip.”

The building was relatively small, but through the windows we could see plane after plane sitting on the grass, and vintage cars, and as I looked at Will, I could see his eyes gleaming.

I giggled. “You’re an even bigger goober than I am.”

“Oh, you have no idea,” he said, heading to the airfield.



* * *



? ? ?

After closely examining a dozen early airplanes, which was super interesting—if for no other reason than when Will was excited about something, it turned out he bounced a bit on the balls of his feet, like my grandfather—we went and sat on the grass and drank soda.

“My mother is deeply against soda,” I said. “I never had Coke until I was, like, fourteen.” The grass was itchy under my hand, and the breeze was gusty and cold, but I was very happy to be where I was.

We clinked bottles. “To rebellion,” Will said. “Speaking of which, do you really think those girls would have cheated at your school?”

I played with the grass. “Probably,” I said.

“Why?”

I frowned. “Why else? To get better grades.”

“Why? To get into college? They’re screwed now, right?”

I nodded. “I guess. Although they didn’t get expelled, and they didn’t actually cheat, so maybe it will be fine. If they’d cheated on the actual exam, it would have been more serious.”

“Totally dumb.” Will sounded firm.

I suddenly felt irritated. “It’s easy for you to say, you’re a smarty-pants. Maybe those girls weren’t, maybe they thought there was no other way they were going to make it.”

“Make what? Harvard? There are hundreds of colleges. You don’t need ridiculous grades for all of them.”