Along for the Ride(80)

‘Auden?’

I jumped, then turned slowly, bracing myself. Of course Eli would sneak up on me, especially when I was doing my best to stay lost. But as I turned, I saw instead the last person I ever would have expected: my former almost-prom date, Jason Talbot. He was in khakis and a collared shirt, hands in his pockets, smiling at me.

‘Hey,’ I said. ‘What are you doing here?’

He nodded back at the restaurant behind him. ‘Just finishing up some dinner. I’ve been sitting in there for the last fifteen minutes, wondering if that was you, but I wasn’t sure. I didn’t think I’d seen your name on the list for the conference, but…’

‘Conference?’

‘The FCLC? It just started today. Isn’t that why you’re here?’

‘Um,’ I said. ‘No. My dad lives nearby.’

‘Oh. Right. Well… that’s great.’

There was a sudden burst of voices from down the boardwalk. We both looked over, just in time to see Maggie running the bases, laughing, while Adam started to wade out into the water. ‘Wow,’ Jason said. ‘Kickball. Haven’t seen that since third grade.’

‘So what’s the FCLC, again?’ I asked.

‘Future College Leadership Course,’ he replied. ‘It’s a month-long series of lectures, workshops, and symposiums, with incoming freshmen from schools all around the country. It’s basically designed to give attendees skills they’ll need to make an impact on their campuses from day one.’

‘Wow,’ I said. There was another round of cheering from behind him, but this time I didn’t look. ‘That sounds great.’

‘Oh, I think it will be. I’ve already met, like, twenty people from Harvard who are already involved in campus leadership,’ he said. ‘You know, you should check it out. I know you weren’t that into student government, but it’s a great networking opportunity. It’s not too late to sign up, and there are tons of people from Defriese there.’

‘I don’t know,’ I said. ‘I’m kind of busy.’

‘Oh, tell me about it,’ Jason replied, shaking his head. ‘I got the syllabi from my fall classes and have been reading already, and it’s really intense. But everyone I’ve met is doing the same thing.’

I nodded, even as I noted that my heart was already beating a bit faster. ‘I bet,’ I said.

‘That’s really what I’m hearing again and again. That you can’t just come in on the first day of the semester and hit the ground running anymore.’

‘Really.’

‘Oh, yeah. You need to prep early, and seriously.’

‘I’ve been doing my reading, too,’ I said. ‘I mean, between working and everything else…’

‘Working?’ I nodded. ‘What are you doing? Like, internship stuff? Service projects?’

I thought of the office at Clementine’s, all that pink. ‘More business-related. I’m working for a small business that’s in the process of expanding, helping with accounting and marketing during the transition. I figured it would be a good way to experience some real-time economics while at the same time studying the larger trends.’

‘Wow,’ he said, nodding. ‘That sounds really interesting. Still, though, you should think about the FCLC. I mean, if you’re here anyway. I think you’d be a real asset to the conversation.’

There was a loud whoop! noise from the beach, followed by a round of applause and laughter. I said, ‘Maybe I will.’

‘Good.’ Jason smiled. ‘Look, I should get back to dinner, I guess. We were in the middle of this big discussion about class rank, the pros and cons, and I don’t want to miss it.’

‘Sure,’ I said. ‘Of course.’

He took a step back, then paused. ‘Are you at the same number, though? Because while I’m here, maybe we could get together, you know. Just to catch up, compare notes.’

Everyone was coming off the beach now. I could see Maggie and Adam, who was soaked, in front, with Leah and Esther following. ‘Yeah,’ I said. ‘Sure.’

‘Great!’ He smiled again. ‘So I’ll just see you soon.’

I nodded. And then, before I could even begin to react, he was stepping forward, pulling me into a hug. An awkward, too-much-elbow, faceful-of-fabric-softener hug, but at least it was over quickly.

But not quickly enough. Because as he walked away, there was Eli. Standing with the ball under his arm, watching me, his expression unreadable. For a moment, we just looked at each other, and I had a flash of that first long night, near this same place. Aren’t they all.

‘Hey,’ I said. ‘How was the game?’

‘Good.’ He bounced the ball once. ‘We won.’

Two couples, dressed for a night out, walked between us, chattering happily among themselves. For a fleeting instant, I just wanted to fall in with them, go wherever they were going.

‘So,’ he said, coming closer, ‘what happened?’

‘I had to work,’ I said. ‘We’re behind on payroll, and there was all this filing…’

‘No.’ He bounced the ball again. ‘I mean to you.’

‘Me?’

He nodded. ‘You’re acting different. What’s going on?’