First & Then(27)

“This isn’t fair,” I said, after my mom had pronounced sentence.

“Look.” Mom lowered her voice while my dad tried to talk to Foster about the game. “This means a lot to Foster. Just this once, please, take him and keep an eye on him.”

“If I had asked to go to one of these things when I was a freshman, you would’ve said no flat out.”

“You didn’t have an older sibling to look after you.”

“I’m not his sibling.”

“Devon.” Mom’s voice went icy. “You’re being unreasonable.”

She was right, and I knew it, so I just scowled and said, “Fine,” and didn’t talk to Foster the whole way over to Frank Ferris’ house, because it was easier to take it out on him than on my parents.

“You won’t even know I’m here, Dev,” Foster said before we got out of the car. “I promise I won’t do anything embarrassing.”

I cringed and said, “I’m sure you’ll be fine.”

“This isn’t my first party, you know. I used to go to these things all the time.”

“Really?” We trekked up Frank’s front walk. From the cars on the street and the shadows in the windows, you could tell this place was packed.

“Well … they were kind of different. But sort of the same.” We pushed through the front door, a sea of people opening up in front of us. Foster smiled. “See you later.”

“I’m supposed to look after—” I started, but he melted into the mass of revelers and disappeared.

It wasn’t a great party. I didn’t locate Cas for the first twenty minutes or so, and when I finally spotted him, it was on the sunporch with Lindsay Renshaw, a little too cozy on a wicker love seat.

“Hey, Devon!” Lindsay waved me over. “Some game, huh?”

“Yeah, it was awesome.”

“Sit with us,” Cas said, but he didn’t scoot over, because, clearly, there was no room to scoot.

The nearest seat was halfway across the room. “It’s cool. I’ve got to go find Foster anyway.”

“Oh my gosh! Your cousin!” Lindsay’s face brightened. “He’s so cute, Devon, and really talented! My dad thought so, too. He said Foster’s kick was incredible for somebody so young.”

“Awesome … I’ll, uh, let him know.”

“We’re going to hit the dance floor in a little bit,” Cas said. “You should come with.”

One, there was no dance floor, just an awkward space cleared in the living room. Two, I had just about as much social dancing skill as I did athletic prowess. Three, I had no desire to watch Cas and Lindsay grind to crappy pop songs.

“Thanks, but I think I’m gonna go catch up with some people.” Tonight’s version of the quick escape.

After a circulation of the ground floor, a few hellos, and a little small talk, I was left to hover. Chapter Two of the story of my life: How awkward party hovering looks good on no one.

I was hovering in the front hallway when I noticed that Ezra Lynley was nearby. He was with a group of underclassmen who were desperately trying to engage him in conversation, but he didn’t look chatty. In fact, upon closer inspection, it appeared that he was hovering, too. It wasn’t for a few minutes that I realized he was drifting closer and closer to where I was standing.

“Hi,” I said, finally, when he was too close to be ignored. “How’s it going?”

I hadn’t spoken to Ezra since he had returned my book. I can’t say Rachel’s interview was at the top of my to do list. But since he was decent in the hallway, I figured maybe he could be decent at a party, too.

That thought left my mind when Ezra turned and looked at me like he didn’t know who I was. I was about to roll my eyes when he said, “Not bad. You?”

A response. Not a particularly effusive one, but at least it was civil.

“Okay. You seen Foster around?” I was considering leaving.

“No. I didn’t even know he was here.”

“Yeah, he said he’d make himself scarce.”

The pound of bass added to the din in the living room as the sound system kicked in. The “dance floor” flooded with people.

“I don’t really like these things,” Ezra said after a while.

“No?”

“No.”

Silence.

“Kind of reminds me of dances in middle school,” I said. “You know, the ones where the vice principal would go around with the ruler, making sure there was ‘room for the Holy Ghost’?”

“I never went to those.”

The sea of dancers rippled a little. I spotted Cas in the middle of the room with Lindsay. They were gyrating to the beat. There was no room for the Holy Ghost.

A dull ache hit my stomach. Don’t get me wrong. Cas had dated before, but—as bad as this sounds—I had always felt vindicated by the fact that Cas’s relationships never lasted long.

But this was Lindsay Renshaw. Lindsay Renshaw wasn’t the kind of person you go out with for two weeks and then get bored of.

I knew that one day Cas would fall in love, and then it would be all over but the crying. Someone else would be dry-dry at the Saturday afternoon car wash, and I would be minus one best friend.