First & Then(42)

Foster and I made our way through the rain, only moderately soaked by the time we reached Amber’s front door. I glanced over at him before we went in. He hadn’t said much of anything since this afternoon.

“Are you sure you want to go in? I mean, we could just go home … watch a movie or something.”

Foster shook his head. “I want to be here.”

So in we went and parted ways in the foyer.

There were a ton of people at the party. I met up with a few girls from math class, and they eagerly showed me the formal dining room (giant), the game room (extravagant), and the conservatory. (Which seemed unnecessary. Really.) I went into the kitchen to grab a soda after breaking from the math girls. I hadn’t seen Cas yet, and I hoped he would be hanging around the beverages.

I didn’t see him. I did, however, see Lindsay. She was standing right in front of the drinks table.

I decided I wasn’t thirsty anymore.

“Devon!”

It was too late to turn back now.

“Shame about the game, huh?” she said when I neared.

“Yeah.”

Silence.

“So, uh, I was actually hoping to run into you.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah. Me and Lauren and Maria were thinking about driving into Gainesville some weekend to go shopping for Homecoming dresses. Do you want to come?”

“Um … sure. Sounds fun.”

“Awesome! It’ll be a total girls’ day.” She paused, and her eyes scanned the room for a moment. When she spoke next, her voice was slightly lower. “Also, about Homecoming…” She took a deep breath. “There’s sort of someone I’m hoping will ask me. I think you know who I mean.”

Did I ever. But I wasn’t going to bite. I would never bite on this one.

“I was sort of thinking … maybe … if it’s not, like, totally loser-ish, you could maybe mention to him that I don’t have a date yet … and you know, maybe sound him out a little? I know you guys hang out and stuff.”

“Why don’t you just ask him?”

“I don’t know.… I would, I just … I want to gauge his interest first, you know?”

I did know. The question was, why didn’t she know? Cas had a crush on Lindsay, that you could probably see from space.

“So you’ll help me?”

“I guess, yeah. Sure.”

“That would be so great! Thanks, Devon!” Lindsay’s face split into a radiant smile, and, damn her, she was so freaking adorable all I could do was smile back.

She headed off with her drink and left me to get the soda I didn’t really even want anymore.

“You guys friends?”

I almost jumped. I hadn’t seen Ezra come up.

“No. Yeah. Well, I mean, how close is anybody really?” I said, even though it was a completely meaningless statement.

“She’s really sweet,” Ezra said, as he glanced off in Lindsay’s direction.

“Yeah.” I had never really heard him say something nice about someone before.

There was a pause.

“Are you … having fun?” he said, and then his mouth made a weird twist, like maybe he thought that was a completely meaningless question.

“Not really. Are you?”

“No. I was going to leave soon. People act like asses when we lose.”

“Are you upset? About the game?”

He shrugged. “They were good.”

I got jostled as a few linebackers pushed through into the kitchen. It was getting pretty crowded in there. After all, that’s where the bar was set up, and most people wanted to be in the room where the alcohol lived, at least long enough to obtain some.

“Do you want to go somewhere else?” Ezra asked.

“Yeah, okay.”

We made our way out into the hall and toward the living room. But it was even more crowded in there. At the center of the room, standing on a coffee table, was a clearly drunken Stanton Perkins. He had one beefy arm slung over Cas’s shoulders.

“A toast!” Stanton yelled. “To Cas, for f*cking showing them how it’s done!”

The crowd let out a cheer. Cas raised a bottle of something, let out a massive whoop, and then took a swig. The crowd cheered again.

I glanced at Ezra. “Does it bother you?”

“What?”

“No one runs a freaking parade down Main Street when you get a touchdown.”

“No, they just hang my picture in public restrooms.”

I smiled a little.

Ezra gestured in Cas’s direction. “He’s, like, your best friend, right?”

“Not so much recently. He’s always with Lindsay.”

An odd expression took Ezra’s face. “They’re not together, you know. They’re just … hanging out.”

I nodded. “There’s no agreement between them.”

“That’s a strange way of putting it.”

“But it’s true, right? One person says they like the other person and the other person reciprocates, and then they have an agreement.”

“To be attached.”

I looked at him. That’s just how Jane would say it. “Exactly. That’s it exactly.” A pause. “I know he likes her. And she just practically begged me to ask him to ask her to Homecoming. So … an agreement of mutual like is impending.”