See You at Harry's(4)

“Oh, thanks a lot,” Holden says. “I’m just starting! I have enough stacked against me already. Now this?”

“What do you mean?” I ask.

“Just forget it.”

But I think I know.

I lean back in the booth and sigh. “We’re doomed,” I say.

Sara shakes her head. She doesn’t even bother to try to cheer us up because she knows we’re right.

The bell on the front door tinkles, and Random Smith walks in. He’s wearing a T-shirt that says GLOW on it, and I wonder what it’s supposed to mean. Ran is always wearing T-shirts with sayings on them that don’t quite make sense to me. Last year, he gave me one for my birthday that said real. I think he was upset that I never wore it. I smile at him as he comes up to the table and waves the way he always does — elbow at his waist, hand swishing back and forth like a windshield wiper. Like a robot.

“Hey, Fern,” he says.

“Hey, Ran.” When I slide over, the back of my thighs stick to the red vinyl seat and make a disgusting sound. Honestly, could my life get any more embarrassing?

A few things about Ran have changed since our days of swapping germs:



His mom, who was really sick from cancer back then, won her battle, and she and Ran’s dad started an online T-shirt company that makes a ton of money.





Ran shaved his head when his mom lost all her hair from chemotherapy, and he just decided he liked being bald. So now his head is shaved really close. I don’t think most people could pull this off, but Ran is a very no-nonsense kind of person, and he doesn’t really care what other people think. Also, it actually looks pretty good.





Despite his weirdness, Ran became my best friend. With his mom all better, he also stopped being so messy and sick all the time, which is a good thing, because being his best friend meant I was sick almost just as much.





Sara winks at me and I blush.

“What’s going on?” Ran asks, taking in the scene.

“My dad is ending our lives as we know it,” I say.

“TV commercial,” Holden explains.

Ran cringes just as Charlie comes racing across the room and hugs him.

“Hey, little man,” Ran says. They do their special handshake, which involves rubbing palms together. I don’t think Ran knows or else cares how risky it is to touch Charlie’s hands. No one knows where they’ve been — but most likely in some pretty disgusting places.

“Wanna sundae?” Charlie asks.

“Yeah!” Ran follows Charlie to the ice-cream counter, and they disappear behind it. A few minutes later, they return with a huge banana-split bowl filled with every topping we sell. They each have a spoon but share the bowl.

“That’s disgusting,” Sara says.

Charlie and Ran ignore her and go to town. Miraculously, they eat the whole thing. When they finish, Charlie’s mouth has an almost-perfect chocolate circle around it that slowly drips down his chin. He looks just like the dinosaur on his T-shirt.

Ran carefully wipes his mouth with a napkin from the dispenser on the table. Then, instead of getting a new one, he just folds it over and wipes Charlie’s mouth for him. Charlie beams.

In the distance, my dad tries to get the line cooks behind the counter to say, “See you at Harry’s,” but they look kind of confused. Instead, Charlie yells it from our table.

I hide my face in my hands.

“What’s wrong?” Ran asks with his familiar bewildered look.

“Can’t you tell how lame this commercial is going to be?” I ask him.

“Well, yes,” he says slowly. “But that’s not your fault.”

“Since when does it matter if an embarrassing moment is your fault or not?” I ask him. “Do you not remember the elf cards? It took months for me to live that down.”

“Only because you let it bother you,” he says calmly.

“Whatever,” I say, staring at the orange letters on his T-shirt. GLOW. Yeah. Why is it so easy for Ran to just glow, when I’m the one wearing the neon T-shirt?





“LET’S GET OUT OF HERE,” Sara says when we finally can’t listen to my dad anymore. “Ran? You need a ride home?”

“I have my bike,” he says. “Thanks for the ice cream, little man.” He does his handshake with Charlie again. This time their hands sort of stick, and Ran has to wipe his on his jeans.

“See you later, Fern.” He gives me an odd salute before he turns to leave.

In the car, Holden turns around from the front seat and grins at me. “So, Fern. What’s with Random, huh?”

“What do you mean?”

“Ran? He’s looking pretty cute these days.”

Sara eyes me in the rearview mirror. “Yeah, Fern. What’s up with that?”

“Um, I don’t control people’s metamorphoses.”

Charlie makes Doll look at me with her unchanging surprised expression.

“Where’d you learn that word?” Holden asks.

I shrug.

“So, anyway, are you two going to be more than just friends? I could see him looking at you in that special way.” Holden raises his eyebrows.

“Random and Ferny sitting in a tree . . .” Sara sings.