The Takedown(67)

But Mac had promised he wouldn’t ever ask me out again. We were at last on the same, sensible just-friends page—truly—and all I wanted to do was kiss the boy, like, now.

“No,” Mac said. “I guess it’s kind of like a double-date thing.”

Keep it together, Kyla.

“Oh. Wow. Okay. Is it someone I know?”

“Como? No, I’d never do that to you. It’s just some girl. It’s a favor to Victor more than anything else. He’s been trying to get with this girl’s sister for, like, ever.”

“Okay, well, thanks for letting me know.” I had no right to be upset. Yet my traitorous eyes filled with stupid tears. “I’ll get your Doc for you.”

I hurried inside. What had I thought, that if I said no, he—Mackenzie Rodriguez—would just happily go on not making out with other girls? Actually, yes. That’s what I’d thought. Because I believed him when he said we were different. Because not dating but still being each other’s person was what we did. Because I still had his reminder in my Doc to say yes to Mac asking me out a month from now. And when it went off, I had fully intended to show it to him with a little smile and say “Yes, please.”

I snatched his Doc off the kitchen table. Back outside, I chucked it at him from the top of our steps.

“Thanks for coming with me today. And for the record, from now on you don’t have to tell me every time you go out with someone. I mean, we’ll never talk about anything else.”

I slammed the door before he could say good-bye. I peeked out the window. Mac stared at our house, looking like it was a place he’d never ever return.

Eyes closed tight, I leaned against the door and felt the dead air of my empty house. When I got home last night after Mr. E.’s, Mom was in her office with the door closed. This morning when I went to school, it was still shut. Apparently her “on deadline” was perpetual. I didn’t have the heart to be around the same avoidance technique this evening. What I needed was a hearty dose of my best friend. I also needed to know that I still had a best friend. And if I left now, I’d be right on time for dinner.

When Audra answered the door fifteen minutes later, her eyes lit up with happy surprise.

“Mac’s going on a double date tonight.”

“Oh, ew,” Audra gasped. “The Mother just told me she thought I could benefit from a nose job.”

“Ack, that’s terrible.”

We locked in a mutual hug of relief. I hadn’t realized how much I’d missed her, this snarky, acidic friend of mine. It felt like years since we’d had those few moments alone in the stairwell. This feeling wasn’t helped by the fact that since I’d last seen her, she’d grown a full head of mahogany hair.

“I was starting to worry you didn’t exist.” I gently tugged her hair and felt it give. Not extensions, a wig. “Or are you Audra’s evil twin?”

“Evil twin?” She laughed. “Audra is the evil twin.”

The Parents didn’t look up when I entered the dining room. Audra set out another plate.

“If I’d known one of the girls was coming for dinner, I would have ordered more food,” the Mother said.

I txted Audra.

moi One of the girls. I wonder if she even knows my name.

“Kyle can have my dinner, seeing as I still don’t eat meat.”

Audra slid a plump lamb chop onto my plate. Being with my Doc again felt like having a life-sustaining IV reinserted into my arm; being back around Audra felt just as mollifying.

audy The Father knows your name. He told me last night at din that he voted with the board to suspend that “Kyla girl” I was friends with.

moi Wait, your dad is on the board?

audy Yup. Thanks for telling me about your suspension btw.

I looked across at him. He was calmly cutting a lamb chop. I had the impulse to swipe his knife and jab him in the hand.

moi Did you at least defend me? Or tell him not to do it?

audy What do you think?

Audra’s eyes narrowed, but then crinkled into a smile.

audy I’m so happy to see you.

On the wall screen behind her, the news was about the oil exec and the US senator who Woofer footage caught with prostitutes in Dubai. The story had broken a week ago. It was developing into a mess of government and foreign kickbacks, falsified property rights on remaining Arab oil reserves, and so many unacceptable errors in morality and judgment that I was surprised our government functioned at all. A spokesperson for something called Awareness for a Safe America was calling for the senator to step down. Finally.

Audra followed my eyes and said, “I’m sick of the news. Wall: Wallpaper.”

Instantly, the screen behind her was a paisley print.

“Audra,” the Father sighed. “I was listening to that. Wall: News.”

The screen flashed back. The news cycle had moved on to a story about the skyrocketing price of bottled water.

“Wall: Wallpaper.” Audra grinned.

You wouldn’t know unless you were looking at her, but Audra wasn’t being bratty; she was trying to get a little attention. She was also trying to cheer me up. Only the Father didn’t look up.

“Audra, stop being childish.”

The humor was instantly gone from my best friend’s expression.

“Has it escaped your attention that I am a child?”