daycare // hemmings

six- bet you ten bucks

Luke was actually giggling.

"I'm just nervous," he said for the fifth time as he drove Tobie and Tracy to the party after work on Friday. Tobie didn't plan on going home since she didn't have her car, so she had a sleeping bag and a change of clothes with her, as she was wearing her swim suit already. Thank God she had thought twice this morning about shoes, and she didn't have her Crocs on, but instead her dollar store flip-flops. Hey, they weren't yellow. She was alright with that.

"Nervous about what?" Tobie asked. "I can swim."

Luke shrugged. "I'm just nervous. I've never hosted a party in America before, and I don't know what you guys like."

"McDonald's and air conditioning," Tobie said, and Tracy laughed.

"We also like beer. Lots of beer down south."

Luke giggled. "There's these things at your stores. Like scooters, but they have a shopping basket on them. I tried one out."

"And how was it?" Tracy asked sarcastically, but Tobie wanted to know. She'd never been on one herself.

"Pretty great. Calum and I kept hiding from the store workers because we were scared they'd kick us off."

"You're allowed to use them, Luke," Tobie said, but she was in a fit of giggles herself.

"I didn't know. I thought they were for fat people only."

Tracy snorted, and they all laughed. Luke finally pulled up to the house, and Tracy hopped out of the car, not bothering to help with the bags. Luke and Tobie went to the back, popped the trunk, and grabbed Tracy's thousand bags and Tobie's one duffel. Luke showed them to the guest room, and he grabbed her arm before heading down to the party.

"Please tell me if anything's wrong, okay? Like, if the music's too loud, or the food tastes weird."

Tobie laughed and grabbed his shoulders, which she had to stand on her tiptoes to do. "Everything is fine, Luke. There's nothing to worry about."

He smiled. "Thanks, Tobie."

Before she had time to think, he bent down and placed a small, shy kiss to her cheek. Then he walked out of the room, leaving Tobie dumbfounded.

;

Tobie ran and found Tracy. She was by the minibar, which Tobie didn't know Luke had. Regardless, she dragged Tracy and her drink to a small corner of the grass that wasn't being used by ATV's or fire pits, and the moment Tobie told Tracy that Luke kissed her, Tracy spit out her drink.

"No way," she said.

"Way!" Tobie squealed, jumping up and down. This was the most excited she'd ever been in front of Tracy, and for once it wasn't because her favorite show had another season coming.

"Holy shit! I owe Michael ten bucks!" Tracy said, and she ran off. "Get some, Tobie!"

Tobie stared in disbelief at her cousin. She tried to tell her how happy she was, tried to share something with her, and she ran away because she bet on the moment.

Tobie sighed. This was Tracy she was talking about. Of course she'd run away, or bet on Tobie's relationships. She did it last time, so why wouldn't she do it again?

Disappointed, she sat down by the pit and stared at the already licking flames. She poked a stick in the fire, let it burn, then took it out and blew it like a candle.

She did that for a while before Ashton sat down next to her.

"Hola, señorita," he said, giggling.

"Hi," Tobie said.

"What's wrong with you?" Ashton asked, pushing her blackened stick into the fire. "You look like someone pissed in your Vegemite."

"Vegemite?"

"Australia's Nutella, basically." He said. He grabbed her hand and forced her to stand up, whispering in her ear, "Luke's looking for you. Lad's a bit worried."

Tobie shrugged. "I'm alright."

"Don't lie." Ashton said. "I'm a people-reader. I read people."

Tobie laughed. "Okay, okay. My cousin bet on my relationship with Luke and left me. It's stupid, really. I just read too much into people sometimes."

"Nah, she definitely pissed in your Vegemite." Ashton said, though Tobie disagreed. "Forget her. Get drunk. Swim a little. You're not driving home, right?"

Tobie shook her head. "But I don't like alcohol."

"You don't have to drink to get drunk, honey," Ashton said, and he winked. "Come on. Can't keep Luke waiting forever."

;

Ashton turned out to be right. Tobie began to have so much fun she didn't need to drink. She met Calum's date, Peyton, and they instantly became friends. Between hanging out with Luke and swimming with Peyton and Ashton and an inflatable giraffe, Tobie forgot she was supposed to be upset. She had cannonball contests with Calum, (which she won, though Calum denied losing), a volleyball game with Ashton, (which she totally lost), talked gossip and learned more about the boys with Peyton, and got closer to Luke than she ever could have through daycare. She didn't see Tracy for the rest of the night, and her phone was upstairs with her stuff, so she didn't have any access to anybody. It was good to disconnect a little bit, to get away from social media, texting, and all the internet had to offer.

And all she had to do was have one friend.

Later in the night, Luke, Calum and Michael played their guitars by the campfire with everyone, and Tobie roasted marshmallows, which she hadn't done in years. She had a "sword fight" with Michael using discarded marshmallow sticks, and she rode the ATV with Luke in the woods, screaming at the top of her lungs when he jumped the hill or went fast around the corner of a tree. Eventually, though she didn't know how, she ended up racing the ATV with Peyton and Michael, and she actually won, which was impressive. Nobody planned on going home, and by the time Luke and Tobie went inside, there were people camped out in the living room, but not a lot of people were asleep.

Tobie ran upstairs and grabbed her stuff, carefully moving it out of the room she was supposed to share with Tracy and into Luke's room, and she almost laughed because there was someone sleeping in that bed.

That was Tracy's problem, not hers.

She met Luke back in his room and was glad to see that they had the same mindset. He had armfuls of Chex Mix, Oreos, boxes of cereal and a jar of Nutella.

When they finally had everything spread out on the sheets, Luke smirked.

"I say we play a game."

"Oh yeah?" Tobie asked. "What's that?"

"Twenty questions." He said. "Every time you answer dishonestly, you have to eat one of everything here."

Tobie glanced at the pile of diabetes in front of her, then at the cute topless boy next to her.

Really, it was a no-brainer.

"Deal. Your go."