Becky called me bright and early the next morning. “Bad news bears, Sam.”
I rolled over and sat up with a yawn. “It’s seven in the morning. On a Saturday morning.”
“I know. I just got home.”
“So you decided to call and say good morning? You suck.”
“No.” Her voice was bright and chirpy. “I’m still drunk so it’s probably not sinking in yet, but I can’t go to the game tonight.”
I groaned. There went my one friend to sit with.
“There was a party on the beach by Lydia’s house and I’m getting back. Mom caught me this morning so I’m grounded now.”
“You went to Lydia’s party?” I should’ve asked, ‘Lydia had a party? And you went to it?’
“Oh no. The party was by her house, I think some other girl threw it, but I dunno. Anyways, we had to wait till Adam was sober enough to drive. I kept drinking all night. Lydia’s actually kind of funny.”
“You were with Lydia? You two were pissing on each other.”
She giggled. “Not literally, but she explained a few things to me and I feel for her…sort of…not really. Oh well. So I’m not going to the game tonight so that means you don’t have to go either. I know I was the only reason you were going anyway.”
I picked at some lint on my bedcover. “I might’ve gone to cheer for Adam too…”
“Aw.” Her voice melted. “That’s so sweet. I’ll make sure to tell him. It’ll mean a lot to him. He doesn’t think you care about him at all.”
“Are you kidding me?” I grumbled into the phone. “You’re the one that likes him.”
“Yeah, but he doesn’t like me.”
“You’re a bit not right in the head, Becky.”
“I know!” she chirped again, followed by a giggle. “He held my hand to the car.”
“Were you falling down drunk?”
“That and the sand was really tricky to walk through.”
“I’m sure it was.” I lay back down on the bed and closed my eyes. Something was telling me this phone call wasn’t going to let me go back to sleep anytime soon.
“So, what’d you do last night?”
I grinned into the phone. “Well, I didn’t get drunk and hold hands with my crush all night long.”
She giggled again. “I wish it was all night long. Maybe I could get drunk more? You think he’d do that every time?”
“No.”
“Yeah, you’re right.” She sighed. “It’d be nice, though. I wish I could hold his hand all the time.”
“Why don’t you just ask him out?”
“Because he doesn’t like me. How many times do I have to tell you?”
“Whatever.” I gripped the phone tighter. “I think there’s something there. Maybe he’d have to man up and make a decision already.”
Silence.
I sighed.
There was more silence on the phone.
Then I asked, “Did I say something wrong?”
Her voice was timid. “It’s not that easy for some of us.”
