Cool for the Summer

Chapter 19

Adrienne ran a brush through her pale, blond hair.

"Do I look okay?" she asked Dolley, who stood beside her.

Dolley set down her tube of lip gloss to smile encouragingly. "Ya look great. Stop stressing."

"Who's psyched for the party?" Elizabeth Sanders yelled, jumping from the top bunk to the ceiling fan.

"Elizabeth, that is not smart," said Theodosia, helping her down. "And remind me what makes this party so special?"

"Food, music, and boys," Elizabeth replied, "in order of importance."

"Your priority list never changes," Theodosia shook her head, cracking a smile.

"They say that it's going to be the party of the century," said Dolley. "They're going to have pizza catered from Punch. Like, what more do you want out of life?"

"And there's going to be a DJ!" Adrienne clapped her hands.

"Not to mention the fact that, 'Maybe, along with the new friendships you'll make, you'll find a summer romance to be in the cards'" Theo quoted perfectly.

Adrienne giggled. "Like you and, oh, I don't know...Aaron Burr?"

Theodosia rolled her eyes, but her blush was obvious.

"When are you breaking up with what's-his-face?" asked Dolley. "Aaron is a good guy. He's not going to go after a taken girl."

"From the way he flirts with Theo, I'd beg to differ," said Adrienne under her breath, earning a snicker from Elizabeth.

"What's-his-face has a name. It's Jacques Prevost," said Theodosia evenly.

"I've never heard someone refer to her boyfriend by his full name," said Adrienne. "We've got a problem here."

"Look, I want to break up with him," Theodosia raked a hand through her mass of curls in frustration. "It's just that Jacques...he's a nagger."

She was met with three blank stares.

"He nags, okay?" she said defensively. "I'm going to get such an earful from him when I break up with him. It's always, 'Theodosia, I've been such a good boyfriend' or 'Theodosia, remember when I did insert-random-favor-here for you?' I just want to put off the annoyance."

Adrienne blinked. "Theo, no offense, but that's kind of a ridiculous reason not to break up with someone."

"But he legit blows up my phone!" said Theo. "Once, when we argued, he sent me about fifteen holier-than-thou messages an hour. And this went on for eight hours."

Adrienne did the math. "One hundred and twenty messages."

"Give or take a bit," Theodosia nodded.

"Okay, here's the deal, Theo," Dolley clapped her hands together. "Either you have to face Jacques and his slew of messages at some point, or you never confront this human and are bound to him for the rest of your life. Do you want to be bound to Jacques forever?"

"No," said Theo, wide-eyed with horror at the prospect of an eternity spent with Jacques.

"Then you know what to do," Dolley nodded to her.

Adrienne placed a hand on Theodosia's shoulder. "You'll feel better if you get this over with now."

"Okay," Theodosia took a deep breath and pulled out her phone. The girls crowded over her shoulder.

"If you would like to say goodbye to your phone memory, now would be the time," said Elizabeth solemnly.

"Stop it, she'll chicken out," Dolley elbowed her.

But Theodosia was resolved. She scrolled through her contacts. She found Jacques. And she hit call.