“Now,” Jordan’s face lit up with a mischievous grin, “are we going to talk about the elephant in the room?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Sam answered sweetly.
“I’m talking about a certain beautiful, blond, icy-eyed elephant.” Jordan grinned mischievously.
Sam leaned against the counter and crossed her arms over her chest. “Jordan, what are you getting at?”
“How was seeing Alex again?”
Sam thought back to yesterday. She’d be lying if she said seeing Alex hadn’t brought back a flood of old memories. She was surprised by how easily they fell back into the rhythm of their old friendship. “She felt so familiar to me, Jordan,” Sam answered honestly. After all this time, she had no problem opening up to her. “It felt like no time at all had passed.”
“That makes sense,” Jordan agreed. “You two were very, very close.”
“And she was my best friend before anything else.”
“Well, sort of…” Jordan allowed his voice to trail off. Sam thought back to high school when she and Alex had first met. He was right. They hadn’t immediately hit it off, a fact not helped by the slight age gap between them. Sam hadn’t even known Alex existed until they shared a class. Sam had been a senior, whereas Alex was two years behind in school. Sam and Alex had existed at opposite ends of the social stratosphere. Sam was part of the popular jock crowd, while Alex was quieter and preferred to blend into the background.
It wasn’t until they were thrown together by chance that things began to change. Hicksville High needed to fill a gap on their Quiz Bowl team, and because of the class they shared, Sam knew that Alex had the expertise they sought. So, Sam recruited her to the team. Sam knew that Alex had written Sam off as just another one of the cocky and conceited jocks who did nothing but coast through life. She could still remember the way Alex’s jaw had dropped when she answered the bonus questions to win their match at the regional semifinals.
“How many of Shakespeare’s characters die from a broken heart?” Sam hit the buzzer almost as soon as the moderator finished the question. “Hicksville High, go ahead.”
“Two,” answered Sam. She looked over at her teammates and smirked at Alex’s open-mouthed stare.
“Correct.” The moderator raised his eyebrows. “Do you wantthe chance to earn double points on the bonus? But note, if you get the questions wrong, the points will be deducted.”
Hicksville High was five points behind Central. Answering the questions correctly would win them the match, whereas answering them incorrectly wouldn’t cost them much. Sam looked over at the team. Several students were encouraging her to go for it, while others, like Alex, seemed to be telling her not to do it.
“We’ll try for the bonus,” Sam said confidently, keeping her eyes on.
“Name the two characters that die from a broken heart in the plays of Shakespeare.”
Sam held Alex’s gaze as she answered. “Lady Montague from Romeo and Juliet and King Lear from King Lear.”
The moderator looked impressed. “Correct. Hicksville takes the match.”
The crowd clapped politely as the Hicksville students jumped out of their seats and rushed to crowd around Sam, patting her on the back. Sam grinned from ear to ear but kept her eyes fixed on Alex, who was hanging back. After the crowd thinned, Sam made her way over to where Alex was standing with her arms wrapped around her chest. She looked sheepish.
“Just another dumb jock, huh?” Sam asked.
“I never said that…” Alex’s voice was small.
“You didn’t have to, you know,” Sam pointed out.
“I guess I was wrong.” Alex had trouble meeting her eyes. “About a lot of things.”
After that, things began to change between them. They formed a cautious friendship. Sam started by helping Alex meet some of her community service requirements. Then, as they became closer, she introduced Alex to coffee shops and indie music. To the shock of both, this turned into something more in a matter of months.
Sam shook off the memory. She didn’t have time to reminisce. And even if she did, she didn’t feel ready to relive their clandestine high school love story. She looked over at Jordan, who was watching her intently. She knew what he was getting at, but she just couldn’t go there. At the questioning look on his face, she put a hand up tostop him. “Can you help me now? You’ve been here for two hours, and we haven’t even packed up a single box.” He stuck out his tongue at her and went back to his spices.
The rest of the morning flew by. After Jordan finally decided to help, they had cleaned out most of the kitchen cabinets and drawers. She boxed up her mother’s recipe books and cards and put them with the ever-growing pile of items she wanted to keep. The rest was divided between trash, recycling, and donating. Before Jordan left to drive back to the city, they loaded his car with boxes to drop off at Goodwill. Sam was sitting at the counter surveying the space when her phone buzzed with a text. She swiped the phone and saw that it was from Alex.
Still on for Sunday dinner?
Sam fiddled with her phone while she pondered her options. Of course she was curious about Alex. And they had never gotten to the story of what she was doing back in Hicksville. But the idea of seeing Nadine again made her sweat. In the end, curiosity won out. She sighed and typed out a response.
Sure. What time and what can I bring?Three dots let her know that Alex was typing back right away.
5 pm. And just bring yourself.
