Page 85 of The Last Thing You Said

“This is going to be a night we’ll never forget,” Trixie said, and squeezed my arm.

And she was right, but the night was memorable for a reason other than carnival rides and cotton candy. Trixie ditched me after a ride on the Ferris wheel.

“I need to use the satellite,” she said. “I’ll be right back.”

Ten minutes passed and I walked over to the portable toilets to find her. There was a short line, but Trixie wasn’t in it. I waited and watched as every door opened but she never emerged. I was certain that I’d missed her, that we’d passed each other and she’d be waiting back at the Ferris wheel.

She wasn’t there.

I felt sick from the greasy food, the rides, the realization that Trixie had left me. She’d never done anything like that before. I sat on a bench and tried hard not to cry. But the tears fell anyway. I swiped at them but not fast enough when Clayton, Guthrie, and Ben found me.

Ben dropped down on the bench next to me. “What’s up? Where’s Trix?”

I shrugged. I was afraid to speak, afraid my words might break into sobs.

“Didn’t we see her on the Fire Ball with that kid from metal shop, Kyle something?” Clayton asked. “Did she ditch you?”

I shrugged again. My best friend sneaked off to be with a boy. An older boy. Three years older, if he was in a class with Clayton. Why would she do that to me? It was so unlike her. We looked forward to the Watermelon Days carnival every year. We’d been talking about it for weeks, how excited we were that we could go off on our own now. I felt young and childish and left behind.

“No, it’s nothing,” I said to Clayton, but my voice wavered.

“It’s not nothing,” Ben said in a low voice, and he put his arm around me.

My heart soared in spite of the ache of Trixie’s betrayal.

“You want me to call Dad to come get you?” Clayton asked.

Before I could answer, Ben stood and pulled me up, too, by my elbow. “Nah, she’s not going home. She’s coming with us. Why waste all those tickets?”

He winked at me, and I let myself believe it was about more than the tickets.

I spent the rest of the night with them. Ben shared his deep-fried pickles and rode the spinning strawberries with me even though Clayton called me a baby. And when we finally met up with Trixie and Kyle from metal shop, holding hands in the line for the Zipper, I wasn’t even mad anymore.

“Lulu,” Trixie squealed on the walk home, “can you believe it? I ran into Kyle, and he asked me to ride the Fire Ball with him. I mean, how could I say no to that? You understand, right? And besides, you got to spend the night with Ben!”

I haven’t thought of that night for a long time, how Trixie had left me, and Ben was there to pick up the pieces.

Hannah picks up the pieces now.

“Feel better?” she asks after we settle in, and she reaches her arm around me to hug me.

I nod. “Thanks.”

“Babe, the best thing to do for a hangover is to keep moving.”

“Where’s Guthrie? Didn’t you want to watch the parade with him?”

“He asked me, but I told him no, my girl needs me. We’ll meet up at the carnival later.”

“Tell me what happened last night.”

She laughs. “Which part? The part where Ben pounded Simon or the part where Dana found you with your head on Ben’s lap?”

My head on Ben’s lap? A thought swims through my muddled brain, of Ben’s fingers in my hair, but I don’t know if it’s memory or imagination.

“I guess I don’t want to know after all,” I murmur.

“Have you heard from him?”