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Chapter Seven
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Wednesday and Thursday flew by thanks to established routines. Every morning, I drove Coop to school. I sat next to Archie in AP Government and Economics. I sat next to Bubba in AP Calculus. I spent AP French exchanging smiles with Mathieu and we shared two more conversations as he walked me halfway to AP Lit each day. Coop still sat next to me in AP Lit, but his relaxed manner seemed to be absent, much as he was himself at lunch on both Wednesday and Thursday.
An absence that didn’t go unnoticed by the others. Archie, in particular, seemed annoyed, maybe even more than necessary. Not that they asked me, other than was he coming? In truth, I was pretty sure he was off having lunch with Laura but after Tuesday, I hadn’t seen him returning with her or her for that matter.
No, I didn’t look. Wasn’t eventempted. Well, not really anyway.
Study hall and my TA period gave me plenty of time to get most of my own homework done—which was good, because as I’d figured, they started laying it on thick Wednesday. Bubba scored an A on the pop quiz, even though it was ungraded. He’d also given me a thumbs up after he turned it in. We ate on campus Wednesday and off campus on Thursday, mostly because Archie had zero interest in the food and managed to intercept me before I got to the food court.
Likely another reason he was annoyed with Coop. I got the feeling Coop was supposed to corral me for lunch and he hadn’t since Monday. Maybe I should thank him? Though I doubted his reasons were altruistic. Lunch on Thursday was oversized subs and big, fat bags of salt and vinegar chips. We took Jake’s SUV, only this time it was Archie and me in the back and I wasn’t squished in the middle. On the way back to school, Jake booted Bubba to the back and I got to ride shotgun.
Last class of the day, AP European History, proved to be more enjoyable each day that passed. We made a habit of watching the history buff channel, focusing on European history wherever we could. I’d also started making flash cards using dates while Jake elected to make the flash cards using names. We tried to stump each other—oh, and he finished the dummies guide and we were both of the opinion that author rocked. It also gave us great context clues to use.
After school, Coop didn’t need a ride on Wednesday, so I drove home, changed, fed the cats and headed in to work. I hadn’t actually seen Mom since Monday morning, a fact that didn’t dawn on me until I was heading to work. The chicken I’d gotten out for Tuesday’s dinner hadn’t been cooked—I’d put it in the fridge, but if I didn’t cook it after work on Wednesday, it would go bad. Hopefully Mom came home and did that.
I kind of wondered if she’d come home at all when I’d filled the water reservoir for the cats and changed out the litter box. My bet was no, so I skipped looking. I took all the trash out with me and threw it in the dumpster before I headed off to work.
Archie showed up at Mason’s fifteen minutes after my shift started. He parked at the soda counter and did his homework in and around chatting at me. Jake showed up with Bubba in tow ninety minutes later. They were freshly showered and still hot from football practice. I brought them their Big and Thicks, along with a smirk, when requested.
Thursday shifted things, though. The guys all still showed up—sans Coop—and Archie was in a terrible mood. His phone was right in front of him, and when I carried an order out to one of the window tables, I saw Coop’s name on the screen and a single message:I said I’d take care of it.
The fierce scowl on Archie’s face when he saw the message made me give him a fairly wide berth the rest of the night. Archie didn’t have Coop’s zen or even Jake’s bluntness, but he did have a kind of manic energy that scooped you up and tugged you along. So, when he got mad, it pretty much spilled over to the people around him. Except for Bubba. Bubba could usually cajole him out of the mood. In a pinch, I could—or at least, I could give him someone to vent to and I’d listen. I could count on the fingers of one hand the few times I’d truly had to pull him aside to do that.
As much as I liked Archie, I didn’t like his temper and I didn’t like where it came from—correction, where I thought it came from. Remember, he called his parents by their first names. Him and his father? They made Mom and me look warm and fuzzy.
That was bad enough, but Mathieu showed up while all three guys were still there.
I didn’t want to ignore him, but I sure as hell didn’t want to draw their attention to him. He came in with a girl I vaguely recognized as a sophomore and a couple of adults—maybe his host family? When I dropped by their table, I kept it as friendly as I did any customers, including offering recommendations.
Mathieu seemed surprised to find out I worked there, then he introduced me to his—yep, I called it—host family. Sophomore girl’s name was Bethany and she was also new to the school. Excellent. Maybe she hadn’t gotten the memo. That would be awesome.
“I would love to stay and chat,” I said after I had their order. “But it’s a little busy tonight.”
“Go,” Mathieu told me with a grin. “Maybe another time.”
“That sounds great.”
Scooting to the back, I dropped their orders, then went to make their shakes. My feet were ready to fall off, but I still had another thirty minutes to go. Thankfully, I got off an hour before closing tonight.
And the customers kept coming. We had full tables and most of the counter. Archie and company had set up camp, which I didn’t mind mostly because they were easy to take care of. Zabra, the other waitress, had her half of the store and I had the other half. We juggled well between the two of us. Fortunately, most of the customers knew Mason’s and came here for the Big and Thicks. They didn’t mind waiting.
Marsha, our manager, came out from the back to start handling take out orders and get us caught up. She ended up serving Mathieu’s table. I felt a sliver of guilt for that because I really did want to go back and see him, but between Archie’s sour mood and the fact all three of them—never mind all four were there, apparently Coop showed up—it was better to keep my distance.
We still had a date on Sunday, and I promised myself I’d text Mathieu right after work.
“Coop doesn’t want anything,” Archie said when I stopped to check on them before I could even ask. If I wasn’t imagining things, there was a warning in his voice. Bubba let out a sigh and gave me a quick headshake.
Okay, he was right. I wanted no part of this disagreement.
“Actually,” Coop said, catching my arm before I could hustle off. “When do you get off?”
I glanced at the clock. “Fifteen minutes, if it slows down.” I wouldn’t leave Marsha and Zabra in a lurch.
“Mind if I hitch a ride home?”
“I’ll drive you home,” Archie said. “It’ll give us time to talk.”
