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“Stop with the tears, Rae. Come on, I’m gonna be right by you guys and you have access to a swanky lake house. I’m gonna be visiting all the time.”
We all laugh, but it’s true. SUNY Finger Lakes is Joel’s dad’s alma mater, and they have a lake house near the school. We’re not allowed to live there until junior year, but we’re allowed to use it on the weekends if we want to.
I sniffle a little and squeeze him tight. “I know, but I will miss our shenanigans.”
“Me too,” he says, pulling away. He gives my shoulder a squeeze and looks at Sarah.
Her bottom lip is trembling as she holds back tears. She jumps into his arms.
“I’m really gonna miss you,” she says. “Thank you for not giving up on our friendship. You mean so much to me.”
I hear Trevor’s voice catch. Then he whispers, “You’ll always be my first love. That will always mean something to me. And you will always be one of my best friends. I love you.”
“I love you too,” she whispers.
They shake off the emotion and pull apart.
Trevor wraps his arm around Hyla’s shoulders and kisses the side of her head. Then they smile at us.
“All right, behave yourselves, kids. We’ll see you before you know it.”
They head for Trevor’s car, but Hyla pauses at the door, then she turns back and runs over to Mackie. She grabs her and gives her a hard kiss. It shocks Mackie, which is hard to do. But then Mackie pulls Hyla in against her and kisses her back. When they pull apart, Hyla says, “I’ll miss you.”
Mackie kisses her nose and says, “I’ll miss you, too.”
Then Hyla leans in and whispers something else to Mackie that makes Mackie’s eyes grow wide. Then she smiles a little and whispers something back. They squeeze each other’s hands and then Hyla runs back to the car and gets in.
Once they’ve pulled away, we all look at Mackie.
“So, what was that?” Miles asks.
Mackie slides her hands over her lips like she can’t believe Hyla kissed her like that. In fairness, it was surprising, since Hyla hasn’t been comfortable dealing with whatever her sexuality might be.
I recognize the look in Mackenzie’s eyes. I’ve had it myself. It’s thatholy shit I’m falling for my best friendlook.
“She told me she thinks she’s falling in love with me,” Mackie says. “And I think I’m falling for her, too.”
“What does this mean?” Sarah screeches.
Mackie shakes her head. “I have no idea. But I know it felt damn good.”
We all laugh, then walk to the backyard where Jesse is headed for the back door.
“I’m heading upstairs. I’m gonna call Carrie and be disgustingly romantic. I need her to say yes when I ask her out on Monday.”
Joel stifles a laugh. “You mean you’re gonna go have phone and/or video sex with her?”
Jesse stares at him, giving him that menacing older brother, I’m-gonna-punch-you look. Then he smacks him on the back of the head. I stifle a laugh.
Jesse turns to the rest of us and says, “He’s probably not wrong.”
Sarah gives him a hug. “I’ll miss you, buddy.”
He squeezes her back tightly and whispers something in her ear that makes her blush. I’m assuming something about her and Joel, even though nothing has happened between them since prom night, as far as I know.
He says goodbye to everyone else except Joel, and then he turns to me.
“Rae Rae.”
