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“Winters! We gotta go,” Jake calls. He, Colt, and Luke have drifted down the street, and are now standing about twenty feet away from us. It’s disconcerting to realize I was so focused on Caleb I didn’t even notice their departure.
“I’ve got to put these in the truck, anyway,” I say, giving him an easy out. “I’ll see you on Monday.”
Caleb doesn’t acknowledge Jake. Doesn’t look away from me. “Do you want to come?”
“Come?” I echo.
“To see a movie. We’re headed there now.” He jerks his head to the left, toward the town cinema located a couple blocks further downtown. His voice is casual, but the invitation is anything but. The most popular guy in school is asking me to hang out with him. It feels like a cliché that I’m stunned speechless by the offer. But I don’t find Caleb’s popularity appealing. It’s a reminder of everything I hate about this town.
“Why are you asking?”
A muscle pulses in Caleb’s jaw as he glances down the street at his waiting friends. “I have to have a reason?”
“Caleb…”
The door behind me clangs open and shut. I turn to see my grandfather emerging from the store, carrying two more paper bags. “Gramps,” I admonish. “I was coming back for those.”
“I can manage a couple bags, Lennie,” he informs me, before his gaze moves to the guy standing in front of me.
“Well, hello there, Caleb.”
“Hello, Mr. Matthews,” Caleb replies.
Gramps shakes his head. “I told you to call me Earl.”
I don’t miss the glances Caleb’s friends exchange following the revelation he’s met my grandfather previously. I wish I’d realized they were still in earshot sooner.
In a town as small as Landry, it’s rarer not to know someone than to know them. But Gramps and I don’t exactly frequent the events where most of the local socializing takes place. Not anymore.
Caleb smiles. “You did, sir. Earl,” he tacks on hastily when my grandfather gives him a sharp look.
“Better,” Gramps praises. “What are you boys up to?” Gramps asks, shifting his gaze from Caleb to his posse hovering nearby.
“We’re headed to see a movie,” Caleb replies. “I was just seeing if Lennon wanted to come.”
I know what Gramps’s response will be even before I catch a glimpse of his delighted expression. “You should go, Lennie.”
I glare at him. “What about the groceries?”
Gramps waves off my question. “I can handle it. There are only a couple more bags to grab.”
“I can help.” Caleb doesn’t hesitate to offer his assistance, and to my surprise, his friends help too. I end up watching all four of them load our groceries for the week into the back of the old farm truck. I expect Gramps to take advantage of the opportunity to strike up a conversation about baseball with four of Landry High’s starters, but he drives off as soon as the truck is filled.
Probably eager to leave before I can come up with an excuse to depart with him.
“This better not be a horror movie,” I tell Caleb as we walk back toward the sidewalk where his friends are waiting.
“I thought you’d come around on those,” he replies. “Aren’t we doingFrankensteinfor our paper?”
“That’s a book, not a movie,” I inform him. “Plus, I wasn’t about to spend all of lunch arguing with you about other options.”
We reach Luke, Colt, and Jake.
“Hey, you look really familiar. Have we met before?” Jake asks as we continue in the direction of the movie theater down the street. He pairs the question with a cheeky grin.
“I assume you’re referring to the fact that we’ve gone to school together since kindergarten, Barnes?”
Jake laughs. “Yeah, that’s probably it.”
