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“My door didn’t latch,” I replied dazedly, gripping the handle and giving it a sharp tug so the latch would engage. We couldn’t stay in the middle of the road. Someone was going to come along and hit us.
“No kidding,” Bird whispered, shaken. “I thought you were going to fall out of the car.”
“Ithought I was going to fall out of the car.” I slowly put my foot on the gas and let the car roll forward.
We were silent as we drove the rest of the way home, both of us shaking.
“You need to get that door fixed,” Bird ordered after I’d parked in front of our trailer. “Like, tomorrow.”
“I will,” I murmured.
“And wear your seat belt. Why didn’t you put on your seat belt?”
We climbed out of the car and I helped Bird pull his bike out of the back seat, neither of us saying much. My mind was racing over the events of the last fifteen minutes on a loop. Rumi naked, fucking someone else, saying my name, my rush to the car, almost falling out of the car, the wind in my ears and the sight of the road rushing past.
“Hey, No,” Bird said as we leaned his bike against the side of the trailer. “I’m sorry about Rumi.”
“What about him?” I asked, looking at him in surprise.
“It’s one thing to know the guy you’re in love with is bangin’ other people,” he said with a shrug. “It’s another thing to actuallyseehim doin’ it.”
“Stop talking about people banging,” I muttered, the words practically falling out of my mouth. “You’re eleven. And I’m not in love with him.”
“Sure you’re not,” he replied sarcastically, his eyes on mine. “So, ready for your party?”
“Fuck,” I murmured as I followed him inside.
Nana had strung aCongratulations!banner across the cabinets in the kitchen and had blown up pink and orange balloons that bobbed along the ceiling like little fish in a tank. She was standing in the middle of the room, beaming at me.
“You got in!” she cheered.
“I did!” I confirmed, laughing as she hurried forward to hug me.
My phone buzzed in my pocket. I ignored it.
“I knew you would.”
“Oh yeah?” I asked as she pulled away. “Why, because it’s not actually that hard?”
“Because you’re the smartest, most beautiful girl that applied, and I knew they’d want you at their school,” she countered.
“I don’t think they care what I look like, Nana,” I pointed out dryly.
“Yeah, whatever.” She waved me off. “I made your favorite potato soup. Afterward we’re gonna stuff ourselves with this cake and then have a little fire outside. What do you think of that?”
“I think it sounds perfect,” I replied, smiling.
My phone buzzed in my pocket again.
“Is Pop comin’ home?” Bird asked as he sat down at the table.
“He should be home soon,” Nana confirmed, bringing him a bowl. “But he said not to wait on him.”
We sat around the table, eating and laughing and imagining all the glamorous people I’d meet once I started working as an aesthetician and the entire time, my phone buzzed in my pocket. It went off over and over again. I ignored it.
“I hear congratulations are in order,” Pop called as he came through the front door a little less than an hour later. He was carrying a bouquet of flowers.
“That’s right,” Nana replied proudly.
