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Deciding I don’t want to go over and bother her while she’s doing that, I check the time on my phone. We’re already a bit over halfway done with the private part of the party, which means gift-opening will definitely be soon. Then people can start leaving if they don’t want to swim with apartment tenants.
I wonder when I should go back and visit Lolly.
While I think about it, my gaze drifts to some other people eating pizza, and I realize I’m getting hungry, too. If I’m being honest, though, I’ve never liked the sauce at the pizzeria Bill ordered from. I don’t know what they put in it, but it’s bad enough that I won’t eat it even if it’s free, like now. So that leads to me also wondering what I should eat for dinner.
I haven’t figured it out before Shannon announces it’s time for the birthday girl to open her presents. Abby cheers and hurries out of the pool, and the other children follow suit. After they all get a quick dry-off, they gather around the gift table, and parents form a crowd of their own.
I put thoughts of my later plans on hold, because this is a good time to leave my station and hunt down Liv-Andria.
Just moments after I get started in her direction, I find her heading in mine. We meet in the middle behind a cluster of parents, and I respond to her small wave with a smile.
“Hey, there,” I say. “Having fun?”
She nods. “Mostly. It’s hot and I’m not feeling the pizza, but other than that….”
“That’s me, too.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
Her light blue eyes twinkle with amusement. “That drink you spilled didn’t cool you off any?”
I laugh beneath the sounds of everyone else oohing-and-ahhing over the gifts. “God, that was embarrassing. I can’t believe I did that.”
“Nah, don’t feel embarrassed.”
Yeah, right. I dumped soda all over myself because I was staring at you. Itwasembarrassing.
I realize she’s looking at me almost as thoughtfully as she had been when that whole thing happened. Her eyes flick over the tattoos on my arms, then my shirt, then my hair. I remember I have my sunglasses pushed back through my hair, and I suddenly wonder if it looks stupid. And then I wonder if I should put them over my eyes like they’re meant for, since it’s sunny out here—but no, I don’t want to, because I want to be able to look at Liv properly.
I’m brought out of my thoughts when I hear her say, “I like your shirt. I’ve always liked Breaking Benjamin.”
“Really?” I ask happily. “Yeah, they’re awesome! I’ve loved them since their first album.”
She nods. “I think it was their second album for me. ‘Sooner or Later’ was the first song I really loved by them.”
I nod, too. “Yeah! That was the second album, yeah. Good song.”
“Mmhmm.”
I gesture at her. “I like your shirt, too.”
Her eyebrows go up before they form a look of puzzlement. “You do?” She glances down at herself. “It’s the plainest shirt in the world.”
“Well, it is and it isn’t. It’s just brown, but I still like it.” I mention that I also like how she obviously transformed it.
That surprises her, too. “How can you tell I did that?”
I pluck at my own shirt. “I cut at mine, too, so it was easy to spot.”
She studies my shirt again, then my arms again. “Huh. Makes sense. I can see now that that used to have longer sleeves.”
“Sure did.”
Some silence falls, so we pay attention to Abby for a minute. It just so happens to be the minute during which she opens both my gift and Rae’s, and she squeals happily about both of them. After she thanks us, she moves on to a giant box that I’m sure is the dollhouse Bill got her, and I return my focus to Liv.
She’s already looking at me, and when she sees she has my attention, she speaks in a more hesitant tone than before. “Off-subject, but…I’ve been wanting to ask you something.”
