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I was fifteen minutes early to the bar. I don’t know why. I sat in a booth towards the back because I thought Penelope would like that best. Close enough that we could easily participate in the game, but far enough away that the M.C. would never single her out.
I sat awkwardly, flexing my fingers together and attempting to look anywhere but the door when Macie and Jeremy walked in. Macie stopped and glanced around before her eyes settled on me and she smiled. She grabbed Jeremy by the hand and dragged him over to the table I was sitting at. “You know her better than I thought.” She laughed as she slid in across from me, Jeremy next to her.
“Does she always ask to sit in the back?” I asked.
Macie nodded with a smile. Jeremy drummed his fingers on the table awkwardly before waving a waiter over and ordering drinks. “So, Carter, are you coming back to Seaside Middle next year to teach?” Jeremy asked after the waiter walked away.
“No, Mrs. Carlson should be back from maternity leave by the fall. After the school year ends in June, I’m a free bird.”
“And what do you plan on doing after that?” Macie raised a brow.
I cleared my throat. “I’m not sure. I’m hoping to save up enough money from this contract and some freelance work I’m doing on the weekends to travel for a while. I’d like to check out California, maybe.” I shrugged. The truth was, that had been my plan before I moved back in with my parents. I was tired of taking the same old photos for the same old brochures and hotel websites in Hawaii. I wanted to grow my skills and doing that meant trying something new. More challenging. When my dad offered me the substitute position here in Brighton Bay, I thought it would be an easy way to make some extra cash and then I could go off to California for a while.
“Interesting,” Macie said slyly. Her head tilted slightly as she studied me. I wondered how much Penelope had told her of me. I could almost see the thoughts that clouded Macie’s mind, telling me she knew more than she let on. “So, was Penny your first kiss?”
I let a chuckle escape my mouth, unsurprised by her questions. Jeremy seemed the same, except he wasn’t laughing. He was rolling his eyes. “You really have no filter, do you?” I asked.
Macie shrugged. “Just curious.”
I snorted, “My first kiss was with a girl named Becca during a game of seven minutes in heaven at Penelope’s brother’s birthday party. I was twelve. But itwasin Penelope’s bedroom.” Macie’s face then twisted into something disturbed. I held up my hands. “I didn’t choose the location. Easton did.”
Macie laughed then. “That’s rough.”
I smirked. “Well, Penelope’s first kiss was in my swimming pool,” Macie’s face lit up until I continued, “withmybest friend, Dominic.”
Macie gasped dramatically while Jeremy was looking down on his phone uninterested.
In looking at the two of them, I hadn’t noticed the door to the bar open until I heard, “Yeah, well you dared us to do it.” Penelope smiled as she sat down. “Hi.”
I smiled back at her. “Hi, Pep.”
Macie’s eyes darted back and forth between us, sparkling with amusement—or maybe mischief—I couldn’t tell. “Penny, two drinks maximum tonight, okay?” Macie warned.
Penelope threw her hands up in surrender. “Trust me, I’m never drinking more than two ever again.”
“I think you’re fun when you’re drunk.” I propped my elbows on the table and leaned my head into one as I looked at her.
“And I’m not fun when I’m sober?” she mused.
“Not nearly as much fun as you are when you’re drunk.”
She shoved me with a playful giggle. “You ass.”
The trivia game started, and by halfway through, we were losing miserably. I wasn’t even sure what the theme of the night was supposed to be. Some television show none of us had ever heard of. We’d all but given up, not even bothering to provide answers anymore.
“Penny, have you heard back from UCLA yet?” Macie asked, her eyes darting to me briefly.
Penelope huddled her hands in her lap and brought her shoulders in on herself, as if she was embarrassed. “No, not yet.” She looked away from the rest of us as if she was a little pained. “But I did get accepted into Pepperdine!” she exclaimed quickly. Almost like she was trying to make up for the fact that she hadn’t heard back otherwise. Or as if to make up for the other rejections she’d received.
I tried to ignore the warmth that bloomed inside my gut at the thought of her moving to California too. We’d always orbited each other in different directions, and it suddenly felt as if we may change course. As if we’d start moving toward each other rather than away from. We all granted her our congratulations at her acceptance.
“I was invited to an academic conference there. Typically, only current graduate students are permitted to attend but I received a special invitation in my acceptance. An opportunity to meet with the program leaders and professors, as well as other students.” She shrugged. “It’s not my first choice, though.”
“What’s your first choice?” I asked.
She cleared her throat awkwardly. “Oxford, obviously. But I was…expelled.” She let her hair fall across her cheek, once again hiding her face. “UCLA was my second choice, and they are the only school I still haven’t heard from.”
