“I was just thinking about middle school,” she said quickly. “Remember that Halloween when we had a party in your parents’ enormous basement?”
“Eighth grade.”
“Right! I dressed up like Wilma Flintstone, and you were Fred.”
He chuckled. “Yes. And then those popular kids crashed our little party, and the food fight started.”
“Oh yes!” Kacey groaned. “And we were up almost all night cleaning up the mess.”
“You were the only one who stayed to help. Everyone else left.”
“I can still smell that carpet cleaner we used trying to scrub the soda and dip out of the carpet.”
“My mom wound up replacing it.” He lifted his glass of Coke. “And my dad never let me forget that.”
“He still blames you for what those idiots did?”
He took a long draw from the glass and shrugged. “Of course he does.”
“Those guys who started throwing the food weren’t even our friends.”
“But it was my idea to have the party.”
“No, it wasn’t.” She pointed to her chest. “It wasmyidea. I suggested we have a party with just our friends, but my house was too small.” She clucked her tongue as guilt washed over her. “I’m so sorry.”
He shook his head. “Kace, that was a million years ago.”
“Yeah, but I still feel responsible.” She took another drink. “At least I wasn’t the one who suggested we go hiking without a map during that one camping trip! Was that Jake or Wanda?”
“Oh yeah! That was definitely Jake’s idea. We were lost for four hours before we finally found our campsite.”
The two of them laughed at the memory.
He wiped his eyes and hooted. “I’d never been so hungry in my life.”
“Me neither!” She shook her head.
Drew pointed at her. “But you were the culprit for why we were stranded in Charlotte after that concert.”
“You’re right about that one.” Kacey shook her head. “My mom didn’t want me to go because it was more than three hours away, but she agreed because you were taking me.” Shesmiled. “But then Mallory and Bennett backed out because they both got food poisoning from that sushi place where they ate the night before.” She grimaced. “Ugh.”
“And we got stuck in line at the T-shirt stand after the concert so by the time we got out to the parking lot it was nearly empty. Which was the prime opportunity for my car to not start becausesomeonehad to check her makeup before we went into the arena andsomeonehad left the dome light on.”
Kacey held her hand up. “Guilty as charged.”
“Didn’t it take, like, three hours for the roadside service to show up?”
“Yeah. But we had fun sitting on the hood of your car, looking at the stars.” She smiled recalling how romantic it was. Then she frowned. “Gosh, Mom was frantic with worry, even though I called her and told her we were safe.”
“But she forgave you. My dad, however, decided to ground me for a month.”
Kacey blew out a puff of air. “Once again,myfault.”
He opened his mouth to respond just as the server appeared with their meals.
“Fried chicken, loaded baked potato, and mixed vegetables for you, ma’am.” The young woman set the plate in front of Kacey.
“Thank you.” Kacey inhaled the mouthwatering fragrance of her supper.
