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Twenty-Three

The drive to Mara’s mom’s house lasts only a few minutes, which is great because Holden’s white-knuckled driving isn’t something I’m keen on experiencing for long stretches of time, even when I’m mellow from drinking.

We park in front of a cute rancher with Christmas decorations lighting up the exterior, and Holden knocks on the forest-green door.

A pretty blonde girl with eyes like Mara’s behind red glasses greets us. “Thankgodyou’re here. She won’t stop bouncing off the walls and I don’t know what to do.”

She lets us inside the house and we follow her down a hallway before she wheels around and looks at me. “I’m Taylor, by the way.”

“I’m Saine.”

She glances at Holden, drops her voice. “You said she wascute.”

He stiffens beside me and my cheeks burn. “Sheiscute,” he mumbles back.

“You need to learn better descriptive words. This girl is well past cute.”

“I can very obviously hear you guys,” I say quietly to the gray carpet. I probably should have taken my sneakers off before trampling on it.

Taylor bites back a smile, eyes flicking to Holden before landing on me. “Yes, that was the point.”

She leads us to the room at the end of the hall, the only one with the door open, light and music spilling out. Inside, Mara tears her closet apart, throwing shirts and skirts and dresses and brightly colored pants onto her bed to the soundtrack of The Regrettes’ latest album.

“Everything sucks!” she screams into her nearly empty closet. She spins toward the door when we fill the frame. “You’re here!”

She rushes forward, burying her face into Holden’s stomach. “I need your help,” she whines, eyes wide and glistening. “Taylor isn’t taking this seriously.”

“That’s because I don’t understand,” Taylor says with a laugh. “You’re not making sense.”

Mara whips her head in Taylor’s direction. “How hard is it to understand that Rose wants to go to a movie but we’rechildrenso we can’t go alone?”

“Rose wants to go to a movie?” I ask. “In a friendly way or romantic way?”

“See?” Mara cries, gesturing to me. “She justgetsit!”

Taylor glances at Holden and then shakes her head. “I have work to do. She’s your problem now. Just make sure she gets to bed soon.”

“Go back to school and stay there until you learn the intricacies of preteen romance in the twenty-first century!” Mara cries after her. “Love has no bedtime!”

“I don’t think they teach you that in school.” Holden peels her off him and steps inside, making space on her bed to sit. “So, what’s the situation here?”

Mara stares at me for a second and then sniffs the air. “You smell weird.”

“She’s...” He hesitates like he’s going to come up with some kind of metaphor or whatever, like when I said that Elijah and I were singing partners, but then he just finishes with a shrug, “Drunk.”

“Only until I puke.” I grab Mara by the shoulder and lead her into her own room. “What’s the problem? You’re going to the movies?”

“Okay, so.” She takes a deep breath and exhales, her whole body deflating momentarily. “I was minding my own business, just, like, watching YouTube videos of domesticated foxes, as one does on a Friday night, when Rose texted me.” She shoves her phone an inch from my eyes. “Do you see that? Do youseethat, Saine?”

“Almost.” I pull the phone away from my face and read the text out loud for Holden’s sake. “We should go to the movies. Just us.” I raise my eyebrows. “Did you tell her how you feel?”

“I texted her two weeks ago! And she finally acknowledged it!” She holds her phone against her heart. “It wasmyidea to go to the movies, but I hadn’t thought of the logisticsof it.” She looks over her shoulder at Holden, pouting. “I’m a child. I can’t drive. I have no money.”

“I think this was a John Mulaney sketch once.” I sit next to Holden on the bed, not bothering to move Mara’s clothes. “You have parents, you know? And they have money.”

“But, okay, hear me out. They’ll want to chaperone and hover around us and it’ll be so embarrassing.” She gets on her knees in front of us. “Will you please take us?”

I shrug. “I have no car, so you really have to ask him.”