Page 66 of Fade into You

I let go and meet her smile with mine, placing the tickets in her hand.

She looks down at them. “So, what? You want me to go seeTitanicwith you?”

“No. Although, that would be an effective balm to smooth over our regrettable fight,” I say, not quite ready to let go of the old-timey-speak. “I want you to go with Dade. A date. On me.”

“What?” she mumbles.

“An apology for being such a bitch to him.”

She pulls me in for a real hug now, and even I almost believe it’s the truth.

We were supposed to meet at the theater early and sit in the back row where they couldn’t see us. I had to beg a ride off my mom, who bribed Olivia and her stupid boyfriend to drop me off on the way to whatever exciting party they were lying about going to. Fucking embarrassing. Garrett asking me what I was seeing to try to be polite and make the car ride less awkward. Olivia laughing, even though she knows damn well she still has a whole series of postcards fromRomeo + Juliethanging up on her side of our room, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes. Not that I don’t like looking at both Leo and Claire… or Leo and Kate, for that matter. But still.

“Have fun, wild woman,” Liv says as I exit the backseat of Garrett’s car.

“Thanks for the ride.”

They speed off, tires screeching. The movie started at eight o’clock and it’s eight fifteen. As I wait outside in the cold, alone, watching the last of the stragglers rush in, I feel myself getting annoyed. It was Jessa’s plan, so where is she? I was silently worried when she didn’t offer to drive me, but now I’m pretty sure. She’s trying to stand me up. I walk over to the pay phone by the theater, drop a quarter, and dial Jessa’s cell number, which I took the time to memorize after her lips touched mine.

It rings and then a gruff “Yeah?” follows.

“Jessa, it’s Bird.”

“Oh,” she says, gentler. “Hi. Sorry, what number is this?”

“The pay phone by the theater,” I say, pausing. “Which you are supposed to be at right now.”

“Oh fuck!” she says. “Sorry, I forgot to tell you, Dade made me wait in line at GameStop for him. That game release I told you about?”

“Why would you do that?”

“Um, I dunno. The miracle of friendship?”

I look across the parking lot to another bank of buildings in this strip mall, where there’s a GameStop with a familiar blue-haired girl sitting in line in a folding lawn chair.

“Is that you?” I ask, hoping it’s not just wishful thinking making me delirious. I wave my arm high over my head.

“Yep,” she says, raising her hand back.

I hang up, and walk across the football-field-sized parking lot.

“Are you seriously gonna sit in the cold until midnight?” I ask her once I’m close enough for her to hear me.

“He asked me to. I couldn’t say no. We were supposed to be waiting together, me and Dade.”

“Well, so what? He’s not here.”

“Yeah, but I couldn’t think of an excuse.”

“But you told me you’d go with me to the theater,” I say, trying my bestnotto sound like a jealous girlfriend, even if that’s what I’m feeling like right now.

“I’m sorry. I guess I was just trying to… I don’t know.”

“What, avoid me?”

“No, I just don’t want him to be mad at me.”

“Jessa.” I reach for her hand to try to pull her up out of her sad little seat. “You’re not sitting here in the cold for the next four hours.”