Page 39 of One Last Time

“I like your style. But I thought you were gonna be here to deal with that guy who’s redoing the driveway?”

“Noah can deal with that.”

Lee was still sleepy, so we took my car. Dad was about to leave for work when we got to my house, so we didn’t chat for long. He’d texted every day to check in and see how things were going, but he asked us again now anyway.

“It’s great!” Lee enthused. “Having the place to ourselves is killer. Although Shelly and Noah seem to find something new to argue about every day,” he added with a laugh.

Dad frowned at me. “You didn’t say you and Noah had been fighting.”

“We’re not!” I told him, smacking my so-called best friend across the arm and shooting him a glare. “Well, I mean…kind of, but…but when haven’t we argued about stuff? Everything’sgreat.I promise.”

“Hmm” was all my dad had to say about it. “Well, I’ve gotta head to work. Thanks again for helping out with Brad’s bake sale, bud. And say thanks to Levi again. He’s a good kid—wouldn’t even take any money off me for them.”

“I’ll let him know.”

“Well, have a good day at work. And don’t forget I need you to pick Brad up tomorrow from—”

“Yeah, Dad, I know. I’m the one who put the Post-its on the refrigerator, remember?”

After he was gone, I shoved Lee’s head before getting to work. A couple of Tupperware containers were stacked in the kitchen. Three were filled with cupcakes; the fourth had everything we’d need to decorate them. While I set up a workstation, Lee made us both some coffee.

That didn’t stop me being mad at him, though, even just a little.

“Thanks for that,” I huffed. “We don’tfight.”

“I have never known anyone to yell over a toothbrush,” Lee told me, getting out a mixing bowl and some utensils. “Atoothbrush,Shelly.”

“It was over toothpaste,” I corrected him, sticking my chin in the air. “And don’t tell me you and Rachel don’t argue about stupid stuff like that.”

“Nope.”

“What do you mean,nope? I’ve heard you guys…” I trailed off as I thought it over. Thinking about it, it wasn’t so much arguing as…“Okay, well, you have disagreements.”

“No, what we have is Rachel pointing out when I’ve done something stupid. Like leaving the toilet seat up or using her journal as a coaster.”

“That’s totally the same thing.”

Lee scrunched up his face in a way that said,Yeah, no, it’s kind of not.

“Shut up,” I told him. “Okay, I’m going to frost these cupcakes here in blue, and you’re going to do those ones in white.”

“Remind me why you didn’t just ask Levi to do this part, too? Helovesthis kinda thing, and you know his little sister would’ve loved to help out.”

“Because,”I snapped. I was still a little irritated at him for saying I’d been fighting with Noah—and for questioning me on this now.

Because I was trying to prove to myself that I could handle everything this summer. We’d graduated high school now and would be heading off to college soon. We were growing up and Icould handle this.I had a job. I was pulling off the epic bucket list of our childhoods to create the perfect summer. I’d gotten intoHarvard,dammit.

This was just a bake sale, that was all. A couple dozen cupcakes. No big deal.

Brad woke up just as we were adding sprinkles on top of the frosting. He gasped when he found us in the kitchen, then beamed and cried out, “Lee! I haven’t seen you in forever!”

“Oh, charming,” I scoffed, already abandoning the cupcakes to start getting Brad’s breakfast together.

He noticed. “I can pour my own juice,Elle.” And then: “No! That’s too much milk! You’re messing up the oatmeal!”

“You never complained about the way I made you oatmeal before,” I muttered. He stomped over to scowl at the oatmeal I was making and pouted at me.

Idefinitelywasn’t this difficult when I was his age.