Page 61 of Places We've Never Been

CHAPTER 15

My phone rang in my hands, making me jump and lighting up the dark row where we sat that night watching an outdoor movie. We were supposed to be on the road, but the moms decided they didn’t want another night-driving session, so we were now leaving first thing the next morning.

FaceTime from Willowscrolled across my screen.

“Shoot,” I whispered. She hardly ever FaceTimed me, so I looked both ways down the aisle trying to see which exit was easiest to navigate to. As the call continued to vibrate in my hand,I got up and shuffled past Paisley and Ezra on my right. When I reached Skyler, he gave me a questioning look and I shook my phone at him and kept walking. By the time I got to the exit, the call had stopped. I stepped out anyway and kept walking, trying to put some distance between me and the amphitheater. The phone started ringing again. I swiped to accept thecall.

“Hey,” I answered in a soft voice. “What’s up?”

“Guess who’s here?” Willow yelled, her mouth taking upthe whole screen. Music and voices came through the speaker aswell.

“Where are you?” I asked, finally far enough away to talk normally.

“At the party!” She obviously decided to go after all.

“Willow, you don’t need to yell. I can hear you.” I sat on a picnic table in a grassy area by a tree.

“What?” she yelled back, her ear suddenly taking up the whole screen.

“Are you drunk?”

“How can I be drunk? I only had one drink!” Her phone pointed out at a group of people now but it was so shaky that it was making my eyes hurt. “Do you see him?”

“Who?”

“My soul mate!”

“What?”

“Remember that guy from my dream you drew?”

Last year Willow told me she dreamt of the most beautiful boy in the world but didn’t know him in real life so it must’ve been her soul mate. She forced me to draw a picture of him while describing him in detail. Then she’d pinned the picture to the wall in her bedroom. We both laughed every time we saw it so I figured it was just a running joke at this point, but right now, she was dead serious.

“Yes, I remember.”

“He’s here!” Her phone was still pointing at a group of people too far away for me to make out. “He’s beautiful!”

“I can’t see him.”

“Beautiful boys are the best. Speaking of, how is your demon ex–best friend doing?”

My eyes shot back toward the theater. All I could see was the big screen, the movie playing like a silent one, since I couldn’t hear the sound anymore. “Shhh.”

“Is he still a huge jerk?” She said it so loud that I was glad we weren’t in the RV at the moment. “If not, make him yours. You need a man. A maaaaannnnn.”

“Willow, seriously, you’re drunk.”

“One drink, Nor. I think.”

“Who did you go there with?” And how was she getting home?

“I’m going to meet my soul mate.” Her lips were back on the screen. “Go get your soul mate toooooo.”

“No, wait, just—”

The phone went dark as she hung up. I hated being hundreds of miles away because now I had no idea what to do. I stared at the black screen of my phone for several long moments before I attempted to call Willow back. It spit me into her voice mail.

“No.”