Page 143 of Pride High 2: Orange

“I don’t think they do,” Troy admitted sheepishly, “but I’ve always wanted to try.”

They started with the shake, just so they could give it a go, and laughed around their straws because it felt ridiculous. The milkshake was really thick, forcing them to suck extra hard.

“Ow!” Troy pulled away suddenly and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Ice cream headache.”

“Same here,” Mindy said with a wince. “I hate that feeling!”

“It’s the worst,” Troy said with a laugh. “We better save it for last.”

“Agreed. I wonder why people don’t get hot soup headaches.”

“Hey yeah, that is strange!”

Mindy watched him take a bite of his burger. He really crammed it in his mouth, one of his cheeks bulging as he chewed. But she kind of liked that, because it was so different from the way she carefully nibbled each chip so her mouth wouldn’t be too full to talk.

“Do you miss your friends back in Wichita?” she asked.

“Like crazy,” Troy said before making a face. “Or at least I did until recently.”

“How come?”

“I found out that my ex-girlfriend is dating my best friend. Orformerbest friend, I should say.”

“Oh. You had a girlfriend?”

Troy nodded. “Yup. We broke up before I moved here. And it sure didn’t take him long to swoop in and steal her.”

Mindy shifted in her seat, not liking the idea of competition, no matter how far away the other woman might be. “Were you in love with her?”

Troy shrugged. “I don’t know. She was kind of tight.”

“Tight?”

His eyes went wide. “Oh! I’m mean tightly strung. Or tightly wound? I don’t know. They can have each other. I hope they die in a car wreck.”

“Although itiskind of sweet,” Mindy said, steering a chip through the cheese like it was a sailboat. “They must miss you, and now they’ve found each other.”

“Car wreck,” Troy repeated. “The kind where they go over a cliff and the whole thing explodes after hitting the bottom.”

She laughed. “I used to feel that way about my sister and her boyfriends. But only because I was jealous. I never really wanted anything bad to happen to her. I’m sure you’re the same way.”

“Wrong.” Troy pretended his hand was a car, made it go over an invisible cliff, and followed it up with an exploding noise. Then he laughed. “It’s fine. I’m less homesick because of it. And I’m on a date with a girl who’s much prettier.”

Mindy might have found that flattering under the right circumstances, but she didn’t like being compared to another girl. Even favorably. And she didn’t think it was classy to trash-talk someone you used to date, although maybe she would feel differently when she had an ex.Ifshe ever had an ex, since it was possible that she and Troy might get married someday.

They talked about their families next. Troy’s dad was some kind of lawyer and his mother was a housewife. He yawned while Mindy described her parent’s divorce, so she switched topics to the movies and TV shows they liked to watch.

She was a fan ofMelrose Placeand MTV’sThe Real World. He was into a show calledThe Highlanderand wanted to know if she’d seenEncino Man, which was a dumb comedy that she had intentionally avoided. But she smiled and nodded politely as he sung its praises. Mindy was starting to panic until they finished most of the shake together, which was cute because their noses kept touching. As they neared the bottom, he sucked in his cheeks to mimic a fish.

“Stop making me laugh!” she cried. “I don’t want to shoot milkshake through my nose. That would be an extra bad brain freeze.”

“I won’t let that happen,” Troy said. He grabbed both straws and slurped up the last of the shake while crossing his eyes.

She liked how goofy he was. And how happy it seemed to make him each time she laughed.

“That was good,” he said while leaning back and patting his belly. “What’s next? Another round of bowling?”

Mindy didn’t think her self-esteem could handle the humiliation. She glanced around for another option and noticed, in a far corner, that there were still arcade games, just like when she was a kid. With any luck…