Salute to Summer

It’s been a week since I gave my number to Emma and she still hasn’t called.

I can’t blame her; we’ve only ever flirted over her register, never meeting anywhere else, and it’s only been a few weeks since she started. But we’re scheduled to leave next weekend, and everyone is getting restless. We’ve spent the last year prepping for this trip, but we all know we can’t go if the money comes up short.

“Dude,” my best friend spits through a mouthful of pizza, “are you sure you gave her the right number?”

His girlfriend shoots him a sideways glance and puts her hand on his leg.

“Babe, from her perspective, he’s just some random guy who comes to her grocery store,” she says. “Girls who agree to go with guys like that so easily are the reason why we need the cops.”

“Valid,” he responds, “but she could at least call to turn him down. The pay phones in the parking lot there still work and all.”

I sigh and run a hand through my hair, fixing my eyes on whatever dumb sitcom the two of them have going on TV.

“I knew it wasn’t gonna work, Adam,” I say, and his figure shifts in my peripheral view. “Jess is right; no girl in her right mind would agree to road trip with a guy she’s just met.”

Adam shrugs dramatically and whips the entire box of pizza up onto his lap. Jess pulls her hand of his leg in disgust and gets up to wander off into the kitchen.

“I think you should go back to see her.”

I laugh.

“And do what?”

“Explain the situation.” He throws a thumb over his shoulder in the general direction of his girl. “Tell her there’s a girl coming.”

“Like that’s gonna help.”

“Did you tell her we were going in a group?”

I shake my head.

“I don’t remember what I told her. I just know I asked her to call.”

“Then go back and tell her we’re going in a group.”

I shoot Adam a glare that he’s too absorbed in his pizza to see. Jessica comes back from the kitchen – my kitchen – with a beer in tow and sits down to light one up on the couch.

“He’s got a little bit of a point, Des,” she says smoothly, smoke slipping through her lips as she speaks. “She’s less likely to think you’re a murderer if she knows there are four of us and not everyone’s a guy.”

I settle back into my lazy-boy and grit my teeth in thought. She’s got a point.

“You haven’t been back there recently, right?”

“No,” I say. “It felt weird to keep going back after I invited her.”

Jess grins and takes a swig of her beer.

“I get that. You should go back at least once, though. It’s weirder if you just disappear entirely.”

“I guess.”

“Why don’t you ask her to come out with us once? We can go get coffee or something.”

I heave another sigh and claw at the back of my neck.

“I dunno, dude, it just feels weird. Let’s just find somebody else.”

“If that’s what you wanna do. We’ve only got week, though,” she says, lifting up her bottle again. It’s down to the last sip and she taps the side, and smug look inching over her face. I bite my lip and huff out a scoff.

“We’re almost out of beer though.”