See You at Harry's (22 page)

“I know. But even so, I just can’t. It wasn’t meant to be, anyway. I mean, Gil’s not really my type.” But she says it more like she’s trying to convince herself.

She turns me around so we’re both looking in the mirror again. “I wish Mom and Dad were here to see you like this.”

I shrug, like it’s no big deal. But inside, I wish it, too.

“Come on, let’s get Holden and blow this joint.”

I follow her down the hall. When we pass Charlie’s room, I feel a tug and pause. Sara stops and puts her hand on my shoulder. “It’s OK to have fun tonight,” she says. “He would want that.”

I nod, and we keep walking. And I can’t help it. I’m smiling.

S
ARA POUNDS ON
Holden’s door. “Your carriage awaits!”

We follow her outside, and she opens the passenger door of the truck for us. Before we get in, we pause to look at Charlie’s enormous face under the bad paint job. “He would’ve loved this,” I say.

“Come on.” Sara walks around to the other side, and we all climb in. The truck jerks a bit while Sara gets used to the clutch, but pretty soon we’re rolling down the driveway and on our way.

Sara fiddles with the radio and comes to a Rolling Stones song. She cranks the volume, and Holden starts singing, “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” at the top of his lungs. He elbows me, so I join him, even though I can’t really sing. Sara joins in, too. I can’t remember a moment like this, when we all seemed happy at the same time. Maybe when we were younger and going on a fun road trip with our parents. Maybe.

When we get to the school, I feel butterflies in my stomach and realize I never ate dinner. But it’s OK because they’re nervous butterflies, not hungry ones. Holden slides out and takes my hand, helping me so I don’t trip on my dress. We stand by the open door.

“Hey,” Holden says. “Thanks.”

“No problem!” Sara says. “So, um, I guess I’ll just hang out till the dance is over? Pick you up here at ten?”

“Uh, I think I’ll be going out with Gray after.”

“You sure that’s a good idea? Dad’s already going to lose it when he realizes where you are.”

“If he’s already mad, how much worse could it be? I figure I’ll be grounded the rest of my life anyway, so I might as well live it up while I still can.”

“Good logic. What about you, Princess Fern?”

I bite my lip. “Ten sounds good. I hope Ran and Cassie don’t mind the truck.”

“Of course they won’t. I’ll be here. Have fun, my princesses!”

We close the door and face the school. The gym doors are propped open, and music flows from inside.

“You can go first,” I say. “So it doesn’t look like you’re taking your sister to the dance.”

Holden smirks. “Fern, I’m probably going to be the only guy dancing with another guy. I hardly think you’re going to hurt my reputation.” He holds out his elbow, and I slip my hand through his arm.

“Come on,” he says. “Let’s go raise some eyebrows.”

I laugh. That’s what my dad used to say whenever he wanted us to do something wacky for the restaurant. “OK,” I say. “Let’s.”

In the lobby, there are giant pumpkins on either side of the door and about a million parents lining the entrance to the gym, on the lookout for any mischief. I let my hand slip out from Holden’s arm before anyone can really see us. The gym is already packed with people dancing under orange streamers. As I step inside, Cassie comes running toward me.

“OK, well, this is it,” Holden says. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do!” He disappears into the crowd. Cassie wraps her arms around me.

“You look beautiful! Wow!”

We step back and take each other in. Cassie is all in gold. Her dark curly hair and bronze skin look like they have flecks of gold, too. She looks stunning. “You, too!” I say.

“Come on, Ran’s waiting,” she gushes.

She takes my hand and leads me inside the orange wonderland. There are pumpkins everywhere and bales of hay instead of chairs to sit on. “Don’t sit down,” Cassie says. “The hay will stick to your dress. I’ve seen at least four girls picking hay off each other. They look like monkeys grooming!”

Lit pumpkins with stars carved in them light the refreshment tables. We find Ran standing in a corner by himself, happily sipping punch. He’s wearing an old-fashioned-looking tuxedo with a silver shirt underneath. It has ruffles. But the funny thing is, on Ran it looks great. He owns that outfit. Standing next to him, I feel myself stand up straighter, prouder.

“You two match,” Cassie says. And even though she’s smiling, I hear the hurt in her voice.

Ran smiles shyly at me. “I thought we could, you know, be coordinated.”

“Well, we’re all silver and gold,” Cassie says, already recovering. “Like the song in
Rudolph
?”

“Yeah,” I say. And then for some reason, I just start laughing. Because I love that she can turn her sadness around so quickly. Ran puts his hand on her shoulder and laughs, too. And it feels so good. So good and new. And OK. It feels OK to be here with my two best friends, happy.

We dance to the fast songs and take turns dancing with Ran to the slow ones. A few times, we dance near Holden and Gray, who are hanging out with a group of upperclassmen I don’t recognize. I think some of them are from our school and some are from the Academy, and I try to figure out which are which based on how they’re dressed. It’s hard to tell. There are girls and guys, and they all dance in a group around Holden and Gray, like a protective barrier from any Thing-type people who might try to cause trouble. Every time I catch eyes with Holden, he winks and I can see that he has the glow back.

When I slow dance with Ran, I can feel his breath in my ear. It’s funny, all these years we’ve been friends, we’ve never really been close like this before. All his familiar smells are stronger so near. I close my eyes and breathe them in.

“Fern,” he whispers on our last dance, “I’m really glad you came.”

“Me, too,” I say. I gently rest my head on his shoulder. He holds me a little closer, as if we are in a slow-dancing hug. I feel happy and sad at the same time. As if our emotions are all mixed up together. I feel his grief, but I feel his happiness, too. Somehow, it makes me feel safe, standing here with my best friend. His arms around me feel like a promise I believe. A promise that despite everything, all will be well after all.

When the song is over, we step away from each other. Ran smiles at me and I smile back, and a million butterflies take flight in my stomach. We find Cassie and head outside. Holden rushes past and yells, “Don’t wait up!” over his shoulder as he disappears with Gray and a bunch of his new friends.

“Fag!” I hear someone yell at them from the shadows.

“You know it!” Holden yells, and he and his friends all crack up laughing.

I spot the big headlights of the ice-cream truck turning into the parking lot. “You guys sure you aren’t too embarrassed to be seen in the ice-cream truck?” I ask Cassie and Ran.

“Nah,” Cassie says. “It’s like a really, really big limo.”

“With only front seats,” Ran adds.

Sara pulls up to the curb, and Ran opens the door. I get in first, then Ran, then Cassie. There aren’t enough seat belts, so Ran and I share the middle one.

“Soooo?” Sara asks. “How was it?”

“Great!” we all say at the same time.

We slowly drive through the parking lot and back onto the road. Sara turns up the radio, and we all sing “Crocodile Rock” at the top of our lungs. This is the happiest day of my life, I start to think. But then I stop. Because no happiest day should come after Charlie. But I keep singing, because I know it’s OK to be happy at this moment. I know Charlie would want me to be. I can imagine him here now, squeezed in with us, singing and laughing.

Just as we really get into the song, Sara suddenly flicks it off.

“Uh-oh,” she says. “Oh . . . no . . .” She looks in the rearview mirror. “I can’t believe it.”

“What?” I ask. But then we all see the flashing lights reflected in the side mirrors.

Sara presses the brakes and pulls to the side of the road.

“Were you speeding?” Ran asks.

“No,” Sara says. “Just stay calm. Fern, hand me my purse. Cassie, grab the registration out of the glove compartment.”

I give her the purse, and we find the registration.

Sara rolls down her window and squints at the mirror. “Guys, this is our lucky night,” she whispers. “Fern, put something over your seat belt, quick!” Ran pulls off his coat and covers our lap just as a cop steps up to the door.

“Mike!” Sara says. “How the heck are ya?”

“Hey, Sara. How’s it goin’?”

“You nearly gave me a heart attack. I totally thought we were busted. And I wasn’t even speeding! Um, I wasn’t, was I?”

“Uh, no, but . . .”

“Just stopped me to say hi, huh? How’ve you been, anyway?”

“Uh, Sara? Your dad called you out. He said his truck was stolen.”

She laughs but it sounds fake. “Well, it’s just us! It’s not stolen. So you can call off the search.”

“I don’t know. . . .”

“Look, Mike. See these sweet faces?”

We all smile at him. Cassie waves.

“They all just came from Homecoming. Remember how important that was to us when we were in school? And now I have to get them home so they don’t get in trouble for missing curfew. You don’t want them to remember their first Homecoming as the time when their driver got busted by the police, do you? I mean,
Homecoming memories,
Mike. You know how important they are. Weren’t you, like, homecoming king one year?”

“Actually, no. I never went to Homecoming.”

Uh-oh.

Sara sighs. “Oh, Mike. Please, for me? Tell you what. You can follow us! You could escort us to Cassie’s and Ran’s houses, and then I promise to head straight home. You can follow us the whole way. Whatever you want.”

I hold my breath. We are in so. Much. Trouble.

Mike taps his fingers on the door.

“Please?” Sara says again.

Please,
I say to myself.
Please, please, please, please, please.

“Oh, what the heck. All right. But don’t try anything funny. I’m going to follow you, and I can call for backup if I need it.”

“I promise. No funny business. Scout’s honor. Or whatever. Thanks, Mike! You’re the best cop ever!”

He shakes his head and walks back to his car.

“I can’t believe it,” Ran says.

“Fern, never say I’ve never done anything for you, sister.”

“Oh. My. God. This is, like, the best night of my life!” Cassie gushes. “I will never forget this night for as long as I live. How cool are we, getting pulled over by the cops! Do you think he’ll flash his lights all the way home?”

“Lord, I hope not,” Sara says.

“You were good,” Ran says. “You totally snowed him.”

“Yeah,” Sara says, turning the radio back on. “I was pretty awesome.”

We drop Cassie off first. She practically skips to her front door. When she gets there, she turns and blows us all kisses. We laugh and blow some back.

At Ran’s house, Sara pulls to the curb and parks. The police car is right behind us, but thankfully he parks far enough behind that when he turns off the lights, you can’t see him from the house. When Ran gets out, his parents open the front door and come rushing down the front path. His dad has a camera.

“You may as well get out, Fern. There’s no way they’ll let you guys leave without a pose,” Ran says.

I climb out, and his dad gives me a huge hug. Then his mom wraps her long, skinny arms around me and whispers in my ear, “You OK, honey? We’ve been so worried about you.”

I nod my head against her soft sweater. Why is it that when people are nice to you, it makes you have to cry? I squeeze my eyes shut and take a deep breath. She smells like sugar cookies.

“I’m doing OK,” I say. She lets me go, and Ran takes my hand and leads me over to the garage door, under the outside light.

“What a beautiful couple,” his dad says. Ran squeezes my hand.

Couple?

Ran’s dad counts to three and we smile. I don’t even blink. “Perfect! I’ll have Ran e-mail you a copy. Come on, honey, it’s freezing out here.” They wave to Sara and rush back inside. The garage light goes out, and suddenly Ran and I are standing in the dark.

“That really was the best night ever,” Ran says. He is still holding my hand.

I can’t tell him I agree. I feel like . . . like there just can’t be any
best
s now. Not without Charlie.

“It was really great,” I say.

And then Ran’s face is up close to mine, and he kisses me so fast, I’m not positive it happened.

“Well, see ya,” he says, and rushes up the walk.

“See ya,” I whisper, touching my lips with my fingers. But he’s too far away to hear.

“Woo-woo!” Sara whistles when I open the door to the truck. “Way to go, Ferny!”

I cringe, but inside I am smiling so big, I think my lips will crack just at the thought.

Sara pulls back onto the road, and we drive home singing to the oldies together. When we turn onto our road, Mike turns on the flashing lights.

“Oh, gimme a break,” Sara says. “Is that really necessary?”

I peer through the rearview mirror. “It’s pretty funny,” I say.