Summer's Edge by Dana Mele

Author:Dana Mele
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Published: 2022-05-30T00:00:00+00:00

35

“Do you think Ryan’s cute?” Chelsea asks me later on the back porch, as Mila and Emily look on with interest.

I nearly spit out my gemonade—raspberry lemonade with a splash of gin. It’s a bad habit, I know. I took my first curious sip when I was maybe around ten. I noticed that when I snuck a wine cooler from the fridge, the world around me blurred a little, and that included the quiet people. Fuzzy, like static. I asked my parents if I could drink a small glass of wine at dinner. I was careful never to have too much. Just enough to blur the edge of the world. But sometimes, in this house, that line begins to move further and further away.

Chelsea is staring at me, and I shake my head uncomprehendingly. No, I don’t think Ryan is cute, and I don’t think she’s cute for asking when she still hasn’t admitted to my face that they were together when I considered us to be on hiatus. Then I realize that the question is for Mila’s benefit. The guys have gone off on a walk to “talk shit out” while the rest of us showered and settled down for snacks and decompression. My parents are busy upstairs getting ready to head up to Albany for some bar association dinner my father has to speak at. I’d hate to be important. It carries so many obligations. It’s cumbersome enough being the perennial mediator. For once I’d like to be the impulsive one like Chelsea or live out one of Emily’s romantic melodramas. I never get to misbehave. Even when we break the rules, I’m the one who sets the rules for the rule breaking. Okay, guys. No sex in my parents’ room. No drinking and driving. Keys in the key basket. Empties in this cardboard box. No stray bottle caps! If you’re too drunk to remember your bottle cap, you’ve had too much. Bottle caps, guys. Bottle caps.

“Not cute,” I say with a quick look to gauge Mila’s interest in the conversation.

But Emily is watching me closely. This whole conversation is for Emily. I know that Mila did consider Ryan and it was a definitive no. But in friendship, you commit to the part. I suddenly feel so exhausted. The lengths we go to protect one another’s feelings exceeds the bounds of normalcy.

“He was cute five years ago,” I add. “He’s too intense to be cute now.”

“True. Too mature for cute,” Chelsea says, missing the ever so slight edge in my tone. “Chase is cute, though,” she continues. “You know how some people are still cute even at eighty years old? Like they never grow up. Ryan is an old soul. I feel like he knows things.” I hum a nonresponse. Ryan isn’t the one who knows things. And his intensity has nothing to do with maturity.

“My mom always says he’s an old soul,” Emily says shortly. I raise an eyebrow at Chelsea, and she makes an oops face. It’s a sore spot with Emily.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.