The Fascinators by Andrew Eliopulos

Author:Andrew Eliopulos
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2020-03-05T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 11

ON WEDNESDAY MORNING, SAM GOT A TEXT FROM HIS mom that his car was ready at the shop, and she could pick him up and take him between showings of a new house if he could wait until three forty-five. This kindness felt like progress. They’d been sniping at each other all week following the discovery of a second broken window, this one in their house, which Sam swore wasn’t a result of practice, though it was obvious to her that it was. That was a small price to pay, though, for having finally gotten the book off their hands. He was sleeping again. The visions were gone.

Thank you! He wrote now. No need to miss work. I’ll get a ride from one of my friends.

“Sorry, I have to work today,” Delia said at lunch. “The youth group crowd always comes to eat early on Wednesday nights.”

“You could drop me off on the way?” Sam suggested.

“But it’s not on the way.”

Sam turned to James.

“My mom’s got the car today. I’m taking the bus home.”

Sam sighed.

“Why don’t you ask Denver?” Delia said.

“I don’t know him that well yet. Asking for a ride to an auto shop is like a best-friend level request.”

“I don’t know. What better way to get closer to someone than to endure an onerous errand with that someone? You could kill two birds with one stone and offer to buy him a Frosty on the way there, to say thank you and I’m sorry. Who doesn’t love a Frosty? Maybe if you’re really lucky, he’ll invite you on another date, and this one won’t be so disastrous.”

“What date?” James said.

“There was no date,” Sam said, throwing her a warning look. “There was a group outing. You were there.”

“Oh, that,” James said, and unless Sam was imagining it, he seemed relieved.

“That was partly what made it a disaster,” Delia said. “Though there were other disastrous parts, too. A Frosty would make up for them.”

“All right, I’ll ask him. But only because I really do need a ride. Not because I want a . . . a Frosty.”

Delia cackled. This was exactly why he hadn’t told her about the night by the soccer field for so long. Why he still hadn’t told her about what happened at the bowling alley. Delia could be a loose cannon. She balanced her own moral scales.

Denver responded to Sam’s text right away, saying he would be happy to take Sam to the auto shop.

I’m right by the entrance of the lower parking lot.

Better than Uber! Sam wrote.

SO much better than Uber ;) Denver replied. Which, Sam supposed he had opened the door for that one.

“How did you know Frosties are my favorite?” Denver said that afternoon.

“Lucky guess.”

“Ah, I see what you did there. But you didn’t have to do that. Buy me something, I mean. It’s not like I had anything else going on today.”

“Gosh, when you put it that way, I feel so honored.”

“No, I mean—I’m happy to help. I just—never mind.”

“I’m only giving you a hard time,” Sam said.

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