The Last Time We Were Us by Leah Konen

Author:Leah Konen
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2016-03-11T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter 17

IT TAKES MOM, SUZANNE, AND ME TWO FULL HOURS to get the house ready for the “best bridal shower ever,” as Mom has taken to calling it.

I’m a bit groggy as we run through all our tasks: covering a foldout table with a big white cloth, hanging feathery paper lanterns and tissue paper flowers, tying pink ribbons to the back of every chair and tacking up signs with witticisms like “The Future Mrs.” and “He Popped the Question!,” setting up the pinboard full of photos beneath the “Lyla + Benny” print Mom got made special at the stationery shop.

Even though my parents picked me up at ten o’clock sharp last night, even though I made myself stop texting Innis at midnight and get into bed, it still took me forever to actually get to sleep. There was too much to think about, classical music and expensive champagne and Innis’s sweet words, dancing around in my head like glitter in a snow globe.

At eleven thirty on the dot, Mom sends me up to get dressed, with a reminder to go easy on the eye makeup. I’m in the middle of adding extra eyeliner, just to piss her off, when Innis calls.

My hands throb with excitement as I pick up the phone. It’s the second time this week that Innis has called me, and it feels so old-fashioned, so chivalrous somehow. I don’t even think Payton calls MacKenzie, and they’ve had sex. Before Innis, Jason was the only boy who ever called me.

“Hey.” I sink back into bed and stare at the ceiling.

“I didn’t wake you, did I?” His voice sounds warm and polished, like the rich mahogany desk in my dad’s office.

“No.” It comes out breathless. I try again, stronger, more pulled together. “No, you didn’t. I had to get up early. It’s my sister’s bridal shower today.”

“I remember,” he says. “But I wanted to ask you to hang out tomorrow.”

I sigh. “We have this big neighborhood Fourth of July thing. I’m a required attendee. Unless you wanted to come over here?”

He laughs. “I’m a required attendee on my end as well. The day after?”

“Totally.”

“We can go to the movies. Like a real date.”

It doesn’t get much more real than our dinner at the French place, but I love that he’s calling it out now, treating me like a girlfriend.

“I’d love that.”

“Text me from the bridal shower—I want to know how drunk everyone gets.”

“Will do.”

A COUPLE HOURS in, and the bridal shower is a total success, possibly because, as Innis predicted, everyone’s drunk. Everyone but me, that is.

“Ooh, me, me,” Erica says, as I make another round with a bottle of champagne, her mouth half-full of shrimp and grits, of which I may have had three bowls while avoiding the painfully awkward lingerie exchange.

I fill her glass extra high until her eyes light up, pleased, but when I try to move on, she grabs my arm, pulls me close to her.

“How’s Jason?” she asks.

“Excuse me?”

“Your sister thinks you’re still talking to him.

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