‘Exactly,’ she replied. ‘And that might have been good, too. Or even better.’
I looked down at the box again, remembering all those shots inside, trying to picture myself in even one of them. What if I’d had a boyfriend? What if I’d gone to the prom? What kind of tinge could I have had, given another chance? ‘Maybe,’ I said to Maggie. ‘Or maybe not.’
She gave me a weird look, then opened her mouth to say something, but then the front door chime sounded. ‘Duty calls,’ she said, turning on her heel, and then she was thwacking back down the hallway, her voice cheery as she greeted a group of customers.
Adam watched her go, then leaned back in the doorjamb. ‘You know,’ he said, ‘if you want to remedy that, you can.’
I looked up at him. ‘Remedy what?’
‘The whole not-going-to-the-prom thing,’ he said. ‘Eli’s at the shop right now, doing inventory.’
‘What,’ I said, ‘are you talking about?’
‘You just walk over there and into the office and say, “Hey, be my prom date,”’ he said. ‘It’s that simple.’
I wanted to tell him that nothing concerning me and Eli was simple, especially lately. Instead, I said, ‘What makes you think I want to go with him?’
‘Because,’ he said, ‘you’re sitting here going on about spending high school alone, never going to prom at all… It was kind of obvious who you were talking about.’
‘Maggie. I was talking about Maggie.’
He crossed his arms over his chest. ‘Sure you were.’
I just looked at him for a second. Then I said, ‘Well, what about you?’
‘Me?’
I nodded. ‘When are you planning to ask her?’
‘Ask her what?’
I rolled my eyes.
‘Oh, no. We’re just friends.’
‘Right.’ I opened up the box again and started flipping through the pictures, taking out the one of her on the bike, and walking, and laughing, and in front of the mirror, laying them on the desk side by side. ‘Because, of course, you took this many pictures of all your friends.’
He glanced at the shots, then swallowed. ‘Actually,’ he said stiffly, ‘I do have a lot of shots of Wallace.’
‘Adam. Come on.’
I watched as, defeated, he slumped into the chair, folding his arms behind his head. For a moment we just sat there, neither of us saying anything. Outside, I could hear Maggie chattering on the pros and cons of one-piece bathing suits. ‘The thing is,’ he said finally, ‘I’ve made it this far, you know? We start college in a matter of weeks.’
‘So?’
‘So,’ he continued, ‘I just don’t know if I want that tinge on the summer. Not to mention our friendship. An awkward tinge, that will then color everything else.’
‘You’re assuming she’ll say no.’
‘No,’ he said, ‘I’m assuming she’ll say yes, because she’ll figure it’ll be fun. And then I’ll work it up to be this big deal, like it’s a real date, which is not how she’ll see it, which will become crushingly obvious at the prom itself when she abandons me to dance, and then leave, and eventually marry some other guy.’
Outside, Maggie laughed, the sound light and cheery, like music.
‘Well,’ I said. ‘At least you haven’t put much thought into it.’
He gave me a wry smile. ‘Just like you haven’t thought about asking Eli, right?’
‘I haven’t.’
He rolled his eyes.
‘No, really. We had a falling-out… We’re not even talking right now.’
‘Well, then. You know what you need to do.’
I said, ‘I do?’
‘Yep.’ He pushed himself to his feet. ‘Get back on that bike.’
I just looked at him. ‘It’s not that simple.’
‘Sure it is,’ he said. ‘Just takes one more time. Remember?’
I considered this as he started for the door, sliding his hands in his pockets. ‘On the same note,’ I said, ‘there’s a worse thing than an awkward tinge.’
‘Yeah?’
I nodded.
‘What’s that?’
‘Always wondering if it might have gone the other way.’ I nodded at the prom shots, still laid out in front of me. ‘That is a lot of pictures. You know?’
He glanced at them, then back at me. ‘Yeah,’ he said. ‘I guess it is.’
My phone beeped then, and I glanced down at it. Jason.
Are you free for lunch? I’m en route to the Last
Chance, have an hour.
‘Gotta go,’ Adam said. Then he pointed at the scab on my knee. ‘Remember. Back on the bike!’
‘Right,’ I replied. ‘Got it.’
He flashed me a thumbs-up, then was gone, whistling – always so damn cheery, how was that? – as he headed back toward the front of the store. I looked down at Maggie’s pictures, end to end, and then at my phone, where Jason’s text was still on the screen. I knew I’d really screwed up with Eli, turning away from him the way I had, but perhaps it wasn’t too late to have a tinge of my own. Maybe good, maybe bad, but at least it would add some color, somewhere. So I picked up my phone and gave Jason his answer.
Okay. On my way.
When I got home that evening, Heidi was on the back deck, looking out at the water. Even from a distance and through the sliding glass door, I recognized the tenseness in her shoulders, the way her head leaned a little sadly to the side, and so was not surprised when she turned, hearing me, to see her eyes were red and puffy.