Page 35 of The Summer of ’98

“Sounds dope, girl. What’s Leroy’s family like?”

“His parents are great. Super nice. Noah is—” I looked at Cass, who stuck her tongue out in disgust. “He could be worse.”

“Oh no,” Amber laughed.

“Wait!” I said, suddenly remembering the fact that she knew Eric. “Remember Eric? The guy that you sort of hooked up with at that frat party where I met Leroy?”

Cass sat up, alert and listening.

“Yeah?” Amber said.

“He’s on the team with Leroy. We’ve hung out too.”

“We should call him,” Cass said, dropping her scissors and snatching up the phone. “We could put him on a three-way conference call?”

Even I was humming with enthusiasm at the suggestion. “Do you want to, Amber?” I asked.

She paused. “I guess so.” Cass quickly switched off the radio. “But if he’s not interested, I’m hanging up.”

Cass’s knees bounced up and down as she started pressing buttons on the phone. “He might not be home. But we’ll give it a go.”

“Don’t tell him I’m here until you ask him what he thinks of me,” Amber quickly added.

As it rang, anticipation swelled within the room, our nerves tingling and my heart hammering. I felt as if I was the one who was being connected to the person I had a crush on. Cass bit her nails, and then, after what felt like forever, there was an answer.

“Samuel speaking.”

Cass cleared her throat. “Hey, Mr. Washington. It’s Cass Summers calling.”

“Hang on a minute, Cass,” his deep voice became distant. “Eric! Phone.”

Cass and I grinned at each other, silent giggles passing between us.

“Hello?”

“Hey. It’s Cass and Ellie.”

“Hello, ladies,” we could hear the smile in his voice. “How’s it going?”

Cass quirked a brow, gesturing for me to take the lead. “Eric, do you remember my friend Amber? From Waco.”

“Hell, yeah, I do. Couldn’t forget a beautiful woman like that.”

Eric had this regal, grown-up way of speaking. It wasn’t even so much the words, it was his tone and the confidence in his delivery.

“Would you want to talk to her again?” I asked. “If you could.”

“I would call her right now if you gave me her number.”

Cass slapped a hand over her mouth and fell onto her back, legs in the air, kicking.

“Amber,” I prompted.

“Hey, Eric,” Amber said sheepishly. “It’s me.”

“You sneaky little women!” Eric hollered. “Hello, sweetheart. Long time, no talk. How are you?”

“I’m good,” Amber sounded as if she was trying to breathe. “Sorry about ambushing you. You don’t have to chat if you don’t want to.”

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