Page 54 of Old Acquaintances

He frowned. “Okay…”

I ran after Tucker. “What is your problem?” I demanded.

He opened his back door and tossed his bag in the seat. He slammed the door, opened it, slammed it shut again.

“Tucker!” I crossed my arms. “Are you mad at him? Are you…jealous?”

He cautiously met my eye. “He was only hanging out with us to get to you.”

“So?”

“So, he’s anasshole.” He pointed at me. “You can’t go to prom with him.”

I coughed an offended laugh. “Excuse me? Since when are you in charge of my life?”

“Since you need to be protected from assholes,” he said.

“He’s a nice guy.”

“Yeah, sure.” He shot, “I know you went out with him, by the way, Johnny told me.”

“I wasn’t keeping it a secret from you.”

“Then, why didn’tyoutell me? Why didn’thetell me?”

I asked slowly, “Was I supposed to tell you?”

Did Tucker want to know about my romantic life? Johnny didn’t care. He’d tell me about his opinion of the guy and then let me do whatever I wanted. But Tucker looked cheated, slighted, like I had done something wrong.

Tucker flinched. “Did he kiss you?”

Under Tucker’s gaze, the question was an accusation. I didn’t want to sayyes, that would have resulted in more car door slamming, but I didn’t want to sayno, that would have given him too much satisfaction. I tucked my hair behind my eyes and muttered, “None of your business.”

He interpreted that as ayes.He cursed under his breath. He walked around the front of his truck. “Are you coming or not?”

“No,” I answered. “I’m going to ride with Kyle.”

“Fine.”

The Friday night before prom, I got a text message from Kyle. I had just finished painting my nails and had a whitening strip on my teeth. My face broke into a smile when I saw his name, a smile that didn’t last long.

Without explanation, he decided to go with someone else. He broke it off between us, at 9:34 the Friday night before senior prom.

I laid in my bed, my nails drying, holding my phone with a shaking hand, and stared at the chiffon floral printed dress that hung on the back of my closet door. My first thought: I’m not going to wear that dress.

Hattie had taken me shopping. When she tightened the straps and noticed the small cutouts on the sides, my tanned spring break skin showing, she covered her mouth and sighed. “God, I can just imagine Tucker’s face when he sees you in this.”

I spun around to look at the low back and the way the bottom of the dress waved over my hips. “He’s not speaking to me,” I had said.

For the month between Kyle asking me and the night before prom, Tucker ate lunch elsewhere. He didn’t hang out in the parking lot after school, he went straight to baseball practice. He texted Johnny before they hung out to see if I was around. Hedidn’t look at me in the hallway. He didn’t leave me notes on my locker.

We’re not really friends,I reminded myself.

The night that Kyle ditched me, I went into a panic. I called Johnny, sobbing, demanding that he take me to prom.

“I’m going with Sarah,” he said. “Just go by yourself.”

“I can’t go by myself!” I wiped my snotty nose on my comforter. “Kyle will be there with whoever he left me for, and I’ll feel like such an idiot sitting all by myself.” I asked if he could call around, find someone who didn’t have a date.

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