Page 74 of The Step Dare

“Yes, they are,” Ash and I say nearly at the same time before glancing at each other and smiling.

“No need to boast, assholes,” Marty says.

“If I’m being honest, Lance,” I say, “when you were originally coming with us on that cruise and were gonna stay in the same room as Brenner, I was a little worried you guys might be doing stuff like that. Kind of jealous, actually, since I know he thinks you’re hot.”

“Brenner was into me?” Lance asks.

“Oh my God,” Ash says. “How could anyone miss that?”

Lance shrugs. “Went over my head.”

“Straight guys,” Ash says, shaking his head.

Lance stares off, like he’s considering what that might mean, which seems strange for a straight guy. Makes me wonder if there might’ve been more of a chance of that happening than I’d considered.

And though I know there’s no threat there, that jealousy I felt before resurfaces. “Okay, Lance, no need to think about it now.”

“Oooh,” Marty says, “someone’s real defensive about their non-boyfriend.”

And something about puttingnonbefore boyfriend really grates on my nerves.

Feels like I’m broken.

I push through it, finish setting up the DJ stand with the guys before parents and kids start arriving. Lance starts up the music, and the rest of us help out with touching up the decorations.

Once we finish up, Atlas encourages us to engage in the party, get the ball rolling. Brenner was basically born to be a hype man for something like this, and he, Troy, and Atlas take the lead. Doesn’t take long for things to get going, and we’re able to let loose and have some fun too, alongside clusters of parents and kids dancing and enjoying the music together.

We’re maybe half an hour into the event when Atlas asks me if I can grab some extra utensils from his car. En route back to the gymnasium, I’m about to head inside when I hear—

“Come on, Sadie. Just give it a try.”

“No, Mom. I want to go home.”

I pass the door and step around the corner of the gym, where I find the arguing duo—a blonde girl about fourteen or fifteen in a tee with a graphic that looks like Charli XCX riding a unicorn, and next to the girl, a woman I assume is her mother. The girl is holding an iPad.

A part of me thinks I should stay out of this, that it’s none of my business. But another part encourages me to approach. “Hey, how’s it going?”

Sadie turns to me and points to her ear, suggesting she can’t hear me. But I just heard her talking to her mom.

She must see the confusion in my expression because she says, “I can’t hear you. I’m deaf. I use this…” She turns heriPad toward me. The words I just said are on the screen. Must be a speech-to-text app. “And I read lips, which isn’t easy, so enunciate and don’t talk too fast.”

“Oh, okay. That’s cool.”

“But we’re actually about to go.”

“Sorry,” her mom says. “She’s in a mood right now.” Her mom gets her attention, signing as she says, “Sadie, you came here to meet people.” Her mom turns to me, still signing. “We just moved here a few months ago, and she had to leave all her friends behind in New York. It’s been an adjustment. She’s been kind of lonely…”

“Mom, stop,” Sadie says. “I want to meet people my age. Those are all kids in there. Or this guy who works here.”

“Volunteering,” I say, “but fair enough.”

Again, I consider why I approached. It’s her life, but something keeps me in place.

“Well, there are older people here too,” I say. “I could be your friend.”

She’s glaring at the iPad before she directs it at me. “You’re a volunteer, so you have to say that.”

“Actually, because I’m a volunteer, I can just walk away or go home, or do anything else other than this, so I’m standing here because I want to.”

---