Page 12 of The Future Play

I turn to head for the kitchen, but Jamie calls after me. “I’m going to hold you to that.”

I glance back over my shoulder. “Whatever you say, baseball boy.”

“So, what’s the protocol here?”I whisper to Sarah and Mackenzie. We’re at the edge of the room, watching as Rae smiles and tries to pretend she’s happy after having a fight with Aaron twenty minutes ago.

“Protocol?” Sarah asks.

“This is the first Aaron and Rae fight that I’ve been present for. How do we help? Go try to cheer her up? Remove her from the situation? Kick Aaron’s ass?”

“He’s kicking his own ass,” Mackie says, nodding toward where Aaron is downing another shot. I cringe.

Aaron has been nothing but nice to me, but as someone already feeling deeply protective of my little girl tribe, I’m low-key pissed at him right now. Rae walked away in tears, and while Jamie and one of their other friends went after her, I want nothing more than to uplift her now.

“Rae’s tricky,” Sarah says. “She doesn’t usually like to talk about it until she’s ready. But she could use some cheering up. Come on.”

We follow Sarah over to where Rae is standing as one of their friends tries to convince her to dance.

Sarah wraps her sister in a hug, then whispers, “Brownies and hot cocoa?”

“With caramel,” Rae murmurs.

“I’ve got it.”

I hurry into the kitchen and grab a plate, quickly filling it up with brownies. Then I find the salted caramel sauce and drizzle it over the top. Then I pour some hot cocoa into cups before digging around the kitchen like a rabid raccoon looking for a tray.

“Come on.”

“I didn’t mean to,” Aaron slurs, and my anger at him fades. He’s clearly heartbroken.

Joel and Miles help him up from the makeshift bar in the dining room and drag him toward the basement stairs. I focus on putting everything on the tray I found, trying not to stare at them.

When I turn around, I find Jamie staring at the stairway to the basement, arms crossed over his chest.

“You okay?” I ask.

He turns around, the surprise on his face quickly fading back to frustration.

“I hate seeing him do this. Getting drunk doesn’t fix his problems. It only makes it worse. There are a lot of ways I’ve wanted to follow in Aaron’s footsteps over the years, but I never want to be the person drinking to solve my problems.”

I nod. “He probably needs extra support right now.”

“Or a kick in the ass,” he mutters. Then his eyes meet mine again. “Sorry.”

“You don’t have to apologize for having feelings. You’re human. Not a robot.”

“Thanks.” He glances over my shoulder at the tray on the counter. “Go take care of Rae. She needs support too.”

Then he turns and makes his way down the stairs.

After a second, I turn around too, and grab the tray to go find the girls, even though something inside me that I don’t understand wants to follow Jamie and make sure he’s okay.

4

EVENT QUEEN

Amanda

“Cheers to the birthday girl!”Rae says happily, raising her glass of bubbly rosé and clinking it against mine.

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