Page 30 of Rewind It Back

Rio’s mom squeezes me in a hug from behind. “Anything for you, sweet girl.”

My attention darts up to find Rio, once again, smiling at me.

“Mia, I’m going to need this recipe,” my mom says. “Both my kids love it, and they never agree on anything.”

“Already wrote it down for you, Steph.” Mrs. DeLuca gestures to the kitchen and the two of them disappear out of view.

Not only are Luke and Rio best friends, but so are our moms. They do everything together. Plan birthdays, arrange carpools, and more times than I can count, I’ve caught them up late on the back porch sharing a bottle of wine. It works out well that we live ten feet away.

I guess you could say our dads are best friends too, but I’m not sure if dads have best friends. They’ve never called each other that, but they spend every Sunday either watching football together or working on Mr. DeLuca’s old car in his garage.

Our parents even planned a family vacation for all of us this summer to Florida. It’s the best, living so close to the DeLucas, but sometimes it feels like I’m the odd one out. Sometimes I feel like I’m trying to tag along with my older brother and his friend, and Luke usually gives me a hard time for it. Then our moms invite me to join them, but it’s not as fun.

“Happy birthday, baby girl.” My dad smacks a kiss to the top of my head. “I cannot believe how much you’re growing up. You’re the spitting image of your mom.”

“Happy birthday, Miss Hallie,” Mr. DeLuca adds.

“Thank you.”

They finish their slices of cake before slowly making their way to the garage, leaving me with only the boys in the dining room.

“I got the new Mario Kart game,” Luke says to Rio. “Want to go play it?”

“Definitely.”

They stand to leave, and Luke is already at the front door when Rio pauses halfway there, turning back to me. “Want to come play, Hallie?”

“No,” Luke whines. “She doesn’t know how to.”

I give Rio a smile. “That’s okay. Thanks though.”

His attention goes from me to my brother, then back to me, before he returns to the table, taking his seat once again. “It’s your birthday. What do you want to do?”

“You should go play.”

“Rio, let’s go,” my brother begs from the front door.

“You go ahead. I’m going to stay here.”

“That’s so dumb. She’s fine.”

“I’ll catch up with you later.”

Rio turns back to me and doesn’t even flinch when Luke closes the front door a little too hard and a little too loudly.

“What do you want to do?” he asks again.

I shrug, looking for something interesting enough that he’ll want to stay here and not go with my brother instead.

“Luke got you a friendship bracelet kit,” he says. “Do you want to make those?”

I chuckle. “You don’t want to do that.”

He smiles at my laughter. “I do! But you need to teach me how.”

“Really?”

“Absolutely. I’ll make you one for your birthday.”

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