Page 114 of With a Little Luck

Trish immediately starts cajoling Pru and Ari into singing tonight, and Ari says she has a couple of songs in mind, and—holy jalapeños, Batman,why is my mouth on fire?

My eyes bug, and I grab for my drink, accidentally knocking it over. Sprite and grenadine and ice slosh over the table, straight onto my lap. I yelp, but stuck between Pru and Ari, there’s nowhere for me to go. “Sorry!” I cry. Without thinking, I grab Ari’s glass and take a big drink through the straw. It tames the burning in my mouth, at least a little. “I’m okay,” I choke, grasping for my last shreds of dignity as I pass Ari’s drink back to her. It’s mostly just ice now, and one cherry at the bottom, still impaled on a toothpick.

Pru is pulling napkins from the dispenser and tossing them at me. I take them, trying to appear more grateful than embarrassed.

“Jalapeño?” Ari asks.

“Yeah,” I say. “But I’m pretty sure Carlos swapped that one with a ghost pepper.”

Ari nods, feigning sympathy. “That was a very mean trick.” Then she285grabs a chip withtwojalapeños and pops it into her mouth and chews and swallows like it’s nothing.

I gape at her. “Do you even have taste buds, or have they all been incinerated by now?” I take the pile of napkins and dab at my wet pants. Yeah,that’sa great look. Real suave, Jude.

“Get excited, for the party hath arrived!”

I freeze and cringe, and it is a full-body cringe that I immediately feel bad about, hoping no one else noticed.

Ezra slides into the booth next to Ari, putting me in the middle of our group. “This feels celebratory. What’s the occasion? Did you know that National Lumpy Rug Day is coming up? Now, that’s a holiday I can get behind. Ooh, can I have your cherry?” He winks suggestively at Ari, then, without waiting for her response, takes a spoon and scoops out the last remaining cherry in her glass and scrapes it off the toothpick with his teeth.

And yeah, maybe I just took a gulp of her drink without asking, but this is different, and the next thing I know, a burning rage is rising up in my chest.

Or maybe that’s still the jalapeño.

“The occasion,” says Ari, “is karaoke night.” She pushes the song binder that Trish gave us toward him.

“Yes! Perfect!” cries EZ, raising both hands over his head. “This is the night you and I make history. EZ and Escalante, our first duet, baby.”

Ari’s eyes widen. “What?”

“Let’s see what they got. Don’t worry, I’ll find us a good one.”

Ari shoots a terrified expression at me and Pru, and given that every time Ezra has come with us to karaoke night, he’s either sung “I’m Too Sexy” or “Barbie Girl,” I do not blame her for being a little concerned.

Promptly at six, Trish takes the microphone and welcomes everyone. Karaoke night has been going on long enough now that a lot of people are regulars who come back week after week, so there’s already a list of people waiting to perform.286

We hear songs by Sheryl Crow, Bon Jovi, and the Weeknd before Trish picks up a card and reads “Next up—EZ and Escalante!”

“What?” says Ari, gesturing at him. “I don’t even know what song you picked. What if it’s one that I don’t know?”

Ezra scoffs and gives her ayeah, rightlook as he slides out of the booth.

Ari makes an annoyed sound in her throat, but she follows him anyway, smoothing that soft plaid fabric around her hips as she heads up to the stage. That small movement makes my mouth go dry. I reach for my glass and try to take a sip before remembering it’s empty.

The song starts up, a short percussion intro, a hint of a steel drum, then background vocals—Aruba, Jamaica, ooh, I wanna take ya…

“Kokomo” by the Beach Boys, one of my dad’s favorite bands.

Ari gives Ezra a disbelieving look as he launches into the first verse. Ezra sings with gusto, but it’s clear by the third line that he doesn’t actually know the song all that well. With a roll of her eyes, Ari steps in to save him. She does know the words, and she sings on key, even if she isn’t nearly as animated as he is. Ezra has no shame as he dances around Ari, shimmying his back to hers while they go on about jetting off to some tropical island, rolling around in the sand, falling in love …

I might actually be sick.

It’s impossible to tell if Ari is uncomfortable or enjoying this or just merely tolerating Ezra’s antics. And then, as they launch into the final chorus, it happens.

Ezra takes Ari’s hand and drops to one knee in front of her. In front ofeveryone.

My world seizes. Tilts. Stutters.

“Ooh I wanna take ya—to prom! Oh prom! Please, let’s go to prom! Araceli! Escalante! Go-o to prom! With me! EZ! La da da da da!”

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