Page 16 of Fun Together
“You better not be fucking with me,” I shout over my shoulder as I go back to sift through the balls again.
She doesn’t answer and when I look over, I see that she’s sitting down on the court next to a jug of orange juice and a thermos.
“What are you doing?”
She pours a splash of orange juice into the thermos. “You were taking so long I decided to go ahead and make refreshments.”
“I really hate you sometimes.” I hold up the ball I found initially. “This is your ball, isn’t it?”
“You should learn not to be so gullible.”
“You should learn not to be the worst.”
She takes a couple of red solo cups out of her bag. “Want a mimosa?”
I sit down to join her, taking the cup from her hand. “All’s forgiven if you have food in that bag, too.”
She looks at me like she’s wondering how I could doubt her, and hands me a sausage biscuit. “You find a place to live yet?”
“I just found out last night that I have to move out. And how do you even know about them talking to me about that?”
“Mom told me. And I thought that would have been obvious since you moved back. Were you going to live in our parents’ basement forever?”
“No, it’s just not that easy. And it’s fucking expensive. Maybe once I have a few paychecks under my belt.”
“How is the new job going, by the way?”
“Good so far. You know how the first week is, just meeting everyone and doing orientation stuff.”
“You’re doing recruiting still?”
“Yeah, basically just phone screening job applicants and setting them up with interviews if I think they’re a good fit.”
“So, you get to talk all day? You probably love that.”
Theoretically, I should love that. But calling people and going through the motions of asking the same questions over and over gets old. And I hate sitting at a desk for hours. But I’m anxious to do well in this role after losing my last job. I can’t let myself fall into the bad habits I did before. Apparently, companies don’t like it when you show up to work late multiple times a week, and also fail to meet any of your performance goals. “Everyone has been pretty cool so far. Someone I know from college works there, too.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Andrew’s girlfr—ex-girlfriend.” I’m still working through the fact that they aren’t together anymore. The only thing Andrew really told me about their breakup was that it just didn’t work out. Leave it to him to be extremely vague and pragmatic about something that would devastate most people.
She visibly perks up. “Andrew’s single? Interesting.”
“Don’t even start,” I warn her. Ever since Andrew came along with us on a family beach trip ten years ago, Evie has had heart eyes for him. If a fourteen-year-old Evie terrified him as much as she did, I don’t even want to know what twenty-three-year-old Evie would do to him.
She shrugs and refills our cups. “Okay, let’s talk about the party.”
“Why is this party such a big deal to you?”
Evie has always loved a project, but she seems to be a littletoointo this party for some reason.
“It just is. Last week I was going through old photo albums and found a picture taken of them after dad proposed. I think we should re-enact that moment by having a sunset ceremony that you’ll officiate just as the sun makes its descent below the horizon. Then, we’ll have a?—”
“Officiating? I thought I just had to give a toast.”
“Yeah, basically the same thing.” She brushes me off. “I’m working on the final guest list. I’m assuming you won’t be bringing anyone?”
“Why do you assume that?”
