Page 9 of We Were Something
Plus, it’s one of those long-time staples that began when we were all a bunch of hormonal messes back in high school, so it’s a tradition that makes me feel warm inside, like a sense of coming home.
Not everyone can make it every week, and all of us have popped in and out at one time or another as we’ve gone away for college or left town for travel. As all of us have slowly returned to the South Bay, our little group has coalesced again, almost back to the original size.
Lucas and Lennon, obviously.
Lucas’ half-sister, Hannah, who is also dating one of our other friends, Wyatt.
There’s Otto, Rebecka, Aaron, Ji-Eun, and her girlfriend, Tabitha.
Even Wyatt’s brother Ben and his fiancéRemmy have come a few times recently, and Hannah’s friend Eleanor from work has started joining us here and there as well.
Not all of them are here today, but we do have a fairly large party.
Which means I get only a few more minutes of reprieve while everyone orders before the inevitable question comes my way again.
“So who was the guy?” Lucas asks before taking a sip of his mimosa. “I don’t remember seeing you with anyone on Saturday.”
“Yeah. I mean, I was busy, but I feel like I would have seensomethingif you’d hit it off with someone,” Lennon adds.
I shrug a shoulder and look around the table.
“I don’t remember his name,” I tell them, choosing not to be embarrassed for that part. “I don’t really even remember what we talked about.”
“Soundsfascinating,” Lucas says, and I swat at him with my napkin.
“Oh, shut it. You know what I mean.” I glance around the table. “Haven’t you ever talked to someone before and you can’t remember the specifics, you can only remember what it felt like? It was…intoxicating.”
“No,youwere intoxicated,” Otto quips from the other end of the table. “There’s a difference.”
Another round of giggles, and even I lean into this one.
“You know what we should do? We should look in one of our old yearbooks and see if you recognize him. If he was there, he had to be an alum, right?”
“Some of the attendees were just donors,” Lennon says in response to Rebecka’s question. “Or guests of alums. Not all of them were students.”
“No, he attended Roth Prep,” I tell them, deciding to just spill the beans and get it over with. I’ve never had qualms about my interest in older men before, and this is one fact from our conversation that I can’t help but remember. “But he wouldn’t be inouryearbook. If I remember correctly, he graduated like…sixteen years before us.”
There’s a moment, one long moment of complete silence, before the noise around the table surges like a deafening wave as everyone suddenly has something to say.
“Sixteen years?!”
“Iknewyou were into old dudes.”
“Stop it.”
“You cannotbe serious.”
“Wait, wait, wait…” Wyatt’s deep voice booms out from where he’s sitting next to Otto, then he looks me straight in the face, his own distaste at the idea evident in his expression. “So he’s old enough to be your dad?”
I roll my eyes and stick my hands out. “Okay, you’re all being ridiculous.” Then I pointedly look at Wyatt. “And disgusting. He’s not old enough to be myfather, unless you think all the men around this table are currently old enough to be parents to pre-teens.”
Lucas’ nose wrinkles, and Otto gives a firm “No thanks.”
“Besides…you’re only grossed out becauseyourdad marriedsomeone who actuallyisyoung enough to be his daughter since she’s younger than you.”
Wyatt watches me for a long moment then takes a long,longdrink from his Bloody Mary. I see Hannah’s hand reach over and rest on top of his, giving it a slight squeeze.
I know I’m hitting a sore subject when I bring up Calvin Calloway’s young wife. Krissa has caused quite a stir in their family, and it’s only partially because of how young she is.
