I figured I didn’t need the reminder of how I was letting my best friend down.
My second shift was just starting when Lee’s phone rang. “Rach. She’s outside. Guess that’s my cue to go home.”
“Save some dinner for me?”
“Not likely.”
I knew he would.
“See ya tomorrow, May!” Lee called, tossing me his apron.
“No, you won’t!” came her reply, even though I think she knew that nothing she said would stop Lee coming by to hang out here, working for free. He hadn’t said it exactly, but I got the feeling he was trying to make up for the time we’d lose now we wouldn’t be at college together.
There was a handful of other people who worked at Dunes. A nerdy guy from the grade below me at school whose name I now knew was Melvin. A woman who’d been here about as long as May. An old guy who’d come out of retirement and mostly just made up drinks or helped prep food in the kitchen. A few college-aged kids I didn’t really know but got on well enough with. They were all a little confused about why Lee was here so much, although none of them really said anything.
Right now, Melvin and one of the college girls were just arriving. They passed Lee at the door, saying hi to him and then to me.
And not far behind them came the start of the dinner rush. At this time of day, it was mostly families with little kids, just finishing up on the beach and needing to fill hungry bellies before they headed home.
I spotted May seating one all-too-familiar family over in Melvin’s section and grabbed him. “Hey, you mind if I take that table?”
“Uh, sure.” He looked where I was pointing and a knowing smile dawned on his face. “Isn’t that the guy you broke up with Flynn for?”
I groaned. “I told you, that was just a stupid rumor.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Yes, Melvin.”
His smile stretched even wider. He pushed his round glasses up his nose. “So why’s he staring at you?”
“What?” I turned to look over my shoulder, but Levi was studying his menu carefully. His cheeks were a little pink. I rolled my eyes at Melvin, who just kept grinning at me till I grabbed a water pitcher and marched over to the table.
I announced myself with a bright and unnecessary, “Hi! My name’s Elle and I’ll be your server today,” then started to pour their water.
Becca, Levi’s little sister, giggled. “We know who you are, Elle.”
“Didn’t expect to see you guys here.”
“Couldn’t waste an afternoon like this,” his mom said cheerfully. “My husband couldn’t get the time off work, so it’s just us three today. Levi keeps talking about you working here, so we thought we’d give it a shot.”
“Mom!” he hissed.
I bit my top lip, trying not to laugh as I saw Levi squirm out of the corner of my eye.
“Besides,” she said, unfazed, “we haven’t seen you around in a while.”
She said it with a certain gravity, like she was trying to make a point. A point I got loud and clear. Throughout senior year, I’d spent a lot of time hanging out with Levi. He’d come over while I babysat Brad; I went to his place while he was looking after Becca. A lot of the time we just hung out together, for no other reason than that we were friends.
And yeah, maybe we hadn’t been hanging out so much lately.
“Mom,” he hissed again.
“Well, you know.” My smile faltered and I shifted my weight to my other foot. “I’ve been busy with this job and…Noah’s home now, so…”
“Ah, yeah. The boyfriend.”
She shot a glance at Levi, which seemed to say something I really didn’t get, and he let out a sharp, exasperated sigh. “Mom!”
Okay, well…
This was weird.
“Shall I give you guys a couple minutes to decide? Or, um…uh, would…would you like to order drinks?”
They ordered drinks. Levi was slouched right down in his seat by now, although I wasn’t so sure what he had to look so embarrassed about.
“Are you gonna come hang out again soon, Elle?” Becca asked me, pouting, with puppy-dog eyes that were way more effective than Lee’s.
“I, uh, maybe. I’ll try! It’s just a little crazy around here right now. But I’ll come see you soon, okay?”
“Sorry,” her mom said to me. “She just really liked having another girl around to hang out with. You’ve had quite the influence on her, you know. And on Levi.”
“Right…”
Honestly, I wasn’t sure what to make of that. And I wasn’t totally sure it was a good thing, even if she made it sound like it was.
“And Harvard! Levi told us. Congratulations, sweetie, that’s such an incredible achievement. Your dad must be so proud of you. It makes me wish Levi had applied to college. He graduated with such good grades.”
I coughed. Talking to other people’s parents had never really been my strong suit (not counting June and Matthew, of course), and it was uncomfortable to talk to Levi’s mom about his decision not to apply for college during senior year. Frankly, I couldn’t get out of this conversation quickly enough.
“He’s just figuring things out,” I said lamely, and snapped my notepad shut. “One veggie burger, one hot dog, one cheeseburger, and a side of onion rings coming right up.”
* * *
• • •
I was taking a thirty-second breather at the bar when I felt someone standing beside me. They cleared their throat.
“I’m sorry, sir, I’ll be right— Oh, Levi.”
“Hey.” He gave me a stiff half-smile, with only one side of his mouth, and raised his hand in an equally awkward wave. “I just, um, I…”
“You…?”
He cleared his throat and tried again, running his hand through his hair. “I’m sorry about that earlier. If my mom made it awkward. It’s just, you know, I mean, Becca’s asked a couple of times if you’re coming over, and I’ve been telling her you’ve got a job here and you’re spending time with Noah and Lee. So…yeah. That’s all.”
“Right.”
God, when did it get so awkward hanging around Levi? When had this happened? My palms felt clammy and I had a weird squirming sensation in my gut—the kind that made me wish someone would spill their drink or drop their food and yell for me to fix it.