We finally pulled away from each other when Paxton had to do the responsible thing and show up to work. I offered to drive because I wanted to go in and see Elise, but when we reached the door outside Video and Repair, it was locked. Paxton and I looked at each other. Elise, Brady, and Midnight were all supposed to be there.
“Should I text Midnight?” I asked.
Before Paxton could open his mouth to respond, Midnight flung open the door, Brady and Elise behind her. “Guess what day it is.”
“Sunday,” Paxton said.
“Correct,” Elise said. “It’s also Cleaning Day.”
“Already?” I asked.
“We tried to text you, but didn’t get a response,” Midnight said.
“Sorry, my phone’s been off all day.”
Cleaning Day was a Video and Repair tradition. Once a quarter a company came in and did a full-scale clean on the store: carpet scrubbing, shelf washing, a total detox of the place. Those of us who worked here, minus Butch, took advantage of the store being closed to go camping. Midnight’s uncle had a small patch of land up north he’d bought for hunting. We’d all gone camping up there on the last Cleaning Day, and would probably go again on the next one. Part of her would always be the farm girl who loved the outdoors.
“Is it okay if I bring my girlfriend?” Brady asked. I had a feeling I knew his girlfriend, and I couldn’t hide my smile. But we’d never allowed outsiders for Cleaning Day before, usually because we spent most of the night drinking and bitching about work, and it would’ve bored anyone else present. “It’s just, with everyone else coupled up, I don’t want to be alone in my tent while you’re all banging.”
Oh my God. I tried to swallow my laugh and failed miserably. “Did shy and quiet Brady just use the word banging in a sentence?”
“Shut up.” He grinned at me, and his cheeks turned pink.
“One of us! One of us!” Elise chanted.
“Hold on.” Midnight held up a hand. “Who else is coupled up?”
Elise, Brady, and Midnight all turned to me and Paxton. Paxton just raised an eyebrow, like it would be up to me when and where to reveal our new status.
“We’re a thing.” There was no point in hiding it. It’s not like we’d do a great job of keeping it quiet once we got up to the campsite.
“What kind of thing?” Midnight smiled as sweetly as venom.
“A thing. You know.” I pointed between her and Elise. “That kind of thing.”
“Like, you both finally set your bullshit aside, because it’s obvious to anyone with eyes you both have a huge thing for each other? That kind of thing?” Elise asked.
“As much as it does wonders for my ego to hear you talk about my huge thing”—Paxton poked Elise on the nose and she smacked his hand—“you can quit torturing my girlfriend now.”
“I knew it!” Elise punched the air. “I can’t believe you two kept this from me. How long has this been going on? Tell me everything.”
“It just started.” Though, if I were being completely honest, it had been going on for a while; we’d just now gotten around to figuring it out. I said to Brady, “It’s fine if you bring your girlfriend, but she’s probably going to find us boring at best and annoying at worst.”
“I think she’ll have fun. She knows you all.” Brady winked at me. “And she still wanted to come for some reason.”
“Who is your girlfriend?” Midnight asked.
“Strawberry Sinclair,” Brady said, more to Paxton than any of us.
Everyone besides me froze.
“Awkward,” Elise mumbled.
Paxton cleared his throat. “How long has she been your girlfriend?”
“Most recently, since Friday night.” Brady held Paxton’s stare, as if considering if he should elaborate. “She broke up with me a few weeks ago to focus on 4-H, and only agreed to your date because she thought she’d see me there. Is it still cool if she comes?”
“I don’t mind,” I said. I found the whole thing more amusing than I should’ve.
“I don’t mind if she comes along either,” Paxton said. “But do me a favor and tell her I’m sorry for the sucky date before we all get there.”
“She knows.” Brady let out a laugh. “The whole damn town knows you’ve been in love with Macy for the last year.”
Paxton stiffened beside me as that one word hung in the air between us. Love. It rattled around in my system like a pinball. I knew Paxton liked me, and he really liked kissing me, but love? Was he in love with me?
“We should get going. Me and Macy have to pick up our tents,” Paxton said, with an emphasis on tents, as in two, as in we weren’t sleeping together. “Do you know how to get there, Brady?” When Brady nodded, he took my hand. “We’ll see you then.”
I got in the driver side of my car, and Paxton got in the passenger side. I put the key in the ignition, but waited a beat before starting it. “So, about that love thing?”
“Oh, you heard that?” Paxton gave me a half grin.
“Do you?” I turned to him. “Love me?”
“I guess it depends.”
I pursed my lips. “On what?”
“If it freaks you out,” he said softly. “Then definitely not.”
“And if it doesn’t freak me out?”
“Then I’d tell you I’ve been in love with you since our first day at work. When Midnight tried to put on her shift supervisor face and terrorize you like she did Brady, but you weren’t having any of it. I watched you wait until she went into the break room, then you put a wad of gum in the receipt paper so it would get all stuck and messy with the next customer she rang up. And the first thing that popped into my head when you did that was Damn, I think I love that girl.”
I laughed. “That’s a terrible reason to fall in love with someone.”
“What can I say? I’m a sucker for girls who can hold their own and aren’t afraid to pull out a wrench and scare the shit out of some hipsters every now and again.”
I leaned over the console, until I was close enough to feel the warmth of him. “Lucky for you, I’m a sucker for boys who know how to break into community sheds and who love old movies as much as I do and who raise rabbits for show.”
“That is a very specific set of desires. How fortunate for me indeed.”
“I love you too.” I pressed my lips against his, cursing the console for being so boxy and in the way when all I wanted to do was crawl onto his lap.
A tap on the roof of the car had us breaking apart.
Elise bent down, waving the air in front of her. “The hormones. I can’t take it. I’m choking on the fumes.”
I wrinkled my nose at her. “Did you need something?”
“Bring a jar of your grandma’s blackberry jam for breakfast. Momma made us a loaf of bread, and she ate all the jam we got for fixing your dryer already.”
“Will do.” I started cranking up the window to make her go away.
“Save it for the campsite!” she hollered as she climbed into her truck.
I sighed and turned the ignition. “We probably should go or we’ll never make it there.”