“Told you I hated a girl named Kelsey once.” She smiles and shakes my shoulder roughly. “I stole her bra in P.E. She had to run a mile holding her boobs. Low key revenge for my best friend? Worth it.”
There are suddenly so many questions I want to ask. Like, how things could be that close between the two of them and then suddenly one day they were strangers who hated each other with no reason whatsoever. Was it a misunderstanding? Why had Audrey run away in the first place?
Before I can speak, Cline’s calling out that dinner is ready, and Audrey is out of the car holding out her hand for me to follow. So I do. The four of us sit in front of the fire with hotdogs on wires, trying to get them cooked and not burnt, but Cline keeps putting his too far into the flames, and he’s caught three consecutive wieners on fire.
“Don’t put it in so far,” September chides him, and he makes eye contact with me, his eyes wide and mouth open like he wants to make a dirty joke and it’s killing him not to.
I swallow my bite quickly to cut him off before he can do something stupid and say, “September is a really unique name. Did your parents name you after the month you were born?”
The pretty brunette turns and rolls her eyes like she’s heard this a hundred times and shakes her head. Her hair is pulled back into a wild ponytail, and the fire makes the right side of her face glow bright orange as the flames pop and crackle. “I was born in July. And no, September is not the month I was conceived, either. There’s no logic to it.”
There’s a choking sound from my left and Audrey turns her head when I look over at her. She’s wiping her mouth and covering it with her hand as her shoulders start to shake. Turning back to look at September, I note that her eyes are squinted in amusement.
“My sister’s name is Thursday. Guess when she was born?” She asks, pointing her hot dog in my direction.
“On a Thursday?” I guess.
“On a Monday,” she answers with a laugh.
Cline is really trying to keep it together because he likes this girl, but I can hear his voice crack when he asks the next question. “So do you only have the one sister?”
“No, I have a brother, too.” Her face is expressionless as she waits for one of us to ask what we all want to know.
“What month or day did they name him after?” Cline can hardly get the question out.
“They named him Anderson. He got off easy.” She takes a bite of her food and grins. “I tried to go by my middle name for a while, Jocelyn. But then people wanted to give me a nickname, and it was Jocie, but that turned into Jockey, and eventually it was easier just to go back to being September Worley. No one wants to abbreviate that name. And even if I have to explain that my parents just like to mess with people by naming us weird names, it’s still mine, ya know?”
“So, why are you only staying through tomorrow night? And why are you alone?” Audrey scoots closer to me so that the other girl can hear her.
September is very serious when she answers. “I’ve come to the end of my journey. My time of Rumspringa is over and I must return home.”
Cline’s entire wire, hot dog and all, goes directly into the fire. “Oh, my god … sorry, I’m sorry. You’re Amish? How? And you only have a few days left? You’re going back? I—you—this—“
September breaks and starts laughing, bent over, her hand raised toward him as she waves it frantically for him to stop stuttering. “Stop! Stop. I’m kidding. Holy shit, your face. I wish you could have seen your face. Are you okay? Oh, wow. Did that freak you out?”
He’s crestfallen as he tries to collect himself and rummages around for another hot dog and bun. “No, it didn’t freak me out.” I know for a fact it didn’t. He watches those Amish shows on TV all the time, and I’m a thousand percent sure he’s got a thing for one of the girls on there.
“I’m finishing my gap year and headed back home. I took the time off to decide if I wanted to get my master’s or not.” Her voice is gentle now as she reaches out and pats his knee. He looks up, and his eyes get big when her hand makes contact.
“What are you studying?” Audrey asks.
September looks beyond me to answer. “Clinical Psychology.”
Audrey’s fingers slip around my bicep, and she grips harder than I think she realizes when she answers in that fake voice she reserves for Cline, “That’s amazing.”
The tent is quiet as the sun begins to peek in through the window screen facing the east. Audrey’s body is pressed up against mine, her face buried in my chest, only the top of her head visible under the blanket. I shake her gently and she curls up even tighter.
“Today’s the big day. You’re jumping off a cliff. Are you ready?”