“So, it’s an iced coffee for you and for you . . . Celeste, was it?”
“An iced coffee for me too, and for Penny. With almond milk if you have it. She’s lactose intolerant.”
Penny stared straight at the ceiling.
Penny is lactose intolerant. He filed it in his head.
“God, I’ve been living with you this whole time and you’ve never mentioned it,” exclaimed Jude.
“Shocking,” said Celeste. “You know, it took me two months to find out she had a boyfriend. Can you believe that?”
Boyfriend?
Penny has a boyfriend. He filed that into the folder too. With a little red sticky label. A boyfriend she hadn’t once thought to bring up? She was a vault. Sam wondered what the punk looked like. He willed her to meet his eyes, only she kept her attention firmly on her hands.
“Mom,” said Penny darkly.
“What?”
Sam was mentally texting her again. Considering the words that would elicit the most information about this boyfriend without betraying his annoyance at being kept in the dark. Then again, apparently nobody knew a goddamned thing about Penny.
Celeste took out her wallet. It was neon pink, fuzzy, and stuffed to the gills. The coin purse attached to the side bellowed out completely, the metallic leather crinkling under duress. It was as much a conversation starter as Celeste was. Penny glared at it, horrified.
“Oh my God, Celeste,” said Jude. “I love your wallet. It’s adorable.”
“Thanks! I just got it,” she said. “I can get you one if you want.”
“Really?” enthused Jude. “I would die.”
Celeste radiated with pleasure.
Sam’s heart warmed toward Celeste then. And Jude, who could fill any awkward moment with a bracing surge of good cheer.
“Please, Celeste,” said Sam. “Put that away. It’s on me.”
Celeste clucked and pointedly stuck a ten-dollar bill in the tip jar, holding his gaze.
Sam made their drinks and a plate of treats and led them toward his favorite couch in the back and excused himself. He texted Penny on his way back to the counter.
Wow
Why the escalation lol?
You good?
Moments later Penny walked over alone.
“You forgot my almond milk,” she said. She smiled. He cheesed back. He knew his outsized canines gave him the air of a starved mutt, but he couldn’t contain himself. He nodded at her shirt.
“I Willie did,” he said.
“Dick,” she said, smiling.
“I’m more a Waylon Jennings man myself,” he continued, grabbing the almond milk from the fridge under the counter. He sniffed it and poured some into a small metal creamer. He handed it to her with the handle pointing toward her so their fingers wouldn’t touch.
“This is a lot,” she breathed. “It’s nice to see you, Sam.” She practically whispered it, and Sam couldn’t deny the pleasantly warming effect of her saying his name.
He cleared his throat and shoved his hands in his back pockets. His left hand collided with his glasses. Ugh. Worst glasses ever. He couldn’t believe she’d seen him in them. Not that it mattered. Seeing as she had a boyfriend (!!!) but still.
“Need anything else?”
“Napkins,” she said, grabbing a few by the register. “Thanks for being nice to my mom.”
“Sure,” he said. “So that’s your mom.”
“I can’t believe you’re you,” she said at the same time.
“We’re going to have to workshop the shit out of this tonight,” he said, laughing. “I might have to call you again.”
PENNY.
Dinner was sushi someplace downtown, where she ordered tuna rolls that tasted like sawdust. While she picked at them, her mother and roommate discussed topics so titillating that Penny couldn’t recall any of them save one—Sam.
Penny counted the minutes until the Celeste Show was over and she could call him. She’d have to pretend to write or study until Jude fell asleep or take the call outside. He’d distinctly said he was going to call her, which indicated it was also a green light to call him. It wasn’t as if they worried about who texted who last, so interface rules likely applied to calls, too.
“I wish he’d confide in me,” said Jude, reaching over her to snag a piece of salmon from her mom’s plate. Penny marveled at how quickly her roommate and her mother had progressed to the food-sharing stage of their relationship. “He looks terrible and he keeps blowing me off. I don’t think he’s eating or sleeping. I hope it’s not drugs.”
Penny didn’t think Sam looked terrible at all. In fact, he looked dreamy. Perfect. She hadn’t known he wore glasses and Penny was crazy about glasses as a thing. They were so much better than contacts. Why touch your own eyeballs when you could accessorize your face? So what now? If Sam had called and Penny had doubled down and seen him in person—even if it was an accident—what did this mean? Everything was messy now. It was all Jude and Celeste’s fault. Why hadn’t Sam called? They’d left House three hours ago.
“Maybe it’s a girl,” said Celeste, pouring another round of sake. Penny’s mom didn’t think the tiny cups qualified as underage drinking. Jude clinked her glass to Celeste’s, then Penny’s, and downed it. “Maybe,” said Jude. “His ex is insane.” She pulled out her phone. “Whatever’s making him so withdrawn has to do with her. Get a load of this.” Jude pulled up MzLolaXO. Penny had taken great pains not to search for Sam’s ex after the last time, but if someone else was cruise directing . . .
“Wait, stop.” Celeste took control of the phone. “There’s a video.”
Penny held her breath. She had no idea how she’d missed it.
It was Sam peering into the camera. The background was noisy with voices and music—a party. He was smiling. Slowly. Sexily. He took a sip of beer and leaned in. “What did I tell you?” said Video Sam. “What?” objected a girl’s voice off-screen. “Why do you get to do it if I can’t?” she asked. He grabbed the phone and held it aloft, the two of their heads framed in selfie mode. He had dark hair and dark eyes; her hair was practically white and her eyes were pale. They were beautiful together. “Happy?” he asked. She smiled and nodded. With his other hand he grabbed her chin and kissed her roughly.
Jesus.
“See, they were, like, so goals,” said Jude solemnly.
“No wonder he’s preoccupied,” said Celeste. “I don’t think you get over this type of a girl.” Celeste ordered another sake.
“I bet she’s mean,” said Penny, apropos of nothing. Well, nothing other than how Jude and Celeste were practically pulling her guts out of her butt and making friendship bracelets with them.
“That kind of girl only gets more desirable the meaner they are,” said Celeste. She sighed dramatically. “I can’t believe I’m turning forty.”
Penny glared at her mother. She knew what Celeste was thinking. She was comparing herself to Lola. Any talk of desirable women reminded her mother of herself.
What was that like?
After dinner Celeste dropped Jude off and took Penny to get ice cream at Amy’s for some alone time.
“I love Jude,” said Celeste. She parked and they walked toward the State Capitol with their cones. It was beautiful when it was lit up at night. Downright romantic. “She’s so pretty and funny,” she continued.
“Everyone loves Jude,” said Penny. “And she loved you. I think she’s serious about coming to your birthday party.”
“Oh, good,” she said. “I hope you’re coming too.”
Penny rolled her eyes.
“Mom,” she said. “Of course I’m coming.”
Penny knew she was being a jerk, except Celeste could be so extra with her neediness.
“Well, I hope so,” Celeste said. “You haven’t been home since you got to school. We’ve talked maybe twice in two months.”