Sunny traces a vein in my forearm to my wrist, then follows the line from the center of my palm to the space between my thumb and index finger. “There’s a group of us.”
“That’s good. You can all take turns driving. Who else is going?” Lily is the only friend of Sunny’s I’ve met so far.
“Lily’s boyfriend, Benji. You haven’t met him yet, and then there’s Kale.”
Benji sounds like it should be a dog’s name. “Kale? Is that a guy or a girl?”
“Kale’s a guy.”
“And his name is Kale? Like the vegetable?”
“Short for Kaleb. He’s nice.”
Like that makes his name less weird. It’s bad enough that Lily is going to have the week I wanted Sunny to be with me. But now she’s going on a road trip with another guy? “He’s a friend of yours?”
“We’ve all known each other since high school.”
Something about the way she won’t look at me makes the time-out buzzer go off in my head. “Did you date him or something?” I mean it to come out sounding more like a joke than an inquisition.
Her eyes stay focused on her wiggling toes. “It was a long time ago.”
Sunny’s only twenty. High school ended for her two years ago. “How long is a long time?”
“We broke up senior year. It was forever ago. He’s over it.”
There are so many things I want to say right now that I can’t. I need to call Violet. I can’t see the appeal in going on a trip with my best friend and her boyfriend and a goddamn ex. It would be insanely awkward.
“Are you over it?”
This time she looks at me. “Of course! Why would you even ask that?”
“Because you agreed to go on the trip when you were angry with me, and I can bet Lily was all about convincing you it would be a good idea. Does Alex know Corn Chip is going with you?”
“It’s Kale, not corn chip, Miller. And yes, Alex knows, and he still thinks it’s a good idea.”
“Of course he does!”
“Why are you bringing my brother into this? He has nothing to do with anything.”
“Yes, he does! You listen to what he says all the time, and he hates me. Of course he’s going to be all for you taking a road trip with your high school ex and Lily and her boyfriend.”
“Kale and I have been friends for years.”
“Who broke up with who?” I don’t have much experience with legit relationships. But if I know anything, it’s that guys can hold secret torches for chicks for years.
I saw it happen to Violet a couple of times when she was in high school. These guys would come over to hang out and get help with math, because Vi is ridiculously good at math. They were always jocks, and I was totally familiar with the game. Whenever she’d leave the room for a minute to get a glass of water, I’d tell them I’d break their faces if they so much as laid a finger on her. She’d always be oblivious to the fact that these dudes were drooling all over her rack.
“It was mutual.”
“Really? So at the exact same time you both decided you didn’t want to be with each other anymore?”
“Well, I initiated it, but he agreed it was better to stay friends.”
“You suggested you should stay friends?” I don’t care who the guy is, friends never works.
“He’s Lily’s boyfriend’s best friend. We were going to see each other all the time anyway. We had to stay friends.”
All this information isn’t making me feel better about the trip she’s going on. I’d cancel the camp if I could and tag along on the soul-cleansing adventure, but I’d be disappointing way too many people. Myself included.
“Does he have a girlfriend?”
“He’s between relationships.”
“What does that mean? Is it like being between jobs? He had one, and he’s looking for another one?”