Instructions for Dancing Page 53

I wave her off. “Listen, I’d go to Asia with my superrich parents too.”

We hug. I know it’s the last time we’ll be this way together. When she gets back from Asia, she’ll be different. We all will be.

We find Sophie surrounded by her parents and her sisters. She’s holding a bouquet of pink roses and still wearing her graduation cap.

Just like we did with Cassidy, we abduct her for a hug.

“Can’t believe this day is finally here,” I say.

“Me neither,” she says with a sniffle.

Martin hands her his handkerchief. “No crying,” he says. “We still have summer.”

She wipes her tears but then sniffles some more. “Olivia asked me out,” she says.

“Our valedictorian Olivia?” Martin asks.

She nods. “Did you know she’s going to Stanford too?”

We did not know that.

“And did you say yes?” I ask.

“Yup,” she says with a small smile. She looks around the yard for a second and then turns back to us. “Did you guys see Cassidy?” she asks.

“Yeah. Her parents came,” says Martin.

“That’s good,” she says.

I decide against telling her about Cassidy’s trip to Asia. Their lives are separate now.

The three of us hug again. I wish Cassidy were here. I want one last Sunday at Surf City Waffle with the four of us. I want one more bonfire. One more Tipsy Philosophical.

But I can’t have that. I think back to the day I made up with them at Cassidy’s house. I remember how we hugged right before I left. We were all full of waffles and the sun was bright and we smelled like sunscreen and pool.

Mom said just because a thing ends doesn’t make the thing any less real. Just because everything is different now doesn’t mean we didn’t love each other once. Maybe we will again.

CHAPTER 57

Two Dresses


DANICA KNOCKS ON my door the Friday night before Dad’s wedding. She’s holding two dresses. One is a simple lavender sheath trimmed with lace. The other is a complicated teal-blue-and-silver mermaidlike thing.

At first, I think she brought the lavender one for me, since it’s my kind of dress. “Dani, I haven’t changed my mind,” I say.

“No, I want you to help me choose,” she says.

I eye both dresses again, not sure why she’s asking me to decide. Teal is her favorite color, and complicated is her favorite style.

I choose the teal one.

“Thanks,” she says, and hangs the dresses on the back of my door. She sits down on the edge of my bed. I scoot over to give her more room.

“I broke up with Archer,” she says.

She looks sad but not devastated. “How come?” I ask.

She gathers her hair into one hand and then lets it loose again. “It just wasn’t that much fun anymore. Every time we were together, I just wanted to be with my other friends. I kinda think he felt the same way.”

“I’m sorry,” I say. And then I have a thought. “This might be too soon to ask…but how long do you think it’ll take you to get over Archer?” I ask.

“A few days. Why?”

“You know my friend Martin?”

“Of course.”

“He’s liked you since the dawn of time.”

“He has?”

“Come on, you must’ve seen the way he looks at you.”

Her eyes are smiling. “I wasn’t sure.”

“You think he’s cute,” I say, taking a guess.

“I think he’s…interesting,” she says, with a grin. “I’ve never seen so much tweed on a teenage boy in my entire life.”

I laugh and laugh. Of course she would notice the way he dresses.

“How come you never went for him?”

Her smile dims. “He’s your friend. I didn’t think you’d like it if we got together.”

She’s right. I wouldn’t have liked it. I would’ve been afraid of what a relationship between them would mean for my friendship with Martin. We wouldn’t be as close anymore. I’d be on the outside.

But as much as I want to, I can’t stop the world from changing. Time passes. People change. Lives move on.

“I think you and Martin would be great together.”

“Really?” she asks.

“Really, truly,” I say.

She scoots closer and lays her head on my shoulder. Her hair tickles my nose. “Can I ask you something without you getting mad at me?” she asks.

“I can’t predict the future,” I say.

“Come on, promise me,” she insists.

“Fine, fine, I promise.”

“How come you changed your mind again about going to Dad’s wedding?”

I don’t have an answer for her, not really. The wedding just felt like too much, too many complicated emotions to deal with on top of everything that happened with X.

The last time I saw Dad was at graduation. Afterward he took me to Mariscos Chente for lunch. He decided our valedictorian was a genius and riffed on cheesy puns until my sides hurt from laughing too much. He even managed to combine a Mexican-food pun with a cheese one.

Q: Why should you always bring a bag of tortilla chips to a party?

A: In queso emergency.

He didn’t ask me again to go to the wedding and he didn’t call me sweet pea. For the first time I saw what our relationship could be like at some point in the future.

Danica picks her head up from my shoulder. “At least tell me why you’re so mad at him. Is it only because he left?” she whispers.

“What do you mean?”

She stares at me for a long time, scared of something. “You don’t think he and Shirley got together before—”

I know what she’s asking. She’s asking if he had an affair. I think about what knowing the truth has done to me. I think of what it would do to Danica.

Some illusions don’t need shattering.

I shake my head and hold her eyes. I am completely and totally convincing. “No way,” I say. “Dad would never do that.”

Her relief is acute, and I feel like a good big sister.

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