About Last Summer

by Patricia B Tighe

  That stupid play. It still felt like a surreal dream that we were actually going to perform it.

  Geoff finished peeing and came to the sink. He nudged me out of the way to wash his hands. “I don’t care where he wants us to go. I’m not leaving until I have a full breakfast. Maybe I can get my mom to make pancakes. I’m still the birthday boy.”

  I laughed. “Can’t you take Dylan with you?”

  He gave me a weird look. “We are. You have something better to do?”

  Right. It wasn’t time to tell him about Gabby yet. I didn’t know how long she wanted to be Gabriela. “Not really. Just tired.”

  “That makes two of us.”

  I followed him out of the bathroom, but stopped when he went to the top of the stairs. “Mom, are you making us pancakes?” he yelled.

  “No!” she called. “Waffles!”

  Geoff grinned. “Perfect.”

  Giggles sounded behind us. Aw, crap. Haley and Amanda were already dressed for the day and staring at me from their bedroom door. And I was wearing a towel. Well, Haley was staring. When I turned around, Amanda shifted her gaze to her brother. I strode into the bedroom, Geoff’s laughter ringing out behind me as he followed and slammed the door.

  “Yo, Dylan,” Geoff said. “Get moving. We’ve got waffles to eat!”

  He rolled over. “Really?” He ran a hand over his face. “Sweet,” he mumbled.

  I launched my towel at Geoff’s face and pulled on my boxer briefs. “Thanks for having my back out there.”

  He caught the towel and tossed it back. “No problem.”

  I threw on shorts and a T-shirt. Maybe a big breakfast would take long enough that Kenzie and Gabby would show up and we could talk before I had to go along on the errand.

  Geoff nudged Dylan’s still prone body with his foot. “Hurry up. If we don’t get downstairs before Amanda and Haley, we won’t get the first waffles.”

  In one smooth move, Dylan rolled himself to his feet. “Crap. Are they already in the bathroom?”

  “Yeah,” Geoff said. “But you can use the extra one downstairs.”

  Dylan grunted, drew on his clothes, and left. Probably headed for the bathroom. After Geoff dressed, we thundered down to the kitchen, and dropped into our seats at the table. The scent of cooked bacon filled the whole room, and my stomach rumbled. A few minutes later, Dylan joined us. Now if only Kenzie and Gabby would do the same.

  But an hour and three waffles later, the older girls still hadn’t shown. I’d endured more giggles and stares from Amanda and Haley, but Gamma started questioning them about their plans for the morning, so they had to focus on her instead. It was as though the old lady had taken pity on me and talked to them on purpose. I should probably take her everywhere to run interference for me.

  But at that point, I couldn’t relax. Short of running upstairs and waking Gabby up—a seriously bad idea because Geoff would give me hell for it—I’d have to wait until we got back from the errand. And I couldn’t shake the feeling that the longer I waited to talk to her, the more likely she was to have convinced herself we could never date.

  Mr. Bryson set down his coffee cup. “Boys, you’d better get going. I need enough time to see which of those spotlights will work for the play.” He looked at Geoff. “I’ve texted you the address.”

  Spotlights? The man was obsessed.

  Geoff’s mouth dropped open like he wanted to argue, but then he shook his head and got up. “All righty then. Come on, boys, let’s go get us them dern spotlights.” He hitched up his shorts, making Haley laugh.

  Footsteps sounded in the hall, and I twisted toward the entry. But it was only Molly, still wearing Sailor Moon pajamas and yawning. Geoff snatched her up in a big hug, muffling her protests against his chest.

  Dylan gave me a sympathetic look. What was that about? Did everybody know how badly I wanted to see Gabby? “We’ll wait for you in the car, Geoff,” he said.

  I glanced up the stairs as we headed for the door. No one. I straightened my shoulders. There was nothing I could do about seeing Gabby. I forced myself to ignore the churning in my gut. She loved me. That’s what I needed to focus on. Right?

  Gabby

  Kenz and I walked into an empty kitchen with the lingering scent of coffee and bacon. She hadn’t said more than three words so far that morning, and I hadn’t pushed it. Kenzie was always slow to wake up. Besides, my mind was running so fast about Noah that it was a relief not to have to talk. I was completely confused, and I knew only two things for sure—I loved him, and I wanted to keep being Gabriela for the rest of the trip. Because if I managed to make it and not quit, I’d have proved I could succeed at something. And then maybe Noah and I would actually have a chance.

  Kenzie went straight to the coffee, poured a cup, and sighed. “Here’s a note from Aunt Jenny,” she said, scanning a piece of paper that had been on top of the coffee maker. “Hmm, apparently she saved us some waffles if we want them. Do you want cereal instead?”

  “Waffles are fine.” I took the orange juice out of the refrigerator and carried it to the table.

  “I’ll get them warmed up.”

  I watched Kenzie’s efficient moves as she put our breakfast together. Why couldn’t I be more like her? She was always so sure of herself, so in control. Which made me wonder what had happened between her and Dylan at the party. If anyone could shake Kenzie up, it would be him. But I’d been so preoccupied with my own romance that I hadn’t asked about hers.

  I waited until we’d had a few bites of breakfast before I hit her with the question. “So how did everything go with Dylan last night?”

  She actually dropped her fork. It clanged against the side of her plate, landing on her placemat. She scowled. “Were you spying on us?”

  “Not on purpose,” I said, trying to keep the sound of teasing out of my voice. That would make her clam up fast.

  She sipped her coffee, and then slowly put down the mug. “He drives me so nuts,” she said, barely louder than a whisper. “He wants to try dating for real since he’s moving to Austin.”

  When she didn’t elaborate I said, “What did you tell him?”

  “That I’d think about it.”

  “Is that all?”

  “Did you want me to swoon at his feet?”

  I stuck a bite of waffle in my mouth and tried not to smile while I chewed.

  “Gabby,” she said in a warning tone.

  “What? I didn’t say anything.”

  “You didn’t have to.” She shook a piece of bacon at me. “Since we’re answering questions, what about Alejandro? Have you decided what to do?”

  “No.” I lowered my voice. “I love him, but I’m still afraid.”

  Kenzie said something, but Amanda’s voice cut across hers. “That’s not the real reason.” She strode into the room, Haley practically jogging at her heels.

  Kenzie frowned. “Huh?”

  “She’s too busy messing with Noah’s feelings to commit to Alejandro,” Amanda said, anger oozing from every pore.

  Great. How the heck was I supposed to handle that?

  Kenzie gave her an incredulous look. “You shouldn’t eavesdrop. You don’t know the whole story here.”

  But Amanda ignored her, glaring at me. “I know enough. You’ve been hooking up with Noah behind your boyfriend’s back, Gabriela, or whoever you are. And I’m going to tell him.”

  “Who?” I asked, trying to follow her thinking.

  “Noah, of course!”

  Haley’s eyes grew round behind her red glasses.

  “Seriously?” Kenzie’s voice rose with the question. “You need to mind your own—”

  “No! This—” Amanda waved her hand toward me like she couldn’t think of any nice words to use “—person is about to hurt Noah, and he’s our friend, and I’m not gonna let her get away with it.”

  I sighed and exchanged a look with Kenzie. I should just explain everything. That was the only way out of this mess. But Kenzie stood. She ha
d half a foot on Amanda and used it to look intimidating. “Go ahead and tell him,” she said. “You’ll just embarrass yourself.”

  “Kenz,” I said, trying to communicate my willingness to tell all.

  Amanda’s freckled face turned bright red. “I don’t care. He deserves to know.”

  I got up too. “Amanda, it’s a long story. Can we just—”

  She let out a mocking laugh. “Right. As if I can believe anything that comes out of your mouth.” She swung away but spoke over her shoulder. “You lost your accent by the way. Might want to work on that.” She raced off, and Haley followed, flip-flops snapping against the floor. Then their footsteps pounded up the stairs.

  I sank back into my chair while Kenzie brought the coffee carafe to the table. “Well, that was fun,” she said, refilling her mug, then adding some milk.

  “I should have told her.”

  Kenzie made a scoffing noise. “She was too angry to listen. Maybe when she cools down we can tell her.”

  “Do you really think she’ll talk to Noah about it?”

  She returned the carafe and then sat back down. “I don’t know. How do you think he’ll react if she does?”

  “Confused? Angry? He’ll want answers, that’s for sure. He’s big on answers.”

  Kenzie laughed. “Then I hope you give them to him.”

  I laughed too, but a sense of unease crept over me. I needed to explain Alejandro to Noah before Amanda got to him. If she told him, she’d be causing unnecessary hurt. And I didn’t want that. Especially since I still wasn’t sure if I’d soon be doing the same thing.

  Noah

  Dylan drove down the gravel driveway toward the house so slowly that Geoff grinned over his shoulder at me before speaking to him. “Dude, is Kenzie mad at you or something? Why’re you driving like you don’t want to get to the house this century?”

  Dylan let out a huffing sound. “When is Kenzie not mad at me?”

  “True,” Geoff said. “But seriously, man.”

  “Sorry. My parents are just always in my head about not hurting the car.”

  “A little gravel is gonna hurt an SUV?” Geoff asked.

  Dylan pointed through the windshield at people getting out of a sedan in front of the house. “They just got here, and I really don’t want them on my case.”

  “Got it,” Geoff said.

  Even with our slow pace, the huge, rusted-out spotlights rattled on the floor of the car. “You think these lights are gonna work?” I asked.

  “I hope none of them work,” Geoff said. “I really don’t want to feel like I’m caught in the beam of an alien invasion during the play.”

  “I don’t know,” I said. “Having the spotlight on you would be great. Dylan and I could sneak away and go eat all the ice cream.”

  “Don’t even think about it,” Geoff said. “I know it’s a pain, but the whole thing will be over fast, and then we can relax.”

  “When does the play start again?” Dylan asked, inching the car in behind his parents’ sedan.

  Geoff laughed. “Nice parking. And, last I heard, right after dinner tonight.”

  “Glad we’re finally getting it over with,” he said and cut the engine.

  “Help me get the lights into the garage,” Geoff said. “Then we can hide so we won’t get roped into any more chores.”

  That suited me just fine—if part of hiding included connecting with Gabby. It had taken us an hour to find the guy who was lending the decrepit spotlights to Geoff’s dad, and then we’d stopped for burgers because, hey, it was already 11 a.m. All together we’d been gone for two and a half hours, and I was beyond ready to talk to her.

  We each lugged a light to the garage and set them down as carefully as we could to avoid having Mr. Bryson discover us. Geoff raised his arms over his head in quiet triumph, and we strolled outside.

  We were about to head around the side of the house to the back when the sound of footsteps made us freeze. Before we could even try to hide, Amanda and Haley appeared in front of us.

  “Geez, you guys,” Geoff said in a harsh whisper. “Where’d you come from?”

  Amanda ignored him and walked straight up to me. Her eyes were red-rimmed like she’d been crying, but that didn’t keep her from staring me down. “I need to talk to you.”

  “Shh,” Geoff said. “We’re hiding from dad.”

  She frowned as if she’d just noticed he was there.

  I really didn’t want to face her yet. But if Geoff and Dylan were with me, how bad could it be? “Uh, yeah?”

  Amanda glanced at the other guys like she wasn’t sure she wanted to talk in front of them.

  “Amanda,” Haley whispered. “Maybe you shouldn’t—”

  She raised a hand, and Haley shut her mouth. Okay, not good. Amanda shoved her fingers into the tiny pockets of her shorts. “He deserves to know.”

  Geoff stepped closer. “Oh good, is it a secret?”

  Amanda yanked her hands from her pockets and folded her arms across her chest. “Gabby has been lying to you. She has a boyfriend. And she’s in love with him.”

  My stomach dropped. “What’re you talking about?”

  “You mean Gabriela?” Geoff asked.

  “Whatever her name is,” Amanda said, her words rushing together. “His name is Alejandro and she loves him and she’s a liar and I thought you should know because it’s not fair what she’s doing to—” She inhaled a shuddering breath.

  Dylan rested a hand on her shoulder. “Slow down. It’s okay.”

  Amanda’s face crumpled, and she whipped around and tore off back the way she’d come.

  Haley just shook her head. “Sorry,” she whispered and then followed Amanda.

  I didn’t know what Haley was apologizing for. All I knew was that a dark pit had opened up in my chest. I didn’t believe it. It couldn’t be true. Gabby wouldn’t lie about something like that, would she?

  But last summer she said she’d call and then she disappeared.

  I didn’t realize I’d started walking down the driveway until Dylan grabbed my elbow and stopped me. “Listen,” he said. “There has to be an explanation.”

  “How the hell do you know?”

  “Because Gabby and Kenzie are close, and Kenz has been talking about stuff they do together, and I’m positive Gabby wouldn’t lie about something so important.”

  Geoff shook his head. “Why do you keep saying Gabby?”

  “Because that’s her name,” I bit out. A nervous energy filled me, and I didn’t know whether it was anger or pain or both. I started walking again, and the guys joined me.

  “She’s not Gabriela?” Geoff asked. “Does that mean she’s not from Spain?”

  “Right,” Dylan said.

  “What the—? She’s been pretending all week? Did everybody know except me?”

  Dylan and I didn’t answer, but since Dylan seemed to know everything, I left it to him. Sure enough, after three seconds he said, “No, not everybody knows. I only suspected at first, but then Kenzie slipped and called her Gabby and I pushed until she told me that Gabby was her best friend, and she wasn’t from Spain. But she wouldn’t tell me any more than that.”

  “Holy crap,” Geoff said. “This sounds like another one of Kenzie’s wild ideas.”

  “Yup,” Dylan said.

  Was that why Gabby had pretended to be Gabriela? I’d never found out. I stopped. “Kenzie has done stuff like this before?”

  “Not exactly,” Dylan said.

  “Close enough,” Geoff said. “She’s always playing tricks or planning surprises. When we were kids she had me convinced she had a mysterious mouth disease and was going to have all her teeth pulled.”

  Dylan laughed. “I remember that.”

  I needed to talk to Gabby. Except first I needed to understand more about Kenzie to see if either one of them could be trusted. I turned to Dylan. “Why wouldn’t Kenzie tell you the whole story?”

  He picked up a rock and threw it toward the fore
st. “Why does Kenzie do anything?”

  “You tell me.”

  “Kenzie always comes clean once you figure something out,” Geoff put in. “If she didn’t explain it to Dylan, it’s probably because she and Gabriela—uh, Gabby—came up with the plan together.” He frowned again. “When did you know?” he asked me.

  “The first day.”

  “How?”

  “I know her.”

  Geoff slugged me in the shoulder. “And you didn’t tell me?”

  “No. She’s the …” I couldn’t make myself say it.

  But Geoff knew me well. He swore. “You’re kidding. From last summer?”

  “What?” Dylan asked.

  Might as well get it over with. “I met Gabby at drama camp last year. We, well, after it was over she dumped me.”

  “Harsh,” he said.

  “So, yeah, when a person tells me Gabby’s lying, I have reason to believe them.” No one said anything. We stood there staring at nothing, the warm breeze ruffling our shirts and hair.

  Alejandro. Was he real? Or was he just a trick Gabby and Kenzie were playing on Amanda and Haley?

  “I need to talk to her,” I said, more to myself than either of them.

  Dylan nodded, but Geoff was squinting up at the sky. “You know what I think,” he said, looking at us. “I think we should get back at them. Come up with a trick of our own.”

  “How is that supposed to help me with Gabby?” I asked.

  Dylan gave Geoff a snarky grin. “We really, really should.”

  “We’ll have to move fast,” Geoff said. “They leave tomorrow afternoon.”

  “Right,” Dylan said. “We need something that’ll be a complete surprise. Something …”

  “Truly evil,” Geoff said. “I like the way you think.”

  Dylan laughed.

  “Hey!” I said. “Relationship falling apart here, remember? I may be a little distracted from any evil villainy.”

  Dylan shook my shoulder. “You don’t need to worry. Seriously. I’m a pretty good judge of character—”

  “He is,” Geoff said.

  “—and this has to be a misunderstanding.” He smiled suddenly. “I know! You should play hard to get.”