“Okay, okay. Yeah. We’ll get out of here somehow. It’s going to be a little tricky. I need a second to breathe. And think.”
Tucker sat down on the curb, and Bobby sat down next to him. They looked out at the crowd, lit from on high by the glow of the parking lot’s lights. There was a buzz in the air, a whole new energy. The a cappella club had gathered together and launched into their Disney medley. Two people were making out behind a minivan. Mrs. Donovan was still standing between Kara and Yrma, continuing to mediate their “fight.”
Bobby started laughing. “You kind of made this a wild night for everybody. I know you’ll be around a couple more weeks or whatever, but this wasn’t a bad way to say goodbye, before you take off for Bethany.”
Tucker laughed. “Oh my god, I didn’t tell you. I’m not going! Or probably not. I asked if Riley could stay with us for the summer, and I think it’s going to happen, so I’m staying, too. Which means I need a job ASAP.”
Bobby punched him in the shoulder. “Work with me—at baseball camp! They told us last week that they still need a couple more counselors.”
Tucker sighed and shook his head. “I wish I could, but I can’t. This is only going to work if I watch Riley during the day.”
“He’s six, right? You can sign him up. There’s still room.”
“Seriously? Oh my god, that’s so perfect.”
Tucker leaned forward, elbows on his knees, and took a deep breath. He was feeling overwhelmed by relief, by happiness—because this was exactly how he wanted to spend the coming weeks. He was ready for college, he knew he was, but he wanted a little more time to bask in the familiar, in the people he loved and the places he knew best. He wanted to layer new memories on top of the old ones, let them shore him up for his departure, for this next stage of his life.
He glanced over at Bobby. “Hey, listen. I’m sorry I didn’t come around much this year. It was hard for me, being near my old house. But I don’t think I’ll feel like that anymore. It won’t be sad, or if it is, it’ll be like that happy-sad feeling, you know?”
“Sure, sure. You should definitely come around more. My parents would be, you know. Happy to see you more.”
They were both staring out at the highway, the one that led right back to the neighborhood where they’d grown up together.
“Do you know what I was thinking about the other day?” Bobby asked. “When your dad gave you that old knife and we hid it in my room, because you knew your mom would never let you keep it?”
“And then your mom found it and completely freaked out,” Tucker said.
“And then my dad said it was actually pretty cool, and I thought she was going to kill him.”
That story hit Tucker right in the chest, but the pang that he felt—it was harsh, and it was complicated, but it wasn’t all bad.
“I kind of wish I still had it,” Tucker said. “The knife.”
“Your mom might have kept it. I could see her doing that.”
“Yeah, yeah. I’ll ask. I could show it to Riley. I mean, not to play with. Just to show him.”
“You can pretend it’s magic, like that one Sirius gives Harry.”
At first Tucker laughed, but then he sat up straighter. Mouth agape, he turned to look at his friend.
“BOBBY.”
“What? You know I read those stupid books.”
“I know, but that’s a very specific reference. I feel so close to you right now. Do you know that Sirius Black is the death that Erika finds the most emotionally devastating? Mine is obviously Dobby.”
Bobby covered his face with his hands.
“You two are the worst. Seriously. You totally deserve each other.”
“Thank you! I think so too, but the timing is all messed up. We did kind of make out in the photo booth, though.”
“Yeah, I noticed. Lots of people noticed.”
As Tucker was preparing a response to that, Nina came rushing over to them.
“Hey, hey! Destiny is about to get up and give some kind of speech, to distract everybody. When she does, Erika’s going to sneak out to the road—you should be ready to go, too.”
“Oh, shit! Did she call for a ride yet?”
“I totally saw you dummies hiding in the bushes. I already called you one.”
“Gimme your keys,” Bobby said to Tucker. “I’ll drive your car home, so nobody’s asking why it’s here and you’re not.”
“Oh my god, thank you both so much.” Tucker turned to Nina. “I promise I’ll pay you back.”
Nina laughed. “That won’t be necessary.”
48
Erika
Tucker escaped from the parking lot as Destiny climbed on top of a trash can and said that she sincerely hoped whoever had done this would confess. Erika found her own way there from behind the bushes, and then the two headed out to the main road, where they huddled off the shoulder, fingers intertwined and kissing, ignoring the people who honked at them.
After they’d been waiting about five minutes, their ride arrived. Tucker climbed into the back. Erika slid into the front.
“Hi, hi, hi,” Erika said. “You’re a hero. And oh my god, I forgot your car was busted! Thanks for borrowing your dad’s.”
Marissa turned to her very slowly.
“Oh, this was the least I would have done, to be part of this very sexy heist. Nice hand, by the way.”
“Yeah, it’s kind of a situation. Can we go now?”
Marissa nodded but kept the car idling. She turned the music up ridiculously loud, then took a slim green can from the cup holder, giving it a little shake.
“Would you like some of my ginger ale?”
“Would I what? No. We need to get out of here!”
“Okay, okay. It’s just that my ginger ale is very yummy. Sometimes I tell you things are yummy, and you don’t listen to me. You should always listen to me.”
Erika stared her dead in the eyes, then snatched the can from her hand and put it back in the cup holder. Marissa shifted the car from park to drive, but she still didn’t hit the gas.
“You know I heard about this scientific study? It was on NPR or some shit. It said the most satisfying feeling in the world isn’t sex or love. It’s getting to say I told you so.”
“Start driving or I will literally kill you.”
“Literally, Erika? As an English major, you should know how to use that word correctly.”
“Oh, I’m using it quite correctly.”
Tucker leaned forward from the back seat. “Can you turn the music down a little? What are you guys talking about?”
The girls both turned around, shouting nothing in unison. Then Marissa pointed a finger in his face.
“Put on your seat belt, please, so we don’t get pulled over. God, it’s like this is your first getaway or something. And where am I taking you?”
Erika chewed on her thumbnail. They hadn’t exactly gotten that far. All of this work and now what? They had to come up with something good or this would all be a total bust.
“I feel like we need to go to the water or something,” she said. “The ocean’s obviously too far, but I don’t know. Maybe there’s somewhere else?”
“Maybe,” Tucker said. “Or should we go into DC? There has to be something in DC. We can head that way and figure it out as we go.”
“That sounds good,” Erika said. “Let’s do that.”
“Okay, you crazy kids,” Marissa said. “I’ll drop you at the Metro?”
“Yes, yes,” Erika said. “That’s perfect.”
Marissa took a right, heading in the direction they’d agreed upon, which led them down a busy thoroughfare of a road, big box stores and fast food, laser tag and Starbucks. As they rolled past all those familiar places, the girls started telling stories. Erika almost running into the side of McDonald’s right after she got her license. Marissa insisting that they only go to that one dumpy movie theater because the kid who worked the ticket booth kind of looked like Zane. The more they talke
d, the warmer Erika felt, and the happier she was to look back and remember all of this as home.
“WAIT!” she shouted. “Take a left up here.”
“Why would I . . . Oh!” Marissa laughed. “I get it.”
Tucker leaned forward from the back seat and poked Erika’s shoulder. “You’re a total secret romantic, for the record.”
“She so is,” Marissa added.
Erika put down the visor and busied herself with trying to fix her hair.
“Shut up. I’m definitely not. I just want to see what they turned the place into. I’m sure it’s, like, a mattress store or something dumb.”
As they approached the parking lot, Erika felt a pang in her chest, because part of her didn’t want to see the place gone, turned into something else. But as they made the turn, she felt a rush of confusion, of excitement.
“Wait, I don’t understand—is it not closed?” Tucker asked.
Erika leaned over, straining to see.
“No, no, it’s a bar now, but they kept the name! OH MY GOD, THEY KEPT THE NAME.”
Glowing over the entrance was a new sign. The Fun Cave had finally, officially become just the Cave. As Marissa pulled closer, Erika rolled down the window, leaning out to get a better look.
“I’m embarrassed to admit how happy this makes me,” she said.
Tucker was leaning forward again, touching her arm.
“Erika. This is it! We have to go in.”
She came back into the car, laughing.
“I don’t think that’s going to happen.”
“Why not?”
“Do you have a fake ID? Because I don’t.”
“So what?”
“So what?”
“I can totally talk our way in. You’ll see.”
Erika looked at Marissa, who threw her hands in the air.
“C’mon, you know what I’m going to say! I’ll wait in the back of the lot, in case you don’t get in, but I have a good feeling about this. A very good feeling.”
Eyes shining, Erika turned and looked at Tucker.
“Okay. Let’s see you work your magic.”
49
Tucker
Tucker strode up to the door as confidently as he could, when really his pulse was hammering and his heart felt like it was stuck somewhere up in his throat. The bouncer was short and squat with an enormous beard and a leather vest, and . . . there were an awful lot of motorcycles parked out front, now that Tucker thought about it. But there was no way this was a biker bar, right? Were there biker bars in the suburbs? Across from the fro-yo place and the Target?
When they arrived at the door, the bouncer ignored them and kept staring at his phone, but that was fine—that gave Tucker a little bit longer to prepare himself.
After they’d gotten out of Marissa’s car, as they were trying to psych themselves up, a couple of guys had walked by and said something about how many people were coming tonight, for Dean’s party. Now Tucker had a plan.
Finally, the bouncer looked up at them.
“I need both your IDs.”
“Cool. Right. Of course. So listen, you probably hear stupid stories like this all the time, so I hate to do this to you, but . . . I’m sorry, what’s your name?”
He stared at Tucker, unblinking. “John.”
“Cool, cool. Hi, John. So I know this is ridiculous, but we went right from the office to the gym today, and I threw both our wallets in my gym bag, and then left that in my car, but we drove her car here, so I don’t have either of our IDs. I mean, I totally have cash, for our drinks or whatever. Oh! And we’re here for Dean’s party.”
John took a toothpick out of his pocket and started chewing on it, very intensely.
“You’re here for Dean’s party?”
“Yes.”
Leaning forward slowly, John pointed at the line of motorcycles in the parking lot.
“So which one’s yours?”
Tucker frowned. “What?”
“Well, everyone else who came for Dean’s party came on one of those, so I just assumed you did, too.”
Tucker wanted to argue that the guys he’d overheard in the parking lot had come in a pickup truck, but he wasn’t sure that was really going to help his case.
“Uh, I left my bike at home.”
“With your gym bag?”
Tucker was officially sweating too much. He licked his lips, tried to think. Erika had been standing right next to him when they first walked up, but now she’d slipped behind him a bit. She must be totally mortified. She probably wished they’d stayed at Dave and Buster’s. No, she probably wished she’d never come out with him at all.
“All right, all right,” Tucker said. “You got me. We are not here for Dean’s party. But I swear we are twenty-one, and we really, really need to come in here tonight.”
John nodded, grinning. He was definitely enjoying this, which was probably the only reason he hadn’t yet told them to get lost.
“Why do you really, really need to come in here, of all places?” He indicated the bar with his thumb.
Tucker fidgeted. Erika had slunk even farther behind him. He was totally failing her right now. He really didn’t want to fail her.
The best lies have a hint of truth. Give him a hint of the truth.
“We met here, years ago, when it was a crappy arcade. We worked together. And we got engaged literally an hour ago. I promised her we’d celebrate here with one drink. Just one drink.”
John tilted his head. “That’s a very charming story.”
“Thank you.”
Now John was smiling a little bit too much.
“How’d you do it?”
“How’d I do it?”
“Yeah. You said that you proposed an hour ago, so I figured it was fresh in your mind. I’m just wondering how you did it. I have a girlfriend, you know. It’s always good to get ideas.”
Nope, nope, nope. This was officially over. Tucker had been defeated. He’d thought he had what it took to bullshit his way through anything, but this day—wonderful as it was—had been very long and very exhausting, and he had nothing left, nothing . . .
But then Erika poked him in the ribs.
“Come on, babe. Tell him how you did it. It was so romantic.”
Tucker turned around and saw that her lips were pressed desperately together. She wasn’t hiding behind him because she was mortified—she was hiding behind him because she was trying not to laugh.
Her cheeks were all pink, and she was loving every second of this.
As Tucker looked at her, he was struck by the force of his memories, filled with the power that came from a year’s accumulation of moments as magic as this one. All the times the two of them had clicked perfectly. All the times he’d made her laugh when she’d needed it most. All the times she’d helped him feel happy to just be himself.
You’re close. So close. Keep going.
Tucker took a breath, dug deep.
“Okay, sure. Yeah. I can tell him. I, uh, got down on one knee, because you have to do that, right? So, I got down on one knee and I said . . . I said . . . Erika, I love every single night that we’ve spent together. Every night we’ve spent together is a night that I wished would never end. I want more of them, if you do too.”
John stared at Tucker in silence. Erika did not say a word, did not move a millimeter. The only sounds were the cars rushing by on the busy road behind them and the heavy metal coming from the open door.
“That’s pretty good,” John finally said. “But I still don’t believe you.”
Tucker groaned in frustration, and Erika squeezed his arm, whispered to him that it was okay. With a sigh, he prepared to turn and walk away, but first he peered inside, trying to see what the place looked like now. There was a row of bikers lined up on the stools, while the bartender was polishing a glass . . .
Tucker’s mouth fell open in surprise.
“HIM! Oh my god, ask him. He can vouch for us! He knows us!”
; John turned to look at the bartender, then back at Tucker.
“That guy’s going to vouch for you?”
“Yes! I swear. Ask him.”
His face appearing more skeptical than it had throughout the entire exchange, John turned very slowly on his stool.
This was their last possible shot, and Tucker had no idea if it was going to work. Erika was standing on her tiptoes to look over his shoulder, and he could feel her breath warm against his neck.
“Hey, Mikey,” John called. “Do you know these two?”
Mikey leaned over the bar to get a look out the door. His face broke into a huge smile.
“Hell yeah, I know them! I’ve known them for years. They worked with me at the first version of the Cave.”
John looked mildly surprised that even that much of the story was true.
“Are they twenty-one?”
Mikey tipped his head back and laughed, long and hard.
“Are they twenty-one?”
Picking up the glass, he inspected it for spots, then placed it neatly back on the shelf.
“Of course they’re twenty-one! We were all partying together just last week.”
With a profoundly bored shrug, John gestured for the two of them to go inside.
50
Erika
Erika was in physical pain, she was laughing so hard as she sat next to Tucker at the bar, recounting the last five minutes to Mikey.
“I almost lost it when he said that we’d come from ‘the office.’ I was actually praying that John would ask what office, just so I could hear what Tucker would come up with.”
“Oh, I was ready for that. I was going to say we worked in an IT office. That’s a thing, right?”
“I’m in school for IT right now!” Mikey said. “I make a ton of money in this place. It’s helping me cover my classes.”
“That’s awesome!” Tucker said.
As Mikey talked more about school, about his future plans, about his girlfriend, Erika peered around the bar. The basic layout hadn’t changed—it was still a great cavernous room, still poorly lit, still a little grungy. Now it had pool tables and a lot of people in leather and . . .
Our Year in Love and Parties Page 23
