The Summer of '98 Read online

  “Cass popped around here about fifteen minutes ago looking for you. I said that I’d let you know.”

  “She was looking for me?”

  Eleanor set down her garden spade and looked up at me. “I know, it’s shocking that she wasn’t hounding Noah for attention. But she didn’t seem eager to hang around.”

  “I’ll go and see her.”

  “Thank you, honey.”

  Inside, Leroy was upstairs in his bedroom putting laundry in his drawers. “Everything okay, babe?”

  “Yeah. Your mom wanted to tell me that Cass was here looking for me.”

  His brows pulled. “She had to tell you that in private?”

  “She didn’t want to mention it in front Noah for some reason,” I lied. “I don’t know. But I’m going to go see her. I won’t be long.”

  “I’ll come.”

  “No, no, that’s fine.” I laughed at his confusion. “I want some girl time.”

  “Don’t you need a ride?”

  “If she can walk here, I’m sure I can walk to her house. I’ll be back soon.” I gave him a kiss. “You could do something with Noah.”

  He recoiled and then slowly, his expression became knowing and he slid his hands into his pockets.

  “Bye, babe,” I grinned and slipped out of the room.

  Cass lived about three blocks from Leroy on a quiet cul-de-sac. The houses weren’t quite as elaborate as the ones on Leroy’s street, but they were beautiful nonetheless. Cass had a railed front porch with a swing seat and window planter boxes. My hand rapped the front door, and I was waiting for a few moments before it swung open.

  She beamed when she saw me, gripped my wrist, and dragged me inside. “Good bitch for showing up. I have to show you something and I want you to revel in this masterpiece that I’ve created. Are you a John Stamos fan?”

  “Who isn’t?” I said as Cass dragged me straight down the corridor by the hand. “Why?”

  “You’ll see.”

  We reached a door and Cass swung it open, revealing her bedroom. My jaw fell open. On the same wall as her bed, there was a mural of cut-out magazine pictures and John Stamos posters covering the entire space. Not an inch of wall was untouched.

  “Whoa.”

  “Don’t you just love it?” she clasped her hands and bounced, her ringlets were in a bun right on top of her head, a few coils framing her face. “Is that not the best thing in the freaking world? I spent all night doing it. I’m almost tempted to do the rest of the room. Can you imagine? The whole room just John Stamos.”

  “It’s like a shrine.”

  “Duh. You wanna help me?”

  I had nothing else to do. “Okay. How do you have so many posters, though?”

  “Did I tell you what my mom does?” Cass asked as she began dragging a box out from under her bed. “I mean, aside from drinking.”

  “Does she work for a magazine?”

  Cass lifted the box lid and there were stacks of Seventeen, Teen People, Teen Beat, and Cosmo Girl. “She wishes. No, but she does work for the freight company that oversees and manages the distribution of almost every magazine and newspaper in Colorado. They also have to collect old copies that are left at the end of each month. I get some of them.”

  “That’s pretty cool,” I said, sitting down on her neon-orange and pink comforter and folding my legs just as she had. “You’ve been preparing for this moment, then?”

  “You know it. First, we cut out any and every picture of John that we can find. Which isn’t hard because he’s literally the main feature, like, every single month. I would kill to have his babies.”

  I took the pair of scissors that she handed me. It was quiet for a minute until she stood up and switched the radio on. Cass’s room was cute. Vibrant. There was a lot of neon orange—her set of drawers under the window, her mirror frame on the back of the door. She had bright-pink curtains and a fluffy green rug underneath her inflatable armchair.

  “Your room is cute,” I said.

  “Thanks. Tiff doesn’t like it. Says it gives her a headache. Tiff is my best friend. She’s in Florida all summer.”

  “Oh cool. Do you have a big group of girlfriends?”

  She pursed her lips and shrugged. “Not really, but kind of. I’ve always been close to Leroy and Eric, so I hang out with them, and they’re, like, popular jocks, so they have a lot of girls hanging around. I get along with the girls at parties and stuff, but I wouldn’t invite them for a sleepover. You know?”

  “Yeah.” I dropped a cutout that I’d finished and moved on to the next one. “I get that. I have a couple of close friends at home. Amber being the closest. Which reminds me that I haven’t talked to her in a while. I should call her.”

  “You can use the phone if you want?”

  “What, right now?”

  Cass nodded, focused on her careful cutting.

  “Oh, no. That’s all right. The charges would be huge since it’s out of state.”

  “I don’t pay the phone bill. Doesn’t bother me,” she said. “Better here than at Eleanor’s. We like Eleanor, don’t charge long-distance calls to her phone bill.”

  My laugh was amused but dismissive, which Cass must have noticed because she shook her head, stood up, and left the room, returning a few moments later with a handheld. “Call your bestie.”

  “Okay, fine.” I took it and dialed, putting it on speaker so Cass was included in our conversation. That felt rude. Amber answered her own private line in a few short rings.

  “Hello?”

  “Hey, it’s me.”

  “Hi!” she said, excitement in her tone. “What’s going on? How’s Colorado?”

  “Gooooood,” I stretched it out and put the phone on the carpet between Cass and me. “You’re on speaker, by the way. Cass is here. She’s friends with Leroy and his brother, Noah.”

  “Hello!” Cass sang.

  “Hey, nice to sort of meet you,” Amber laughed. “What’s going on?”

  “Not much,” I said. “I’ve been getting to know Leroy’s friends and family, watching his football practices, and I went to a party on my first night here. That’s where I met Cass.”

  “Sounds dope, girl. What’s Leroy’s family like?”

  “His parents are great. Super nice. Noah is—” I looked at Cass, who stuck her tongue out in disgust. “He could be worse.”

  “Oh no,” Amber laughed.

  “Wait!” I said, suddenly remembering the fact that she knew Eric. “Remember Eric? The guy that you sort of hooked up with at that frat party where I met Leroy?”

  Cass sat up, alert and listening.

  “Yeah?” Amber said.

  “He’s on the team with Leroy. We’ve hung out too.”

  “We should call him,” Cass said, dropping her scissors and snatching up the phone. “We could put him on a three-way conference call?”

  Even I was humming with enthusiasm at the suggestion. “Do you want to, Amber?” I asked.

  She paused. “I guess so.” Cass quickly switched off the radio. “But if he’s not interested, I’m hanging up.”

  Cass’s knees bounced up and down as she started pressing buttons on the phone. “He might not be home. But we’ll give it a go.”

  “Don’t tell him I’m here until you ask him what he thinks of me,” Amber quickly added.

  As it rang, anticipation swelled within the room, our nerves tingling and my heart hammering. I felt as if I was the one who was being connected to the person I had a crush on. Cass bit her nails, and then, after what felt like forever, there was an answer.

  “Samuel speaking.”

  Cass cleared her throat. “Hey, Mr. Washington. It’s Cass Summers calling.”

  “Hang on a minute, Cass,” his deep voice became distant. “Eric! Phone.”

  Cass and I grinne
d at each other, silent giggles passing between us.

  “Hello?”

  “Hey. It’s Cass and Ellie.”

  “Hello, ladies,” we could hear the smile in his voice. “How’s it going?”

  Cass quirked a brow, gesturing for me to take the lead. “Eric, do you remember my friend Amber? From Waco.”

  “Hell, yeah, I do. Couldn’t forget a beautiful woman like that.”

  Eric had this regal, grown-up way of speaking. It wasn’t even so much the words, it was his tone and the confidence in his delivery.

  “Would you want to talk to her again?” I asked. “If you could.”

  “I would call her right now if you gave me her number.”

  Cass slapped a hand over her mouth and fell onto her back, legs in the air, kicking.

  “Amber,” I prompted.

  “Hey, Eric,” Amber said sheepishly. “It’s me.”

  “You sneaky little women!” Eric hollered. “Hello, sweetheart. Long time, no talk. How are you?”

  “I’m good,” Amber sounded as if she was trying to breathe. “Sorry about ambushing you. You don’t have to chat if you don’t want to.”

  “I want to,” he said. “Cass, Els, leave us to it? I owe you both a big fat kiss on the cheek.”

  Cass sat up and made a kissing noise. “Look forward to it.” She hung up and threw the phone onto her bed. “That was so much fun. Look at us, matchmakers.”

  “That is pr—”

  Cass’s bedroom door swung open and a tall, slender woman with dark-blond ringlets and an upturned nose stood in the frame. “Oh,” she looked between the two of us. “I thought you were on the phone. That’s why I waited outside. Who’s this?”

  “Ellie,” Cass answered with boredom, still cutting out her magazines. I waved. “Ellie, this is my mom, Jessica.”

  Jessica smiled but her attention fell back to Cass. “You home for dinner?”

  “I don’t know,” Cass said. “I guess.”

  “I won’t be,” Jessica said, looking down at her skintight dress. She had an incredible figure, long legs and a thin waist. “That’s why I’m asking. I can leave ten on the counter if that helps.”

  “Whatever.”

  “Yes or no?”

  “Yes,” Cass bit back, finally looking over her shoulder behind her. “God, what are you wearing?”

  Jessica’s cheeks reddened, her hands sweeping her frame. “A dress, Cassidy. Don’t be rude.”

  Cass’s face twisted into disgust and she turned from her mom. The atmosphere was tense. There was no way that I could ever have given my momma that sort of attitude. The look on Cass’s face alone would be enough to have me grounded for two weeks.

  Jessica reached for the door handle when her gaze landed on Cass’s wall, then traveled to the floor where we were cutting up magazines. “What have you done to your wall?”

  “Covered it in John Stamos photos,” Cass mumbled. “What does it look like?”

  Jessica muttered something and left, closing the door with a solid thud, it rattled the mirror hanging on the back of it. It was quiet again, neither of us speaking, the sound of paper being cut, slow and careful. The Spice Girls blared from the radio, and Cass bopped her head along to it.

  “You wanna stay for pizza tonight?” she finally said.

  My heart sped up, feeling terrible about the fact that Leroy and I had plans. “I think Noah said that he wanted to come over tonight,” I said.

  She looked up at me. “He did?”

  “Yeah, he told us this morning.”

  A flicker of a smile danced on her mouth, but she ducked her head before I could see it. “You don’t have to leave for him.”

  “That’s okay. Leroy and I could use some alone time if I’m being honest. His mom and dad are going out, so he’s going to teach me how to cook burritos.”

  Cass winked at me. “You go, girl.”

  We spent a few more hours cutting out magazines and sticking pictures to the wall before I had to leave, but I promised her that I would come back and help more when I could. The afternoon with her reminded me that no matter how much I loved being with Leroy, girl time was essential. It was nice to know that during my stay here, I could connect with someone other than Leroy.

  Leroy

  Mom mentioned that she’d appreciate it if I made some time for Noah this summer. It seemed as if I hadn’t acted on that quickly enough and she’d taken matters into her own hands, asking Ellie to leave me alone for a little while so that Noah and I could hang out. My girl didn’t elaborate on how the conversation had gone down, but it was obvious that it was Mom’s idea.

  Downstairs, Noah was still sitting on the deck with his Game Boy. “Hey, man, want to go to the arcade for a few hours?”

  He twisted, peering at me over his shoulder. “The arcade?”

  No doubt he was surprised because we hadn’t been to the arcade together since we were thirteen and fourteen. The arcade was how we killed time on the weekends when we were in middle school—especially in the summer, right before things shifted between us, and I started high school, made the varsity team, and grew up.

  “You got something better to do?” I said.

  He shrugged and stood up. “Let’s do it, then.”

  We arrived at our local arcade a half hour later, pushing through the glass swing doors to find the place crammed with kids and friends from school. As always, it was dark but there were flashes of bright neon coming from all of the machines lined up together. The sound of coin slots, pings, and the low humming whir of pixelated characters jumping across the screens was loud. The six air hockey and foosball tables were clattering and there were cries of excitement coming from the game of hoops.

  “I didn’t bring cash,” Noah said, standing beside me while we looked around.

  “I’ve got it. Should we get some tokens?”

  “I guess.”

  We went and paid for a bunch of tokens from the front desk and proceeded to walk around in search of something free. I doubted that we’d find a machine that wasn’t being used, so we hopped in line for the racing game and waited our turn.

  “Where’s Ellie?” Noah asked over the noise.

  “With Cass.”

  “I think Cass is still pissed about what happened with Holly. When she came over this morning, she wouldn’t even talk to me. Said she only wanted to see Ellie.”

  “Weird that she’d be mad about you hitting it with another girl.”

  Noah sensed my sarcasm and frowned. It was our turn to use the racing game, so we slid into the seats and deposited our tokens, gripping the steering wheels while it counted us down.

  “She’s not my girlfriend,” he said. “I can do what I want.”

  We both put our foot down on the accelerators and steered through the virtual racetrack, competing to stay ahead of each other. He had an inarguable point. Not that there was ever a point in arguing with him anyway.

  “I never said that you can’t do what you want. I’m just not surprised that Cass is upset. You know what she’s like. You know that she wants more from you.”

  My car pulled in front of Noah’s, cutting him off. He cursed. “Too bad, I told her it’s not happening.”

  “Why not, though? If you’re going to keep chilling and sleeping together, why not just go out with the girl?”

  Noah’s car was gaining speed again and came barreling up toward the tail of my car. “Do I question why you can’t just be single and fuck around? No.”

  “You sort of do.”

  “Whatever,” he sideswiped me and I had to steer through a spinout. “Is it so weird that I like keeping my options open? That I enjoy variety? Sue me if being tied down to one girl doesn’t sound appealing to me. I’ve got my whole life to be a boring sack. Mom was single until she was in her thirties, bro. Worked just fine for her
.”

  “Okay, fine.” I steered around a corner and found Noah just around the bend. The finish line was approaching, and I pressed even harder on the accelerator. “That’s your business. Cut it off with Cass, then. She doesn’t feel the same way, dude. Stop stringing her along and end it so she can move on.”

  At the last stretch, I pulled ahead, passed Noah, and came in first place. He exhaled and we both quickly vacated the seats so that the next people in line could take their turn.

  “I’ve tried to end it,” Noah said. “She’s still my friend, though. I don’t want to lose that. It just happens. We end up in bed together because . . . I don’t know. Everything else is there. I’m not interested in having a girlfriend. Casual sex is fun.”

  We walked through the arcade, mindful of lines and smaller kids weaving through the crowds. I didn’t say anything because there wasn’t much that I could say. If that was how he felt, that was his business. How Cass came out of all this was a concern to me, but if she wouldn’t listen to Noah when he tried to abstain from her, then she wasn’t going to listen to me. She loved him so much and that made me sad for her.

  “You’ve had girlfriends before. What about Anna? You two were dating for like six months in sophomore year.”

  “Then she slept with Kendrick while I was standing outside of her window in the rain because she’d told me to come over and sneak in.”

  “What? For real?”

  “Yeah. Told me to sneak over and I was waiting for like twenty minutes in the rain and I was like, screw this, and scaled her house. When I looked through the window, there she was with that asshole.”

  “Shit,” I said, slipping my hands into my pockets. “I didn’t know about that.”

  “Nah, I didn’t even care, wasn’t worth mentioning.”

  But it was worth mentioning. It had to have hurt him. Maybe that had some part to play in his aversion to settling down. But then again, perhaps he really did just prefer casual arrangements. It was hard to tell with Noah. We saw a couple of kids ditch a foosball table so we took their place and put the tokens into the slot.

  “Guess that’s why you don’t want another relationship, then?” I continued.