She did the thing with her pierced eyebrow.
“Sorry, no.”
All of a sudden she laughed. “You’re a lousy agent of the patriarchy, you know that?”
“I try.”
“I didn’t like you when I first met you,” she said out of the blue.
I shrugged. “The feeling was mutual.”
“But you’re all right.”
“Thanks. You too.”
“Anyway, about this party? I really don’t have all afternoon. I have an exam in…” She looked at her watch again. “Three minutes.”
“Right. Birthday party. Don’t worry about a gift. Just bring whatever you want to drink. Bring a date. Of your choice. Or not. Again, your choice.”
She smiled. “I’ll probably bring my friend. Dex. Short for Dexter.”
“Pizza guy? I liked him.”
“Yeah, he liked you. He said you tip well.”
“Cool. Anyway, see you Wednesday.”
“Yeah, see ya.”
“Oh, and good luck on your exam.”
“Thanks. I’m gonna need it.”
* * *
Thanks to a quirk in the exam schedules, Dance Appreciation was also our last exam (and the only one for Christy). Wren looked like she’d been through the wringer. Even Trip looked worn out. His exams hadn’t been all that difficult, but he’d been up late every night, studying with Wren for hers.
“One more hour,” Wren muttered to herself. “Then I can go somewhere and die quietly.”
Christy and I shared a worried look.
“Nope,” Wren said all of a sudden. “I don’t care anymore. I’m over it.” She started gathering her things to leave.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” I came out of my desk, but Trip was closer.
“C’mon, babe,” he soothed. “You can do this. Last one. Then you’re done. Forever.”
She started crying, tears of stress more than anything. People around us turned and stared, but we ignored them.
“I don’t think I can,” Wren sniffled.
“Sure you can,” Christy said.
“But I don’t know any of this stuff!”
“You can cheat off of Paul,” Christy said. “Can’t she, honey? Switch desks with me.”
I blinked in surprise, but Wren laughed through her tears.
“Since when do you call anyone honey?” she asked Christy.
“All the time. I’m in the south, aren’t I?”
“Wren’s right,” Trip said to her. “You have to be born here to call people that. It’s like grits and y’all. If you aren’t from here, don’t try it.”
“I can too call people honey. And I can say y’all.” She glared stubbornly. “Y’all can kiss my grits. See?”
Trip, Wren, and I shared a look, and we all burst into snickers that turned into laughter at Christy’s indignant expression.
“It isn’t funny!”
“Oh, sweetheart,” Wren said. “We love you, but you aren’t from the south.” She smiled and wiped her eyes. “Don’t try to pretend.”
“I can pretend all I want,” Christy grumbled under her breath. “Y’all. Honey. Ain’t. See?”
“Bless her heart,” Trip said.
“She tries,” Wren agreed.
“Ugh!”
“There, there,” I told her. “It’ll be all right. I’ll give you lessons. Or something. Ahem.”
“Ha ha. Very funny.”
We fell silent and let the tension evaporate.
“Thank you,” Wren said quietly. “Y’all’re the best.”
“Y’hear that?” Trip said. “It just rolls off the tongue.”
“All right,” I told him, “she gets it.”
“Yeah, you’re right. Sorry, Christy. We’re just foolin’ around.”
“Don’t you mean ‘fooling’ around?” she said, saccharine-sweet.
“That too,” he agreed wryly.
Terri burst through the gym doors.
“Sorry I’m late,” she said. “The Xerox machine wasn’t working.” She waved a thin sheaf of papers. “I only managed to copy the first page before it died. And since I don’t want to be here any more than you do, we’re going with it.” She started passing them out.
“Is this it?” a girl in front asked. “Ten questions?”
“That’s it,” Terri said. “There were twenty more and an essay question, but… Oh, well. Less for me to grade.”
“You rock!” a guy said.
“I rumba too. Sorry. Bad dance joke.”
The exam took ten minutes, including time to double-check my answers. Trip and Wren had finished theirs and turned them in, although they’d stuck around to wait for Christy and me. We were the last ones left, but she chewed her pencil and felt us watching her.
“I’ll catch up with you,” she said.
Wren frowned. “Why? You’ve been done for a couple of minutes.”
“I… um… think I got a question wrong. I need to reread it.” She scowled and tried to nod unobtrusively toward Terri.
Wren didn’t understand, but I did.
“What’s so funny?” Christy said.
“Nothing,” I lied. Then I gestured to Trip and Wren. “Come on, let’s go. We can wait outside while she finishes.”
“Why?” Wren said. “She’s done.”
“Let’s just get out of here,” Trip demanded. “Turn it in already.”
“Relax,” I said reasonably. “She wants to invite Terri to the party. She can’t do it while I’m here, so…” I gestured at the doors.
“Ugh! Sometimes I really don’t like you,” Christy said.
“Sorry. But… you aren’t the best conspirator in the world.”
“I’m not that bad,” she grumped.
“No, you aren’t. But that reminds me… I invited Nikki and her friend Dex to the party.”
Christy brightened before she remembered that she didn’t like me.
“C’mon,” I said to Trip and Wren. “Let’s wait outside. She can… um… do whatever. You know, stuff I don’t know about.”
She glared.
“I swear,” Wren laughed, “I didn’t tell him.”
“Tell me what?” I asked blankly.
“Go,” Christy said. “Just… go.”
* * *
I rose at my usual time the next morning and went for a run, although I sang a few bars of “Happy Birthday” to myself as I set out. I was still humming when someone called my name.
“Hold up!” she yelled. I slowed and turned, and Terri jogged toward me from the alley shortcut. She wore a Nike tank top, loose running shorts, and her hair in a ponytail. “Hey, sorry. I was retying my shoe when I saw you.”
“Hold on,” I said, “were you waiting for me?”
“Yeah. I hope you don’t mind. I wanted to talk to you. Without Christy around. And this was the only way I could think of that wasn’t obvious.”
“Oh. In that case… You wanna run or talk?”
“Uh… both.”
“Can you do both?”
“I’m a Phys Ed major about to get my PhD. I’m probably in better condition than you are.”
“You’re certainly in better shape than I am.”
She followed my glance to her chest. “Seriously? Are we back to these again?”
“Can you blame me? They look really nice, even strapped down like that.”
“It’s called a Jogbra,” she deadpanned. “And we shouldn’t be talking about it. Or them.”
“Why not?”
“Because you aren’t my boyfriend.”
“Not technically. But you did show them to me the other night.”
“I knew you were going to mention that. I made a mistake, and I’m sorry. I was drunk.”
“Were not.”
“Can we just forget about it?”
“Mmm, no, sorry,” I said. “I have that image burned into my memory. It’s very sexy.”
“Thank you,” she said, stubbornly polite. “But I’d rather not talk about it.”
“Fair enough. What do you wanna talk about instead?”
“You mind if we run while we talk?”
“Sure. Let’s go.” I set out at an easy jog.
“Oh, please.” She picked up the pace and waited for me to catch up and match her. “What’s up with this party tonight?” she asked. “Christy really wants me to come, but I’m not so sure.”