Forty-Seven

The Burger Barn was slow. The rush was over, and there were only a couple of tables left. Early in my shift, a little kid had thrown his sundae at me because he didn’t like “nilla” ice cream, so I had a smear of crusty dried hot fudge down the front of my uniform. I prayed no one else would come in so I could go home early. My feet hurt, and I had exams starting in the morning. With all the school I’d missed lately, I needed the study time.

The bell above the door tinkled, and I jolted when I saw it was Mr. Lester. He smiled and took one of the stools at the counter.

I held up a menu, but he shook his head. “Just a sparkling water.”

Did he know where he was? Grease we had. Fat we had. Food products full of sugar and questionable chemicals aplenty. Sparkling water was not a Burger Barn staple.

“We have Sprite,” I offered.

His nose wrinkled. “Green tea?”

“Lipton,” I countered. I rummaged through the tin by the coffee station and dug out a creased foil package. “You’re in luck—it looks like there’s one mint left.”

“Sold.”

I pulled out a mug, filled the tiny metal teapot with water, and passed both of them over to him.

“You ready for exams?” He dunked the tea bag into the tepid water.

I shrugged. “Mostly. I’ll cram a bit tonight. Then I’ve still got a paper to finish for English. We’re doing a presentation instead of a test.”

He nodded. “Must feel nice to be almost done.”

I nodded and smiled because that was expected. I didn’t honestly know what I felt anymore.

“I wanted to give you something.” He slid an envelope across the counter.

I picked it up. “What is it?”

“It’s a letter of reference.” He took a sip and then put the mug right back down. “I know you don’t have any college plans, but you never know. Plans change.”

I swallowed hard. “Thanks.”

“There’s one in there from Detective Jay too. I kept copies of both in your file, so if you lose them, just let me know.”

“I probably won’t need them,” I said. “This place doesn’t require a lot of formal references.”

Mr. Lester looked around. “Nah. I imagine not. But you won’t stay here. You’ll be on to bigger and better things.”

“How do you know?” Maybe I hoped he was psychic.

He smiled. “Just do. Things often have a way of working themselves out the way they’re meant to.” He pushed away from the counter. “One other thing I happen to know is that there is someone outside who wants to talk to you.”

I looked past him out the big plate-glass window. Drew stood by her VW Bug in the parking lot. “Can’t help yourself, huh?” I asked.

He shrugged. “The peacemaker role comes as part of the job.”

I stood at the counter fidgeting with one of the ketchup bottles, my fingernail making half-moon impressions in the paper label.

“Friends come and go,” Mr. Lester said. “But I have to tell you, keeping the bridge open so they can return is never a bad idea.” He gave me a half salute and headed out, tucking a few dollars under the saucer of his mug.

Part of me had hoped I’d be able to simply ignore Drew until she moved away. I sighed and peeled off my apron. “Tyrone, mind if I knock off early?” I yelled to the back.

He popped his head out. “You never do much work around here anyway; you might as well go.”

I stepped outside into the cool evening air. I hated that she was seeing me in my stained uniform with sensible old-lady waitress shoes. I had a vision she’d come back from New York months from now and I’d have to replay this whole scene over. She’d keep getting more chic and fashionable, and I’d stay exactly the same.

Drew and I stood in the parking lot. There was a long quiet pause. If she thought I was going to talk first, she was nuts.

“You must be feeling better,” Drew finally said.

At first I wasn’t sure what she meant and then I realized she was talking about missing classes again yesterday. “I wasn’t really sick the past couple of days,” I admitted.

I heard her take a deep breath. “I heard the news about Paige’s dad getting arrested,” she said finally. “Everyone at school is talking about it.”

I inspected my fingernails. They looked horrible.

“I wanted to say I’m sorry,” Drew said in a rush. “I never should have said the stuff I did at my house. I feel terrible.”

“Uh-huh.”

“I hate that things are like this between us.” Drew bit her lip.

“Me too.” I searched my feelings, but all my anger at Drew was gone. There wasn’t even sadness really, just regret.

Drew took a deep breath. “You still thinking about New York?”

“I’m not going,” I said. “You were right. I could have saved the money, at least more than I did.”

“Maybe if you save up for a year, we could get a place together then.”

“Yeah, maybe.” I kicked at a loose stone with my shoe. “To be honest, I think I need to figure out what I want to do before I make any big plans.”

Drew nodded. “You could still come visit. We could go to the top of the Empire State Building and take that cruise out to see the Statue of Liberty.”

I smiled. “That would be pretty awesome,” I said. “You can show me around, give me the local’s view so I can skip the touristy stuff.”

Drew tapped her foot on the ground. “You want to come over to my place tonight? We’re going to order pizza.”

I wondered what her mom thought of that idea. “I would, but I need a shower.” I tugged on my uniform. “Then I really need to study.”

“We could study together after school this week,” Drew offered. “Ice cream and cramming.”

“Sure. Sounds good.”

Drew relaxed and smiled. “I’d really like that.”

“Me too.” We stood there awkwardly. It was like a first date, where you’re trying to figure out if you’ll kiss or not. It was never going to be the same between us, but maybe it could still be all right.