8. Brodie
EIGHT
brODIE
“What’s got your panties in a twist?” Sue asks, then cracks herself up. “You should smile more.”
I narrow my eyes at her and scowl harder when she laughs so hard, she slaps her knee. I don’t know exactly what my face looks like, but it’s probably the frowniest frown emoji. “Nothing.”
We’re sitting at the edge of the garage in the station. She’s whittling a stick and I’m scrolling through Aria’s videos for the umpteenth time. Maybe if I scroll a little longer, I’ll find some secret to making her not mad at me.
“Uh huh,” she says. “Try again.”
“I have to work tomorrow during the auction.”
“Was there someone you wanted me to bid on for you?”
“No,” I rush to say.
Sue’s smile turns sinister, her voice sing-songy. “I know who I’m bidding on. I’m saving all my pennies for her.”
I lift a brow. “Oh yeah? Who?”
Sue lets out a dreamy sigh. “Mindy. We hit it off during the tornado cleanup, but I could tell she wasn’t ready yet. I’ve been working on my long game. Gotta get me some of that cake.”
I shake my head. “I’m not going to ask which kind of cake you mean.”
She gives me a sympathetic smile. “You already know which type.”
I sit, debating whether to tell Sue that I know for a fact that Mindy thinks she’s hot. Better not. Leave a little mystery in this world.
Sue studies me for a moment. “Are you actually trying to score a real date from the date auction?”
I shrug and sit up from my slouched position, leaning my forearms on my thighs. “Well, you are. Why can’t I?”
“Who? Is Shannon coming back to town?” Again, Sue laughs at her own joke.
“You and my sister with the Shannon jokes.”
“The funniest part is, I have no idea who Shannon is. She’s just this mythical creature to me who tortured you with her love and affection.
It’s so easy to annoy you with it.” Sue uses the tip of the knife to clean under her fingernails.
We’re both EMS trained. I don’t need to tell her that it’s neither the safest nor most sanitary way to do that. “Okay, so not Shannon. Who, then?”
“My friend Aria. Or well, used to be friend.”
Sue looks at me like it’s obvious. “Can’t you just ask her out?”
“Ha! No. Our friendship crashed and burned over a decade ago. She reminded me of it yesterday.”
“What did you do?” she asks, taking on a scolding parent role.
I gasp, scandalized. “Why do you assume it was me?”
She levels me with a look and I cave.
“It’s almost embarrassing to admit. I just . . . we were best friends every summer, right? Spent all our time in the woods. And then in the fall I’d get busy with hockey and stuff.”
“And she’s mad at you about that?”
I scrub a hand over my face. “I forget you didn’t grow up here. She wasn’t exactly a popular kid. And I . . . could have done a better job of being her friend in public. One of my friends called her something really mean and I just let it slide.”
“Oh, Brodie, no.”
I pinch my lips together. “I know, okay? I know it was bad. But it was high school! Everyone’s just trying to survive.”
“You were a mean girl, Brodie!” she rants.
“I know,” I chant over and over, burying my face in my hands. “But I’m not like that anymore! I’m an adult! And she won’t give me the time of day.”
“Brodie.”
“She left me too! She stopped showing up that summer.”
“Yeah, she did. You treated her like shit.” Sue leans in and flicks my forehead.
“Ow!” I whine.
“And it doesn’t matter if you’re not like that anymore if you don’t own up to what you did.”
I wince, the memories so sour it almost leaves an actual bad taste in my mouth. “It’s embarrassing. How do I get her to like me again?”
“Do I really have to answer that?” Sue says. “You apologize.”
I sulk.
“I’m sorry. Do you want a different answer? Do you want me to tell you to stride into the date auction and place some ridiculously high bid on her?”
“Actually,” I say, snapping my fingers and sitting up. “That’s not a bad idea. Then I’m showing everyone how much I like her. I’m claiming her, you know? I’m not ashamed of her.”
Sue temples her fingertips at her forehead before getting back to whittling the stick in her other hand. “I mean, it’s not the worst thing I’ve ever heard . . .”
“No, that won’t do,” I say. “I have to work. I’ll be in uniform and on call. I can’t dress nice and I might have to leave.”
“Eh, unlikely. Half the town will be at the auction.” Sue waggles her eyebrows. “And plus, a man in uniform? Even better.”
With one final cut off her stick, she holds it out to me. There’s no mistaking the shape she whittled.
“A penis, Sue? Really?”
She flashes a false grin. “Yeah. Cuz you’re a dick.”