38. Saturday （Technically）
CHAPTER 38
SATURDAY (TECHNICALLY)
“W hen the Oak Ridge session is over, are you going to set up mail forwarding to my couch?” Drew dropped her pint-sized backpack next to the front door and flicked on the light. Daniel groaned and shielded his eyes. If Drew was home, it must be after 2 a.m. Officially Saturday, the penultimate day of camp. Good. Usually, Daniel hated the end of the summer—the quiet, the adrenaline crash. But this year, it meant that he could get out of town. And he really needed to get out of town. Go camping. Maybe take a trip back to California to surprise his mom for…early Rosh Hashanah. Or whatever minor Jewish holiday was in mid-August this year. He hated being at home in his cabin, in the Oak Ridge gym… Anywhere Maggie had gone he felt the ghost of her, felt her absence. He needed to get some distance.
Drew crossed to grab the remote off the coffee table and muted the TV, silencing the three contestants who were frantically pushing their shopping carts through the aisles of a soundstage grocery store like this was a variation on NASCAR. The Food Network was having some sort of Guy Fieri Universe marathon. Daniel had been watching for long enough that he hadn’t actually registered the sun going down. He’d apparently been sitting alone for hours, housing pickles, in a room lit by only the television. While something about Guy Fieri’s combination of earnest exuberance, flame-kissed button-downs, and calcified Billy Idol hair was mesmerizing, Drew had walked in on what could only reasonably be classified as a cry for help.
Drew flopped down onto the couch next to him and fished out one of the bread and butters.
“God I’m starving. It was slammed tonight.”
“You should eat some real food.”
She eyed him as she crunched away leisurely. “I don’t think you’re really in a position to be giving that advice right now, Becker.”
“Fair point.” He slid the rest of the jar across the coffee table toward her.
“So. Did I miss anything? A Vietnamese Caribbean fusion diner in Kentucky?”
“I got something from Maggie.” He had been trying to ignore the message for hours.
“What did she say? Did she apologize profusely?”
Daniel pushed himself off the couch and walked over to the microwave.
“Danny!” Drew was very much an instant gratification kind of person.
Daniel popped the door of the microwave open, pulled out his phone, and returned to drop it into Drew’s outstretched hand as quickly as he could, like it was too hot for him to touch. She tapped the screen and held it out for him to type in his passcode, which he did.
He hovered.
“What the fuck?”
“I don’t know, honestly.”
Daniel peered at the screen, which was upside down to him, but he’d read over the message enough that he’d more or less memorized it.
It wasn’t even a message, really. What it was, was a calendar invite.
Event: I’m Sorry
When: Saturday, August 7 th , 6:30 p.m.
Where: Pre-Prom (The Oak Ridge Gymnasium)
Who: [email protected] (organizer)
Description: Please come.
Going: Yes/Maybe/No More Options
Drew looked up at him, and held out the phone. He looked at it, but didn’t take it back. She set it down on the coffee table.
“Are you going to go?”
“I don’t know.”
“Do you want to talk about it?”
“No.”
She looked at him for a long moment before seeming to make a decision. “Do you want to watch some…” she glanced past him to the TV, “what on god’s green earth is Guy-exclamation-point Hawaiian Style?”
“Yes.”
Daniel turned and dropped onto the couch, nudging Drew over with his hip as he did. She happily flopped onto her side and threw her legs over the padded arm. As Daniel unmuted the TV, Drew stretched out her hand, felt around on the coffee table until she found his phone and quietly slipped it under a couch cushion.