"He said it was about you. He told some other girl- a girl he might have been possibly about to go out with but instead chose you- that he was out with you. You should be happy that he"d do that. Ralph really likes you. What are you doing?" I asked softly.
"I don"t know. You"re right. But if he texts anyone else, so help me..."
I rolled my eyes and pulled her to her door. Caleb opened it for her since Ralph was already in.
"At least someone has manners," she muttered.
"Be nice," I commanded. He shut her door and I turned to look at him. "I have a feeling we aren"t going to have very much fun."
"Yes we will." He kissed my forehead fast and softly. "You"ll see."
I climbed in after he opened my door and waited in the stiff silence of the car for him to get in himself. Once in, I introduced them all and Caleb asked where to go.
"Take us somewhere we"ve never been, Caleb," Beck said sweetly. "Somewhere from your town maybe."
Caleb looked at me and I nodded, knowing what he was thinking.
"Ok. Buckle up."
"Where are we? I feel like we"re in Deliverance," Beck said as she clutched the back of my seat.
We had just pulled into the lot at Mugly"s and though she was my best friend, I wanted to smack her. None of us had barely spoken a word on the drive over. She spent her time filing her nails and answering questions with Hmm"s and Uhuh"s.
Caleb eventually turned on a CD, Cold War Kids, and clasped my hand. We talked a little, some in our minds too, but mostly, we let them both just cool off before we got to the restaurant.
And now, we"re parked and I"m getting out before Caleb can come and open my door. Ralph tried to open Beck"s for her and she just scoffed and walked to catch up with me. She laced her arm through mine as we made our way through the lot to the door.
I looked back at the guys and they were walking a few feet behind us, talking about something. I looked back at Beck and she was seething but with a nasty little smile on her face. I was so confused why she even wanted to come out. I didn"t remember her being so petty before.
"Oh my goodness, look at this place! It"s right out of the boonies!" she exclaimed loudly when we entered. I turned and pinned her with a stare. "What?" she said just as loudly.
I pulled her arm to make her come closer.
"Jeez, Beck. What is wrong with you? Just because you"re mad at Ralph doesn"t mean you have to be rude to everyone else. Caleb knows the owner here, don"t insult them, please. I brought you here because I thought you"d like it."
"Ok, ok. Fine. Whatever."
Caleb came forward and greeted the hostess, a new girl I hadn"t met before and she said to follow her. He reached back to grab my hand and tugged me along to a back booth. I sat beside him and Beck and Ralph sat on the other side.
Our peppy little waitress came and explained the different barbeque sauces to us, to which my rude best friend laughed at like it was a joke, and then took our drink order. We all ordered sweet tea except Beck, who ordered bottled water.
I"m so sorry about her. I have no idea what"s wrong with her tonight.
It"s ok.
He smiled rea.s.suringly and put an arm around me to pull me closer. He kissed my temple and Beck rolled her eyes.
"So, Ralph. Where are you going to school?" I asked because his date wouldn"t.
"Columbia."
"Really?" Caleb said interested. "That"s a really good school."
"Yeah. Is that where Bish went?" Ralph asked me.
"NYU. But he"s actually interning now," I said and he nodded.
"I wanted to go here, to Tennessee, but my mom is so set for me to go to New York and since they"re paying, it"s not like I have much say."
"I hear you there, man."
I heard something in Caleb"s voice then, longing. I peeked into his mind without looking at him, though he could tell, you always can by the little fuzziness. I knew he wanted to go to Arizona but I didn"t know if it was just a flashing fancy or if he really truly wanted to go. Maybe he didn"t even want to be an architect. His mind told me I was right. He had looked extensively into Arizona. He was good at it but had no real desire to do architecture except to please his family. He had no idea of what he wanted to be except maybe be a geometry teacher. It wasn"t that Arizona was a particular fantastic school, it was away from here, on his own and no one to stop him if he wanted to take an art or astronomy cla.s.s or something else useless, but it was his time right? He just wanted to do what he wanted to do.
I smiled up at him and he shook his head at me, the corner of his lips turning up in his profile.
"Uh, h.e.l.lo. Can you come out of La-La land and answer me?" Beck said irritated.
"What?"
"I asked what we"re doing after we eat."
"I don"t know but let"s look at the menu. We haven"t even ordered our food yet."
"Fine." She s.n.a.t.c.hed the menu up and grimaced when she opened it. "Ugh. Meat, meat and more meat."
"You"re not a vegetarian," I countered.
She didn"t say anything else and I told Caleb to get me what he was having again.
"So, we have a theater in town if you want to catch a movie," Caleb suggested.
"Ugh. No," Beck groaned. "Do you have any clubs in town?"
"Not anything underage, but a friend sent me a text earlier. He"s throwing a party tonight at the beach."
"Yay! Sounds good. Let"s do that."
"Beck," Ralph said and looked at her funny. "Maybe they don"t want to go to the party. You didn"t even ask."
"He wouldn"t have brought it up if he didn"t want to go!"
The waitress brought our drinks and we all ordered our food. Then Beck went to the bathroom so I decided to find out what the heck was going on.
"What is wrong with her? She can"t be this upset over a text message," I asked Ralph and he rubbed his neck, looking uncomfortable and guilty.
"The girl who texted me was my ex-girlfriend. Beck was really weird about it when we went out before and when she wouldn"t return my phone calls, me and Christina went out again a few times. She freaked in the car on the way over. What am I supposed to do? She doesn"t act like she wants to be with me but calls me out of the blue. Am I supposed to not ever go out with any other girls and wait for Beck to realize that I"m freaking in love with her?"
We heard a gasp behind us and turned to see Beck with a struck expression. She heard him. I bit my lip as I watched him stand and move towards her. She smiled and threw her arms around his neck and kissed him. He laughed after a few seconds and pulled away.
"We"ll be right back," he said quickly and pulled her away, giggling.
I felt extremely giddy and leaned on Caleb"s shoulder. I was glad when the waitress brought our food right as they came back, about eight minutes later. Beck"s lips were red and her hair was a bit disheveled. She beamed at me and when Ralph was getting a refill she looked at me mouthed "Holy Cow!"
"Try these, Beck." I pointed to the corn nuggets. "They"re really good."
Ralph stabbed one with a toothpick and nodded in appreciation.
"So. Caleb," Beck started and laced her fingers into a fist under her chin. "What"s your major?"
She gave me a concerned looked and then turned her gaze to Caleb with a little frown. I realized this was the grilling she"d been waiting for.
"Architecture."
"Really? And what exactly are your intentions with my best friend?"
He choked on his sweet tea, laughing, and I looked at her in disbelief.
"Beck. What the heck?" I asked.
"What? It"s my job as best friend to make sure he"s not a serial killer. Or an English major, not sure which one"s worse," she spouted indignantly and Caleb and Ralph both laughed.
"Well, uh, I adore Maggie." He looked at me and smirked at my stunned expression. "And I am most definitely not a serial killer. But I do know a little English," Caleb said grinning.
"Well, that"s a relief. So are you parents loaded?"
"Beck, oh my gosh! Are you serious!" I yelled but she ignored me and looked at him imploringly.
"Well, I"d say we"re well off enough," Caleb answered carefully.
"Oh, yeah. Loaded," Beck said and tossed her hair. "So what about siblings?"
"One sister."
"Parents still together?"
"Yep."
"When"s the last time you talked to your best friend?"
"Yesterday. Text."
"And your mother?"
"This morning."
She raised her eyebrows at that.
"Really. When was the last time you went to the dentist?"
"Um. Three months ago," he said grinning.
"Have you ever been engaged?"
"Nope," he said laughing.
"What do you think about the current economical state of Iran?" Ralph and Caleb were laughing so hard, they looked about to cry. I just shook my head at her while she bantered. "Hey! That"s a legitimate selling point!"
"Don"t answer that, Caleb," I cut in. "Ok, Beck, enough. Are you done?"
"Yes. You have my stamp of approval."
He raised his gla.s.s in toast to her in grat.i.tude and smirked.
"So, are we going to the party or a movie or what?" Caleb asked after everyone settled down.
"I vote party," Beck said and then recanted. "If that"s what everyone else wants to do."
"I don"t care what we do," Ralph said sweetly, looking at Beck.
"What about you?" Caleb asked me.
"Whatever you want."
"Well. We can go to the party. He"s a pretty nice guy so I wouldn"t think it"d be too crazy."
"Ok. Party."