Page 102 of Hypothetical Heart
“Yes, I’m taking you home,” I tell her, ignoring Eloise.
Both Genevieve and Eloise have one too many sarcastic bones in their bodies, which seem to control every jab they make at me. It’s something that—while it’s infuriating at times—I can’t help but love about them.
“Okay, well, we’re leaving.” Genevieve stands. “You two have fun, and if you see a firework tip over,run.” She directs the advice toward Winnie, making her eyes widen.
“Jesus, Gen, we’re fine,” I say, shooing her away.
“Bye, guys.” Eloise smiles, making smooching noises as she and Genevieve walk away.
“Don’t worry, I would step in front of you if a firework was headed in our direction,” I tell Winnie, putting a hand over my heart.
She does the same, but hers is less serious. “My hero,” she pretends to fawn.
Another set of fireworks goes off and everyone sitting around oohs and ahhs.
“Do you want something from one of the food trucks?” I ask Winnie as I stand. I can’t remember the last time I ate something today, and I’m not sure if she has at all.
“Yeah, that’d be great. What are you getting?” she asks, getting out of her chair.
“Tacos, probably.” If there’s one thing you can never go wrong with at a food truck, it’s tacos.
“Okay, I’ll get some too.”
We walk through the grass area and then the parking lot, glancing over our shoulders every few steps so we can still watch the fireworks.
I’m happy with the selection I made. There’s a good mixture between willow trees, comets, and sparkles, all of which I’ve come to love.
Not shocking to anyone, Luke is standing with Jameson next to one of the other food trucks. It looks like they’re getting burgers.
“What are you guys doing?” he yells across the parking lot when he notices us.
I point to the taco food truck, which is bright yellow with mini taco string lights all the way around it.
“What do you want?” I ask Winnie as I approach the window of the truck.
“I’ll get it.” She tries to step in front of me, pulling her wallet out of her purse.
I stretch my arm out straight so she stays behind me. Using my other hand, I pull my wallet out of my pocket. “No way.”
“I can pay for us,” she argues, and I take her wallet right out of her hand, holding it above my head.
“No, you can’t because I won’t let you,” I say moresternly. “Now, order your tacos, and don’t even think about trying to pull out your card.”
Begrudgingly, she tells the cook what she wants. I do the same and hand over my card. I hand her wallet back to her once I’ve successfully paid.
“I don’t know why you don’t ever let me pay. It’s not that big of a deal, Logan.” When I look down at her, she’s pretending to pout.
“You know my mother,” I say, giving her a pointed look. “If she found out I was letting you pay for me, she would never let me leave the house again.”
The cook hands me the two cardboard containers with our food, and I hand Winnie hers. Luke and Jameson join us as we walk back to our spot on the beach.
The fireworks continue, I help out when I can with lighting them, but the scared-to-death look on Winnie’s face every time I grab the lighter makes me not want to participate as much.
“I still can’t get over the fact Gen got a 1580 on the SAT,” Luke sighs, making Winnie and me laugh.
“The girl’s smart as hell. Why wouldn’t you believe that?” I ask.
“I know she’s smart. It’s just crazy to think she’s smart enough to be in the 99th percentile of the entire country.”
