Page 8 of Another Love, Another Time
After tons of pictures and the judging of the costumes out of the way, we can finally get on the hayride. It’s my favorite part. River and Logan went to get some hot cocoa. Logan’s dad makes the best. He went with her, and I’m saving our seats.
Melissa sits down next to me. She has since changed out of her costume. While knowing she was eavesdropping, I told Logan that River and I would arrive as Fred and Wilma Flintstone. Guess what she and Logan showed up as? Fred and Wilma Flintstone. River and I had a good laugh. Melissa was not pleased, especially when we won the kids' costume contest. River said she wanted to be the Wilma to my Fred. Not going to happen. The prizes were hanging neon light signs that say,“Come in” or “Go away.” I know River loves hers. I can’t wait to hang mine up too.
“Hey, Auggie,” Melissa says as she scoots closer.
“Hey, Melissa.” I try to scoot over a little bit to put some space between us. “Why did you change out of your costume?”
“It was getting cold, and my costume wasn’t very warm.”
“Oh, yeah. It is getting a little chilly.” I look to see if Logan and River are coming yet, not knowing what else to say to her.
The trailer is getting fuller with some of the other partygoers. I need to figure out a way to still save seats for Logan and River. I pull off my coat and go to lay it down so I can save a spot for one of them when Melissa goes to reach for it. “What are you doing?” I ask.
“Oh, I thought you were giving it to me because I said it was getting chilly.”
“No. I need to save Logan and River a seat.”
“Oh.” She turns her face away like I hurt her feelings. I kind of feel bad, though not bad enough to apologize. I look back over to the shop door to see if I can spot River or Logan.
“Why don’t you want to be my friend, Auggie?” She catches me off guard.
I turn to face her. “What? We are friends, Melissa. We hang out all the time.”
“Not like you and River do.”
“I see you more than River. You are family, after all. Besides, River is my best friend.”
She scoffs. “Why can’t we be friends like you and her?”
“Look, Melissa, I know what happened at my birthday party. I appreciate the gift, but what you did to River was not right. And then you show up tonight dressed as Wilma after you overheard Logan and me. You have to get along with River. She is my best friend. That’s the only way we will be friends.”
Just then, I see Logan and River heading in our direction. I turn to Melissa and notice she has backed off. “I will try to be nicer,” she whispers.
“That’s the thing, Melissa; you can’t just try. I don’t know why you both don’t get along with one another, but she is my best friend, and I will always choose her.”
With that, Logan takes the seat between Melissa and me. River hands me a cup of hot chocolate before sitting on the other side.
“What took you guys so long?” I ask them both.
“My dad had to make another batch,” Logan answers while taking a sip. He must have gotten one for Melissa since she has a cup in her hand now.
River elbows me and whispers in my ear, “What was that?”
“I’ll tell you later,” I answer as she narrows her eyes at me.
~~
The hayride is normally my favorite part of this weekend, but the whole ride, Melissa interrogates River. I really hope this is not her attempt at being nice. And with the directions from River’s dad, River also has to be civil. It is a tense ride for the four of us. If I couldn’t see how disgruntled River is getting, I would be laughing my butt off.
Gosh, this ride will never be over. Logan and I start talking about baseball. Finally, the ride comes to an end. The three of us are ready to jump off the trailer and find something else to do, but before we can take off, Uncle Chris asks Logan and me to help carry more wood to the bonfire. Not wanting to hang out with Melissa a second longer, River trails behind us and starts carrying wood too.
Since my mom brought the ingredients to make s’mores, River puts marshmallows on the pokers for each of us. We make another trip to get wood, and by the time we get back, River has our s’mores ready to eat.
“Thanks, River,” we both say with full mouths.
She cocks her head to the side. “You wanna tell me what you and Melissa were chit-chatting about?”
“It’s nothing, really. She just wanted to know why she and I were not better friends.”
