Page 34 of The Big Easy & Other Lies
“The point is you’re not the only one. Me, myself, and I? I’m the only biracial baby in the whole mix. Stop trying to unstrange me. I’m the strangest stranger in the whole school.”
Livvie laughed. “Fine. You’re the strangest.” She parked at Boudreau’s, and I fell into step beside Bran as we walked in.
“Are you being funny, or do you really think you’re a stranger?” I asked. In three years of friendship, we’d never really talked about his mixed heritage.
He smiled. “Both,” he said as he held the door open for me, “I’m one of a kind around here.”
“It’s not a bad thing,” Livvie said.
“Baby, I’m a real good thing,” he crooned, and Livvie rolled her eyes and made a beeline for an open booth while Bran followed behind, still spouting nonsense. “I got baller skills and MC skills and those aren’t even my best moves.” He busted out his swagger, like an idiot.
“You look ridiculous,” Livvie said from the booth. He slid in next to her, looking unrepentant. He joked when he didn’t want to dive into something, and I knew Livvie wouldn’t make him get into something that serious if he didn’t want to.
Peggy dropped off our sodas. “Shut up and drink,” Livvie told Bran before turning to me. “What are you going to do about Rhett?”
I choked on my Diet Coke. “Change of subject whiplash,” I complained, rubbing my throat.
She only watched me.
I sighed. “Nothing. I’m sure he’ll ignore me again next week.”
“I don’t think so,” she said. “He sat by me in AP History today and didn’t even try to be subtle about pumping me for information. He wanted to know about you.”
Bran dropped his swagger. “It’s better than asking Angelique about you. I’ll give him points for that.”
“He’ll be so glad,” Livvie said, deadpan.
“What did he want to know?” I tried to keep my voice nonchalant, but it didn’t fool them. Bran grinned.
“Oh, you know. The basics. If you were seeing anybody. But he asked it all cool-like.” She slouched down on the bench and dropped her voice an octave. ‘So, you and Cam hang out. She’s pretty chill, right?’” She sat back up. “So I told him you were a neurotic mess with abandonment issues, and he should run the other way.”
“Thanks,” I said. “Which part of that conversation actually happened?”
“The part where he wanted to make sure Bran isn’t your boyfriend and if you ever “hang out.’ It’s a good question. Are you going to hang out with Rhett?” she asked before plucking a fry from the basket Peggy slid across the table to her.
“Sure.”
Her mouth dropped open and treated me to a glimpse of half-chewed french fry.
“I need my life to be more complicated right now,” I added. “Why wouldn’t I hang out with him?”
Bran laughed. “You scared me for a minute. I thought maybe the real Cam got body-snatched.”
“He was probably being curious,” I said. “He doesn’t seem that interested.”
“He was about to ask you out this morning when I walked up,” Bran said. “I didn’t know if I was saving you or ticking you off.”
I raised my Diet Coke to him in salute. “Points for trying to help.” I took a bite of my burger and put a temporary stop to the conversation. When Livvie’s po-boy was halfway gone, she set it down to harass me some more. “What are you going to say when you see him this afternoon?”
“Hi.”
“Ha ha. Imeanwhat are you going to say when he asks you out.”
I dropped my head against the back of the booth and stared at a mildew patch on the ceiling tile. “I’ll say, ‘Sorry, I can’t.’ And that’ll be that, I guess.”
“That’s cold,” Bran objected.
I shrugged. “Delphine won’t let me out of the house until I find her stupid owl, and probably not even then.”
