Page 44 of Betting on the Best Friend
“That’s nice.”
I frown at him. “Why did you say it like that?”
“Like what?”
“Like you didn’t mean it.”
He swivels his chair so he’s facing me with a big smile and does a happy clap. “Ruby, that’s so awesome!”
“Ew, don’t smile like that. You’re giving reanimated corpse vibes.”
He relaxes his face. “Glad you had a good time. Was it good enough for a second date?”
“Maybe? I gave him my number.”
“If you did the moves, he’ll call.”
“The moves?”
“The ones you taught me during seven minutes in heaven.” He nudges my knee with his. “Like that.”
“Seven minutes in heaven is only a thing in movies, and to be honest, I think movies stole those from Judy Blume novels, and furthermore, if those are the eighties novels they channeled, I’m pretty sure she made up that game, and no one has played it in real life.”
His eyebrows go up. “Everyone has played seven minutes in heaven. Are you trying to tell me no boy was smart enough to try and get you in a kissing closet in middle school?”
I’m starting a message to the group text to disprove his claim that “everyone” has played it, but I pause my typing to give him asay whatlook. “Middle school? That’s young.”
He gives me a slight smile. “Maybe for you.”
“Charlie!”
But a patron has reached the desk, and he turns his chair and attention to them, leaving me to consider a young Charlie confident enough to play kissing games in middle school.
I finish my message and send it, then spend fifteen minutes helping a young mom choose seeds from our seed collection while she wears a baby against her chest and holds the hand of a toddler who she promises a trip to the kids’ section every ninety seconds if he stops saying, “Mama, Mama, Mama.”
My phone vibrates with incoming messages, but I have two more patrons to help at the desk before I can check them.
Who has played seven minutes in heaven in real life?
Sami
me
Madison
me
Ava
who hasn’t?
AVA ??
Sami
AVA ??
Madison
