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“Are you upset that Luke didn’t ask you out again?” Whitney frowned at me from across the table. “I thought you said the first date wasn’t great.”
“It’s not that. It’s nothing.” I set the menu down. “I’m not super hungry. Maybe I’ll try the soup.”
Whitney laughed, but broke off when I didn’t join in. “You’re serious? No one ever gets the soup.”
“Maybe it’s good and we’re all missing out.” She wasn’t wrong. It had become a bit of a joke between us. No one in our group had ever tried the soup—and we hadn’t seen bowls being taken out to other tables, either. “They have broccoli cheddar. How bad can it be?”
Megan winced. “Have you ever tried to make it from a can?”
“Once.” Whitney shuddered. “Never again. Even Beckett wouldn’t eat it, and he loves broccoli. Which is just wrong. Don’t get me started on that.”
I chuckled. Beckett’s love for broccoli was legendary in the group. “Hey. Be glad he likes a vegetable.”
“I know, I know. I’m just so tired of it. And the smell kind of lingers in the house. I swear it’s permeating the couch fabric.” Whitney looked over as the more-harried-than-usual server stopped at our table.
“Ladies. It’s good to see you. The usuals?” She didn’t have her order pad out.
I almost felt bad changing it up. I cleared my throat. “I actually wanted a bowl of broccoli cheddar today.”
“Just soup?” The server pulled her order pad out of her apron pocket and slipped the pen out from behind her ear.
“I’m sticking with my usual.” Megan stacked my menu on top of hers and offered them.
“And you?” She looked at Whitney.
“Cobb salad?”
The server huffed out a little sigh and scribbled on her pad before reaching for the menus. “I’ll get your orders right in.”
I watched her stride away, her white sneakers squeaking on the linoleum floor. “I feel kind of bad now.”
“Right? Oops.” Whitney hunched her shoulders.
“A salad, Whit? Really?” Megan crossed her arms. “Why am I the only one eating deliciously unhealthy food today?”
“My stomach has been off the past couple of days.” Whitney sighed. “At least a salad still tastes good later.”
“On what planet?” I wrinkled my nose. Leftover salad was the worst.
“Mine, I guess.” Whitney folded her hands on the table. “But can we go back to where I asked if you were upset about not having another date with Luke, and you deflected?”
“Right?” Megan shifted on the bench beside me so she was kind of facing me. “What’s going on?”
“I think it was a one-time thing. I like Mexican food. He doesn’t. We’re incompatible.” I wouldn’t actually rule someone out for that, but it appeared Luke would. “Or I made him angry with my questions about the spring break trip. It doesn’t matter, anyway.”
“Because you’re hung up on my clueless brother.” Megan glanced over toward the table where all the guys were.
“That doesn’t matter, either. We’re pals.” I paused, following Megan’s look over toward the guys. Then I frowned and checked angles. She wasn’t looking at her brother. She was looking at Cody? If Austin had a best friend who wasn’t me, it’d be Cody. Interesting. I filed that tidbit away to tease her about later when I needed a way to get her to leave me alone.
“Uh-huh.” Megan looked back at me and shook her head. “You need to tell him how you feel.”
“Yeah, I’ll get right on that.” I hoped she’d hear the sarcasm dripping. “Especially not now that he’s asked me to help him start up a big after-school learning center.”
“Yeah?” Megan brightened. “He’s really doing it? That’s excellent. He’s been talking about it, off and on, for years.”
He had? I searched my memory. I guess he had. More in the “gee, I wish there was a place where” kind of conversation though. I didn’t realize he’d been thinking of starting one. If I was his best friend, shouldn’t I have known that?
“Wait. Why would kids at your school need something like that? We’re in a fairly high-end area, aren’t we? At least based on the housing prices, I figured everyone at your school was from relatively well-off families.” Whitney reached for her water.
