Benji Lightman?â
For a moment, an image of the front door of the House flashedthrough his mind. As always, he shook it out of his head, refusing to think about it. And then he noticed something.
Without Benji quite realizing it, his and Ellieâs voices had softened to whispers, white breath lacing together and upward between them. His heartbeat was suddenly very insistent , drumming in his fingertips. The shouts of the party dimmed like a song ending, and was he imagining it or did Ellie lean a subtle millimeter toward him just now, some other question in her bonfire-lit eyes?
âGUESS WHOâS BAAAACK?â CR sang directly into Benjiâs right eardrum. Having somehow made his way from the shore without them seeing, CR now answered his own question by slipping and dropping on his ass directly between Benji and Ellie. It looked painful. CR just chuckled. âOh man, I love you guys. Are you having FUN?â
âWhat the actual hell?â Benji said, ear ringing like a school bell.
CR looked up at him. âYou wanna go to Dairy Queen?â
âTheyâre closed, big guy,â Zeeko said, gliding to a stop beside them.
âAnd also itâs a little cold for ice cream, Christopher Robin,â Ellie said, sounding unamused.
âWhy do restaurants gotta close?â CR said philosophically. âLike, hello , my stomach is open twenty-four seven. This is America! Letâs go to Wendyâs.â Several slipping/skating seconds later, he got to his feet.
âCR, keys,â Benji said, following him to the shore and up the embankment.
âIâm okay to drive.â
As Ellie caught up with them, an idea came to Benji. âWait, didnât you give me your keys earlier?â he said.
ââCourse I didnât,â CR replied, and displayed a gloved palmwith a half-dozen keys on a metallic ring. Benji, with a wink Ellieâs way, quickly glided his own palm above CRâs. A satisfying tink as the keys hovered into Benjiâs handheld magnet, then the keys were gone, zipping up Benjiâs sleeve on a retractable string in the blink of an eye.
CR didnât notice the trick. âI swore I had âem!â he said. âDo you have âem?â
Ellie tried not to laugh as Benji turned out his pants pockets.
âAw, shit and no,â CR said. âWe have to find âem. Banjo, we haaave to. My dadâll be so pissed. . . .â His face crumpled, like a little kid whoâs lost something important and knows full well how much trouble heâs going to be in.
Aww, dude, itâs okay , Benji thought, feeling sort of bad. âHey, why donât we clear the party out, look for the keys, lock up the quarry, then go get some food? Itâs getting late anyway.â
CR brightened and, on the second try, successfully gave Benji a thank-you high five.
Ellie suggested CR go look around his truck. As he walked away, she said to Benji, âThat boyâs a charmer when heâs inebriated. I wonder why he and I ever broke up.â She scratched her head like a confused cartoon character, though Benji had a notion: When she and CR had dated a couple of years ago, theyâd fought more or less constantly. âSpeaking of breakups, letâs end this shindig, Benji Lightman.â
He and Ellie recruited Zeeko to help relay the bad news to the partiers (it was impossible to get angry at that guy), then the three of them split up to clear the crowd faster. It took them a while to get the party to break up, the nucleus near the bonfire splintering into subgroups of people loudly looking for their rides and debating where to go next.
The whole time, Benji kept thinking about when Ellie had asked him if everyone had a moment that changes everything. Didshe want me to lean toward herâlike, maybe, kiss her or something? For a split second he had thought so. . . . But he doubted it now. Anyway, the truth was, heâd been