Late to the Party - Kelly Quindlen Page 0,30

looked like they worked out as much as he did, except maybe Leo, who was short and skinny. Terrica bounced in her seat when she said hello; she had delicate shoulders and perfect teeth and looked like she could have been a model. Then there was Natalie, the pretty redhead I remembered from the party, who offered me some of her salsa. And finally, tucked on Natalie’s other side—

It was her. The girl I’d talked to at the party. The girl I’d told Ricky about.

“Lydia,” she said, giving me a little wave. “Nice to officially meet you, Codi.”

I blushed all over.

Under cover of the others talking, I shot Ricky a questioning look, wondering if he realized that Lydia was the same girl I’d been talking about at Starbucks. The smirk he returned told me he knew exactly who she was.

“I hate you,” I muttered under my breath.

“You’re welcome,” he muttered back.

The table was loud and crazy. I was almost overwhelmed, watching them all shout back and forth and steal each other’s fries. Terrica was trying to corral everyone into a game, but she was so soft-spoken she had to bang on the table to get their attention.

“Thank you,” she said, raising her eyebrows. “Can we keep going? It was Leo’s turn.”

“Noooo,” Leo said, shaking his head fast, “it was Natalie’s turn.” He exaggerated his features to show he was lying.

“You’re a fucking liar,” Terrica said, “but fine, Nat can go.”

“What are we playing?” Ricky asked.

“Don’t Judge Me, But.”

Samuel leaned forward, addressing me. “You gotta excuse Terrica. She’s obsessed with games. Never lets us rest.”

“Excuse me,” Terrica said, smacking his arm. “You can shut up, asshole, ’cause this is an amazing game. Codi, have you ever played?”

I blushed again, surprised at the attention. “Um, no, I haven’t.”

“Awesome, awesome,” Terrica said, clapping her hands while everyone else let out dramatic groans.

“Terrica loves explaining things,” Ricky said.

“Ignore them, Codi,” Terrica said, holding her hands up like she was blocking her friends out. “Okay, so it’s pretty simple. Whoever’s turn it is says, ‘Don’t judge me, but…’ and they follow it with something that’s embarrassing or gross or weird about themselves. If that sentence applies to you, too, then you have to drink. The goal is to get as many people to drink with you as you can. Obviously we’re playing with sweet tea instead of alcohol—”

“—Which means it’s taking longer to get to the sexual stuff,” Cliff said, to laughter from the others.

I laughed uncomfortably. “Um … cool. Sounds good.”

“Right?” Terrica said happily. “Okay, Nat, you’re up.”

Natalie shook her long red hair. She had a relaxed, self-possessed air about her, as if she didn’t take shit from anyone. “Okay…” she said, like it was the easiest thing in the world. “Don’t judge me, but … last year I had a sex dream about the Keebler Elf.”

The table erupted in shouts of laughter. I sat still, watching them all, trying to smile so I didn’t look out of place. I’d never confessed a sex dream to anyone; come to think of it, I wasn’t sure I’d even had one yet. Maybe this had been a bad idea, and I should have stuck to my original plan to hang out with Maritza and JaKory. I could just imagine them in this same situation: JaKory would sit silently, arms around his torso, completely out of his element; Maritza would overcompensate by naming the craziest sex dream imaginable, even though it’d be obvious she made it up. They would both be just as awkward as me.

I was deep in my head, still wishing Maritza and JaKory were there, when a sudden pain brought me back to the moment. Ricky had pinched my arm. I looked up at him, startled.

“You good?” he whispered, tipping his head toward his friends, reminding me to be present with them.

I breathed.

Next to him, Cliff was looking fake-horrified, his eyes wide and his mouth hanging open. “This changes everything,” he was saying to Natalie, scooting his chair away from her. “We have to break up.”

Natalie shrugged and popped a chip in her mouth, completely unfazed. Next to her, Lydia was losing her shit laughing. She had a big, bursting laugh that made her whole face turn pink. Without meaning to, I found myself smiling.

“Should I shrink myself?” Cliff went on, curling up in his chair. “Would that turn you on?!”

Natalie laughed in spite of herself. She grabbed for Cliff’s hand, and he pretended to recoil from her, turning to Ricky instead.

“Rick, Rick, can