Late to the Party - Kelly Quindlen Page 0,33

smoking.

Ricky raised his eyebrows at me. He was letting me decide.

“Yeah,” I said boldly, leading the way to them.

I lay down next to Lydia, my chest buzzing. The concrete was hard on my skull and back, but I eased into it, trying to be graceful. Ricky spread out next to me, keeping his knees up, folding his hands over his stomach.

The sky was velvet blue, streaked with milky patches, sprinkled with stars. I breathed in and felt contentment flooding into my arms and legs, loosening everything.

“Nat and I do this thing,” Lydia said, her voice clear in the stillness. She turned toward me, and I could smell her shampoo again. “We give the stars as many names as we can.”

“You mean, like … you name the constellations?” I asked.

“No, it’s way better than that.” She shifted and pointed up to the right. “Like, that little guy is Mr. Potato Head.”

“He’s right next to Shrek,” Natalie said. “And there’s Donkey.”

“And that’s Harry Styles.”

“What was the one you came up with that one night?” Natalie asked her. “The little pig?”

“Peppa Pig,” Lydia said. “She’s a nasty woman.”

I laughed out loud. Lydia turned to grin at me, her eyes bright, her eyelashes long.

“That’s Ariana Grande,” Ricky said, pointing.

“No,” Natalie said, “Ariana Peque?a. She’s a little star.”

“Twinkle, twinkle,” Lydia giggled.

I raised my arm, spreading my fingers over the night sky. “Look, Ricky, there’s Nickelback.”

Lydia and Natalie burst out laughing. Ricky swatted me sideways, dragging his hand across my face as I sputtered with laughter.

We went on like that for a few minutes, throwing up the most outlandish names we could think of, Lydia making me choke with laughter when she proclaimed one of them to be Edward Cullen, “because he sparkles.” We finished our beers and drank another round, and everything became funnier and funnier, and I found myself talking more and more freely.

We finally sat up when the others came over to join us. They plopped down with their feet spread out in front of them, their eyes red from smoking, Terrica giggling like crazy. Natalie filled them in on our star names and Samuel laughed so hard he cried. We were in a loose circle, the breeze swirling around us, the summer crickets buzzing and whirring far below. I caught a glimpse of Ricky’s glowing smile, his relaxed laugh, and I finally understood what he meant about feeling like he’d known his friends since kindergarten.

“So, Codi,” Cliff said, “what’s your story? What are you into?”

I laughed, tipsy and relaxed. “I’m still figuring that out.”

“Codi’s a painter,” Ricky announced, and the group gasped like they’d never heard anything so impressive.

“A painter?” Leo repeated, his eyes glazed over. “Like Monet? Duuuude.”

“Nowhere near that good,” I said quickly. “It’s just a hobby.”

“She’s awesome at it,” Ricky said, even though he’d never seen my paintings. “She does people’s portraits.”

“Whoa,” everyone said again.

“Um … yeah … I haven’t done that in a while, though…”

“Can you paint our portraits?” Terrica asked, like it would be the most meaningful thing in the world.

“Yeah, that would be insane!” Natalie said. “I’ve always wanted to have my portrait done!”

Cliff snorted. “Narcissistic much?”

“Shut up, dickhead,” she said, smacking him. “Seriously, though, I’ve wanted one since I was little. My aunt and uncle had this ginormous portrait of my cousin hanging in their house, but when I asked my parents if I could do something like that, my brother said you had to be pretty to have your portrait done.”

“I’ll fucking kill him,” Cliff said, kissing her goofily.

“It’s fine,” Natalie said nonchalantly. “He turned out to be the ugly one.”

Everyone roared with laughter; Lydia swatted at Natalie’s forearm like she was too much for her to handle.

“So?” Natalie asked brightly, looking at me. “What do you think, Codi?”

“She charges for her portraits,” Ricky said protectively.

“Then it’s a good thing I’ve got that serving job,” Natalie said, undeterred.

I hesitated. I could feel Ricky’s eyes on me and half hoped he would step in again.

Then Lydia spoke, looking directly at me. “Could I come watch?”

My heart drummed. I could still feel Ricky looking at me, but I didn’t need to catch his eye this time. The way forward was clear.

“Yeah, okay,” I said casually, trying to contain my grin. “Let’s do it.”

* * *

It was after midnight by the time we left the rooftop. Ricky’s friends hugged me goodbye and made me promise I’d hang out with them again. It was the easiest promise I’d ever made.

“We’ll text you about the portrait,” Natalie said, punching