Part 8 (1/2)
”Really?”
”MmmHmm.” She picks up a bag. ”What the fart is Late Night All Nighter Cheeseburger?”
”One of the best kinds.” I take the bag and she raises an eyebrow. ”What? Not a cheeseburger fan?”
She makes a face. Dude, that eyebrow crinkle gets me every time. ”I eat cheeseburgers, just not in powder form on corn chips.”
”You're missin' out.” I put the bag back on the shelf and go for the traditional Nacho Cheese.
”I don't want to be the party p.o.o.per,” she says reaching for the chips in my hand. ”You can get what you want. I'm just a tag-a-long.”
I laugh. ”Tanner is a Nacho Cheese guy. And you're not tagging along, Hayles. I invited you.”
She gives me a wide grin. ”Tanner has good taste buds. I like him already.”
”You don't know him?” That's a shocker. Tanner's one of those people seems like everyone knows. Football team, popular girlfriend, friends with pretty much everyone *cause he's so loud.
Hayley shakes her head. ”I know of him. But I don't know him, know him, you know?” She giggles. ”I think I just said *know' about fifty times.”
I laugh... again-always around her, really. ”You are so wonderfully bizarre.”
Her face gets a little red, and I think mine does too. I guess I said that out loud.
”You haven't seen anything yet.” She stops mid-walk right before we get to the checkout stand. ”Hmm...”
”What?”
”Want to do something fun?”
Her eyes tell me this is something more embarra.s.sing than fun. ”Uh...”
She s.n.a.t.c.hes the bag from my hands and stomps to the cas.h.i.+er. What the h.e.l.l?
”Excuse me,” she says to the lady, who sets down the magazine she was reading. ”I was hoping you could help settle an argument.”
I've never heard Hayley sound annoyed before. She's always upbeat and funny without being *theater geek' irritating. Now she sounds p.i.s.sed.
The cas.h.i.+er's eyebrows shoot to the sky, but she answers, ”Okay, hun. What's the problem?”
”You see my friend over there?” Hayley points right at me, and if I wasn't beet red before, I am now. ”Well, come here, Brody so you can argue your side too.”
Holy h.e.l.l.
Why am I walking over there?
”Okay, so here's the story,” she huffs and turns back to the cas.h.i.+er. ”It's my birthday next weekend, right? And Brody here wanted to get some stuff for the party. Now, we've been friends for like ever, so he should know I hate Nacho Cheese Doritos.”
The cas.h.i.+er nods and glances at me. I don't know how I'm supposed to respond. This is pretty much past the point of embarra.s.sing.
”And do you see this?” Hayley grabs the chips and shoves them in the poor woman's face. Now I'm trying not to laugh. ”He goes straight for them. Know why?” She doesn't let the cas.h.i.+er answer. ”Because they're his favorite!”
The chips go flying back on the counter as Hayley turns on me. Her mouth is all about the fake rage over the stupid chips, but her eyes are laughing. ”How selfish is that? For my birthday, I think I'm okay to request Ranch Doritos. Even though you hate them.”
She turns back to the cas.h.i.+er. ”Right?”
The poor woman's eyes switch back and forth between the two of us, and she squeaks, ”Maybe get both?”
Hayley slams her fist on the counter and both me and cas.h.i.+er victim jump back. ”That's not the point!” Her voice cracks. She's crying. Crying! Over chips.
Bravo.
I'm a horrible actor, but I'm goin' to try my best here. This is sort-of fun.
I shove my hand in my pocket and toss the cash on the counter. Taking the bag of chips and Hayley's wrist, I say, ”Well, it's my birthday too. We're sharing this party, remember? And if I'm buyin', I'm getting what I want.”
The look on the cas.h.i.+er's face almost makes me lose it and bust out laughing right there. ”You can keep the change.”
I tug Hayley toward the door. She yanks from my grasp but follows me. When we get to the car, her face breaks open into a huge smile, and she claps.
”Well played, Brody. Holy freakin' baby cows. That was full of awesomesauce!”
I want to grab her in one of those amazing hugs again. This girl is full of awesomesauce.
Once we stop our ridiculous laughter, I open the door and ask over the frame as she plops down, ”Care to explain why we just freaked out that girl?”
”*Cause it's fun! Also, she was reading the Soap Digest. Thought I'd give her another *big drama over nothing' story.”
She buckles and gestures for me to get in the car.
”You know,” I say as I start the engine, ”you sure can act. If I wasn't in on it, I would've thought you were really p.i.s.sed.”
She shrugs and presses on the radio, sticking her feet on the dash. ”I didn't make up all of it.”
”Don't tell me that's actually happened before.”
”Ha! No. I was just saying that it really is my birthday next week. Eighteen, baby!”
”Cool. You doin' anything?”
She shakes her head, still smilin'. ”Nah. Birthdays and I don't have the best track record. But still, I'll be an adult! I'm so ready to graduate and move out.”
Ditto on that one. If I get to graduate, I'm so outta here.
The rest of the drive doesn't take long, and Hayles yaps my ear off about the colleges she wants to go to, whether she'll live in the dorms or rent an apartment, and what kind of jobs she'll apply for. She sounds real excited about it all, makin' me excited for her, but all this talk makes me wonder if I should get attached so close to the end of the year.
”Okay,” she says as we step on Tanner's porch, ”you sure he's cool with me being here? I mean, this is a dude's thing, right?”
”Dani's here too. So, no, it's not just a *dude' thing.”
Her hand clasps my wrist, and she tugs me back so I'm inches from her face.