“Chanel, are you serious?” Ana asked.
“Just trying to help my best friend out,” Chanel said.
I chuckled into my whiskey as I took another sip of my drink.
“How have you been, Rhett?” Chanel asked.
Her voice caught me off guard as I lifted my eyes to meet hers again.
“Good. I’ve been good. Yourself?” I asked.
“Good,” she said. “Things have been good.”
“Well, glad to clear the air on that one,” Tommy said.
Chanel shot him a look that had me chuckling again as I watched Connie approach something akin to a stage.
“Oh, wonderful. I bet she’s going to tell us what we have to eat,” I said.
Chanel grinned at me, and I felt my heart skip a beat.
“Hello, everyone!” Connie said. “Is this thing on? Can you guys hear me?”
“We can always hear you, Connie!” Tommy said.
“You’re so bad,” Ana said with a grin.
“Match made in heaven,” Chanel said.
“All right. Wonderful. So! I want to thank you all for coming out to our first dinner. Oh, how exciting! Is everyone excited? Okay. So, I wanted to give a fun little welcome speech, but I’ll make it quick, I promise. If you haven’t gotten an itinerary for the cruise, there are some splashed around the room. Grab one, because that’s the boat schedule for the ports as well as our fun little meet-ups like this one.”
“I wouldn’t call it fun,” Chanel said.
“More like homework,” I said.
She turned her eyes toward me, and I watched how they lit up with amusement. I had missed that look. I had always loved making her laugh. It had made me feel powerful then, and it made me feel powerful now.
“There’s a fun little slideshow that we’re going to play to usher in the cruise, so I hope you guys are ready for some trips down memory lane!”
“I’m ready to create new memories, honestly,” Ana said.
“I’m ready to start tonight, if you are,” Tommy said.
“Did you bring a hair tie?” Chanel asked.
“Hair tie?” I asked.
“Shut up, Chanel,” Ana said.
The slideshow began, and it filtered through pictures I had forgotten about. Pictures of Tommy and me running down the hallway in dresses during Spirit Week, and pictures of the cheerleaders at the football games. There were a couple of Chanel and Ana that popped up during prom, and I felt myself tense at the memory. Chanel’s eyes darted over toward me, scanning me like she had that night before she got into the back of the car with me.
I was ready for this ‘fun’ little slideshow to be over.
The longer it went on, the antsier people got. Dinner was being served over the drawn-out project, and some people began to talk amongst themselves. Soon, everyone was talking and getting more drinks while the slideshow lagged on, and I could tell it was pissing Connie off.
Which, of course, became the topic of conversation.
“If she didn’t wanna piss people off, don’t make it four hours long,” I said.