Softee truck parked in the driveway (you never know what the guests will want if they get the munchies) was Eliza's friend Kit-- the nice guy who had given them their party invitations.
"Hi, Kit," she said, kissing him hello.
Kit beamed. Nacho too
k a step back, a quizzical look on his face. She smiled at both of them, but just then her cell phone rang. "Espere urn momento," she told Nacho. "Excuse me," she told Kit.
"Pronto?"
"Jacqui, it's Luke. Your Luca." He was obviously drunk, but Jacqui wanted to know what this was all about.
"Sim?"
"Someone called my house at three in the morning and my girlfriend--I mean, my ex-girlfriend--she flipped. We broke up, and, well, I miss you, Jac, I really do."
"Oh, coitado," Jacqui said scathingly.
"And she's with Leo now, can you believe it?" He was slurring a little. "What is it about that guy? One eye isn't even quite straight."
"So what do you say? Me and you? I know you don't like to be alone," Luke breathed. "And I'm so lonely."
Jacqui laughed to herself. So there was justice in this world after all. "That's a shame, Luca. But niio. Thcau."
She turned the phone off and turned back to Kit and Nacho. Hmm ... the rakish polo player or Eliza's childhood friend? Jacqui paused for a moment. Isn't "polo player" just a long way
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of saying "player'? Nacho seemed nice, but Jacqui was tired of men who played games.
"Drive me home?" she asked, linking an arm in Kit's. "Tchau tchau, Nacho."
Kit grinned. Maybe they were wrong. Maybe nice guys did finish first.
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it's the last night of summer, but it's the first night for other things
A few minutes after midnight Mara crept up the stairs to their attic bedroom. She found Jacqui asleep in the top bunk.
"Jac? Are you awake?" she asked.
Jacqui raised her head. "Now I am."
Mara sat on the bed and took off her shoes. When she looked up, Eliza was walking through the door. "Hey."
She was glad all three of them were together on their last night.
Eliza sparkled in her white dress when she kicked off her shoes. "Help me with this, Mar," she said as she began pushing her single bed up against Mara's bottom bunk. "Get down here, Jac," she whispered.
The three of them snuggled on the one makeshift king-size bed, feeling comfort in the warmth of each other's bodies.
Eliza told them about how she and Jeremy got back together. "I just love him so much," she said, burying her face in the pillow at her own cheesiness. "But Buffalo is so far."
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"I'm sure you'll see each other," Mara said. She could have slept in Ryan's bed, but she didn't want to for some reason. Their last week in the Hamptons had been something out of the middle part of Titanic--before the ship sank, while everything was perfect and hot and steamy. But on the last night here, she wanted to be in the room. It was the only thing that felt right.
Jacqui told them how Kit had offered all three of them a ride back to the city in his car. That was good. At least they wouldn't have to take the Jitney. So why were they all so bummed?