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Authors: Stacey Wallace Benefiel
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of her.”
Additional hoots and hollers come up from the table, and I blush to match the burgundy café curtains.
Mr. Sundall chooses that moment to save me from murdering my decidedly ex -boyfriend. “Brynn Garrett, I thought that was you.” He comes over and roughs up my hair like he used to when I was a thirteen. Izzy’s dad was always a good guy. Big, loud, friendly, and people pleasing. I thought she was lucky to have him. “I’ll bet you still want dessert for dinner.”
I laugh and nod. “Guilty.”
He talks to the guys like he’s imparting ancient wisdom. “People don’t change, boys. Everyone is who they are and it’s our expectations that cause all the problems. So, if Brynn is still on a mission to rot her teeth, who am I to judge?”
“Thanks for having my back, Mr. Sundall.”
“No problem, kiddo.” He claps his hands together. “Iz will be over to grab your food order in a sec. Let me get started on your drinks.”
Everyone orders beers and pops depending on their actual age – Mr. Sundall is familiar with all the people at the table, so there’s no putting one over on him. Not that I ever would. I notice that Travis gets a Coke.
Mini-conversations break out around the table, as it’s hard for the guys at one end to hear what’s being talked about at the other. Lucky for me, I’m stuck in the middle and can hear everything. Mostly the talk is about swimming and scholarships and the hotness levels of the girls in various sororities.
Andy and Travis are chatting it up like the rest and I wonder when they got to be such good friends. Andy was barely a blip on Travis’s radar in high school and it’s not like their colleges are right next to each other. Gabe is listening in, his expression wistful, and I know he must hate having all that he’s missed out on thrown in his face.
Travis finishes saying something to Andy, who’s checking his texts for the hundredth time, and then pointedly turns to me. “So, Gabe tells me you’ve got him in the pool, Brynn. How’d you manage that? I’ve been trying to get him back in the water for years.”
I want to send a seething glare his rich, smug, disgusting direction, but I can feel Gabe’s eyes on me and I don’t want to give anything away.
Before I can open my mouth to reply, Andy’s butting in. “Bro, are you in Brynn’s old folks class? Redic.” He starts cackling like it’s the funniest thing he’s ever heard.
“No, bro ,” Gabe says, his voice as fed up as the rest of him. “I’m not in her class. She’s giving me private lessons.”
Andy’s head snaps around to me. “You didn’t tell me that.”
I shrug. “Guess it just didn’t come up.”
Izzy arrives with a huge tray loaded with all of our drinks, expertly balanced on her shoulder. She squats down and sets the edge of the tray on the table and begins handing out the drinks according to the order her dad wrote them down. When she passes my Coke to me, she smiles quickly. No one else gets as sparkling treatment.
She takes the empty tray and stands it up against the side of her leg and gets her order pad out of her apron. “How are we dividing the bill?”
Travis pokes his index finger in the air. “All on me.”
Everyone says, “Hey thanks,” and “Cool of you man,” except me.
I sense that Izzy really wants to roll her eyes. I wonder how much, if any, she remembers of that day at Travis’s. It would be naïve to assume she went home and crawled in bed and woke the next morning without an inkling something bad had happened. Maybe she was pretending like me. Maybe she decided to let it go.
They end up ordering an ungodly amount of pizza – it has been a while since I’ve hung out with so many guys who could just put it away – and besides, if Travis is paying, I’m sure they’re all taking advantage of the free meal.
The conversations turn to talk about work. Some of the guys have part time jobs in the dining hall at their school or teaching
Additional hoots and hollers come up from the table, and I blush to match the burgundy café curtains.
Mr. Sundall chooses that moment to save me from murdering my decidedly ex -boyfriend. “Brynn Garrett, I thought that was you.” He comes over and roughs up my hair like he used to when I was a thirteen. Izzy’s dad was always a good guy. Big, loud, friendly, and people pleasing. I thought she was lucky to have him. “I’ll bet you still want dessert for dinner.”
I laugh and nod. “Guilty.”
He talks to the guys like he’s imparting ancient wisdom. “People don’t change, boys. Everyone is who they are and it’s our expectations that cause all the problems. So, if Brynn is still on a mission to rot her teeth, who am I to judge?”
“Thanks for having my back, Mr. Sundall.”
“No problem, kiddo.” He claps his hands together. “Iz will be over to grab your food order in a sec. Let me get started on your drinks.”
Everyone orders beers and pops depending on their actual age – Mr. Sundall is familiar with all the people at the table, so there’s no putting one over on him. Not that I ever would. I notice that Travis gets a Coke.
Mini-conversations break out around the table, as it’s hard for the guys at one end to hear what’s being talked about at the other. Lucky for me, I’m stuck in the middle and can hear everything. Mostly the talk is about swimming and scholarships and the hotness levels of the girls in various sororities.
Andy and Travis are chatting it up like the rest and I wonder when they got to be such good friends. Andy was barely a blip on Travis’s radar in high school and it’s not like their colleges are right next to each other. Gabe is listening in, his expression wistful, and I know he must hate having all that he’s missed out on thrown in his face.
Travis finishes saying something to Andy, who’s checking his texts for the hundredth time, and then pointedly turns to me. “So, Gabe tells me you’ve got him in the pool, Brynn. How’d you manage that? I’ve been trying to get him back in the water for years.”
I want to send a seething glare his rich, smug, disgusting direction, but I can feel Gabe’s eyes on me and I don’t want to give anything away.
Before I can open my mouth to reply, Andy’s butting in. “Bro, are you in Brynn’s old folks class? Redic.” He starts cackling like it’s the funniest thing he’s ever heard.
“No, bro ,” Gabe says, his voice as fed up as the rest of him. “I’m not in her class. She’s giving me private lessons.”
Andy’s head snaps around to me. “You didn’t tell me that.”
I shrug. “Guess it just didn’t come up.”
Izzy arrives with a huge tray loaded with all of our drinks, expertly balanced on her shoulder. She squats down and sets the edge of the tray on the table and begins handing out the drinks according to the order her dad wrote them down. When she passes my Coke to me, she smiles quickly. No one else gets as sparkling treatment.
She takes the empty tray and stands it up against the side of her leg and gets her order pad out of her apron. “How are we dividing the bill?”
Travis pokes his index finger in the air. “All on me.”
Everyone says, “Hey thanks,” and “Cool of you man,” except me.
I sense that Izzy really wants to roll her eyes. I wonder how much, if any, she remembers of that day at Travis’s. It would be naïve to assume she went home and crawled in bed and woke the next morning without an inkling something bad had happened. Maybe she was pretending like me. Maybe she decided to let it go.
They end up ordering an ungodly amount of pizza – it has been a while since I’ve hung out with so many guys who could just put it away – and besides, if Travis is paying, I’m sure they’re all taking advantage of the free meal.
The conversations turn to talk about work. Some of the guys have part time jobs in the dining hall at their school or teaching
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