I kicked a rock and turned onto a street where everyone was barbecuing for Labor Day weekend. I smelled burgers and hot dogs cooking from almost every house on the block, and some of them even had slip-and-slides out front. Dad loved to grill Iranian kabobs but had been too busy this year to go to the halal grocer and get the ingredients. We were just going to order in again tonight.
“Parvin?” a voice called out. I took my headphones off and turned around. When I saw who was talking to me, I almost passed out.
There, in the middle of the sidewalk, was Wesley. And he wasn’t alone.
“Oh . . . um . . . hi,” I squeaked. What was he doing here? He lived on the other side of the beltway, in one of those neighborhoods that had been randomly glommed onto our school district. His cute dimples were out in full force, but he wore another boring polo/khaki combination. Worse, his new girlfriend, Teighan, was with him. How could this be happening?
“I didn’t know you lived around here,” Wesley said. No Hi, Parvin, how are you doing since I broke your heart yesterday?
“Yep,” I replied, trying not to cry. “I’m a couple blocks over.”
“Wesley, my parents said lunch is ready.” Teighan tugged Wesley toward a house with a bunch of SUVs and the old DC football flag. She completely ignored me.
“Oh, sorry, Parvin, this is Teighan. My . . . uh . . . ,” Wesley started, trying to introduce us—as if I hadn’t stalked her online all night.
“Girlfriend,” Teighan announced.
Welp. Time to leave before my soul exits my body. I started to retreat, ready to flop back onto my fumigated bed and live there from now on. Running into an ex-boyfriend was mortifying. But running into him with his new girlfriend was an entirely different circle of the underworld.
Then, a man came out of Teighan’s house, clicking barbecue tongs. It looked like they were having a big party.
“Hey, Wes—who’s that?” he asked.
“Hey, Dad, this is my friend Parvin.” Did his dad not recognize me from the beach? His parents had spent enough time avoiding eye contact with me; you’d think he’d recognize me. This was a new low. I could see a flush start to creep up Wesley’s face. It made me glad that he was just as uncomfortable as I was.
“Huh,” his dad said, frowning at me. “Just making sure you knew each other.”
He walked back inside. Well, that was bizarre. Most parents would have insisted I join them for burgers or something, not make sure I wasn’t selling their children drugs in a cul-de-sac.
“Sorry about that,” Wesley said, looking practically sunburned he was blushing so hard. “My dad can be overprotective sometimes.”
“Overprotective?” I asked. I was a fourteen-year-old girl. Why did he feel the need to protect his son from me?
“Our parents go to church together,” Teighan said, giving me a fake smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “When Wesley asked me to Homecoming, they were sooo excited.”
Why was I standing here? Why couldn’t I make up some excuse to leave this conversation?
“Are you going to Homecoming?” she asked, smiling that horrible smile. Was she grinning because she knew Wesley and I had kissed, and she was trying to make me feel terrible? Or did she not even know Wesley and I had gone out? Was this what non-loud people did—ask embarrassing questions with a smile pasted to their face? For someone who had just been dumped for being too much, I couldn’t help but notice that Teighan was definitely too much in her own way.
Wesley waited for my answer, though he knew I didn’t have a Homecoming date and probably wouldn’t go. But I couldn’t tell them that, could I? Then I would melt into a puddle of shame and slip into a storm sewer.
Before I knew what was happening, my mouth opened without my permission.
“Yeah, actually,” I replied. “My date and I are sooo excited.” What was I saying? If I looked into my date jar there would be zero dates inside it.
Wesley balked. “Really?” he asked. “You already found someone?”
“What do you mean ‘already’?” Teighan turned toward him, her long blond hair flying into my face. “Wait, how do you two know each other again?”
Busted. Wesley clearly hadn’t told her anything about us. That coward. Still, that meant Teighan hadn’t heard me get dumped yesterday, and for that I was grateful.
“Oh, um, from around. Does he go to Polk?” Wesley deflected, trying to sound casual as his voice cracked. I hated how he assumed I was taking a boy to the dance. What if I wanted to take a friend, since I probably wouldn’t get asked? Or maybe I was pansexual, like Ruth, and planned on taking a girl or nonbinary person? How dare he define me! Even though I was, unfortunately, straight.
“You’ll see them soon enough.” I shrugged, ignoring Wesley’s shocked face. I got out my phone, even though no one had texted me. “Well, looks like I gotta go help my mom with a social media campaign for one of her clients.” I sighed, as if it was a huge imposition.
That was also a lie—Mom worked on social media campaigns, but there was no way she’d let me crash into her Photoshop files and help her with one. But after combing through Teighan’s feeds, I knew it was just the thing to say to impress her.
“Oh, wow.” Her frosty smile momentarily melted. “That’s, like, my dream job.”
Wesley didn’t say anything. He just stared right at me, clearly hurt. And guess what? It felt really, really good to be the one causing pain for once.
“Wesley! Teighan! Your burgers are ready,” a voice called out from Teighan’s house.
“See ya later.” I smiled back. This conversation wasn’t a competition, but I’d definitely won.
Wesley just grunted. “I guess I’ll see you at school, Parvin.”
“I guess so, Wesley,” I said right back. Nice
