“I would have been down here waiting for you, but Stella made Scarlett cry and I was trying to talk some sense into them before their little friends get here. Seriously, be glad you’re an only child. They are such dicks.”
“Should I leave now? There’s only gonna be more of them.”
“No. I’m glad you’re here,” she says sweetly. “Besides, their friends are fine. Watch out for Stella’s bestie, Kylie, though. She is the worst. Anyway, what do you think of the setup? Needs more decorations, right?” She laughs as she motions around the yard. “You know my mom has a lady whose whole job it is to manage the balloon waste?”
“She what?”
“Yup. She uses enough latex balloons in a month to kill every dolphin in the ocean, so she promised Scarlett she wouldn’t let any of them fly away.”
“That’s intense.”
“Intense doesn’t even describe it. Stella is so mad about the matching haircuts,” Saylor replies.
“Do you feel like you also need a bob?” I joke.
“No!” She laughs. “My dad is going through it, though. He’s not used to this much change all at once.”
“I can imagine.”
“I gotta help my mom with a few more things, but then I’ll be back, and I can be your trusty assistant,” Saylor says with a big smile.
“Okay. I think your mom took my stuff up to your room.”
Saylor looks down at the table in my little station. “What do you mean?” she asks.
“My overnight stuff.”
Her expression changes, and not in a good way. “I thought we were staying at your house?”
“No—my mom said she talked to your mom, and she said I could stay over here since we’ve been at my house all summer, basically.”
“Yeah, for a reason,” Saylor says, clearly annoyed, and it sets off this sour bomb in my gut. I get that Saylor and her mom have issues, but I definitely don’t want to be in the middle.
“I would have texted you, but I figured you knew.”
“No, it’s okay. I’ll talk to her.”
“I think we should stay here. My parents are taking this as their date night, and we have been over a lot.”
“No, I get that. I just don’t want to stay here,” Saylor says. I don’t think she’s mad at me. Just the situation. Still, it feels like if I say the wrong thing, we’ll be on our way to our first fight. She sighs, and then she flashes me a sad smile. “It’s fine. Let me go help her.”
“I’ll be here getting ready, being super professional and stuff.”
“I’m sorry.” She smiles for real this time. “I know you’re nervous and I know this means a lot to you. You’re gonna kill it. Let me go help my mom and then I’ll be back to help you.”
“Sounds good.”
She kisses me on the cheek again and darts back inside. I feel like the crisis was averted. It would have been cool if Mrs.Ford had at least talked to Saylor about me staying over. When we get a second alone, I’ll make sure that she’s alright.
“Oh, okay then,” I hear Marci say, and I realize she’s talking to me.
“Okay then what?” I say, looking around the yard. Marci glances over at Lupe, who covers her mouth to hide her laugh.
“I see what happened. You’re dating the other daughter. That’s how you got the gig,” Marci teases.
“Oh no. We’re just friends,” I say. We still haven’t told our parents we’re anything more than friends, and after seeing the kind of comments Saylor gets just for changing her hair, I definitely don’t want myself or our relationship to be a part of Mrs.Ford’s content schedule.
“Uh-huh. Myfriendwho is also my wife looks at me like that too.”