The Opposition

Chapter 28: Carter

He holds up a yellow bag of trail mix. "Maybe this?"

"What if he has a nut allergy?"

"Shit," he mumbles. "Well, then he should have specified that." He throws the bag in our red basket.

"Why are you getting them?" I ask, handing Felix his slushy and grabbing onto the basket's handle with my now empty hand.

"I'm hungry," he shrugs.

We continue to walk around the store. The guy behind the counter with tattoos covering his hands watches us, but doesn't say anything. I walk up to a rack of gift cards and scan my eyes over it.

"We might just have to get him a gift card," I tell Felix.

He frowns, "Yeah," he takes a long sip of his slushy and winces. Brain freeze. "Or, I have a better idea."

"Shoot," I prompt.

"Why don't we invite him to dinner. Our treat."

I think it over. It's not a bad idea. "That could work. So, what? Just him, you, Sadie, and I?"

"And Gracie, if she wants to come."

"That's a good idea," I say. "So this trip was for nothing then."

Felix gestures toward his lone bag of trail mix in the cart. "Not nothing."

We walk up the counter and place our drinks and Felix's bag of trail mix onto it. The man behind it grunts a hello, but rings us up in silence. I pay for our stuff and we exit out of the convenience store. With still full slushy cups, Felix and I walk over toward a park and sit down on a rotting wooden bench. I immediately think about when Sadie were sitting at a very similar park, eating lunch, before deciding to head downtown.

Felix takes a handful of trail mix and shoves it into his mouth.

"How is it?" I ask.

"Dry," he says.

We continue sitting down, sipping on our slushies and talking about our plan. Felix seems a lot more into it than I thought.

Even as we speak, I can't stop my mind from wandering over to Sadie. Sadie crying on the hotel room floor. Sadie waking up panting from a nightmare. Sadie who whispers in my ear and calls me an idiot. Sadie who will not flee from my mind no matter how many times I try to stop thinking about her. Maybe I just don't want to stop thinking about her. I don't know. I've never felt so clueless.

"What if he's not in his hotel room?" Felix asks, snapping me out of my thoughts.

"He will be," I say. He went out with some of his colleagues, and it's a little to early to go out again.

"So, we're inviting him to dinner tonight?" Felix asks, slurping down the last drops of his drink.

"No, I don't think so. I think we should invite him out tomorrow. That gives him a little bit of notice. We can't do it on Wednesday because the ceremony is that night."

"Hoping to get a shiny plaque for your school?" Felix smirks.

I wink at him.

"I don't know why I'm friends with your competitive ass," Felix grumbles.

"Beats me," I shrug.

Dr. Snyder's room is on the third floor, right beside a staircase. I expected him to have a super fancy suite, but his room is probably cheaper than mine and Sadie's. I hide around the corner while Felix knocks on the door. Nobody answers. He knocks again. My breathing is harsh. Please answer the door. He does. Dr. Snyder stands in the doorway, in a loose button up and jeans. I see Felix's chest rise and fall with relief. It's go time.