Pink is my new favorite color|| Cynthia Zdunowski

Summer Nights

Ella's POV

"No seriously. Thank you. You didn't have to do that." I found it really odd that Cynthia would come and save me. We haven't even talked in years. "Yeah well... Hey, do you want come sit with us? You don't have to if you don't want-" "Yes. I would. It'd probably be safer." I knew that it would be safer, walking back to find my friends would be scary but also none of them would protect me. None of them even tried at Dot's party.

Cynthia and I walked over to a black car with the t-bird's logo on it. She casually hopped in, sat on top of the back seat, and looked at me expecting me to do the same. This whole night has been full of things I couldn't control: going out, being chased around a drive-in, but if there was one thing I was not going to do it was jump over a door into a strangers car, which looked to me incredibly messy, wearing a white skirt. After a moment, Cynthia leaned over and opened the car's back door. I awkwardly stepped in and stood on the seat, fixing my skirt, before I sat down next to Cynthia. "Was that really necessary? It doesn't have a top for a reason." She said. "I'm wearing a skirt I can't just jump into a car" "That's ridiculous-"

"I'm Shy Guy" the boy next to Cynthia interrupted. Cynthia looked over at him like she had forgotten he was even there. "Oh. Yeah. Shy Guy, Ella, Ella, Shy Guy." "Hi,It's nice to meet you" I said smiling. "Hi" he replied, we all just looked at each other for a moment before he said "I'm gonna go get some snacks, you two want anything?" "I'm alright, but thank you" I replied. "Popcorn, chocolate bar, twizzlers, a coke, and a water" Cynthia listed off. Shy Guy simply nodded before walking away to the concession stand. "That's quite a variety." I wouldn't have said anything if it hadn't been for the coke and the water, it just struck me as odd. "Twizzlers and water are for you" She replied, still looking forward.

I turned to her, "I said I didn't want anything." Still not Turning to look at my she said "I know you said that but you didn't mean it, you just didn't want to be an inconvenience to someone. And even if you didn't want it you would never turn down a thing of twizzlers." There was a moment of silence then she finally turned to me "Even after 6 years there are some things best friends don't forget."

My friends now couldn't tell me what my favorite candy is. They couldn't even tell you what my favorite color is. Why did we ever stop being friends?

"Well, thank you." We sat in silence for a while, staring at the screen before I finally spoke up. "You're wearing a t-birds jacket, are you one of them now?" "Uh, no. Not yet. It's Shy Guy's" Cynthia replied. "Are you two going together?" I asked. She snorted, trying not to laugh, "No. I was cold and didn't bring a jacket so he gave me his" "So he likes you and pretend not to notice?" "He doesn't like me." "He's sitting with you at the drive-in" "We both just wanted to watch the movie" "No one goes to the drive-in to watch the movie. We are literally the only ones here watching the movie" "Maybe you and your people only care about gossiping or making out in the back of someones car but-"

I just remembered why we stopped being friends. "There it is" I said. "What?" She asked. "The reason we stopped being friends. You think that because I like dresses and makeup and want people to like me means I have no thoughts other than gossip and boys, and you're so much better than me because you like cars." Cynthia looked at me for a second before responding, "That is not what I said" "This is the same conversation we had 6 years ago. When Dot invited me to her first party-" "You canceled our game night!" Cynthia yelled at me. "You could have come with me" I tried staying calm but I really just wanted to leave and find Dot and Rosemary. "They don't like me!" I saw something in her break, "I don't fit in with them. And I never would have. I don't get all the girl stuff." "We were always so different. We weren't good friends" "We were best friends" she interrupted.

"Ah man! The line was so long I missed half the movie!" We turned to see Shy Guy standing there, arms overflowing with treats, I then looked at the movie screen to see the credits rolling. I hopped out of the car to help Shy Guy so he wouldn't drop all his stuff. Taking my water and twizzlers I said thank you to him and turned to Cynthia, "Thank you, again. I should probably go find my friends." "Are you sure you're gonna be ok?" She asked. "Yeah." I answered, "I'll see you around." And I was off.

I knew I couldn't ride home with Neil, so I found Susan and listened to her talk about her last ditch effort at a summer fling, which happened to be with Richie Valdovinos, and Dot seeing Jane and Buddy going all the way in his car during the movie. I didn't really believe it but Dot wouldn't lie so it must be true, not that it really mattered anyway.