Seven Ten Third

Chapter Twenty-One ~ Lucy

"Ugh!" Izzy jerks back from the mirror. "How much more time do we have?"

"What happened?"

"I stabbed myself." She turns her whole body around to look at Delaney and me. Mascara is smeared under her one tearing eye. "It would help if I wasn't cursed with the shortest eyelashes on the planet."

"They make vitamins for that." Delaney comes to her rescue. "Some sort of supplement I read about."

"Please fix it," Izzy begs. "I'd rather not look like I got punched in the face when the guys get here."

Delaney pretend curtseys. "As you wish."

I laugh and Izzy smiles as Delaney wipes away the black streak now trailing down her face.

With my best friend's crisis averted, I finish putting on some lip gloss. The girls talked me into using makeup, since we're all going out to celebrate Delaney's eighteenth birthday. It's the first "normal" group thing I've done in a long time, but it feels right. When they first suggested it, I didn't get as much anxiety as I usually do. Wes and Harrison have turned out to be sweet guys, especially to my friends, and I haven't had to deal with any June drama in weeks. I honestly can't believe she's kept her word – but I'm not going to question it. Life is a lot easier when you're not constantly looking over your shoulder.

"Why are going ice skating again?" Izzy asks Delaney. "It seems like an odd I'm-an-adult-now party choice."

I make a face at her. Although I'm not too sure about my own balance on skates, I say, "Way to be supportive."

"Well, it's not common." She shrugs. "I didn't mean anything bad."

"We're going because I like it," Delaney says, unaffected.

"Do you do it a lot?"

Delaney shakes her head. "When I was little and my parents felt bad after a bender, they'd take me to the store and buy me whatever I wanted. Once, I got ice skates. I only used them a few times, though." Her eyes light up. "Since it hasn't been cold enough to freeze Holton Lake yet, I was excited when I found a rink that had open skate times."

I frown as a thought pops into my mind, a slow-motion movie of me falling flat on my face. "Videos are not allowed," I announce.

"I second that," Izzy agrees.

"What about pictures?" Delaney steps back to admire her mascara correction. "I would like to document my day."

"Well, yeah." I nod. "We can stage those."

Twenty minutes later the guys arrive, and we scramble down the stairs like characters in a cheesy rom com. After saying goodbye to Delaney's aunt and uncle, we open the front door to find three cute boys wearing lopsided smiles.

"Welcome to the Man Van," Harrison says as we all climb into a silver minivan.

"The Man Van?" Izzy asks as Aaron and I head to the back bench seat.

"Yep." Harrison grins. "It's the name I came up with to de-soccer mom my ride. When your parents get a new car and give you the option of keeping the old one, you go with free."

"Wise choice," Delaney says from the front seat and leans over to kiss Harrison on the cheek. "You know where we're going, right?"

"I think so. Pull the directions up on your phone just in case."

Harrison backs down the driveway, and Wes pulls everyone into a conversation about choosing a restaurant to visit after we skate. As the front of the van weighs the pros and cons of Mexican food versus Thai, Aaron bumps his knee against mine.