One Last Time

by Beth Reekles

  One more buzz.

  Green light.

  I floored it. Our karts swung to life, engines growling furiously. I was vaguely aware of Jon Fletcher cursing down the headsets, his kart stalled at the first post—but I was already yanking on the wheel, twisting around the first bend in the course.

  Lee’s kart drew up beside me. I saw him raise a red balloon. “Enjoying first position, Shelly?”

  “Princess Peach, you don’t have to yell when we have headsets, chhh, over,” Ashton/Yoshi told him with a laugh.

  As Lee raised his balloon, a blue one soared forward, smacking into the back of his helmet and smearing green slime everywhere. He howled, dropping his own balloon and drenching himself in water as it burst on his lap.

  He fell back and Rachel/Luigi took his place.

  I narrowed my eyes, trying to focus on the track while fumbling in my foot well for a can of silly string I could hear rattling around.

  There was grunting over the radio. Cussing, muttering.

  I took the corner too quickly, skidding around. By the time I righted myself, I was in fifth position. Jon Fletcher was still lagging behind in last place, his giant Bowser suit weighing him down. Ashton/Yoshi had fallen back, and Amanda/Donkey Kong was just edging out in front of me. I gripped my can of silly string.

  But then a black water balloon burst against Amanda’s helmet, whipped cream exploding out, splattering across her face and the car, making her shriek. “Who did that? Who did that? Fear the wrath of Donkey Kong!”

  “Woohoo!” Ashton/Yoshi yelled, punching the air again as he shot past both me and a whipped-cream-covered Amanda/Donkey Kong. Rachel/Luigi had fallen back, too, she and Lee/Princess Peach vying for third and fourth as we started our second lap.

  And out in front—

  I winced as Noah’s kart smashed into Levi’s.

  Levi jerked sideways, smashing right back into Noah.

  Somewhere in the background, Tyrone was narrating the whole thing, talking about Wario and Toad going head-to-head in a vicious fight for first place.

  Vicious was right, I thought.

  I eased off the accelerator as I took a corner. Lee hit a tire, spinning out, and I managed to grab a balloon to launch at Ashton at the same moment that Rachel hurled a slightly squashed-looking red foam box back at him. I’d have missed if not for her: he swerved to avoid the box, right into the path of my water balloon. I shot out ahead of him, starting my third and final lap. Lee was now lagging somewhere in the back. Jon wasn’t far behind me.

  “No fair!” Ashton cried. “The Plungers teamed up! If we’re teaming up, I want Donkey Kong and Wario on my team.”

  “No teaming up!” Jon was yelling. “Plunger Two, you got any more boxes to take out Plunger One?”

  I laughed, hands clenched around the wheel. “Back off, Bowser.”

  Amid the giggles and shouts on the headsets, I heard “Back off, Wario.”

  “Eat my dust, Shroom.”

  There was a bang! a little way ahead. Levi’s and Noah’s karts crashed together again, Noah’s almost pressed into the tire wall. As they swerved across the track, Rachel yelped, jerking her kart out of the way before she crashed into them. I shot past her.

  “Cool it, Toad,” Levi snapped.

  “Hey, doofus, what’re you playing at?” Amanda shouted.

  I could hear the smirk in Noah’s voice as he barked, “Winning!”

  A water balloon flew past me. It smashed on a tire and slime spattered over Noah. He yelped and I swerved sideways before Ashton could overtake me, and—

  A cheer rose through the stands as Tyrone shouted, “And we have a winner! Wario wins the match! Followed by Toad…Mario…Yoshi…Bowser…Princess Peach…Luigi…Donkey Kong!”

  We all slowed our karts to a stop. Amanda had stopped where she’d run into a tire wall, her kart facing backward. Jon, Lee, and Rachel hadn’t quite made it to the finish line either. Ashton’s kart stopped just next to mine and he gave me a wide-eyed, manic grin—reminding me uncomfortably of Lee for a split second.

  “That was awesome!”

  But I didn’t have time to high-five Ashton right now because while Levi climbed up from his kart, draped in silly string, arms raised in victory as Tyrone came forward to present him with my old spelling-bee trophy, Noah was tearing himself out of his kart, ripping off his helmet.

  He looked pissed.

  And it didn’t take a genius to work out all that anger was directed at Levi.

  Chapter Twenty

  Trophy in hand, Levi beamed around at us, surveying his opponents. He tugged off his helmet, his hair matted and frizzing underneath. He tucked the helmet under his arm and stepped toward Noah.

  Uneasiness prickled at me and I clenched my jaw.

  This was a bad idea. This was a very bad idea.

  Noah was still scowling, hands balled into fists at his side. His hair was damp, stuck to his forehead. Slime was streaked across his cheek and shirt.

  I pulled my helmet off, setting it on the seat of my kart. Ashton had done the same and stepped toward me, his eyebrows raised. “Damn, I know Lee said he had a temper, but your boyfriend’s a real sore loser, huh?”

  Levi stopped just in front of Noah.

  He stuck out his hand.

  “Good race.”

  Come on, Noah.

  I didn’t know what was going on here, but I didn’t like it one bit. Apprehension continued to nag at me, and I willed Noah to just shake Levi’s goddamn hand and walk away. It wasn’t that hard.

  But I guessed it was, because Noah just glared at him before storming away.

  Levi blinked, lowering his hand. Rachel and Jon rushed toward him to congratulate him and Ashton joined in.

  I was tempted to go after them. I did want to congratulate Levi. I wanted to grab his arm and lift it in the air and cheer for his win and pull some of the silly string off him. I wanted Noah to stew, to give him the cold shoulder and make him come crawling back to Levi to apologize.

  But watching Noah walk away, I was just angry.

  My feet were already carrying me after him.

  “What the hell was that all about?” Lee asked as I got near him.

  Amanda was lingering, too, lips pinched as her gaze trailed after Noah. “You want me to talk to him?” she offered.

  I shook my head, gritting my teeth. “I’ll be back in a sec.”

  Noah was halfway under the bleachers when I yelled his name. He stopped for a moment before carrying on. I ran after him, catching the back of his shirt.

  “What the hell was that?” I asked.

  Noah glared past me for a second before taking a sharp breath and unclenching his jaw. “I got slimed. I almost had him.”

  I knew that wasn’t what the problem was, but for a second, I played along anyway.

  “Come on.” I tried to sound a little more upbeat and not too pissed at him. “Don’t be mad just because you lost.”

  Noah smirked briefly, mirthlessly, dragging his eyes back to mine. “I thought the Wario costume was supposed to be mine. That’s what Lee said.”

  “It was,” I said slowly, not sure what that had to do with anything. “And then you didn’t want to get involved, so we gave it to Levi. So…what, you stole Warren’s Toad outfit because you decided you didn’t want to miss out? I don’t get why you’d take that out on Levi. He’s—”

  “I’m just trying to figure out if you’re always gonna go running to him,” Noah burst out, breathing hard. His brow furrowed and there was a vulnerability in his eyes I wasn’t used to. He didn’t look angry so much as…scared.

  My mouth dropped open and I stared at him for a few seconds, trying to work out if he’d actually said that.

  And…yeah. He had.

  So he could wipe that sorry-ass expression off his
face, I thought, because I was not buying it.

  “Oh my God,” I scoffed, stepping back. “That’s rich, Noah, that really is. It’s not my fault you thought this whole thing was stupid and you didn’t want to be part of it. I told you days ago that he was gonna be part of this! Why’re you getting so mad about it now? I thought you and Levi were good.”

  “And I thought you said there was nothing between you,” he shot back, frown deepening.

  “What…what are you talking about?” I cried, my hands flapping. I racked my brain, trying to think where the hell he’d gotten that idea, and then realized…“Wait, is this because I was fixing his mustache? I put Rachel’s mustache on for her, so, what, are you going to accuse me of trying it on with her next?”

  “It’s not you, Elle! It’s…it’s him! I saw the way he was looking at you. If you think he’s over you, you’re being naive.”

  “Oh my God. Okay. I’m…I’m so not doing this again, Noah. I thought we were past all this crap! Are you seriously going to stand here and do the whole ‘uber-protective boyfriend’ shtick because you think you saw Levi…looking at me? He’s one of my best friends; he’s going to look at me.”

  “He’s a best friend you kissed. Who has a crush on you.”

  “Had.”

  “Has,” he argued. “I know what I saw, Elle.”

  “I’m…” I drew a deep breath, closing my eyes as I took a minute to compose myself. Maybe it was only fair for Noah to be jealous—wouldn’t I be if he’d kissed Amanda?

  (Wasn’t I sometimes still jealous of Amanda, even though their relationship was purely platonic?)

  But this wasn’t Amanda we were talking about: it was Levi. We’d kissed once, and it had been months ago. I took another breath, pushing my temper back down.

  “All you had to do was shake his hand and be the bigger person, Noah. Would that have been so hard?”

  I watched his Adam’s apple bob and heard him gulp. He glanced down at the ground between us.

  He might still be angry, but I could feel the regret pouring off him in waves.

  “I’m not gonna fight about this here,” I told him. “Not today, Noah. I’ll…I’m gonna go congratulate Levi on his win. I’m gonna go see my friends. I’ll see you back home.”

  I didn’t walk too quickly. I wondered if he would follow me.

  I kept walking, slowing almost to a stop as I got back to the track.

  I heard Noah’s heavy footsteps—but they were going in the other direction.

  Fine. If that was how he was going to be, well, fine.

  After I’d congratulated Levi, given him a hug, and mussed his matted hair, telling him he’d better take good care of my old trophy, Lee pulled me aside.

  “Everything okay?”

  I wasn’t so sure, but I beamed at him and grabbed his shoulders. “Okay? Lee, we just pulled off race day. Why wouldn’t everything be okay? We did it, Lee! We pulled it off!”

  He gave in, grinning back at me before wrapping me into a hug and shaking me. “Hell yeah, we did! And you deserve full credit for this one, Shelly. The water park was your idea. I don’t know how we would’ve managed all this without that.”

  “Hey, you two. Mario and Peach.”

  We both turned to see Will approaching, beaming. He clapped us on the shoulders. “That was incredible, you guys! Totally epic. The footage we got was amazing. It’s already got a few thousand hits on Facebook Live!”

  “Whoa!”

  “And I’ll email you guys the video, as promised.”

  “Thanks, Will.”

  He sighed, looking around the track. A couple of staff had appeared to clean up the whipped cream and slime and collect the red blocks that had been thrown. One guy was pulling the karts back inside. The crowd was gradually filtering away, for regular business to resume on the go-kart track.

  “I am so fucking glad nobody got hurt.” Will sighed, smiling as he walked off.

  Lee laughed. When he looked back at me, he wrapped his arm around my shoulders. “Hey. I’ve got an idea. I promise it’ll cheer you up. It’s not a bucket-list thing, but I think you’re going to love it. How about we get out of here? Rachel and Amanda can meet us back at the beach house later. And…” He sighed, glancing toward the changing rooms. “And Noah, if he’s not off somewhere drinking himself into oblivion and trying to forget what a ginormous douchebag he is.”

  I hated the idea that Lee might be right, that that might be exactly what Noah was doing.

  But no, screw him. Let him wallow. Let him get over this whole stupid thing. Let him realize what a jackass he was being.

  So I nodded. “That sounds great, Lee. Whatever it is, count me in.”

  Chapter Twenty-One

  “Where—”

  Lee shushed me, and my confusion only grew as he led me down the boardwalk. The sun was still shining, but a couple of clouds had gathered now, so it wasn’t quite as sticky and sweltering as it had been a few hours ago at the water park. The breeze coming in off the sea was a welcome relief.

  The smell of the boardwalk took me right back to my childhood. The smell of cheap hot dogs, cotton candy, and salt water. I breathed in deep. A Ferris wheel turned slowly up ahead. Bike bells rang out, children racing each other. A couple of kids on their skateboards swerved around the pedestrians, pulling stunts.

  “So Noah seemed pretty upset,” Lee said lightly, with a breezy, conversational manner, like he was commenting on the weather. I cut him a look, but he kept up the pretense.

  “It was stupid,” I muttered. “He’s being stupid.”

  “Three guesses what it was about,” Lee said, snorting a little. I frowned at him until he sighed, his resolve breaking. “Well, obviously he was mad about Levi.”

  It was obvious, I supposed: the way they’d been going at each other on the track, Noah refusing to shake his hand…

  But then Lee said quietly, “I kinda don’t blame him. Don’t be too mad at him, Shelly.”

  “Excuse me?” I choked, stopping to gawp at him.

  Lee sighed. His mouth twisted up on one side and he shrugged helplessly. “I’m just saying. You know, I get where he’s coming from. I know he said he was cool with Levi, and he’s really been trying hard, Elle. I know he has. And it’s not like he doesn’t trust you. But I just…get where he’s coming from.”

  “You don’t even know what he was mad about,” I scoffed. I did my best not to glare too much at my best friend right now. Wasn’t he always meant to take my side?

  “I’d probably be pissed if Rachel was always hanging out with her ex.”

  “Okay, first,” I snapped, ticking off one finger, “he’s not my ex. Second, if Noah really did trust me, he wouldn’t have gotten so mad. And—”

  “Point taken,” Lee said gently, holding his hands up to me. “But I mean…I know you don’t have feelings for Levi anymore—”

  “I’m not even really sure I ever did,” I pointed out.

  “—but I see the way he is around you. And all I’m saying is, if he did still have a crush on you, it wouldn’t surprise me. You know you’d feel exactly the same if Noah had kissed Amanda or if she had a crush on him.”

  “That’s totally different. She’s staying with us. Levi just took part in race day. Same as Rachel and Ashton and Jon Fletcher and Warren was going to…That doesn’t mean anything. He saw Levi at graduation! He’s been on FaceTime when I’ve been hanging out with him. They’ve been totally fine around each other. I don’t know why he’s suddenly lost it.”

  Lee thought about it. “I guess he’s never really been there when you two have been hanging out. Graduation was a different thing.”

  “He asked if I was always gonna go running back to Levi.”

  He blinked at me. I gave Lee a second for that to sink in. “All right, well, that was out of line.
But it’s gonna be hard for him, Elle. He thought you broke up with him for Levi for weeks before you two figured things out. I’m not saying he was right to be such a little bitch earlier, but don’t be too hard on him.”

  I pursed my lips before my shoulders drooped and my expression relaxed. Hard as I wanted to cling to this frustration at Noah’s behavior and at what he’d said, Lee put forward a pretty good argument.

  I didn’t think he’d have been so convincing if he hadn’t been so earnest. It was a rare occasion for him to take Noah’s side on something like this. Next to me, Lee was the first person to call Noah out on his bullshit.

  “Besides,” Lee added, seeing my resolve fracture, “I don’t think I can handle having to be in the beach house if you two are going to be at each other’s throats and then have crazy makeup sex. That is not something any of us need to hear, Shelly.”

  “Fine,” I said. “But only for you. And he has to apologize.”

  “Don’t look at me! I can’t promise he will.”

  “Hmm.”

  Lee slipped his cell phone out of his pocket—three guesses who he was texting and what it was about. Lee hadn’t exactly been the most enthusiastic supporter of my relationship with Noah when he first found out about us, but he loved both of us; times like this, I was glad of it.

  “Okay!” He clapped his hands together, looped his arm through mine, and started walking again. “Putting all your relationship drama behind us…can we just appreciate again how freaking awesome today was? Did you see that crowd? I bet the video looks incredible.”

  “I can’t believe you got so far behind.”

  “I was so close to catching up on that last lap, but then Amanda took a corner too fast and spun straight into me and Rachel went into the back of me. It was a three-car pileup that cost me precious seconds.” He gave a mournful sigh and shake of his head, but when he looked back up at me, he was beaming. “And, hell, if I’d known it’d raise so much money, I would’ve made a bigger deal out of it. We should’ve done it ages ago.”

  “For charity, Lee?” I shot him a sly smile.

  He laughed. “Always, Shelly, always. And—” He broke off, snorting and laughing suddenly and taking me by surprise. His eyes began to water. “Can we also appreciate how goddamn stupid Noah looked in the Toad costume?”