Promise Me Something by Sara Kocek

didn’t care about that now. She was my best friend. I needed her.
    “Hey, it’s me,” I said as soon as she picked up. “Are you busy right now?”
    “Reyna? Hold on, I can’t hear you—” There was a faint roar in the background, a sea of noise. I heard her tell someone to save her a seat.
    My heart sank. “Am I interrupting something?” I should have known she’d be hanging out with James or Jackson or whatever his name was.
    “No!” She sounded a little breathless. “What’s up?”
    “I just wanted to see if you could come over today. I have news.”
    “I—” she paused. “I’m at a basketball game.”
    “ Basketball? ”
    “Hey! Stop that!” There was a squeaky noise in the back-ground that sounded like a dog toy. “Sorry, Reyna, not you—”
    “Fine, I’ll just tell you now,” I said. “Olive is a lesbian.”
    “What?”
    “Olive is a—”
    “Stop!” I heard the squeaky toy again. “Whoops. There’s this dog running around in the bleachers—”
    “Abby…” I raked my fingers through my hair. “This is actually kind of serious.”
    “Sorry! Can I call you back another time?”
    “What?” I could barely hear her. The crowd was cheering again.
    “How about we catch up later?”
    “Fine,” I said, knowing that later might as well mean never . It wasn’t just Abby’s boyfriend coming between us, it was everything—new schools, new friends, new lives. As I ended the call, my phone slipped from my hand and bounced onto the carpet. I closed my eyes and breathed in deeply through my nose. The silence in the house was a roar.

    At breakfast the next morning, I saw the ring. Lucy’s long, spidery fingers were draped over the back of Dad’s chair. She moved her hand onto his shoulder and scratched the back of his T-shirt, the plain gold band glinting in the soft morning light. She was still wearing the diamond necklace he’d bought her only a couple of weeks earlier. That and her pajamas.
    “Morning,” I said from the doorway.
    Lucy and Dad both jumped at the sound of my voice; then Lucy pulled her left hand down onto her lap and clasped it with her other hand so I couldn’t see the ring.
    “Morning, Rey,” said Dad. They both smiled sheepishly, as though I’d caught them in bed. Looking closer at the table, I realized there was a tub of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream sitting near Lucy with its lid open. It was empty except for two dirty spoons.
    “What are you guys—five?” I turned toward the sink. “Ice cream for breakfast?”
    “For dessert,” said Dad. “Early morning dessert.”
    Gross. Feeling vaguely queasy, I took a glass from the drying rack and picked a speck of grime off its side. I wasn’t going to say anything about the ring. Maybe if I ignored it, it would fall into the garbage disposal while Lucy was washing dishes. Or maybe it wasn’t even an engagement ring. It didn’t have a stone.
    “How was last night?” he asked from the table.
    “Fine,” I said.
    “What’d you do?”
    “Watched TV.”
    I turned away from the sink and headed for the fridge. Dad was looking at Lucy as though waiting for her permission. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw her nod.
    “Reyna?” Dad leaned forward in his chair. “We have something to tell you.”
    That was when all the atoms in my body got up and rearranged themselves in preparation. My face became a mask of itself. My toes tightened in my socks.
    Dad looked nervous. “You know how I took Lucy to New York last night?”
    I knew what was coming, and I didn’t like it. I grabbed the carton of orange juice from the fridge and filled my glass.
    “Well, I asked her to marry me,” he said. “Right in the middle of Times Square.”
    “And I said yes!” Lucy held up her left hand and I saw the ring again, clearer this time. It wasn’t just a plain gold band. There was a filigree trim around the edge.
    “Wow,” I said. Both of them were waiting—watching me. Lucy raised her hand with a nervous sort of