Snark and Stage Fright by Stephanie Wardrop Page A

that I wasn’t laughing at this, she squinted at me but didn’t get to say anything because the phone rang then and one of us had to answer it. Almost immediately, a frantic mom came in with a little boy who had cut his hand and she didn’t want to take him to the ER because she only wanted to see Dr. Endicott. Her English was really shaky and she was near hysterical with worry so the poor kid had to both hold the towel on his gushing wound and translate for her until I could pull Donna, the nurse, out of the exam room to stanch the bleeding. As Shondra tried to soothe the other patients in the waiting room—one of the kids’ parents did not seem to think that a mortal wound was any reason to cut in on someone else’s scheduled appointment—I tried to entertain his little sisters with drawings on the back of billing sheets while they yelled out animals for me to make. I sat in the waiting room with them while Dr. Endicott took the boy into the examining room. At least all the drama made the time go by quickly. For the first time in two days, I didn’t have time to think about what Michael was thinking about.
    As we were closing up the office at the end of the day, Shondra said to me, “Los and I are going to a movie tonight. You and Michael should come with us.”
    I paused because I knew what she was up to—setting up an ersatz double date with her and her boyfriend—because between patients I had given her the abridged version of my misdeeds on the Cape. As I decided what to say, I intently watched the computer shut itself down as if it needed my encouragement to do so. Finally, I arrived at, “Um … I guess we could do that?”
    She frowned at me, looking for all the world like a grandmother who has had just about enough of your nonsense. “So call him,” she ordered.
    “Okay … ”
    She handed me my cell phone so I meekly tapped Michael’s name in Contacts and prayed that I got his voicemail since he was at work at the YMCA in Netherfield. I didn’t, and that confounded me so much I said, “Oh, it’s you!”
    “Who were you expecting?” he asked, which flustered me enough to wish I were on the office phone so I could slam the receiver down and run.
    I fumbled, “Oh, yeah, um, I’m just surprised that you’d keep your phone at the lifeguard tower, I guess.”
    “When there’s a drowning I just put a caller on hold.”
    “Oh.” Clearly I was poised to win him back with my dazzling conversational skills. He didn’t sound very happy to hear from me and Shondra must have sensed this from the look in my eyes because she backed a few feet away to a discrete distance, staying just close enough for moral support.
    “So, um, Shondra and Los are going to a movie tonight and invited us along. Would you … do you want to do that, maybe?”
    He paused, just long enough for my heart to leap like a frog into my throat. Then he asked, “What time?”
    I looked at Shondra, said, “I don’t know, around eight?” and she nodded as she raised both palms flat in the air in a whoop! whoop! of victory.
    “I guess I could do that,” Michael drawled. “Text me the time and the theater and I’ll meet you guys there, okay?”
    Okay , I thought as I clicked “end” on the call. He’ll meet us there. Which means he was willing to go with me, but not with me. I guessed that was something.
    I forwarded the deets to him when Shondra texted them to me later, and at seven forty-five I found him standing in front of the movie theater. He seemed pretty casual about seeing me; he gave me a wave and then walked into the theater behind me. We sat next to each other during the movie but we didn’t hold hands, and when his knee brushed against mine, he didn’t keep it there or brush it against me again like he used to. But afterward, he didn’t make an excuse to leave and we all went to Los’ favorite pizza place on the edge of Netherfield and Michael didn’t comment when I picked the cheese off my slice, either