Everything in Between

Chapter 13

April 2019

I'm elbows deep in studying complex financial reports for a final exam when my phone buzzes on the table at my elbow.

SOS, the text from Zach reads.

Are you okay? I text him.

Dust off your best dress. I need you as my plus one tonight at my year-end hockey banquet.

I groan - I'm wearing pajamas and haven't left my bedroom all day. I've been surviving on coffee and peanut butter sandwiches in full study mode. I planned to spend tonight and Sunday morning studying. My final exam is on Monday.

Anticipating this, Zach adds, Katrina can't come. She has the flu. I need you to snap pictures of me when I win the best defenceman of the year.

I roll my eyes as I type out, I'm studying.

A short pause. Don't make me beg.

For a moment, I'm frozen.

I realize I have no idea how not to bring up Katrina and if she will have negative feelings toward me for attending in her place. I don't want to unintentionally cross any lines.

Is Katrina okay with me coming as your date? I ask.

Plus one :)

Well, that wasn't the response I was expecting.

My phone buzzes in my hand. Cece's phone number illuminates my screen.

"Hello?"

"You're coming," Cece says, and I'm startled silent. "We are on our way to pick you up."

"What?" I asked, pacing the floor of my bedroom and thankful that they weren't here to see me in my pajamas and messy hair. "Where are you?"

"In Reggie's truck."

I drop down into a chair and scrub my hand over my face. "Oh my god. Are you with Zach?"

"Yup."

"I haven't showered today," I say and twist a piece of hair around my finger. "I'm in full study mode - "

"You better hurry up and have one," she says.

"Yeah, Annie, let's go!" Bridget's voice shouts in the background. She's attending the banquet with Austin as his date. She does sound genuinely excited to have me attend, so much so that I have an image of me, Cece and Bridget all dancing together and having the best night of our life at this hockey banquet.

"I don't know...." I say, glancing down at my laptop and endless study notes.

Zach must've taken the phone from Cece because his voice comes on the line: "Come on, kid. I already paid for the extra ticket. It's a free steak dinner. We all know how much you love good thick meat."

I bite down on my lip, fighting the urge to laugh. He knows me too well.

"We're five minutes away," Cece shouts. "You have to come. It's going to be fun. All of us together for a fancy night out...."

I close my laptop shut. "Fine. You'll have to wait for me to get ready, though," I say, grinning. "And tell ZZ Top he owes me."

I hear Zach laugh. "I'll just add another debt to my never-ending list."

As far as nights out go - except for Reggie blasting country music on the ride to the banquet and the expensively priced cash bar - there's not much I would change. I needed this night out more than I realized. I've been hyper-focused on studying for weeks. It's why Cece and Bridget argued when I tried to decline the invitation to be Zach's plus one.