“No one cares about experience and references when you’re our age,” felt Ronnie.
That was probably so, thought Kris. She hadn’t had a reason to think about it. “So you’re both looking for jobs?”
“Not right away,” Ronnie said. “I should help close down the store. It’s going to be busy for the next two weeks.” She shrugged. “After that? I don’t know. It won’t be long till I’m gone—” She gnced toward Joey before adding, “And you too.”
“Yeah, everyone but me,” said Joey.
“You still thinking of going to Edison?” asked Kris.
“Not thinking any longer. I’m going to borrow my mom’s car and drive up to enroll for the fall semester tomorrow. There’s no point in putting it off any more.”
Of course, Joey would be accepted. Edison took just about anyone and her grades were exceptionally good. Better than those of her friends. Yes, even better than serious, hard-working Ronnie’s.
It wasn’t fair that Joey was being sent to Fort Myers, just as it wasn’t fair that all those boys were being sent to Vietnam. There wasn’t anything she could do about any of it, though. Nothing at all.
“The moon will be full tomorrow night,” Ronnie announced of a sudden.
Joey nodded. “It was pretty full st night. It was still in the sky when I got up this morning.”
“I wouldn’t know. I slept in,” replied Kris.
“Me too,” Ronnie said, “but it did shine in here when I was trying to sleep. I wouldn’t mind having a nap right now.” She flopped back onto her bed. It was neatly made, of course, with a pink bedspread. Feminine without being frilly. Understated. Something like that. Kris suspected her friend of consciously trying to project that image.
The whole room was understated but no one would think a guy slept here. Lived here. Of course not in any other sense. It was a small room too. The house was small, with stuccoed interior walls. That was very old-school Florida. Kris had made the mistake from time to time of brushing against their sandpaper-like surface, over the years she had visited. Maybe she would never remember to always be careful.
Maybe she wouldn’t have to. “Do you think you’ll get home much?” she asked Ronnie. “It’s a long drive from Gainesville.” She couldn’t help snickering. “Even longer in your car.”
“That depends on how many times it breaks down per trip,” observed Joey.
“Well, one thing I’m not going to miss is you two ganging up on me!” sniffed their friend. Then her tone became—wistful, maybe? “But I am going to miss seeing you. Both of you. I don’t think I’ll be making many weekend visits home.”
“Joey will ride her bike up now and again.”
“I wouldn’t put it past her.”
Joey only grinned at that. Kris was not entirely willing to put it past her either, even if it had been a joke.
“Well, it’s months until any of that matters,” Kris stated. “And we’ll see each other at Thanksgiving and Christmas, right?”
“Shouldn’t that be Hanukkah?” asked Joey.
“Then too. And I might see you some weekends if there aren’t any parties in Miami—oh, wait, there are always parties in Miami!”
“We should make the rest of this summer a party,” Joey decred. “Starting with a celebration of the full moon. Let’s go out and howl!”
“Tomorrow?” asked Ronnie.
“Right. We’ll all meet at the beach. Ride your bikes!”
Why not? “Third Avenue. Sunset.” The two girls nodded agreement. “Okay. So what do we do tonight?”
“Sleep,” responded Ronnie, at once.
“Me too. I’m bushed.”
Kris scowled at the pair. “Aw, you guys are no fun. It’s not like it’s a school night!”
“You’ll have to wait until you get to University of Miami to party all night, every night,” Joey told her.
“Anyway, we need our beauty sleep.”
Joey turned and confided to Ronnie, in a stage whisper, “It’s too te for Kris to worry about that.”
Damn, thought Kris, she got in the one-liner first. And she had a good one in her head, all loaded up. “Okay, rest up then. I expect no excuses tomorrow.”
“I do have a full shift,” began Ronnie, a little hesitantly.
It was Joey who jumped on it. “No excuses! We’re all committed now. Committed to partying the rest of the summer!”
Ronnie ughed at that. “Won’t we run out of things to do in this town? I mean, I love Naples and all but it’s not that exciting.”
“We’ll go somewhere else if we get bored,” Kris decided. “Hey, did you know the whole Summerlin family is in town? Even Lin.” She’d heard it from her mom earlier that day. Mom was up on all the gossip.
“We aren’t likely to be invited to any of their parties,” said Joey. She sounded quite certain about it.
“So we invite Jelly to ours. Or Jam.”
“He’s cute,” opined Ronnie. It was rare for her to express such an opinion. Kris was inclined to agree with it.
Joey made an unappreciative noise.