The Forever Crush by Debra Moffitt

good,” I said, smiling a tight smile.

Twenty-four
    You are a link in a pink chain. Do you know the explorer, Sally Ride? Ride, born 1951, was the first woman to be sent into outer space. Far out!
    I was glad to see we had finally entered a more recent century with these e-mails. I read them a little more closely now that I knew who was sending them. Mrs. Percy did not become some warm and fuzzy presence overnight. But I was happy to know such a formidable woman was on our side. I tried to imagine myself as an astronaut. Scary, but wow, what a view.
    The most wonderful time of the year inspired a holiday-themed dinner and a movie. It was at Clem’s house again because her parents were among the most tolerant. Mr. and Mrs. Caritas always retired to their bedroom when we arrived. After taking coats and saying hellos, it was rare to see them hanging around. When you’re thirteen, that’s exactly the amount of parental contact you’d like to have when your friends are over.
    Clem and Beau made a modified Christmas dinner. There was turkey and mashed potatoes and Christmas cookies for dessert. The house smelled warm and wonderful and put me in a holiday mood. I was doubly jazzed for both Christmas and the upcoming wedding.
    Looking back on this second dinner and a movie night, I can see that I was overexcited and revving too high. For one thing, I was talking a little faster than usual. I seriously couldn’t stop myself. I was just so happy to be there, happy I’d be sitting next to Forrest at the table, and happy to be spending the evening at what was nearly a grown-up dinner party. We didn’t need to go out again in the cold because Clem decided our movie would be old Christmas specials that she had downloaded.
    â€œI hope you like turkey,” I told Forrest, and he laughed. I was not about to fall for the same trick he pulled last time with the pad thai.
    I said the food was amazing, which started a domino-effect of more compliments from other people. Clem basked in the praise.
    â€œClem could have her own cooking show,” Beau said.
    â€œI totalllyyy could,” Clem cooed.
    I looked at her and wondered what it was like to be her. I tried to imagine owning that face and that body and being paid good money just for someone to take pictures of me. Frankly, it was easier to imagine myself hurtling through space like Sally Ride.
    â€œWho wants cleanup duty?” Clem called out when everyone was stuffed.
    Unable to stop myself, I said I would do it. Forrest, feeling the pressure, said he would help me. Everyone cleared the table of dishes, bowls, and glasses and went to get started on the movies. First up was The Grinch .
    The kitchen, unlike the candlelit dining room, was an utter disaster. The big roasting pan that held the turkey was brown with baked-on grease and full of bones and turkey goo. Potato skins sat in heaps on the countertop and the sink was full of dishes Clem and Beau had used in their prep work.
    â€œGreat idea, Jem. I’d rather be washing dishes than watching The Grinch with my friends,” Forrest said.
    I turned to face the mountain of dishes in the sink and started sudsing and rinsing them.
    â€œI’m sorry. I was just trying to help Clem, since she made all this stuff. You don’t have to clean up if you don’t want to,” I said.
    â€œOkay,” Forrest said bluntly.
    I got into a rhythm at the sink so it took me a while to realize he had gone. He just left me alone in the kitchen, like Cinderella. But what could I do? I would look freakish if I just wandered back into the family room. And I couldn’t exactly go tell him to get back in here, like I was his mom.
    A real boyfriend would have stayed. He might have put on some music, blown into the soap bubbles so they sprayed on me, or even taken the opportunity to kiss me in the privacy of a foreign kitchen. But the reality was that Forrest was just my forever crush—not a