Free Flat-Out Love by Jessica Park

really sorry. I guess he had something important to do at school. Celeste? It’s OK. Flat Finn is with me. He helped get me here, because Matt’s directions were dreadful.”
    Celeste opened the door and slipped into the seat. “Oh. This is fine.” She turned to Julie. “This really
is
fine.”
    “Good.” Julie pulled the car out to the main road. “So what should we do?”
    “What do you mean
do
? We go home after school.”
    “Let’s do something. Come on!”
    “Like what?”
    “I don’t know.” Julie turned up the radio and tapped her fingers on the wheel. “I don’t even know what street I’m on right now. Maybe we’ll get lost and spend the next few hourstrying to navigate our way home. We’ll listen to old-school Kelly Clarkson power songs and sing until we lose our voices.”
    “That is not a good plan.” Celeste turned and peered into the back of the car. She inhaled deeply, then slowly let the air escape from her lips. “I always just go home.”
    Julie took a left turn onto another main road and drove for a few minutes. “Aha!” She pulled the car into the parking lot of a supermarket. “Let’s make dinner tonight. I want to thank your parents for letting me stay at your house. Do you like Italian? I make a mean manicotti.”
    “Oh.” Celeste thought for a moment. “That could be acceptable.”
    “Acceptable? It’s going to be more than acceptable. Homemade tomato sauce with fresh basil? Ricotta and spinach stuffing? And my secret touch? Cheesy white sauce drizzled over the top. And we can all discuss Italian Gothic architecture or ancient Rome during dinner. I know how you guys like theme nights.”
    “Or the Italian Renaissance. Dad likes the Renaissance.”
    “You got it.” Julie parked the car and started to get out. But Celeste didn’t move. “Celeste? You coming?”
    “Me? No. I should wait in the car. That’s what I do.”
    “You don’t go into stores?”
    “No.”
    “Not ever?”
    “No.”
    This was unbelievable. Julie tightened her fist around the car keys until they dug painfully into her hand. Somebody had to fix this. She walked to the back of the car and opened the trunk. “Well, that’s too bad because FF and I want your help picking the best tomatoes.” She flung the blanket off Flat Finn and eased him out of the back. “So I don’t want to hear youcomplaining about the poor quality of the produce we select.” She slammed the trunk shut, pulled a shopping cart out from the stack next to the car, and stuck the cutout brother into the cart, angled so that his entire top half jutted out.
    Celeste flew out of the car. “What are you doing?”
    “Shopping. What are you doing?”
    “Beginning to have a type of anxiety attack that I would prefer to avoid.”
    “What else are you doing?”
    Celeste pursed her lips together, hiding a smile. “Shopping.”
    “Good. Let’s go.”
    “And do not call him FF. He doesn’t care for abbreviations.”
    “Tell him to stop calling me JS and I’ll consider it.”

CHAPTER 8
    Matt set his messenger bag on the stool next to him and sat down at the kitchen counter. He looked at the plate in front of him. “What is this?”
    “It’s a gastronomical representation of
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
.” Julie put her hands on her hips. “Don’t you see it? The clear depiction of the struggle for sexual identity as evidenced by the two phallic shapes?”
    Matt looked at her. “What are you talking about?”
    “What are
you
talking about? It’s manicotti, you nut. What do you think it is?”
    “I know
that
. I was referencing the noticeable absence of takeout cartons. You made dinner?”
    “Celeste and I made dinner,” Julie corrected.
    “And they did a wonderful job.” Erin swooped into the kitchen and set her wine glass down on the counter. “Thank you again, Julie. It was wonderful. I don’t remember the last time we’ve bothered to cook dinner ourselves. I’m surprised the stove is still working.” She