Linger

E I G H T Y - F O U R

"If I see one more sprinkle doughnut, I swear I'm going to have a mental breakdown." 

"Then get ready to have lots of mental breakdowns," I let out a laugh as I held out yet another box of sprinkle doughnuts to her. 

It was now the weekend and we were finally hosting a fundraiser for our senior project - a donut sale at the Blue Jackets soccer game. 

Unlike last time, the team was already warming up on the field and family members and parents cheered, creating a lively atmosphere around us. However, it wasn't hard to miss that it wasn't as lively as all the other times Brandon was here.  

Chelsea groaned next to me. "We need to have more than just sprinkle doughnuts if we want to raise any kind of money. What about chocolate? Or just glazed? People love glazed!"

"There's more flavors coming up, Chelsea," Daniel nodded at her. 

"Thank you!" she exclaimed with a huff, throwing her hand in the air. 

Rather than Daniel's homemade pastries set up at his booth, now boxes upon boxes of donuts sat on the table, waiting to be sold to raise funds for the local homeless shelter and animal shelter.

"What's your favorite kind of doughnut, Mr. H?" Kelsey asked with a small smile, sliding a box of doughnuts to me. 

"I'm not particularly fond of doughnuts to be quite honest with you, Kelsey," he told her as he opened a box of chocolate doughnuts and began arranging them on the table. 

We all gawked at him. "What?!"

"Have you guys tried a cronut?" he asked, lifting his head to raise an eyebrow at us. 

"No!" 

"Yes!"

We all gasped, launching into a discussion of cronuts versus doughnuts versus croissants. 

I squeezed past Kelsey and Chelsea, stepping up to Daniel. "Do you need help getting the rest of the doughnuts from the car?"

"Yes . . ." He met my gaze before glancing around. "Uh, it'll probably be best if I send a few of you to fetch them. Sophia," he called out, reaching in the pocket of his Blue Jackets hoodie and retrieving his keys. 

The brunette looked up from her phone. "Yeah?"

"Can you, Chelsea, and Madison grab the rest of the boxes from my car while I set up everything here?" He tossed the keys to her. 

Kelsey widened her eyes at him. "You trust her with your keys?!"

"Haha!" Sophia stuck her tongue out at her. 

"She doesn't even know how to drive!!"

"Do too!" Sophia spun the keys on her finger. " . . . I just haven't past my driving test yet."

"Because you failed three times."

"Two times," Sophia corrected. "The third time doesn't count because they didn't even let me take it." 

"What?" Chelsea turned to her. "Why didn't they let you take it?"

"Ladies," Daniel called. "Please. Let's not keep the customers waiting." He nodded to a few little kids already standing by our table, eyeing the sprinkle donuts with eager smiles. 

The three of us headed onto the field and toward the parking lot. 

"We get to see his car!!" Sophia squealed with excitement, once we were out of earshot from the booth.

"Don't get too excited," Chelsea said dryly. "He's on a teacher's salary." 

I choked back a laugh.

"Yeah, but it's his car," Sophia said before pausing. "Wait. How do we know which car is his anyway?"