I was waiting on the roof of Penultimate for Ron, lying on the usual couch. It didn’t bother me, though, because I’d been texting Ruth all day. “By the way, I love your platinum gray hair. It’s absolutely gorgeous. Aren’t you a natural brunette?” Ruth texted.

“Yeah, like ten years ago. I don’t remember mentioning that. How did you know?” I texted back.

“Oh, it was on one of your profile pics… I think. But anyway, did it take long to dye?”

“Sorry, I forgot I put that there. But yeah, it was really tough! I had to do a lot of bleaching and toning, but after all that, I used a little bit of dye to get it to the color I wanted,” I texted.

“Oh yeah? I was thinking of going blonde. Would it be difficult to do that?” Ruth replied.

“No, I don’t think so. But you must be an expert since you could dye your undertone orange. By the way, how did you do that? Or did you go to a salon?” I texted back.

“You’re right. It shouldn’t be too hard, considering I bleach my hair all the time, haha. Also, yeah, I did this myself. I just did orange first and then dyed the top black,” Ruth texted. Okay, she clearly was black-out drunk when she went to the salon because that is not how you multi-dye your hair. I’d have to explain the process to her later.

I heard someone coming up the stairs and looked over to see Ron walking, a book bag over one shoulder. “Hey there, Autumn, let’s get started.” I hopped off the couch and joined him at the table, taking the seat across from him. We talked about each other’s days for a bit, then got straight to business.

“Last night, I was thinking, since Bella loves surfing, we have cut-out paper skeletons on surfboards and fish bones alternating on the string lights,” Ron said.

“That’s a good idea! It still shocks me. Bella doesn’t look the type to like surfing. I pictured her as the type of girl that sits in a dark room chanting to crystals,” I said.

“She’s a little bit of both. When Bella first met my parents, my mother found her in my parents’ bedroom, creating a healing ritual. She sat on their bed surrounded by obsidian crystals chanting the mantra, ‘Protect these souls when they choose to return to slumber.’ Long story short, it was an awkward dinner conversation trying to explain to them that my girlfriend didn’t worship Satan. Eventually, they got over it and got a new mattress.” Ron took a sip of his water, then his eyes lit up, and he continued, “That reminds me! You know how I said our first date was at the school dance? Well, we actually rode separately, and when I got there, she was literally crowd-surfing on top of a surfboard.”

“You know, the more I find out about her, the more I realize it’s like opening Mary Poppins’s purse. I go in reaching for some eyeliner, and instead, I pull out a coat rack,” I said, crossing out my idea for crystal chanting. Seemed like Ron’s parents wouldn’t be too excited to relive that dinner.

Suddenly, my phone buzzed, and I immediately picked it up, seeing a new message from Ruth. I texted back intensely, staring at my phone.

“Hey, everything alright?” Ron asked.

“It’s just Ruth texting back, sorry. Let’s get back to the plan.” I placed my phone upside down, so I wouldn’t be tempted to pick it up.

“Okay, sounds good. I need your focus right now, but let’s talk about it after. Moving along. We could recreate the school dance vibe and even have a table for designated finger foods, especially chicken tendies,” Ron said. I could see the twinkle in his eye when he said tendies.

“Chicken tendies? What are you like, five?” I said.

“What? Do you take yourself too seriously?”

I was shocked at first, but he had a point, so I shrugged it off. “Fair point. Regardless, this is actually a really solid idea! Okay, I’m thinking we could––” Suddenly, my phone buzzed, and I quickly grabbed it to read the notification.

“Hey, dude?”

“Yes, I’m sorry.”

“Hey, man, if it’s important, you can take care of it. But remember, we’re planning one of the biggest moments of my life, so I kind of need your full attention,” Ron said.

“No, no, you’re right. Let’s do this. No more distractions. I’m focused.” Turning my phone off, I placed it in my bag. We continued the planning with no further distractions on my part. I felt like we were getting closer to the actual plans. Next time we met, I was sure we would reach our final plan.

Home in my room, I flopped onto my bed. Kevin came up to snuggle next to me. I just remembered I had to take down that picture of me from ten years ago. I wondered which one Ron put on my profile. It must have been a really good one. I swiped through my photos, but it wasn’t there. Sitting up, I swiped through it again and again. But the picture was nowhere to be found. Every picture Ron chose was recent.