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quickly cleared his throat to cover it.
     
    "See you later, Dad. Mrs. McGill will drive us home later," I said.
     
    "Have a good evening." Dad waved as we turned to walk inside.
     
    Josh paused at the door. I grabbed his hand and found it damp with sweat. He pulled it away and dried it on his pants. "Still want to hold it?" he asked with a grin, rubbing it on his pants leg again.
     
    I took his hand and smiled, trying to reassure him.
     
    We were the last ones to arrive.
     
    "Welcome to the Rosebud Cafe," Logan said, standing up and bowing as we approached the table.
     
    "Claudia!" Stacey looked surprised to see us. She'd been deep in conversation with Ethan, who was every bit as cute as I'd remembered. He was dressed all in black - black jeans and a black long-sleeved shirt. 'And Josh," she added.
     
    There were two empty chairs between Ethan and Mary Anne, so I took the one near Ethan, leaving Josh to sit beside Mary Anne. He knew her, and maybe that would help him feel more relaxed. He kept wiping his hands on his pants and clearing his throat.
     
    "Claudia, you remember Ethan. Ethan, this is Josh Rocker, who goes to school with us. Josh, this is my friend Ethan Carroll, from New York City." I was glad that Stacey didn't mention that Josh was in seventh grade. That was one of the things making him nervous.
     
    Josh had just sat down, but he quickly pushed his chair back and stood to shake Ethan's hand. His chair tipped over when he stood up, making a huge racket. Worse, a waiter was passing behind him when the chair fell. He stopped short, and the tray he was carrying tilted. The glasses on the tray began to slide. Josh grabbed the tray and leveled it, let go, and jumped back, landing in Mary Anne's lap.
     
    'Are you all right?" the waiter asked Josh.
     
    "Fine," Josh said. "Hi, Mary Anne. Sure is good to see you again." Everyone laughed.
     
    "It's nice to meet you, Josh," said Ethan.
     
    "You too, earring - I mean, Ethan." Josh's face turned red again.
     
    Ethan has one ear pierced. I guess it caught Josh's attention.
     
    We relaxed. Josh began talking to Logan. I turned to Ethan and asked him if he'd been to any good art exhibits lately. He is a terrific artist. We were discussing an exhibition of collages he'd seen recently when Josh nudged me.
     
    "I'll be right back," he whispered. He headed to the men's room. When he returned, his tie was gone.
     
    When our food arrived, Josh concentrated on his dinner, nodding or shaking his head and chewing whenever someone asked him a question. He looked more relaxed by the time we'd finished eating and arrived at Stacey's house.
     
    During the video, Josh and Logan talked quietly about sports for awhile. Then Josh leaned his head back against the couch and closed his eyes for a few minutes. The movie was pretty boring. I wondered if Ethan had chosen it, because it didn't seem like something Stacey would ordinarily watch. It had subtitles and beautiful scenery but not much happening. I wasn't even sure what it was about.
     
    "I guess all the copies of Mask of the Avenger were already rented," Josh whispered to me toward the end of the movie.
     
    After the video, Mr. Spier showed up to drive us home. I'd thought that Mrs. McGill was going to do that, but it didn't matter. Dad wouldn't mind if I rode with Mary Anne's dad. We dropped Josh off first.
     
    "I'll call you tomorrow," he said. "Thanks for the ride, Mr. Spier. Good night." Josh almost didn't wait for the car to come to a complete stop before he jumped out and ran up the walk to the door of his house.
     
    "Do you think Josh had a good time?" Mary Anne asked. "He's really sweet." 'And funny," Logan added.
     
    "Yeah, I think it went pretty well," I said, feeling pleasantly tired.
     
    When we reached my house, all the lights were on. Janine was standing in