I shrug. “If it is, let’s hope for waffles.”
“Oh, waffles sound good,” Hannah says as we climb out of the car.
“We aren’t breaking in, are we?” Katie asks from the other side of the parking lot, closing the passenger door of Carsen’s sedan.
“There are too many cars,” I say, peering around the full lot. “Something’s going on.”
The six of us cross to the building I’ve never stepped foot in. The cookie run was a big deal, a stage and mass crowd that made it easy to know we were in the right spot, but here, the only sign is the half-full lot.
Ethan grabs the front door and pulls, but it doesn’t budge. “Locked. Are you sure this is it?”
I pull out the sheet of paper the final clue was written on and recite the address aloud. “This is it. Is there more? Are we in the right parking lot?”
Two girls giggle as they continue past us and around the building.
I look at Katie and then Hannah and shrug when they both give me doubtful looks. We follow the strangers to a back door that’s propped open by a brick where the scents of toast greet us, reminding me of Sunday breakfasts growing up when Dad made sunny side-up eggs, bacon, and toast. My stomach growls though I’m not hungry.
“Does it smell like…” Katie sniffs the air. “Toast?”
I nod, pointing at what looks like the laundry baskets used at hotels, the ones so large they’re on wheels. The bottom quarter is filled with pieces of dry toast.
I glance from the toast to the auditorium, noting many of the seats are already filled.
“What are we supposed to do?” Hannah asks.
“I have no idea,” I say, searching the crowd again for an answer.
The door behind us opens, and two guys step inside, mid-conversation. “Hadley?”
It takes me a full minute to realize it’s Luke because I’m staring at someone who I think might be eating a piece of toast. “Hey. What are you doing?”
“Well, you had asked about a theater event, and my friend Jean is in drama, so I asked her about it, and … I thought I might run into you.”
I feel Hannah’s eyes boring into me.
“We have no idea what we’re doing or what’s going on,” I tell Luke.
He grins. “We’re supposed to grab toast and watch the final dress rehearsal. Apparently, there’s this scene where they stop, and something is said, and everyone throws their toast on stage.”
“Throw toast?” Hannah asks.
“Yes!” Ethan cheers, diving into the bin to grab as many pieces as he can hold.
We cling to stacks of toast, crumbs sticking to the front of us as we head down an aisle, looking for enough seats to fit our group which now consists of eight.
“We’re going to have to split up,” Katie says. “They blocked off most of the theater.” She looks around with a disappointed sigh. “If Nolan had just told us, we could have been here early and gotten seats.”
“It’s okay. We’ll meet after the show,” Hannah says.
Carsen nods, pointing out two seats in the front row that he directs Katie to.
“Do you want to sit with us?” Luke asks.
Hannah looks at me with a curious expression, as though my answer will be revealing.
My options are to sit beside Colin or Luke. I don’t know that I like either, but Colin certainly seems like the more benign choice.
“Oh, here. We can all sit together,” Hannah says when a couple scoots over, allotting us two additional seats.