Lucky. I wish I had an older sister to do stuff like that with. I am the older sister, and I don’t know if I would want to hang out with my little sister when I’m older. They must be close.
“So, what do you say? You want to come?”
I watch the crowd in silence. I guess I could tell my mom I’m sleeping at Paige’s. But then my mom is going to want to talk to her mom. If Paige asks her mom if she can sleep at my house, her mom will want to talk to mine.
“I might have to sneak out…” I say, unsure.
“Have you ever snuck out before?” he asks after seeing the uncertain expression on my face.
The night we took Paige’s mom’s car replays in my head. I’m not going to tell him how that ended. “Yes,” I say.
“Then sneak out and come with me.”
“Okay. But can I invite my friend?” Great, how am I going to sneak out?
“The one you’re always with?”
I nod.
“Yeah. I can pick you guys up later.” He hands me his Sidekick cell phone. “Put your number in my phone.”
“Okay.” I type in my number with shaking fingers. God. Why do I have to be so nervousaround him?
“Put your name under beautiful,” he says.
Heat rises in my cheeks. I give the phone back to him without saving a name. “If you think I'm beautiful, you can type it.”
I lean over to see if he’s seriously going to do it, and sure enough, he does. I bite my bottom lip. I don’t want him to know it has such a big effect on me.
“I gotta go. Text me when you’re ready, and I’ll come get you.”
“Okay.” He reaches in and hugs me, and goosebumps raise on my arms.
I’m waiting underneath the gigantic tree that’s in front of my house. The trunk is bigger than me, so it can keep me out of sight.
After my friends dropped me off at home, I told my mom I was tired and went straight to bed. I waited to hear her go to her room and then I redid my hair and makeup. I hope Kai doesn’t notice I fixed everything and changed. But then again, it might be better if he knew I put effort into looking good for him. He put my name asbeautifulin his phone. That’s has to mean something.
Headlights catch my attention as they flicker off. A black Honda Civic pulls up next to me.
“Get in,” Kai whispers as he rolls down a window.
I jump into the back seat, and then Kai slowly drives away, trying not to rev the engine. I swiftly turn my head to look behind me to make sure my mom didn’t notice.
I sigh in relief when I find all as it should be.
As long as my mom doesn’t see the back door unlocked, I should be fine. She doesn’t typically wake up in the middle of the night; at least I don’t think she does. I put the thought in the back of my mind. There is nothing to worry about…yet.
“I’m glad you could get out,” Kai says.
“Me too.”
“This is my buddy Owen.”
He turns toward me. “Hey.”
“Hi.”
I hope Kai hasn’t been drinking too much. I’m not sure how much he had to drink before he picked me up. He looks to be driving fine.
