“Yes. I’m with you. Super hyped about it. Isabella is my new best friend. I honestly don’t know how I got along my whole life without her.”
Josh smiled again.
“Jenny is super shy but I’m hoping she feels the same way too. I’m determined to show how just how amazing she is. Anyway, sorry. I promise this won’t come out of your jump time. My tendency to babble gets me in trouble.”
Isabella laughed.
“Well, looks like that’s one of the things you and Jenny have going for you. You can steal some of her shyness and give her some of your outgoing energy.”
Josh beamed.
“Exactly. You two, have fun!”
He started to depart but then turned back to us.
“There is a bonfire tomorrow at the beach by the boardwalk. Most of the juniors will be there. I don’t know if you heard about it, but feel free to join the fun. It should be going strong by eight. Maybe you guys can help me convince Jenny to have some fun with the history thing. If not, good luck to you both. I look forward to the presentations!”
Josh bounced away, and Isabella tilted her head, looking after him.
“What do you say? Think we should go see if we can help him out?”
Without hesitation, I nodded.
“Yes. We definitely should.”
Not only might we make some new friends, but it was another good deed to negate one of my previous bad ones. That was tomorrow’s adventure, though. It was time for today’s to continue. Grabbing Isabella’s hand, I hurried forward and onto the first attraction.
As we jumped, tumbled, and even swung around the trampoline park, we never stopped laughing. This was the most fun we’d had together so far.
The cost of watching Isabella laugh all night: fifty dollars.
Isabella
Even though we were sweaty and exhausted when we left the trampoline course, I couldn’t stop smiling. It had been so much fun just hanging out with Liam like this. No need to pretend date or spend the night wondering why we couldn’t find a spark. It was just what I needed.
“Thank you so much for this. It really was just perfect.”
Liam smiled at me as he opened the door, and I settled in the car. Not only did we have a good time, but we actually met a new person from school. It was no secret that I wasn’t the most popular girl, but my school life had previously revolved around Marco and his friends, so, outside of my family, I hadn’t even bothered to get to know anyone else.
“Are you sure you are okay with going to the bonfire tomorrow? If you wanted us to do something to deal with Cassidy, of course, we can do that instead.”
Liam slipped into the driver’s seat and took my hand. As he raised it to my lips, he shook his head.
“I want to go to the bonfire. I mean, I adore you, but it wouldn’t hurt me to get a few other friends. Josh seemed like a decent guy. If not, we will still have plenty of fun with each other.”
Grinning, I settled back and stayed quiet as he started driving me home. I know it wasn’t right to compare, but my thoughts lingered to Marco. He would have hated every minute of this. Marco would have thought it was a waste of time and money to jump around on a bunch of trampolines. The differences between Liam and Marco were night and day.
Maybe that was one of the issues between us. My whole life, all I had known was Marco. His serious nature, his brooding and dark look. Liam was always fun and light. Even emotionally, they were different. Marco never told me what he was feeling, and Liam never seemed to hide anything. Was I only attracted to the bad boys?
“You are too pensive right now. Get out of your head. This is a fun-only night.”
Looking at Liam, I smiled again.
“Sorry. You’re right. I think we should finally get you some zeppoles tonight. I never did bring them over. Want to stop at the restaurant before you drop me home?”
He looked so excited.
“Yes! I would love that. I’ve been dying to taste them.”
