“How wonderful!”
“What a coincidence,” I said drily. I turned my gaze to my brother, who had a mischievous smirk on his face. I was sure it was no surprise we’d come to this restaurant of all places for dinner—he’d suggested it so that I would have to see Charlie so soon after the little towel incident from the other day.
“So this is your summer job?” Mom asked.
“No,” Charlie said. “Actually, I was just working here for the past couple of months until lifeguarding started again.”
Mom elbowed me lightly. “Did you hear that, Madison? Charlie will be working with you again.”
“I know,” I said.
“He gave her a ride home today,” Matthew said. “Remember?”
I glared at him. I didn’t know why he was acting so strange about that ride home. It’s not like Charlie, and I had gone on a date or something.
“Oh, how sweet!” Mom said. I could just imagine what was going through her head right now—probably thinking of how Charlie and I would make the perfect couple since he was basically part of the family anyway.
“If you’re done working, why don’t you sit with us?” Dad suggested.
“Oh, no, I don’t want to intrude,” Charlie said.
“It wouldn’t be an intrusion at all,” Dad said.
“We also don’t have enough chairs,” I said, gesturing around the full four-person table we were at. Where exactly did he expect Charlie to sit?
“And I have to get going now too,” Matthew said. He stood and pulled his suit jacket on. “I have to get my own serving job.”
Dad frowned and checked his watch, his eyebrows raising as he looked at the time. “Gee, I didn’t realize we’d been here so long! Go, go.”
Matthew rested his hands heavily on his shoulders and leaned down to kiss my cheek. “Congratulations, Mads.”
I was tempted to snap at him not to call me that, but I thought that might be petty considering the circumstances. “Thanks.”
“I guess we should head out too,” Dad said after Matthew left. “Do you have any plans, Madison?”
I shook my head, feeling a little pathetic. There should be something I wanted to do tonight, right? I had just graduated from high school for goodness’ sake—was I really going to spend what should have been one of the best nights of my life watching reruns of sitcoms at home?
“I’m not doing anything now,” Charlie said. I stared at him in confusion. If I didn’t know any better, I would think he was suggesting we do something together, but that would be ridiculous. Charlie and I never hung out alone outside of work. Sometimes, he and Matthew let me go out with them, but that was the closest we ever got.
“What a great idea!” Mom said, even though Charlie hadn’t actually suggested anything. I was sure all of our minds went to the same place, but I didn’t want Charlie to feel trapped intohanging out with me if that wasn’t his intention. “Why don’t you two go out and have some young people fun? Your father and I will head home.”
I cringed a little at the way my mom said “young people fun” but I looked to Charlie to gauge his reaction to the suggestion. It wasn’t as though I would be opposed to hanging out with him—Charlie was a lot of fun to spend time with, even if Matthew was of the opinion that I should stay far away from all of his friends. Actually, the fact that Matthew got so annoyed about it made it all the more fun.
I loved annoying him in any way I could.
“I’m down if you are,” Charlie said. “And I have my car, so we can go wherever you want.”
Mom and Dad were already standing up and getting their things together like it was all settled. I was still a little confused about Charlie’s intentions, but considering the alternative way my night could go, I thought that maybe this was better.
“All right,” I said. I stood up and looked at my parents. “I guess I’ll see you guys later?”
“Have a good night, sweetie,” Mom said, pulling me into a hug. Dad did the same after her.
“Thanks,” I said. Charlie led the way out, and I followed him to the parking lot.
“So,” I said as I slammed the car door closed behind me. “Where are we going?”
“It’s your special day,” Charlie said. “Where do you want to go?”
