She nodded again. “You can date my brother.”
Charlie coughed loudly. “Flo, you can’t say stuff like that.”
“Why not?”
“You just… can’t.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“We can talk about this later.” Charlie glanced at me out of the corner of his eye, then looked forward again. I pretended not to notice the blush on his face as I turned to smirk out the window. If only she knew.
My phone buzzed from where it was sitting in the cupholder and I pulled it out.
Violet
Hey I’m at Jaxon’s place if you want to come over
I can get him to pick you up if you need
“Everything okay?” Charlie asked.
“Hm? Oh, yeah. Uh, actually, you don’t need to drive me home.”
Charlie frowned. “We’re already halfway there. I’m not just going to dump you on the street.”
I laughed, especially as I thought of all the times that Matthew had done that to me. Who knew his best friend was so much more chivalrous?
“You can just drive to your place. My best friend’s dating your neighbour, so I’m just going over to his house.”
“No kidding. Which friend?”
“Violet Evers. You’ve probably seen her at my place.”
“Red hair, right?”
“Yeah.”
“So she and Jaxon finally got together.” He tapped his hands against the steering wheel a couple of times. “Huh. I wondered if I would ever see the day.”
“We all did.” It was funny how many people had been invested in the idea of Jaxon finally wooing Violet. All of us who knew them both could see that they would be great together, but it took a while for Violet to get on board with that idea.
Madison
All good, don’t need a ride. I’ll be there in five!
“What’s your name?” Flo asked me as we all got out of the car in their driveway.
“I already told you, Flo,” Charlie said. “This is Madison.”
She looked at me suspiciously and put her hands on her hips. “Is that true?”
I giggled at the serious look on her face. In her world, Charlie telling her the wrong name was a very serious offense.
“Yes, it’s true,” I said. I knelt down so I was at the same height as her. “I’m Madison McKinnon.”
She narrowed her eyes and nodded slowly. “I’m Florence Owen.”
I was pretty sure I’d never heard anyone use her full name before so I was a little surprised to hear it from her.
