“Not two different names. Two different people. I went out on the date with Michael—”
“How did it go?” she talks over me.
“That’s not the point.”
“Then get to the bloody point!”
I rinse the washcloth and wipe my face clean. “You’ve been bingeingBridgertonagain, haven’t you?”
“Aria, I swear to god.”
“I went out with Michael. He was nice and cute and funny and…” But there were no tingles. None. Zilch. “When I got home, I went out on the back patio and there he was.”
“Who?”
“Andrew. Ow, crap!” I yelp when my hairbrush gets caught in an impossible tangle. Screw it. I throw the unruly mass up into a wonky bun.
“Who the hell is Andrew?”
“That’s what he said his name was at first. We started talking, and he was so nice. I felt I’d known him my whole life. Then he called me ladybug, and I knew. Ididknow him. It was Mason. Mason ishere.”
“Why would he say his name was Andrew? The only Mason I know…noooooo.”
“Yes!” Finally, she’s getting it. “Mason lives in the house next door.”
“Noooooo.”
I pick up the phone and unlock the bathroom door.
“Will you stop saying that? I’m freaking out here. He knew it was me. He said he came for me. That’s just wrong on so many levels, right?”
“Well…”
“He looks so handsome, and he smelled even better, and I wanted to punch him in his gorgeous face, but I couldn’t because we kind of attacked each other’s lips. And the kiss. Sweet baby Jesus, the kiss—”
I touch my lips.
“Was it good?”
Dropping my hand, I scowl at the phone.
“Yes, it was good. Better than chocolate fudge cake, good. And stop interrupting me. So, he said what he said. I was livid, then we kissed, and he quoted Yeats. FreakingYeats, Kama!” I stress.
“I don’t even know what that means.”
“He used to read Yeats to me in bed,” I try to explain, but she interrupts me once again.
“Skip over that. What happened next?”
“I ran away.”
“You ran away?”
“Yes! But now he’s here, in my kitchen, cooking me pancakes. Kama, what do I do?”
More silence. Then…
Kama’s howl of laughter jumps out at me over the phone, and I’m tempted to hang up on her.
