“Aww, you care,” Alex says with a sly smile, putting his hand over his heart.
“You wish,” I grumble as I walk away to meet the girls. I pull out my wallet to pay for the drinks before Maggie can. She smiles, handing me a styrofoam cup.
The hot chocolate tastes like water with a splash of chocolate, but it makes Maggie happy, so I’ll deal with it.
When we’re done with that, we head over to the pumpkins—finally.
“Which one do you want?” Maggie asks.
“Don’t care.”
“Oh, come on. You have to pick one.”
“It doesn’t matter. Just pick any one.”
“Jordan,” Maggie whines. “Stop being so grumpy.”
“That’s funny,” Alex comments, huffing out a laugh. “I don’t think that’s possible.”
“Right!” Maggie says. “If he were a Care Bear, he’d be Grumpy Bear.”
“Oh my God,yes!” Alex says. “I’d totally be Funshine bear.”
“I can definitely see that,” Kearstin adds.
They keep talking about these stupid Care Bear things, trying to figure out which one the girls would be, but I zone out. I walk a few feet, find a pumpkin that stands out because it’s smaller than the others, and grab it up.
“No, Jordan,” Maggie complains. “You can’t pick that one.”
“Why the hell not?” I ask, holding it up. It rests in the palm of my hand.
“Because it’s small.”
“I like this one.”
“You need a big one.”
I hold her stare, not understanding what the issue is. First, I tell her I don’t care which one I want, and she tells me I have to care. So I do care, and I pick one, but then it’s wrong?
“Here, get this one,” she says, grabbing one that’s the size of a watermelon. She hefts it at me, and I take it into one hand, while she picks up the other one and tosses it to the ground. She walks off, and before I turn to follow her, from the corner of my eye, I see Alex pick up my tiny pumpkin and tuck it under his arm.
I’m able to pry Maggie away from him and his date after we pay for the pumpkins, but not before they exchange phone numbers. Great, now they’re besties and are talking about double dates.
Kill me now.
I drop Maggie off at her house, and even walk her to the door and kiss her goodnight like a gentleman. She invites me in, even though she knows I’m not going to go. I never do.
On the rare occasion we spend a night together, it’s at my place, and usually only when she has something to do the next day so she has toleave early.
When I get home, I jump in the shower, throw on comfortable clothes, and fall asleep on the couch as I listen to sports highlights.
When I wake up in the morning, my tiny pumpkin is waiting for me on the porch.
Chapter Thirty
Alex
My leg is killing me today, and I almost regret going to the festival last night.
