Equally enthusiastic.
Something fluttered in my chest.
Something unfamiliar and terrifying and unexpected.
It wasn’t love. God, not that. It was far too soon for that.
But it was something.
Something that made me want to see him again.
And again.
Chase turned away and kept walking, disappearing around a corner.
I got in my car and sat there for a moment, my hands on the steering wheel, as I replayed the conversation we’d just had and tried to keep my goofy grin in check.
On the seat next to me, my phone buzzed.
Chase: You loved the crepe. Admit it. I am a breakfast god.
Me: A minor deity.Possibly.
Chase: All hail, the King of Crepes!
Me: I’m moving back to Ireland now. Thank you for your service . . . and your coffee.
I started the car and smiled all the way home.
Chapter 28
Finn
Icouldn’t stop belting out the chorus to “Don’t Stop Believin’” at full volume—using my steering wheel as a drum set, complete with enthusiastic air cymbal crashes against my poor dashboard—when I pulled up to the red light at Hillsborough and Armenia.
I did a dramatic drum fill, head bobbing, completely lost in the moment.
I also hadn’t noticed the woman in the SUV next to me.
She was staring.
And laughing.
Laughing so hard she had tears streaming down her face.
She pointed at me, said something to whoever was in the passenger seat, and they both started cracking up.
I froze mid-drumroll.
Oh God.
My windows were down.
They’d heard everything.
The woman gave me an enthusiastic thumbs-up and mouthed, “GET IT!” The passenger applauded and yelled, “I love Journey!”
My face went nuclear as I rolled up my window so fast I nearly broke the button and then slumped down in my seat like that would somehow make me invisible. The light turned green, and I drove away with the damaged dignity of a student caught by college campus police mid-streak.
