I paused, midbite. “Complicated?”
“I have kind of a weird allergy,” he explained. “I can’t have any raw fruit or vegetables.”
“Really?”
“Yep. If they’re cooked it’s fine, but I can’t do raw. No berries or anything. And so when I get a burger it has to be totally plain—no lettuce, onion, tomato, nothing. And so sometimes it’s just easier to get something else.”
“I don’t think that sounds like a real allergy. I think that’s something you made up when you were a kid and didn’t want to eat your vegetables.”
He laughed, and I felt myself start to relax. “You’re not the first one to suspect that, believe me. In primary school, my friends were always trying to sneak things into my food to see if I was lying.”
“So you can’t have salad? Carrot sticks?Smoothies?” He shook his head, giving a little shrug. “What happens if you do have them?”
“Hives,” he said matter-of-factly. “My whole face starts to swell up. It’s not attractive.”
“I find that hard to imagine.” A second later, I realized what I’d just said, and took a quick sip of my Coke to try and cover.
Freddie took a big bite of his burrito and nodded appreciatively. “Now, this is amazing. We don’t have anything like this back home.”
“And where’s back home?”
“London,” he said, then shook his head. “Well, kind of. I grew up in Croydon. I was only in the city proper for about five months before getting this gig and coming here.” He paused and looked at me. “Have we had this conversation before?”
I shook my head. “Nope. This is by far the most we’ve ever talked.”
He set down his burrito and made a go-on gesture. “So, walk me through it. How does it work?”
I regarded him for a moment, just trying to get a sense of what he was thinking. “Are you saying you believe me?”
“I don’t know if I’d go that far,” he demurred. “Call me intrigued.”
“Hi, Intrigued,” I said, giving him a wave. “I’m Cass.”
He grinned at that, his dimple making an appearance. “I set myself up for that one, huh?” He looked at me expectantly, waiting for me to continue.
I took a breath. I’d wanted to tell someone else about this—I really had—but now that I had to try and explain this to someone, I wasn’t sure how it was going to come across. Would I just sound absolutely bonkers? I had no idea—but there didn’t seem to be anything to do except jump in. “Okay. So I just graduated a few days ago.”
“Hence the trip to Grad Nite,” he said, his voice overly serious.
“Well, exactly. I’m here with my school, Harbor Cove. It’s about twenty minutes from here. More in traffic. Have you been?”
Freddie shook his head. “Unless there’s a bus that goes directly there, let’s just assume I haven’t been, because it’s not like I’m driving. Are you aware people in this country drive on the wrong side of the road?”
“I thinkyoudrive on the wrong side of the road. We literally drive on the right.”
“And you don’t even have ?proper trains!”
“We have trains!” I protested, feeling that America was being unfairly maligned. “There’s the surf liner that goes along the coast. And I know we have one that goes to LA.”
“I’m quite familiar with that train,” he assured me. “But sorry to interrupt. You were here with your class…”
“Right. And it was normal at first. Really fun…” My voice trailed off, and I paused, not sure how much I wanted to go into. “Well, it got a little weird. I ran into some people that I hadn’t seen in a while, and they weren’t exactly thrilled to see me. And then…I got into a fight with my best friend, Bryony. So I just decided I was done, that I was going home. And as I was leaving…” I stopped and took a drink of my Coke, and Freddie leaned forward, like I was getting to the good part of a mystery. Which I supposed, on some level, this was.
“Yes?”
“As I was leaving, I made—a wish. I wished that there was a way I could do this over. And then the streetlights flickered, but I honestly didn’t think anything of it at the time.” Freddie nodded, listening, his eyes not leaving mine. “I walked out the doors. But then, a second later…” I took a deep breath and made myself say it. “I was just—back. But it was the beginning of the night, and I was just arriving. And everything had reset.”
“Everything?” he asked, his eyes wide.
