“Hmm…Amsterdam, maybe Oslo? Berlin?”
I writeBerlin, Amsterdam, and Osloreally big at the bottom of my page.
“Yes! I’ll start googling hostels.”
Maddy shoots me a grin and goes to run more food orders. She lingers a little longer than needed as she pours coffee for the girl in the corner, but I can’t catch what they’re saying.
I’m jotting down other ideas for my application when my phone lights up next to my milkshake. It’s Jackson, asking if I want to go to dinner soon. After the drive-in, he walked me home, since Abbi went to Cam’s, and I found out his mother is an artist and has taken him all over the world to see some of the greatest museums. I’m dying to hear more. I smile and send a yes. Maddy resumes her position across from me at the counter.
“Was that Luke? What’s going on with you two?” she asks, looking excited.
I swallow, my mouth cottony. “There’s nothing going on. That was Jackson.”
She looks at me, quiet, waiting. I hold out. Maddy sighs.
“Something happened at the drive-in, before Jackson got there. Was it just that Izzy’s back? Because they’re not serious. They were on and off all summer last year.”
“Seemed serious.” I try to keep my voice light. “And I don’t care, really. Luke can date whoever. We’re just friends. Did you get her name?” I glance at the girl in the corner booth, who is opening her laptop and emptying sugars into her coffee.
“Sienna.” Maddy blows her bangs out of her eyes. “Stop deflecting. So, you two talked? Like, for real, about…everything that happened? And he knows about your heart?”
“You hypocrite.” I shake my head. “And well, no, not in detail”—I shrug—“but we agreed to be friends again. I’ll tellhim about my heart soon. I swear. But I’m fine and it’s not really important now.” I don’t mention the moment in the dark at the drive-in.
Maddy smirks. “You two aren’t meant to be just friends.”
“No one is meant for anything, Mads. We both made choices, and his was clear.”
Jackson sends me a thumbs-up, and I show Maddy my phone. “Plus Jackson is new, and he’s nice. And he’shot.” I reach for another fry and Maddy takes it right out of my hand.
“Hey!”
“Sure, so hook up with Jackson, whatever. But you’re still avoiding them, aren’t you?” she says, pointing the fry at me.
“Avoiding what?”
“Your feelings for Luke.”
“I don’t have feelings for Luke.”
“Liar!” Maddy’s voice rises, and there’s another crash from the kitchen. The family in the corner whips their heads her way, frowning. Sienna looks over too, concerned, and Maddy tucks her hair behind her ear. “Oops.” Maddy laughs as Kris shouts that she’s okay again, then leans closer and lowers her voice. “I didn’t push last year ’cause, well, you know, but come on, you’d be so great together. He literally has two pieces of your heart. Tell me a more storybook romance beginning than that.”
My heart flutters in reply, and I sigh. “I really don’t want to talk about it, Maddy.”
“Maybe you need to,” Maddy says, gently cutting through my bullshit.
“Maybe,” I admit, “but I just want to move forward, not back.”
“But what if you left something good behind?” Maddy asks.Thankfully more food comes up in the service window and she leaves me with my thoughts.
She’s not wrong. Sometimes it does feel like two summers ago Luke and I missed out on something great. By July I was sure Luke and I were going to be getting together, but it just kept not happening. At the end of August, the camp hosts a dance at the high school, and I was positive Luke was going to ask me as his date. There’d been so many moments all summer where it felt like something was about to happen that kept getting interrupted by our friends or siblings or even my own nerves. Then, a week before the dance, he stopped me on our bike ride home, pulling us off into the grass at the corner of Beach Rose Lane.
“What’s up?” I asked. “You’re going to be late.” He was due at the shop to help his dad with some delivery orders.
“It’s fine.” He pushed his hair out of his eyes and smiled his mischievous smile that crinkled his eyes and set off butterflies from my chest to my toes. “Meet me at our beach tomorrow night. Ten? After your tournament.”
“Okay,” I said. My heart raced. I had a feeling this was it; he was going to ask me to the dance, tell me he liked me as more than friends. “Why?” I half whispered.
“I’ll tell you tomorrow, Watkins,” he said, his eyes playful.
