I nodded at the door, which Grace had left slightly open behind her. “The way you talked to her. Is it a joke, or not?”
“I never joke when it comes to pretty girls,” he replied.
Of course he didn’t.
“Don’t feel bad about not understanding me, though,” he said. “I’m kind of an enigma. Mysterious, hard to know.”
“People that are hard to know don’t oftenannouncethe fact they are hard to know,” I pointed out.
“That’s part of the enigma thing. Always staying unexpected. So what happened to you back there?”
I blinked, surprised by this sudden left turn in conversation. “It was hot,” I said. “I got light-headed.”
“So old Jughead groping you wasn’t an issue.”
I reached up, tucking a piece of hair behind my ear. “It was a grope, wasn’t it?”
“More like a grip.” He stretched his legs out in front of him, leaning back on his palms. “If you have to clutch a girl, you’re doing something wrong. Definitely not a mysterious enigma.”
“My friend set me up with him,” I said.
“Might be time for a new friend.”
I shook my head. “No. She means well. I haven’t... I’m not that social lately. She’s trying to change that.”
“Not social? What’s that like?”
As if on cue, the door slid open again. At first I thought it was Grace, as the figure that emerged also had a boa and tiara. As she got closer, however, I realized it was one of her friends, a shorter girl, curvier, with dark hair. “Ambrose! Are you hiding from me?”
“I thought you knew you were It,” he told her with a smile.
She struck a pose, one hand on her hip. “You know that’s true. I am all Itanda bag of chips. Now come on back inside, you promised to take a shot with me.”
“You had me at chips. Just give me five minutes.”
Again, a pout. Was I the only girl who didn’t have this move already down? “I don’t wait for anyone.”
“I’m not just anyone. I’m Ambrose.” He winked—winked!—at her. “Five minutes. I’ll be the one ready for some chips.”
She shifted her weight to the other leg. “Hope you’re hungry.”
I was struggling not to make a disgusted face when I realized that I wasn’t having trouble breathing anymore. For all the ridiculousness of these exchanges, the distraction had been helpful. “See you inside,” Ambrose said now, and after a beat, the girl turned and walked away, fluffing her hair as she went.
“Wow,” I said, as the door shut behind her.
“Agreed. I’m all for innuendo, but you can take it too far.”
“How do you even know those girls?” I asked. “Didn’t you just move to town?”
“They picked me up when I was walking here.”
“You walked here?” The A-frame wasn’t in the country, but neither was it in the town center. “Why?”
“I walk everywhere.” He lifted one foot, then the other. “Just me, Pete, and Repeat.”
“By choice?”
“By order of the state of California,” he replied. “I’m currently between licenses.”
