“I, um, carried you,” Finn says, like he’s embarrassed.
Is he embarrassed? ShouldIbe? Mostly I’m just pissed that I was unconscious for the whole thing.
“Oh, thank you,” I say dumbly.
“It’s no problem,” he says. I think he’s going to leave it at that, but he goes on. “You know being stubborn to the point of endangering yourself won’t help you find Sybil, and… and I’d be very upset if something happened to you.”
“You hate me.” I take another swig of my water.
“I could never hate you, Emma.”
“You just think I’m overly stubborn.”
“I never saidoverlystubborn. But…” His eyes are twinkling like he’s about to laugh.
“But what?”
“Well, I’ll never forget the debate where you were so offended by the opposing team’s tactics that you physically moved the podium so you wouldn’t have to look them in the face.”
I laugh, the memory coming back to me. “Are you making fun of me?”
He’s laughing too, but he stops now, and the seriousness that suddenly fills his expression almost takes my breath away. “Never,” he says. And I believe him. The way he looks at me, there’s a new flutter in my stomach separate from the nausea.It doesn’t feel entirely bad, but it’s even scarier. And for the first time in several years, I let myself imagine what it would be like to be with Finn. Like maybe our love story was supposed to start a decade ago. Like maybe I should have told Finn how much his actions over the years had wounded me. But instead, every time, I ran away before he could hurt me even more. He brushes away a lock of hair from my cheek, and he’s looking at me right now like I’m something precious. He’s leaning closer, and my chin tilts up. Somewhere from the dark recesses of my id, a phrase blazes across my mind:Kiss me.
Then my phone buzzes, and the moment collapses around us. There’s a blush flaming across my cheeks, and my heart is slamming against my rib cage. Turning away to give myself a moment, I pull my phone out from the waterproof pouch the kayak rental had given us. It’s Nikki. I answer ready to tell her we haven’t seen any sign of Sybil, but before I can say hello, she says, “Open Find My Friends.” I put Nikki on speaker and navigate to the app. It looks like Liz is still safely on the East Coast, my mom is in Dallas, Willow and Nikki are overlapping dots just north of my blue dot, and there’s Sybil’s photo floating up and to the right. It takes a second for it to hit me.
“She’s inVegas?” I can’t keep the disbelief out of my voice. Finn comes to sit beside me on the edge of the lounge chair. His damp T-shirt presses against my shoulder, sending a shiver down my spine. A memory flashes across my mind. Me and Finn, water all around us, our mouths sliding against one another’s. The very first time I kissed Finn Hughes… My eyes snap to his. Could Finn tell how much I wanted him to kiss me a moment ago?God, I hope not.I scooch over, putting an inchof separation between our two bodies, and turn my focus back to Nikki. It doesn’t help. I can still feel the heat of his body radiating against my back. “S-so has Sybil been in Vegas this whole time?” I stutter out.
“I don’t know,” Nikki says. “It just occurred to me to look at the app a few minutes ago.”
“Is Jamie meeting her there? Maybe they’re eloping?” I ask.
“I don’tknow.” Nikki’s voice is reaching a slightly hysterical pitch.
“Shh, it’s okay.” A soft voice comes through over the background. Willow. “Jamie’s still here in Malibu. But I think he’s starting to suspect something’s up.”
“Guys—” Finn speaks into my phone, leaning even closer to me in the process. “Hey, it’s Finn. I think we all need to calm down. Sybil will be fine. It’s normal to want to blow off some steam before a big life event.”
“First flaw there is assuming that Sybil is at all normal,” I say. Sybil is so beautiful that most people can’t see what an absolute weirdo she is. She snacks on raw pasta and is obsessed with romance novels and outer space. “Remember when she wore that ‘Pluto Is a Planet’ shirt for a solid month in eighth grade?”
“Good point,” Finn concedes. “She was pissed about that Pluto thing for a long time. She wrote her senior thesis on it.”
I guess Finn is one of those people who see the weirdness in Sybil and still love her. For once, the thought doesn’t make me burn with competitiveness.
“Focus, people, please!” Nikki’s shrill tone once again brings me back to the matter at hand.
And in that moment, I make a decision. “Finn and I are going to go to Vegas to get her.”
“Are you sure?” Nikki asks. “Maybe we need to tag in Jamie, or her parents.”
“Not yet. Finn and I should be the ones to track her down.” I feel this deep in my bones. “Seeing Jamie or her parents might send Sybil spiraling even further, and Lord only knows where she’d flee to next.”
“Okay, we’ll try to hold down the fort here,” Willow says, and we hang up.
Finn helps me up from the lounge chair. He forces a to-go turkey sandwich on me, and we head back to the valet. He hands them a ticket, and years of muscle memory has me reaching into my own pocket. I find my license, credit card, a few folded bills, and an old movie ticket all intact.
“Ooh, old license photo of Emma,” Finn says with a devilish grin, reaching for the pile of cards.
“No!” I say a little too quickly, gathering all my items back up and slipping them carefully back into my wallet. “There’s some important stuff in here.”
