“We can change our minds at any time,” I said, lowering my voice in case Phoebe was still eavesdropping. “If it’s awful, we’ll come home. No harm, no foul.”
“And crush Phoebe?” Arden raised her eyebrows. “No, you won’t. You’ll suffer for her.”
“You keep telling me to be the guardian. I’ll put my foot down.”
She looked at me like my nose had grown by the end of the sentence.
“It’ll be fine,” I insisted. And I mostly believed it, because Phoebe hadn’t stopped smiling since Dex dropped us off last night.
Phoebe’s door squeaked open and she slipped out, angel-faced and armed with Dad’s Polaroid camera. “Heeey,” she said, dragging out the word. Arden narrowed her eyes at her. “Are you mad?”
“Am Imad?”
“Don’t be mad.” Phoebe shuffled over, dropping onto the cushion between us. “It’ll be fine. This is gonna be good for us.”
“It won’t be fine. Want to know why?” Arden made a show of drawing her phone out of her pocket and opening the search engine. I sighed.
“Are you googling gruesome statistics?”
She held up her phone, eyes wild. “Eighty-eight percent of woman die while traveling with strangers!”
“Thatcannotbe true,” I said.
Phoebe snatched her phone. “What did you even look up? God.”
“You can’t do this,” Arden pressed. “It’s not safe.”
“First of all, don’t trust the AI function,” Phoebe said, handing her back the phone. “Second, that’s not even what the statisticis. It says eighty-eight percent of women feel unsafe while traveling alone.”
“I’m panicking!” Arden cried. “You can’t unload this information on me and expect me to be like, ‘Bon voyage!’?”
“No one says ‘bon voyage’ anymore,” Phoebe said. “It’s cringe.”
Arden recoiled. “It’sFrench.”
“I don’t expect you to be okay with this,” I cut in, earning their undivided attention. I hated being the reason Arden’s eyes were swimming, but Phoebe sat between us, beaming, and I couldn’t let that go for anything. “I’ll keep you updated every step of the way. I’ll even get the creepy Find My Friends app if you want me to. But this is happening.”
Arden fell into our scratchy three-dollar throw pillow, flinging her arm over her face. “Fine. You win,” she said. Phoebe threw me a victorious smile, but I couldn’t bring myself to return the gesture. None of this felt like winning.
“It’ll be fine,” Phoebe insisted, patting Arden’s leg. “Right, Vi?”
“Of course it will,” I said. Phoebe glanced at me, hope sparking in her eyes. My words meant something to her; she’d done her best to keep it buried, but here was a tiny hint of that adoration she used to showcase without a second thought. I still mattered.
And I guess I knew it all along, but it was nice to see.
Arden sat up, eyes sharp, and pointed right in my face. “You’re getting the Find My Friends app.”
“I said I would.”
“And I want hourly updates.”
“Yeah, that’s not happening.”
“Do youwantme to go crazy?”
“As if we’re not already there,” Phoebe muttered under herbreath. I jabbed her with my elbow and she stifled a smile, turning her attention to the camera in her lap.
“You have to trust us, Arden. We can handle ourselves.”
