“Yes. That Chase Perez.”
“And you befriended him?”
“Oh, she did a lot more than that—” Lupe started, but I shot her a look that might have even made my mother proud, and she closed her mouth.
Luckily, Elliot was clearly distracted.
“Was he as big an asshole as he seems?”
He watched me expectantly, and Lupe’s eyebrows were practically in her hairline.
I thought about his stupid lip ring, and the pull-up bet, and how he’d asked for a smoothie, and how he’d smiled at me, and how I’d just had the best orgasm of my life.
“Yes. Absolutely an asshole. Worse, even.”
“Knew it.” Elliot shook his head. “Well, now I don’t have to even feel a little guilty fighting their permits for the beach. We have to keep the nest sites safe.”
I nodded while Lupe didn’t buy it for a second.
“All right, well—” Elliot held up the tamales. “I just came to grab these. I’m gonna head out.”
“Perfect. Great. Bye.”
I had the door open before he finished the sentence.
Elliot squinted at me. “You look weird.”
“Probably just overheating. It’s hot out there today.”
“Stay hydrated.”
He grabbed his keys off the counter—or tried to—then noticed the shattered ceramic all over the floor. He looked at the plate. Looked at me. Looked at Lupe.
“Everything okay in here?”
“Completely fine,” Lupe and I said at exactly the same time, in exactly the same tone.
He stood there for a second like he was going to say something else, then apparently decided it wasn’t worth it.
“Okay. See you tomorrow to put up flyers?”
“Yes. See you then. Bye.”
I practically slammed the door in his face.
Lupe waited exactly two seconds.
“ChasePerez?—”
“Do not start with me.”
“Selena.” She grabbed both my arms. “Selena, oh my god. That’s—that’s incredible. That’s the best thing that’s ever happened.”
“It is objectively not?—”
“You sexed up the enemy.” She was grinning like I’d handed her a gift. “You seduced the guy who’s here to blow up your whole summer?—”
“It wasn’t on purpose. I didn’t know who he was until?—”
