“What? How?” That didn’t even make sense.
“Maizie, I like you. I’ve liked you for a long time.” He shoved his hands into his pockets with a sort of boyish innocence.
“Yeah, I picked up on that.” Maizie bit her bottom lip. Rob had always been one of her best friends. She didn’t want to lose him over this. But she needed to understand.
“I’ve watched you date half the guys in our graduating class, and I thought maybe now it was my chance.”
It all started to make sense.
Maizie lowered her gaze to the ground. How did she tell him the truth without losing him as a friend? “I’ve always liked you as a friend. You’ve been with me through it all. But Rob,” Maizie dared to meet his eyes now. “I don’t feel that way.”
Rob sniffed and looked away. She grabbed his arm and led him to the bench on the edge of the porch.
“Why did you say I was your girlfriend?” She asked again.
“I don’t know. It was dumb. I just wanted to show him. . .”
“Show who, what?” Her mind spun through the images from the last two minutes on repeat. “Christian? Was this because he gave you a bloody nose?”
Rob shook his head and looked down. “No. Nevermind, it doesn’t matter. I’m sorry Maiz. That was a jerk thing to do. Mack would have punched me,” he said with a dry chuckle.
“Yes, he would have.” Maizie gave him a half-hearted smile. “But Rob, I’m not mad.”
His head whipped up. “Really?”
“You’ve always watched out for me, and had my back. The way Mack would have.” Maizie took a breath.
He nodded and stared down at his hands. “I like taking care of you.”
Maizie squeezed his arm. “I know. You helped me through some dark times. You have the biggest heart in the world and I never want to lose you as a friend. But I’m okay. Mack’s not coming back, and there is nothing either of us can do about that.”
He sniffed and looked away. “Gosh, it sucks.”
“It does.” That greif wasn’t going anywhere. So maybe it was time she moved on. “Can we still be friends?”
“Of course, Maiz. And I promise not to act like an idiot and tell people you’re my girlfriend.” He winced.
“And I promise to not want to slap you for doing so,” she said with a smile.
He was silent for a moment.
“Are you with him?” Rob nodded straight ahead.
Maizie looked up and found Christian still across the street, staring back at her. His eyes were so penetrating she couldn’t look away, until Caroline pulled him toward the truck.
“No,” she said.
“Do you want to be?”
“No.” She lied. What she wanted didn’t matter. Whatever she felt for Christian wouldn’t last. None of her relationships did. The summer would be over soon and then he’d leave. Hopefully, her crush would leave with him.
Rob nodded but didn’t say anything else.
“This might be a bad time to bring this up,” Maizie started and glanced at Rob who instantly looked worried. “But you owe me a dance movie.” Her face split into a grin as relief flooded his face.
He rolled his eyes and stood up. “Fine. Let’s get this over with.”
“Way to be a trooper.” Maizie laughed and looked across the street on the way to the house, but the truck was gone.
