“How is she getting back?” he demanded as Mom fired off a text.
“Cal,relax. I’ve asked her. Sit down and chill.”
“Let me know what she says. I don’t want her out on the streets late at night. Caleb can meet her if needed.”
Great.
“I’ll get her,” Gabe shrugged, and I turned to look at him.
“Nice one, dude. Saves me a job,” I yawned as we left the kitchen, my mom texting Summer to tell her the latest news about getting home.
“Summer said she would text you when she’s ready, Gabe. Thank you, you’re a real sweetheart,” she called after us. He smiled and followed me upstairs.
CHAPTER 13
SUMMER
Surprisingly, I had a fantastic night with Jett. He was charming and funny, but he wasn’t right for me romantically. My head wasn’t in it, nor was my heart, so that left nothing else. He dropped me back at Jade’s house, and I sent the ‘okay, ready’ text to Gabe.
?I felt Jett’s eyes on me and hoped he wouldn’t make this difficult. I didn’t want to fuck up the whole letting-them-down-gently thing by being blunt; I would appreciate the same if it was me.
?“Thank you for tonight. I had a great time,” I began, ready to jump into my tirade of why it wouldn’t work when Jett stopped me by placing his hand on mine.
?“But?” He smiled as I made an uneasy face. He held his hands up and shrugged.
?“Hey, no hard feelings, babe. You can’t win em all.”
?Relief washed over me as I reached for the door handle, desperate to be out of this confined space with him. It was just awkward, and I don’tdoawkward.
?I returned a small smile as he turned his gaze back to the road, speeding away without once looking back.
?I don’t know why I do this to myself. I want love, the sort my parents have. The effortless kind that gives you butterflies every time you see them. I want to miss someone so badly it hurts.
?Yet, I keep going on dates with guys I have no real chemistry with, hoping it will materialize out of thin air.
?Maybe I watch too many Disney movies.
?In fact, IknowI do. I sing along to every word in Beauty & The Beast without missing a beat. I walked up and down the sidewalk, kicking at non-existent rocks while I waited for Gabe.
?My heart lurched at the thought of him, and I realized I was grinning stupidly. I was probably just glad it was him and not my brother coming—I didn’t want to have to lie to Caleb again about what I’d been doing.
?Gazing up at the sky, I noticed the scattering of stars above me shimmering brightly. I used to believe that the universe was a whole white blinding light, that Earth was wrapped in a dark blanket at night, but the blanket had holes in, and shards of light shone through, and we called them stars.
Funny how you get more and more disheartened as you grow up, once things are explained to you in a flat reality. I heard footsteps coming up from behind me, and I whirled around to see Gabe waving. My stomach flipped, and I tried not to stare as he jogged over, glancing up at the sky.
?“You stargazing?”
?I nodded, following his eye line. “Yeah. It’s hard not to when it’s like this.” I waved at the clear sky, and he gave me a genuine smile. I knew the difference with Gabe.
?Sometimes he would smile and nod, his eyes expressionless. He would other times smile at things people said, but he would be somewhere else, distant and brooding. But sometimes, justsometimes,you would see him smile like now. His eyes danced with intrigue, his body relaxed as he drank in the night sky. “Thanks for coming to get me.”
?He moved his eyes back to me and shrugged dismissively. We walked back toward my house, neither of us in a rush.
?“So, how was your date?” Gabe asked so casually, I almost replied truthfully, but then I bit my tongue.
?How did he know?!
?He grinned. “I won’t tell, pinky promise.”
