Maybe This Time(22)

“Excuse me?” Andrew asked.

Micah seemed to realize that maybe now, with Andrew in the van, wasn’t the time I should be venting about his father. She tried to backtrack. “We’ll talk about this later.”

“What did my dad do?” Andrew asked. “Look at you funny? No, wait, did he insult your centerpieces?”

I gritted my teeth. “He insulted my work ethic … and my mother.”

“Because she was throwing herself at him today? He gets that a lot, so he has zero patience for it.”

“Get out of my van,” I said coldly.

“Gladly.” He closed his computer and stood, immediately whacking his head on the ceiling. He sucked in a breath of air. I probably shouldn’t have thought that was instant karma, but I did.

“Wait,” Micah said, grabbing Andrew’s arm. “Don’t leave like this. There is some misunderstanding between you two and we need to figure it out.”

“No misunderstanding,” I said.

“None at all,” Andrew agreed.

“Sit,” Micah said. Andrew was still hunching, his hand on the back of his head. He sat. I sighed.

Micah looked at Andrew. “So your dad is kind of a jerk sometimes.” Then at me. “And your mom does flirt with men she thinks might be a means to security. Can we at least all agree on that?”

I took a few deep, angry breaths then reluctantly nodded. Andrew let out a grunt.

“There. See, don’t we all feel better when we find common ground?”

Andrew and I both started talking at once, me saying exactly how uncommon our ground was and him saying that his dad was under a lot of pressure or some other stupid excuse.

Micah put up her hands and yelled, “Stop!” Then she looked defeated. “It really sucks that you two can’t get along.”

She was good at making me feel guilty. I noticed that Andrew looked a little ashamed himself. That was a new look.

“Is that what I think it is?” Micah asked, pointing to a yellow piece of paper that was folded next to Andrew’s leg. She picked it up and opened it.

“It’s everything you’d ever want to know about Sophie,” Andrew said. “According to her mother.”

“And why do you have it?” I asked.

“Thought you might want it.”

“Because I need a study guide on myself?”

Micah started laughing and I realized she was reading it. “Walk the Moon? Scared of thunder?”

“I know,” I said.

She hummed a tune I didn’t recognize at first. Then she sang out, “ ‘Don’t you dare look back, just keep your eyes on me.’ ” Walk the Moon’s most popular song. “Remember how much we loved that song?”

“Yep.”

“You have some blank answers here.”

“We didn’t finish.”

“Okay, challenge,” Micah said. “We each have to answer one of these remaining questions honestly. I pick who gets which one.”

“You get to pick your own question?” I asked. “How is that fair?”

“Because you know I’d answer any of them. I’m an open book.” She held up the page. “What do you say, you in?”

“What are the questions?” Andrew asked.

“You’re either in or you are out,” Micah said.

“I’m in,” I said, mostly because Andrew was hesitating and I was petty enough to want to do the exact opposite of what he was doing.

“Fine,” he said.

Micah smiled big. “Okay, Andrew first, then.” She read and reread the questions and apparently figured out who would get each one because she finally asked, “What, my friend, is your biggest fear?”

“Answering personal questions,” he said.

She kicked his foot with hers. “Nope. I reject that answer. Try again.”

He drummed his fingers on his leg. “If I answer this honestly, you two have to do the same.”

Micah held up her hand. “Scout’s honor.”

“That’s not the sign, but whatever,” he said. “My biggest fear: making friends.”

“What?” she asked, like he had answered it with a throwaway answer again.

A stray sunflower petal stuck to my palm and I picked it off and rolled it between my thumb and forefinger. When nobody said anything, I asked, “Because you move so much?”

He met my eyes and gave the smallest of nods.

“So you’re scared to let yourself get close to people?” Micah asked as though she hadn’t suspected this about him at all. I wasn’t surprised.

“Yes. I mean, I’m really good at being friendly with people.”

I let out a single laugh.

“Well, most people,” he amended. “But getting close to people when I know I’m just going to leave? What’s the point?”

“The point is,” Micah said, clutching her hands to her chest, “everyone needs to bare their soul from time to time.”

“I never need to bare my soul,” he said. “My soul is pretty surface level.”

I smirked. “Micah has all her soul barings scheduled.”

“I probably should do that,” she said. “It might help. Well, Andrew, your biggest fear has come true. You have friends.”