Maybe This Time(35)

“You’ll figure it out,” Micah said. “I have faith in you.”

I was glad one of us did. “I don’t want to think about it anymore.” I stuck my phone in my pocket. “Let’s talk about anything else.”

Micah lifted her hair off her neck and leaned back in her chair. “Is Kyle coming today?”

“I don’t know.” Kyle. Another thing in my life that I felt unsure about these days. And he wasn’t doing anything to help in that area. We hadn’t texted in weeks.

She read my mind, like she often seemed to, and said, “Just ask him out again. I’m sure that’s what he’s waiting for.”

“I’d rather let him reach out first.”

“Why?”

“Because I have massive amounts of self-control. Kind of like when Walker puts that biscuit on his dog’s nose.”

I nodded my head toward Walker, a guy from our school who was playing Frisbee with Lance. Walker’s dog wasn’t here today, but that didn’t matter; my point worked without the dog.

“You know that eventually Walker lets his dog eat the biscuit, right?”

Maybe she was right. Maybe Kyle and I were too alike, and we’d both wait until the cows came home if one of us didn’t swallow our pride. “I guess tonight I’ll eat the biscuit then.”

“Wait, what?” she asked, obviously not following my metaphor.

“Kyle will be here and I’ll ask him out.”

“Yay!” she said, then scrunched her lips to the side. “That biscuit analogy didn’t work, by the way. Don’t use it again.”

I laughed.

Gunnar came running over with a huge rock. “Do you think I can make this one skip?” he asked.

“No. Skipping rocks need to be flat and smaller.”

“I bet I can make it skip,” Andrew said, appearing beside us.

He seemed to always show up out of nowhere. Well, not nowhere. He had obviously been at the event, and it was a small event and … fine, he always seemed to butt in.

“How much you want to bet?” I asked.

“Five bucks?” Andrew said. The rock was the size of his palm.

“Have you ever skipped a rock before?” I challenged him.

He lowered his chin. “Is that a real question?”

“If you think that rock can be skipped, then yes, it is a very real question.”

“Five bucks?”

“Five bucks.”

Gunnar handed Andrew the rock. It didn’t look quite as big with Andrew holding it but still. He and his preppy shorts walked toward the water.

Andrew rubbed the rock between his palms a couple of times. Then he wound up his arm and threw. With a plop I could hear from where we sat ten feet away, it sank to the bottom. Gunnar thought this was the funniest thing in the world and he doubled over with laughter.

Andrew turned to face me.

I raised my eyebrows at him. “You owe me five bucks, Hart. I’ll add it to the list of things you owe me.”

“What else do I owe you?” he asked, walking back.

“I believe you still owe me flowers, bought by you, arranged by me.”

Andrew smirked. “Oh, that’s right. Our first meeting. How could I forget? You obviously haven’t.”

“You make it impossible. You just keep showing up.”

He held up his phone. “Get closer to Micah. You guys look like America right now.”

He had a point; I took in Micah’s red T-shirt and my multicolored plaid dress. Micah leaned close to me and Andrew took a picture.

“Soph!”

I turned to see my mom walking up, holding a plate of food.

“Oh, hey, Andrew,” Mom said, stopping in front of us like she hadn’t come over here just because of him. “I didn’t realize that was you.”

Micah pinched my arm. Had I scoffed out loud?

“Hi, Ms. Evans.”

“Larissa,” she corrected. “How are you? Jett said you two were in New York for a couple weeks. That sounds like fun. We’ve never been to New York.”

“You’ve never been to New York?” he asked my mom, and then glanced at me.

“No,” she said. “Sophie wants to go there for school but she’s always been a bit of a dreamer. Life has a way of turning us all into realists eventually.”

Great. As if Andrew needed more ammunition for his insults.

Micah put her arm around me. “If anyone from Rockside could make it in New York, it’s Sophie.”

I noticed Andrew didn’t chime in to agree with that statement … and neither did I.

“Oh, Micah,” Mom said. “Don’t encourage her.” She laughed like this was a fun little conversation we were all having about somebody else’s future. “Anyway, speaking of reality, I’m off to work.”

“Isn’t the entire town here today, Ms. Evans?” Andrew asked. “I didn’t think the diner was even open.”

“It will be a slow night, but we’ll have some customers.”

“I didn’t know you were going to work,” I said. “What about Gunnar?”

“Gunnar can stay here, of course. It’s not like you’re actually working.”

“Mom, Caroline said …”