The Way You Make Me Feel(51)

Pai is a hard NOPE on Tulum

I paced the room as I waited for her response. Minutes went by, the phone slippery in my sweaty palm. Phantom vibrations kept me checking it for a response.

Eventually my dad knocked on my door. “Clara.”

I ignored him.

Another knock. “Open the door.”

Dragging myself over to the door, I took a deep breath before opening it. “What?” I didn’t look him in the eye.

He made a face. “Excuse me? You think you can be rude to me right now?”

“Why not? You were rude earlier!”

He raked a hand through his hair, agitated. “I’m sorry I called you a butthole.”

“In front of Kody.”

“Yes, in front of Kody.”

“Butthole is reserved for family fights only.”

He laughed, quick and low. “Yes, butthole is reserved for family.”

I pulled at a piece of splintering wood in the doorjamb. “And I didn’t like you talking crap about M?e in front of her, either.”

“Understood.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “But you pushed me to it, Shorty. I wanted you and Kody to get to know each other, but you wouldn’t let it happen. Instead, you kept insisting on this Tulum thing.”

A tiny crumb of remorse rattled through me, but it wasn’t enough to change my feelings. “Well, you’ve made your position clear. I texted M?e to tell her I’m not going.”

For a second, it looked like he wanted to apologize. But his mouth formed a line, the expression that made him look like a serious frog. “Listen, at the end of the summer, let’s go somewhere. Someplace way more fun than a bougie beach. It’ll be your reward for working hard all summer.”

The sliver of wood I was pulling at pierced my skin and I hissed, pulling my finger back. My dad reached out and held my hand up toward the hallway light to get a better look. “Splinter. Let’s pull it out before it gets infected.”

I sat on the edge of the tub as my dad picked at the splinter with a pair of tweezers that he dipped in alcohol. As we both stared intently at the tiny line of wood under the translucent layer of skin on my index finger, my phone vibrated next to me. I glanced down and saw it was my mom, finally.

It was a simple, succinct .





CHAPTER 23

“What’s the deal? Your boyfriend’s a millionaire?”

I flipped down the visor in Patrick’s car so the sun wasn’t blinding me. It was Tuesday and I had the day off, so I’d invited Felix, Patrick, and Cynthia to a waterpark. That Hamlet’s mom happened to own. It was going to be real fun having them all meet for the first time. Rose included.

I looked back at Felix to answer his question. “No. I mean, I don’t know. But his mom bought this totally bizarro bankrupt water park a couple years ago and it’s going to reopen next week. And we’re allowed to try out the rides before it does.”

Cynthia’s frown was visible in the rearview mirror. “Didn’t you say his parents lived in China or something?”

I pinched the bridge of my nose. CYNTHIA. “Yeah. They do. They bought it as an investment. Even Hamlet acknowledges it was weird, but apparently his mom always has these harebrained schemes.” I giggled, thinking about the last story he’d told me. “One time, she bought an American customer-service telemarketing office in Beijing but didn’t realize until weeks into it that it was for sex toys.” After a few seconds, I realized I was the only one laughing.

The water park was about two hours inland from LA, so it was going to be a long ride. Hamlet and Rose were meeting us there. Initially I was going to drive with them, but I’d felt guilty and told these guys I would ride with them instead.

The dead air in the car was making me have serious regrets.

But then we blasted Prince and all was well as we drove on the desolate 210 freeway, passing brown hills, tract homes, and endless gas stations and fast-food stops. At one point, we stopped for In-N-Out because no road trip was complete without it.

“So, is Rose your new bestie now?” Felix asked in a teasing tone as we dug into our burgers. I caught a hint of something else in there—a little hurt.

Normally I would have denied it in a heartbeat, paired with a grade-A scoff. But it wasn’t really something I could deny. I’d hung out with Rose for about 80 percent of my summer break. And I liked doing it. I grabbed a fry off Felix’s tray, earning me a glare from Cynthia. “Rose is cool.”

“Are you serious?” Cynthia asked, her cat-eye sunglasses lifting on her face as she wrinkled her nose.

I sighed. “Yes. I’m serious.”

Patrick shook his head. “That’s messed up. Who’s going to be your mortal enemy now?” Patrick was making light of it, too. But like with Felix, I detected some bitterness underneath. I took a bite of my burger, fending off that nagging feeling I’d had for weeks—that I wasn’t sure how much I enjoyed hanging out with these guys anymore.

“Your mom,” I replied with my mouth full. He laughed, and the awkwardness dissipated.

Full of burgers, fries, and milk shakes, we pulled up to the water park an hour later.

“Oh. My. God,” I said as I stepped out of the car, pushing my sunglasses onto my head so that I could get a better look.