The Way to Game the Walk of Shame(16)

“Really? Why not?”

There was some rustling as if he was moving the phone around. “Let’s just say you have your secrets and I have mine. I’ll meet you at your house.”

“Okay. Do you have a pen? I can give you my address.”

“Don’t worry about it. If I’m lucky and it’s fate, I’ll just find your house somehow.”

I let out an aggravated sigh because he wasn’t taking me seriously. Maybe it would be easier to just hire a hit man. I was sure Dad would be happy to defend me in court. If I was caught, that is. I’d learned a thing or two from watching CSI. “What do you—”

Evan snorted. “Keep your panties on, I was just joking. I know where you live, and I’m on my way now.” I turned away from the phone to curse, but he must have heard me, because I ended up having to hold the phone several inches away before his booming laughter made me permanently deaf. “Sorry, I forgot that no underwear talk was allowed. I won’t do it again.”

Oreo nudged my leg for more food, and I sank down beside him on the cold tiles. My fingers played with his floppy ears as I stared at the silver fridge. “Uh-huh. So I’ll see you in a half an hour?”

“Make it twenty minutes. And don’t worry, I’ll be sure to jump the fence so no one will see me.” He laughed again and hung up without saying bye.

Evan was only five minutes later than he said he would be. And he did show up at my back door—although I’m not sure how he managed to jump my five-foot steel fence—with two large branches on either side of his head. Even his cheeks were streaked brown and black with mud and dirt for camouflage.

Despite my mood, I couldn’t help but give him a reluctant grin. “I hope those branches didn’t come from my yard.”

“’Course not. Who do I think I am?” He grinned as he tossed the branches aside. His teeth seemed even whiter than usual against the mud. “I took them from your neighbor’s yard.”

“That’s a relief.”

As soon as I let him in, loud, fierce barking filled the room. Evan looked around, but Oreo was nowhere in sight. I smothered my snicker with a cough. He may have sounded like he was going to rip Evan limb from limb, but I knew he was probably cowering somewhere safe and out of reach. He was always like this whenever a stranger came into the house. The perfect definition of all bark and no bite.

I didn’t tell Evan that, though. Instead, I wet a couple of napkins and handed them to him. “Here.”

“Thanks.” His eyes kept flickering around the room as Oreo’s barking turned into a low, demon-from-hell growl. God, I loved that dog sometimes. “Okay, either your dog is really small and that’s why I can’t find him, or he’s a ghost dog and I’m going crazy. Which is it?”

“What dog?” I asked with wide eyes. At his freaked-out expression, I couldn’t keep the laughter in for long. “He’s probably squeezed between the edge of the chair and the corner over there.”

Evan dropped on all fours and ducked underneath the kitchen table. Immediately the room got quiet. “Oh, there he is.”

I leaned against the counter and waited for him to get up so I wouldn’t have to talk to his butt the whole time. It took a few minutes, but I didn’t mind.

He muttered something to Oreo. I didn’t know what he was saying, but it wouldn’t have made a difference. Oreo never went to strangers unless he’d been around them for a few hours or they had sausages or bacon in their hands.

Of course, considering the disappointment of the past couple of days, it should have been obvious that the dog I’d had for over two years wouldn’t do what was expected of him. It wasn’t long before Evan was able to pull him out and settle him happily on his lap. I thought Evan only had a way with girls. I guess he had a way with dogs, too.

“So you wanted to talk?”

I crossed my arms, trying to look anywhere but at the gorgeous boy in front of me and my traitorous dog. The butterflies in my stomach multiplied. My mouth opened and closed, but nothing came out. Not because I didn’t have anything to say, but because I was distracted. Again.

It really wasn’t fair. Evan was a surfer, so he had the body. But did he really have to have the soulful I-understand-and-feel-your-pain eyes, too? I’ve always been a sucker for dark-gray eyes.

All my earlier confidence faded. I turned my head away to help lessen the power of his eyes. “Okay, so I thought about what you said after lunch, and I think you were wrong. About the rumor and everything. Because even if everyone forgets, it doesn’t matter. The damage would have already been done. Memories can never be totally forgotten. So the only solution is to alter their memories into something you don’t want to be forgotten. You know what I’m talking about?”

At the blank look on his face, it was obvious that he didn’t have a clue. “Do you?”

To be honest, I wasn’t really sure. “What I mean is that I think we should just roll with it.”

“Meaning?”

I let out a deep breath. It was now or nothing. “Meaning I think we should start dating. What do you think?”





5

-Evan-

What did I think? My first thought was that she was crazy. My second thought? That she was super crazy. Knock-on-her-head, tripping-on-cracks crazy.