“Yep. Until six. Why?”
He takes another sip from his drink. “I just wanted to check out the books.”
“You can buy a book anytime,” April says with a hint of flirtation in her voice. “Why does Natalie need to be there?”
I could kill her for what she’s implying, but Jonah just smiles and stands up. “You’re right,” he says with a chuckle. “See you at tutorials, Nat.”
We watch him walk away just far enough to be out of earshot and then I glare at April. She holds up her hands defensively. “Sorry,Nat. The boy wants to see you after school,” she says, wiggling her eyebrows. “Plus he called you Nat. Casual friends don’t give each other nicknames.”
“I said we aren’t talking about him anymore.” There’s a lump in my throat and it feels hard to breathe, but I think that’s just my heart’s way of telling me I totally screwed up. I should have been nice to Jonah from the start. Maybe he would have liked me in the way I like him.
“I don’t think you’re over him,” April says softly. “I’m just calling it like I see it.”
Caleb and his friends jog past us, chasing after a ball that got kicked way too far.
“Let me prove it to you,” I say as I gather up my courage. I cup my hands to my mouth and yell, “Hey, Caleb!”
He looks around, and then nods when he sees me wave at him. “Sup, Natalie?”
I’m aware that a few people are still out here, some of them looking in my direction. I don’t care. I have to prove to myself that I’m over Jonah once and for all. “You wanna go out me with on Wednesday?”
Beside me, April gasps. My heart beats so fast it might explode, and I watch Caleb’s eyebrows shoot up at my unexpected invitation.
“Yeah,” he calls back as someone tosses him the ball. “Sounds fun.”
Chapter 20
Caleb tosses the football back to some guy and then I have his full attention. As much as I’ve wanted just that, having Caleb’s eyes on me is kind of intimidating. I wonder how many people are watching this exchange right now. April has slipped off somewhere, probably to give me time alone with him, but I kind of wish she was here right now.
“So what’d you have in mind?” Caleb asks, giving me a grin just like he had when we’d kissed at the arcade.
“Wednesday,” I say as we walk. I’m not sure what I want to do, and I probably should have figured it out before I yelled his name and asked him on a date.
“This Wednesday?” he asks, lifting an eyebrow.
“Yep. The third. Should we go to the beach and hang out at that bonfire that’s always lit?”
He nods. “Yeah, I could do that. But why Wednesday? Why not the weekend so we can stay out late?”
“It’ll be April third, which is my birthday,” I say with a grin. My answer makes him stiffen.
“Your birthday? Am I supposed to get you a gift?” He laughs and holds open the door to the school for me. “I wouldn’t even know what to get.”
“No, not at all,” I say quickly, hoping he doesn’t think I asked him out just to get free stuff. “I just wanted to have a chill night. Maybe we can get a cupcake from Gigi’s on the boardwalk then hang out by the bonfire?”
“Uh, sure,” he says after thinking about it for a few seconds. Down the hallway, some guy calls his name. He nods at him, holding up a finger to signal that he’ll be right there. “Just text me or something.”
And then he jogs to catch up with his friend, leaving me in the crowded hallway after lunch, reeling over my newly found confidence. I asked a guy out. And he said yes.
The next two days fly by, and the next thing I know it’s Wednesday, April third. My birthday. Mom’s still asleep when I leave the house in the morning, so I don’t bother waking her up. When I was a little kid, she’d make me smiley face pancakes and let me open one present before school. Now that I’m older, birthdays really aren’t a big deal. Sometimes I miss being a kid.
April is waiting for me on the sidewalk when I leave my house. Usually we meet in the middle of our houses, but today she’s holding a gift bag piled high with tissue paper.
“Happy birthday!” she says, rushing up the steps to my porch. “I thought I’d meet you here so you can leave your gift at home and not have to lug it around all day.
I grin as she hands me the bag. “Thank you,” I say before I even open it. I didn’t realize how bummed out I felt about Mom sleeping in until now. It’s not every day that your daughter turns eighteen.
April has given me a new Circle E Candle in my absolute favorite scent, Barefoot Beach. It’s the big one too, the one that costs more and is harder to find in stores. I clutch it to my chest. “You are an angel,” I say as I close my eyes and hug the candle. “Thank you so much.”
