“Bailey.”
Maddy shifts. “I can go if this is—”
“No,” I say, fast. Way too fast.
God, I sound pathetic.
“You’re here now. I’m not letting you go home after coming all this way. That’d be criminal,” I add quickly.
She lets out a tiny laugh—nervous but cute. And in that moment, Mom joins us, glowing. “Maddy, darling!” She hugs her. “So good to see you.”
Maddy returns the hug. “Yes, good to see you too.”
I look at my mom and she avoids eye contact completely. Of course she knew.
Mom claps her hands together softly. “Well,” she says warmly, “shall we go inside?”
Together with Bailey, they walk towards the entrance.
Maddy and I stay where we are for a beat longer. And we’re both thinking the exact same thing: We haven’t even talked about the kiss. And now we’re having dinner. With my family.
Well, this should be interesting.
We both let out a small awkward laugh. I gesture toward the entrance, holding my hand out slightly. “After you.”
A tiny smile touches her mouth before she nods and walks past me, the faint scent from her strawberry shampoo brushing by.
The hostess leads us through the warm, low-lit restaurant, menus tucked against her arm, heels clicking softly against the floor. But I’m barely aware of anything except the blonde girl walking in front of me—until the waitress stops at a booth near the window and gestures for us to sit. The four of us slide into the booth together. Bailey looks up at me with the tiniest smirk and I give her a death stare in return.
I’m going to kill her. After dinner.
But also, sitting across from this gorgeous blonde girl isn’t exactly the worst situation I’ve ever been in. So maybe I’ll only threaten her.
The waitress takes our drink order. And a moment after she walks off, Mom folds her hands on the table. “So, Maddy,” she asks warmly, “how’s school going?”
Maddy straightens a little. “Good. Busy, though.”
The conversation moves easily from there. Maddy talks about an assignment she’s working on with Mel and Liam. Somethingabout the heart and lungs I believe, but she throws in some terms I absolutely don’t know the meaning of.
Bailey shares her usual doses of high school gossip. Apparently there’s this guy who has two girlfriends at the same time and he thinks he’s being slick. But his girlfriends actually know about it and plan to get some good revenge on him. These teenagers are crazy I swear.
Mom’s just enjoying the chaos of the stories and for the most part, it feels normal. Except it’s not. Because less than twelve hours ago, Maddy and I literally kissed. And now we’re sitting next to my mom and sister like nothing happened.
I haven’t read a single word of the menu. Not one. My attention keeps drifting back to her. At one point, our knees bump under the table, she glances up and catches me already looking. I don’t even bother pretending I wasn’t.
Mom launches into a story about college—something involving fake wristbands, fake ID’s, and a concert she definitely wasn’t supposed to be at.
Bailey nearly chokes. “Mom. You were committing crimes?”
“I was young,” Mom says with a laugh. “And it was a very good band.”
I shake my head. “I don’t even know who you were before you were my mother.”
“You don’t want to,” she fires back.
The waitress returns for our orders, and I finally glance down at the menu like I’ve been studying it this whole time. Maddy orders first, and then the waitress turns to me.
“Same for me,” I say, even though I have no idea what she ordered.
