“I haven’t. Not yet,” I admit.
At that, she shuts her eyes and lets her head fall to the table, groaning and laughing at the same time. “You’re ridiculous. You leave in a week!”
“I’ve told you about my parents. They’re cool.” It’s the truth, and I’m eternally grateful for it, especially seeing how wacky someof my high school classmates’ families were. “They’ll be fine, and they won’t suspect a thing.”
“And again, I wish you all the best. But maybe tell them before you rock up with a sexy American athlete who you met under suspicious circumstances.”
“I should,” I concede.
Claire goes back to studying for her last final, and I let myself go into a spiral of everything I should have thought about over the past three weeks, but haven’t. It’s not…extraordinaryfor Nick to be traveling with me, right? My friends from high school go and see each other all the time, and I did too at the start of college before things got hectic.
So it isn’t necessarily out of the question.
But then again, Nick and Iarespending more time together than I ever have with any other friend. Or even with my high school ex, who I saw every dayin school.
And then there’s the fun addition of how much sex we’re having, not that I’m ever going to complain about getting my mind—and something else—blown on the regular. It just makes things slightly more complicated, especially when the two of us have gotten used to chilling after the fact.
We blur lines for sure, but we haven’t erased them entirely. Not even close.
My phone buzzes with a text, jerking me out of my contemplation, and I glance at the screen to find it’s a message from Dad.
Mom’s probably left for work already, but maybe I can catch Dad before he leaves, too. And tell him about Nick coming to visit in a week.
God, what was I thinking, putting this off for so long?
After nodding at Claire, I leave the study room and step into the library foyer, where it isn’t a quiet zone, and call Dad.
“Hey, kid, what’s going on?” he asks.
“Hi.” I try to purge the nerves from my voice. “I’m good. There’s something I want to run by you and Mom before I come home.”
“Sure?” Dad’s voice breaks at the end. “Is there anything wrong?”
“No, no. It’s just…”Shit.“One of my friends here wants to visit China over the break. Is it okay if they stay with us?”
Silence. Stunned fucking silence.
I hold my breath.
“So this friend of yours decided on a whim to buy a ticket to come back with you for two weeks? Just like that?”
“Yes,” I reply. “There’s still time to refund the ticket”—maybe?—“so I wanted to run it by you first.”
This isn’t a video call, and not being able to see Dad’s expression is making my heart go into overdrive. The silence isn’t helping my nerves calm down, either. I’m not sure if Dad’s hesitation is because he’s tired, or if he straight up doesn’t believe me.
“You and Mom did say I could bring a friend back to visit, right?” I remind him.
“Yeah, we did, but we weren’t expecting them to come with…not very much notice.”
“Oops.”
“Look, it’s fine,” Dad says. “We’re just glad you have friends.”
Seriously?I scoff in disbelief.
He chuckles. “I’m kidding. Lighten up.” Then his voice drops. “Isthis…frienda guy or a woman?”
Sheesh, why’d he have to imply adifferentkind of friend? Way to make my stomach churn.
