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“You dumped me, Jennifer. Why would I want to talk to you?”
Jennifer frowns. “I know, but still. We were together for a while. I thought you would at least try. Instead, I see you at the skating rink—somewhere Ineverthought I’d catch you, by the way—and you’re with some preppy girl having the time of your life. I don’t know… It sucked.”
“Welcome to my world,” I think I say to myself.
Turns out, I said it out loud.
16
KENNETH
The more I think about it, the more it seems to make sense just to invite Selena to spend Christmas with me. I can’t stand the thought of her hanging out here in my house alone. Especially with nobody around to protect her from Derek, should he somehow figure out where she is.
I don’t know why, though. I’m nervous to ask her. It would be just as friends anyway, so I shouldn’t be so scared of getting rejected.
The thought comes to me while I’m getting ready for work one morning, and I can hear Selena out in the kitchen making herself her usual breakfast—two egg whites on a piece of whole-grain toast. She likes to use that everything-bagel seasoning stuff. She made me buy some, and now I love it, too.
As soon as I finish styling my hair in the mirror, I double-check that I look okay, then I head out of the bathroom and walk into the kitchen. Selena is barefoot, wearing pink PJ shorts and a gray cropped sweater.
“Good morning,” I say to her, feeling weird and formal for some reason.
She turns around and smiles at me, and my stomach dips.
“Good morning!” she says back. She has her plate of breakfast in one hand and a glass of orange juice in the other. “Breakfast?”
She asks me this every morning. I never have breakfast. I like to sleep in for as long as possible and then rush out the door, grab myself some gas station coffee, and get the job done.
I shake my head at her and smile. Then I run a hand through my hair because of the nerves, butthenI’m worried I’ve messed up my hair, and that I’m going to have to go back to the bathroom to check it before I leave.
“You look stressed out,” she notices. She notices a lot of things about me. Either we’ve just gotten to know each other pretty well already, or she’s good at reading people.
I shrug. “So, I have an idea,” I start before I chicken out.
She tilts her head at me and goes to sit at the table. I walk over to it and pick up all my belongings to take to work.
“And what would that be?” she asks. I can tell that she’s worried it’s going to be Derek-related. At least she’ll be happy to hear that it’s not.
“I think you should spend Christmas with me,” I say. I finally let out the long breath I realize I’ve been holding in.There, I did it.
She purses her lips and looks away, her eyes in thought. “In … LA?”
“Yeah. Um, I just think it’s better than you being here alone. It would be as friends, of course.”
She hasn’t even touched her breakfast yet. “Why do you want me to come with you?” Her voice is soft, and the way she’s looking at me is making my stomach squirm uncomfortably.
I itch the back of my neck. “I just told you, ya goof.”
She smirks at me. “That’s … Wow.”
I point at her plate. “You should eat. Before it gets cold. You can think it over; it was just a thought.”
She still doesn’t touch it. We are silent for a bit.
“Alright, if you’re not gonna touch it, then givemethe plate, and I’ll eat it.”
I’m only joking, and she knows this, so she chuckles. “I guess I really don’t want to go home to my parents. And the thought of being here all alone is kind of sad and pitiful, isn’t it?”
Hope rises in me. “Exactly!”
