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“Hey, hey.” Nathan stopped me by smoothing his hands down my arms. “It’s okay. Just give me the airline and the airport that she was flying out of, and we can head out.”
I attempted to turn on my phone, realizing quickly that it was completely dead. Because of course, I didn’t have a charger on me—I didn’t think I’d need it.
Luckily, I knew Brooklyn almost as well as I knew myself, and I could guess which airline she’d take.
“Jet Blue and JFK,” I said, attempting to put my shirt on and talk at the same time.
He unlocked his phone, typing in the information. “Alright, let’s go.”
We raced down the stairs and into Nathan’s car. Luckily, we were able to get out of his neighborhood quickly, but as soon as we got close to the airport, we were in bumper-to-bumper traffic. It almost doubled our time on the GPS.
The noise of the city, coupled with the traffic, put me on edge. I rolled the window down to let the cold almost-spring air clear my head, then promptly rolled it back up when I realized it let in more noise and the smell of the trash in the city.
I threw my head back into the seat. “We’re so late.”
“Is your phone charged enough to call her?” Earlier, Nathan explained that there was a charging station under the car’s massive screen, and I had slumped in relief as my phone started to charge.
I picked it up, seeing that I already had a missed call and two texts from Brooklyn. “Looks like she beat me to it,” I said, sighing. “Let me call her. Sorry in advance.”
“No worries.” He took his eyes off the road for a brief moment to spare me a sympathetic smile. “Let me know if you need backup.”
I tapped the missed call and waited as the phone rang. When she picked up, her usually even-keeled voice was pitched low with annoyance. “Ciara.”
“Hey, Lyn!” I tried to infuse my voice with cheerfulness, sure that it sounded squeaky instead. “I know I’m late, but funny story…”
Her long sigh said it all. “Cici…you know I love you. But if you were gonna be late, you should’ve just told me.”
“I know, I know,” I said, glancing at Nathan. He mouthed to me,Five minutes.I nodded. “I spent the night at Nathan’s, thinking that it would be easier to get to you from there, and then my phone died, and—”
“Wait, back up,” she said. I could almost see her holding out her hand in astopmotion. “What do you meanyou spent the night at Nathan’s? You’ve known him for like a minute. Almost literally. How did you already graduate tosleepovers?”
“Well, to be fair,” I said lightly. “Wearegetting married.”
“Ciara, don’t play with me.” Her sigh was a quick huff of impatience. “When will you be here?”
“Soon,” I promised. “Less than five minutes.”
“See you then.” She hung up.
“Wow, she’s really pissed,” Nathan noted.
I grimaced. “Yeah, she really doesn’t like lateness. And now she’s worried about our ‘sleepover’ from last night.”
“Well, lucky for us, we’re here.” Nathan pulled into the pickup lane and parked the car. “Do you see her?”
I searched the crowd of faces, dread and relief flooding me in equal measure when I found Brooklyn. I pointed her out to Nathan. “There.”
We both got out of the car, and I waved my hands to get her attention. She had her chunkiest winter scarf on, and it engulfed her neck, all the way up to her nose. Her long box braids were up in a messy bun, but I noticed that there were neon green strands woven throughout. She wore black combat boots with dark blue dad jeans and a black leather coat. Big, noise-canceling headphones were placed over her ears.
When she spotted me, she nodded and pulled her headphones down around her neck. I could tell when she saw Nathan because she narrowed her eyes.
When she got to the car, Nathan came around to my side, slipping an arm around my lower back, pulling me toward him. He smiled.
“Hey, I’m Nathan,” he said. “I’ve heard a lot about you. It’s nice to finally meet you.”
“Brooklyn.” Her voice was cool. “I’ve heard next to nothing about you.”
I felt my smile slipping by degrees as I watched the exchange between Brooklyn and Nathan. Although I knew Brooklyn was suspicious of Nathan’s motives, and she didn’t trust wealthy people on principle, I didn’t expect her to be this…combative.
