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28
Owen
Meredith paces in front of my closet. Coco holds little Lulabelle on her hip while flipping through my rainbow of teacher polos.
“So, you’re going out together but not together?” Meredith swallows, a tentative expression glossing over her eyes. No doubt, she is remembering the date that Coco set her up on—all to make Levi jealous. Meredith may look tentative now, with my situation, but it worked for them. “I’m just not sure about this,” she says.
Coco’s look says she agrees with her. “Well, Annie’s picking him up in thirty minutes, so it’s happening whether we like it or not.”
“You could cancel,” Meredith suggests.
But I can’t do that to Annie.
Coco jumps in, knowing me better than she should. “But he won’t.” With our unique situation, Coco and I have known one another for less than two years. But there are things you can’t deny—and our bond is one of them. She is my sister and dear friend. “Besides,” Coco adds, “I think we need to see what comes of his letter.”
I swallow. This is all starting to feel like a very real game of Jumanji with not my life but my heart on the line.
“It was a good letter,” Coco reassures me. She clears her throat—which may be a tell that she’s about to say something I might not love. “And I might have written one too.”
Okay—a confession. “Coco.” I groan.
A hiss sounds from a suddenly still Meredith. “I wrote one too.”
“No.” Air exits my nostrils as if I were a bull. “You didn’t. This isn’t happening.”
“What isn’t happening?” Levi says from the doorway.
Coco presses a kiss to Lulabelle’s head. “We just told him that we wrote letters to Annie about the two of them dating.”
Levi grunts. At least he’s consistent.
“Don’t give us that look.” Coco flings a hand his direction. “You wrote one too.”
“WHAT?” I bend over, hands on my knees, unable to catch my breath.
“Mom made me,” Levi says.
“Mom?” I say, my body still doubled over, my eyes on the scratched and worn wood of my floors.
“Sure. After the girls wrote one and mom heard about it, she made us all write one, Coop and Miles too.” Levi pounds me on the back. “Don’t freak out. We all made new accounts and signed those idiotic names people sign for things like this.”
I lean into my hands, pressing into my thighs. “Let me see.” Standing, I hold out a hand for Levi’s phone. My family lines up like the troublemakers they are. Sweat trickles down my back. I may need to shower again before we go. But then, I know there won’t be time. I’ve got some reading to do before I get dressed and Annie will be here shortly.
Coco:
Dear Ask Annie,
From a fan who truly cares about you—maybe take some advice this once. You’re setting your “friend” up on dates. Well, he sounds pretty great. Are you sure you want to be setting him up with a stranger, with anyone other than yourself?
From,
Someone Who Cares
Oh, crap.
Meredith:
Dearest Ask Annie,
