Chapter 5
five
Oh. My. Gosh.
“Charlie!” I stumbled back a couple of steps. I just opened the door to my brother’s best friend—the boy I’d had a crush on for ages—in a towel. Not just a towel, but with wet hair and a face mask on too. Holy crap, he would never let me live this down.
My stomach twisted in embarrassment while also erupting in butterflies because my emotions could never be normal or stable in any way. “You were supposed to be Violet!”
“Violet?” He looked around like he thought someone might appear out of nowhere to surprise him. “Why would I be Violet?”
“Because I was expecting Violet, you idiot!” I held the towel tighter to me. I felt a little bad about calling him an idiot—god only knows if someone greeted me like this, I would also be very confused—but I didn’t stop to apologize. “If I knew it was you at the door, then I would have…”
“Worn clothes?” he suggested. I could barely hold back the whimper of embarrassment that was residing in the back of my throat.
Why, oh why, did Matthew never tell me when he was having people over?
“Don’t worry about it, Mads. I’ve seen you in a bathing suit hundreds of times, and this is basically the same thing. ”
Was a ratty towel that barely covered my torso the same as a bathing suit?
Well, I guess he wasn’t totally wrong on that front since it did cover more than a bikini, but that didn’t make this situation any less mortifying.
But I refused to let embarrassment show in front of anybody—least of all in front of cute boys.
“I’d like to think I look better in a bikini,” I said as smoothly as I could. “Anyway, like I said, Violet’s coming over, so I need to get dressed.”
“Oh, so I’m the only one who gets the free show?” He smiled cheekily. “Lucky me.”
“Don’t make me punch you.”
“If you can manage it without dropping the towel, I’ll give you ten bucks.”
I scoffed and shook my head. “Matthew’s in the backyard. Just to warn you, he’s only in a bathing suit, so save some of your remarks for him.”
I spun on my heel and walked upstairs. I was tempted to run as fast as possible, but the stairs were wood without any sort of carpeting, which meant they were very slippery and the last thing I wanted to do was face-plant in front of Charlie Owen of all people.
“It was nice seeing you again, Madison!” Charlie called after me. “Hope we can do this again soon.”
Kill. Me. Now.