Chapter Seven
Cammie
I arrived at Dorrie's, like always, around five in the afternoon, armed with dessert and a smile.
Her cute little yellow two-story with a gorgeous wrap-around porch was the small-town dream.
There were three rocking chairs that were often occupied by her, Ethel, and Iris.
I didn't get to stop by as much as I'd like to, but I loved sitting with Dorrie on her porch, drinking tea and chatting.
It was relaxing, but I was pretty sure she'd mainly had it built so she could make sure she had a good view to people watch and a good place to sit to overhear news.
Whenever I brought that up, she'd laugh and tell me she's a connoisseur of all kinds of tea, not just drinkable.
I reached the front door and knocked, even though Dorrie always left the door unlocked for me and would always tell me I could just come in.
It felt rude not to knock, even if I knew the door was unlocked.
I wondered, like always, if she always left her door unlocked in general or if she just did when she knew I was coming.
Pine Grove was safe enough, but it probably still wasn't smart to keep her doors unlocked all the time.
I knew better than to try to tell her what to do, though.
Even if she wasn't always leaving her doors unlocked, if I told her not to, she might start just to prove that she trusted everyone in Pine Grove.
I knocked a couple of times on the door with my free hand, waiting for her to call out to me to come in.
It was our routine. She would call me in and then playfully chastise me for not making myself at home and just letting myself in.
So, I was surprised when the door swung open.
Then, I nearly dropped the tray I was holding when I saw it was Mattie standing there.
He was a head taller than me, with my freckles and the same shock of red hair, but his hair was far less tame.
"What are you doing here?" I squealed, throwing my free arm around him as he wrapped me in a hug.
"Can't I stop by and see my baby sis?" He asked.
Of course, he could, but if that was all he was up to, he would've told me he was coming.
"Okay, fine, but what are you doing here?"
"I caught a ride with Mel, and you know Dorrie-"
"-sensed the second we crossed the town border, probably," a woman's voice finished from behind him.
I pulled away from Mattie and saw his best friend, Mel. She was Mattie's height with dark hair, beautiful floral tattoos covering what I could see of her arms, and dark sunglasses hiding what I knew to be gorgeous eyes.
Every time I saw her, I hoped I would feel different, but like clockwork, the damn butterflies were back. She held an arm out to me.
I stepped out of Mattie's arms and moved to wrap my free arm around her.
"Ohh-" she said, stiffening at the contact.
I froze, pulling back. "Sorry, um, sorry, it's great to see you," I said quickly. Not understanding what I'd done wrong, but knowing my face had to be redder than my hair right now.
"No, no, it's-" she chuckled, "I was trying to help you free your hands, but it's nice to see you too."
I was going to die.
With any luck, the ground would swallow me up, and I would be sucked into the Earth right now.
Unfortunately, I wasn't, so I heard Mattie's throat-clearing attempt at not laughing and had to witness Mel's awkward smile as she took the tray from me and headed towards the kitchen.
I turned to Mattie the moment she was gone and hissed, "You're the worst! Knock it off!"
"Come on, you're being ridiculous, and you know it."
If I didn't love him so much, that would've hurt my feelings, but he wasn't wrong. I was being ridiculous.
Even if Mel wasn't my older brother's best friend, she was still miles out of my league. That didn't change the fact that whenever I saw her, I reverted right back to feeling like a teenager with a giant unrequited crush, though.
I sighed. "You're right, I'm sorry. I just don't know how to be more normal around her."
"Don't be sorry, and you don't have to be normal. Normal's overrated, but it'd be nice if you could talk to her without turning the color of a tomato."
Like it wasn't bad enough already that I apparently still had my ridiculous crush on my brother's best friend. Apparently, I was also being far too obvious about it, too.
"I'll try, but pro tip? Telling someone to be less awkward usually only makes them more awkward."
He laughed, "Not possible in this situation."
I glared at his retreating back, but couldn't come up with a comeback since, again, he wasn't wrong.
I took a deep fortifying breath and slowly breathed out, hoping it would help return my face to a more normal shade of my usual freckled pale. I had no idea how I was going to get through dinner with Mel while Dorrie and Mattie were both watching me, but I'd have to find a way to manage.