Chapter 9
Nine
By the time I get home, I’m so exhausted by everything that happened that I fall asleep right away; I don’t even tell Emi or Kalani how it went.
Saturday morning, I message them in our group chat and tell them it was terrible, then I invite them to come over or visit Boscoe’s pop-up art exhibit with me tonight and I’ll give them details when I see them.
It’s definitely an in-person kind of conversation, and I’d really love to go to Boscoe’s exhibit.
Kalani replies instantly and says that Ralph, Daphne’s friend we met at the cliff, is throwing a party tonight, so we’re all going there instead.
I don’t really want to go, but my friends are excited, and I don’t want to be left out, even if Kalani tells me I’m fifth wheeling them.
Besides, I’ve dragged Kalani to tons of art exhibits over the years, and I know she’d much rather go to a party to take her mind off everything that’s happening at home versus an art show she doesn’t care about and would only be attending for me.
At work, every time the door opens, a small part of me hopes the pink team will walk in.
This both confuses and annoys me since Jay and I are not friends and last night changed nothing between us.
I only get to talk to Kalani for a minute when she pops into the bakery after her sister’s soccer game—the entirety of which I use to rant about how she has horrible taste in men for me—but Jay never shows.
A few members of the pink team come in with their parents before the end of my shift, but I don’t dare ask them where Jay is.
Besides, I don’t care about Jay’s whereabouts, I only want to repay my debt to him in ice cream. Yes, that’s all I want.
On the way to the party, sitting in the back of Emmett’s white electric Volvo squished between Daphne and Emi, I tell them all about the date. Every horrible detail.
“You were not going to climb out the window!” Kalani says, twisting from the passenger seat to look at me.
I pull out my phone and show her the video I sent to Jay of me standing on the counter and the open window.
Emi, Daphne, and Kalani all erupt into laughter.
“You really were going to jump out the window!” Emi gasps between fits. “I’m so proud of you; that’s the type of behavior I encourage.”
“It was really that terrible?” Kalani asks, trying to hold in her laughter.
I send her an incredulous look. “He brought his mom, Kalani. His mom! On a first date! And she called me a slut!”
Kalani can’t hold in her laughter anymore, but when I glare at her, she stops herself by slapping a palm over her mouth. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t be laughing, but . . . seriously? His mom?”
“Her name was Barbara, and she wanted to know my five-year plan.”
From the driver’s seat, Emmett hums. “That’s actually a really interesting question.
What is your five-year plan—ow!” He sends an accusatory look at Kalani for swatting his arm.
When she only widens her eyes at him in warning, the message sinks in, and he clears his throat.
“Ahem. I mean . . . that sounds horrible.”
“So awful she almost jumped out the bathroom window!” Daphne giggles. “What about the heights thing?”
I would’ve been willing to jump off that damn cliff if it meant getting away from Arthur and Barbara. Maybe. “It was the first floor of the building, it wasn’t bad.”
“Why didn’t you leave through the front door?” Emmett asks. I catch his eye in the rearview mirror and get distracted by their color.
“Carina?” Kalani prompts.
“Oh.” I shake my head. I need to get over this. “Just reliving the awfulness. And because I would’ve had to walk right by the table to leave. They would’ve seen.”
Emmett frowns but keeps his eyes on the dark road. The highway is busy for ten o’clock on a Saturday night, but it’s not unusual.
“Why didn’t you tell him it wasn’t going to work and leave?
” Emmett asks. I can hear the disapproval in his tone.
“It would’ve been mean if you’d left out the window, and you tricked him by making him think something was wrong with your mom with a fake phone call.
You should’ve just been honest about the situation. ”
His disappointment is obvious, and my heart sinks.
He’s right. That probably was inconsiderate of me.
It seemed like a good idea at the time—a great idea, actually—and my accomplice didn’t think the fake phone call was a bad idea.
But then again, my accomplice was Jay, and that should’ve been my first hint that I wasn’t acting fairly.
I was feeling good about my actions, even amused by them and proud of my acting skills, until this moment, with Emmett looking at me like I’ve failed him.
I study my hands in my lap. “You’re right. When I see him in school, I’ll set the record straight.”
“What? No!” Emi protests beside me. “Don’t do it, Carina! This man has your children’s names planned out! He told you you’re not allowed to work and must clean the house like it’s the 1950s or some bullshit! He called you a slut! You owe him nothing.”
Daphne nods along with her.
“It’s common decency to be straight with people, Emi,” Emmett chides, his lips pressed in a straight line. Even frowning, he’s cute.
I agree with Emi, especially because that means I get to avoid a hard conversation, but Emmett’s always had a pure heart.
He sees the good in everyone and is always so considerate of other people’s feelings.
It’s one of his best qualities and the reason I fell for him.
It would do me good to be more like him, even if I’d rather chew off my arm than have another conversation with Arthur.
“I’m not going on another date with him, but I will let him know it’s not going to work out between us.”
The thought makes my palms sweat. I really don’t enjoy having heavy, emotional conversations with anyone, least of all Arthur. But I’ll have to do it eventually, especially if I don’t want him chasing me down in the school halls to claim his five-second PG kiss. I shiver at the thought.
Emi sulks, crossing her arms and slouching against the seat. “Boo. You don’t owe him anything after that.”
“It’s the right thing to do, Carina,” Emmett adds, nodding at me in the rearview mirror, and my spirits lift. I may have to face a terrible and awkward conversation with Arthur, but at least Emmett doesn’t think I’m a bad person.
Kalani twists in her seat again, and something on my face makes her pause. “Hey, you know what? It’s my fault you had to go out with him in the first place. You just avoid him, and I’ll tell him it’s not going to work out on your behalf.”
She knows me so well. This is just like that time in ninth grade when my assigned lab partner got the flu and refused to stay home or cover his mouth when he coughed and sneezed, and she got him to switch seats with her for the week even though we were supposed to be working on a lab report together.
She got me out of sitting with Roger I-sneeze-in-people’s-faces-and-wipe-my-nose-with-my-hand Langford without me needing to say anything to him, and she can do the same with Arthur. My hopes lift.
“You’d do that?” I wouldn’t have to have a terrible conversation with him and relive that awful night? It might be the coward’s way out, but right now I don’t care.
She nods and smiles, making my heart feel less heavy. “Yup. You just run in the opposite way when you see him and I’ll deal with it. I’ll have to vet your dates better from now on. I swear he was normal when I talked to him.”
Emi snorts. “Everyone knows Arthur moves a little too fast, Kal.”
My jaw drops. “You knew?! Why didn’t you stop me?”
Emi shakes her head, shooting a look at Kalani. “I didn’t think Kal would set you up with that Arthur. I thought it was a different one.”
“I didn’t know he was like that!” Kalani defends herself.
“You were really adamant that you didn’t like Jay and that his personality and yours would never work together, so I tried to go for someone who was completely the opposite of him.
I really wanted to find someone you would get along with, and I guess I swung a bit too hard in the opposite direction.
But that doesn’t mean I knew about all the weird comments and his mom.
I thought he was just . . . not like Jay. I’m really sorry he was so awful.”
Emi’s phone rings, and she answers, turning to face the window to give herself some privacy, whispering in Japanese.
“Okay, okay, I believe you,” I tell Kalani.
I didn’t know his reputation, so I can’t fault her for not knowing either.
She was just doing what I asked by finding someone different from Jay, which, technically, she did.
She was only listening to what I wanted and trying her best to have me succeed with this blind date thing; it’s not like she wants me to go on shitty dates.
Besides, it’s clear she feels bad about how things turned out because she’s volunteering to talk to him for me.
She smiles, releasing a relieved sigh, and faces the front again. “We’ll find you someone better for next week. Maybe someone who doesn’t go to Oakwoods, so you can avoid seeing him in school after.”
A pit of dread forms in my stomach. I just came back from a terrible date, and the last thing I want to do is that again. Jay was bad, Arthur was worse. What’s next? My track record is zero for two, and I don’t want to make that three.
“Kalani, seriously? It’s fine. We don’t need to try again. I don’t have an issue being single. I’m seventeen, it’s not the end of the world.”
“I thought you were trying to put yourself out there and find someone you connect with?” she asks, pulling down the visor to check her lip gloss in the mirror.
“You can’t just give up now and go back to hiding in your comfort zone.
You did the hardest part—the first real date.
Now that you know what to expect, it shouldn’t be as scary anymore.
And let’s be honest, it can’t get any worse than a guy who brings his mom. It’s only up from here.”
I like my comfort zone. Everyone likes their comfort zone. It’s literally why it’s named that, because it’s comfortable, and there’s no reason to step out of it. “I don’t know . . .”
Kalani twists in her seat again, her eyes narrowing on me. “Why aren’t you putting effort into your dates? You say you’re putting yourself out there, but you have to do more than show up. Is there a reason you don’t want to form a real connection with someone? Do you already like someone?”
I cross my arms against my chest like it’ll defend me from her inquisitive glare. “Well, in my defense, you paid Jay, and Arthur brought his mom, so it wasn’t my fault. Plus, it is possible to be content being single. I don’t need anyone to make me happy.”
Her eyebrow arches. “I know you, Carina. You always have a crush on someone. So spill. The last crush you told me about was . . .”
She trails off, and the car is silent except for the generic pop song playing softly in the background from the radio and Emi on the phone.
Everyone’s thinking Emmett to finish the part Kalani left unsaid, and I can’t have anyone connecting any dots between me and Emmett now.
So I plaster on my best innocent face and say, “You’re right.
I need to put myself out there more, make more of an effort to get out of my comfort zone. ”
My heart’s beating fast from the words hanging in the air about my crush on my best friend’s boyfriend, and Emmett’s silence is so loud it’s deafening.
“That’s the spirit,” Kalani says with a bright smile. “The next guy I pick will be somewhere in between Jay and Arthur—that’s the sweet spot. He also won’t be from Oakwoods in case it doesn’t work out and you’re too scared to confront him.”
She turns to face the front again and types something out on her phone. “I can’t fight all your battles for you, you know.”
My stomach drops at the dig, and I force my face not to crumple. Daphne must sense how I’m feeling because she places her hand on mine and gives it a squeeze for support. Her kind smile makes me feel even worse.
My eyes drift over Emmett, who’s fumbling with the navigation, trying to turn off the toll road option.
Unless Kalani finds me someone exactly like him, I fear every date will be a disaster.
But the odds of being set up with a clone of Emmett are slim to none.
I don’t want to try again, but clearly this means a lot to Kalani, so I’ll do it.
I’ll make an effort with whoever she sets me up with next and hope that we click in a way I haven’t with anyone yet.