Chapter 23
EVEN THOUGH I NEVER FORMALLY INTRODUCED myself to them, Ruth and Eileen rated me five stars. Notable quotes included She gave us the best restaurant recommendations, and Watch out Here-to-Stay, Audrey is a Platinum Host in the making!
The compliment bolstered me, because I admit, I was getting increasingly nervous about Saturday night.
There had been no issues with preparation so far.
Griff’s lifeguarding friends had signed on and so had the football players, and everyone had signed NDAs.
“This is so wild, Audrey,” Griff’s friend Jason told me.
“How did I not know this was happening?”
I couldn’t help but smile. For once, Griffin Keeler had kept his mouth shut.
Thursday night would be a good distraction: It was prom.
Tate texted and offered to do my hair and makeup.
Is Ellie going to be there? I almost typed back, but felt my cheeks warm in embarrassment.
What was I? Ten? Of course Ellie was going to be at her house, and, okay, there wasn’t technically anything wrong between us.
Everything was just awkward, and would probably turn more awkward when Henry picked me up.
Now that Ellie and Chase were over, I didn’t know if she had a date.
I was really tempted to tell Tate I had hair and makeup appointments in town, but being pampered sounded nice. And I really wasn’t sure how to style my short hair.
What time? I texted back.
The Hoppers’ garage door was open, but instead of slipping in that way, I walked up the front pathway with my garment bag and backpack and rang their Ring camera’s doorbell. “Don’t worry, I’ve got it,” I heard an unfamiliar voice call, then jokingly add, “Wouldn’t want you to trouble yourselves!”
Three seconds later, a twentysomething guy opened the door.
He was thin with tortoiseshell glasses, and his floppy black hair reminded me of Henry’s.
Would Henry ever wear a cable-knit sweater with Adidas track pants?
In no dimension, but the outfit undeniably worked on this guy. He was really cute.
“Your name?” he asked dryly.
I blinked. “Huh?”
“Your name,” he repeated. “So I can announce your arrival.”
“Oh, Audrey,” I said. “I’m Audrey Barbour, like the jacket but no relation.”
“Pity,” he replied. “My family is embarrassingly huge fans of the jacket.”
I laughed. “Who are you?”
“Luke, Tate’s favorite cousin.”
“Actually, I think Tate’s favorite cousin opened the door the last time I knocked. Red hair? Rolex?”
Luke rolled his eyes, but I saw a smile at the corners of his mouth. “Yeah, sounds vaguely familiar.” He held up his hand, a wedding band on his finger. Cousin by marriage, maybe?
“Is Charlie here?” I asked after he welcomed me inside.
“Of course,” Luke deadpanned. “It’s prom.”
His sarcasm deserved applause.
He looked like he was about to say more, but a ping sound stopped him. He dug around in his pocket for his phone. “Shoot, I have to handle this,” he said, skimming a text before firing off a reply. “This case suddenly blew up…” He pointed upstairs.
Everyone’s up there, I surmised.
Unsurprisingly, Tate was hosting a full-on pre-prom glam session in her room.
“Awesome, you already took a shower!” she greeted me as I speechlessly took in the scene: the snacks, the freestanding rack of gowns, the treasure chest of nail polish and makeup, the full-length mirror outlined in fairy lights, and Olivia Rodrigo’s latest concert movie playing on the TV.
I could also smell a sandalwood-scented candle.
“Yeah…” I blinked a couple of times. “I thought you’d want wet hair to work with.”
She grinned. “I’ve taught you well!”
Ellie appeared in the doorway wearing a cute pink robe covered in poodles.
Tate promptly confiscated the bottle of sparkling cider her sister held.
“Hey, Audrey,” Ellie said. “Thanks for coming.” She shifted from one slipper-clad foot to the other, as if a little nervous.
“It wasn’t supposed to be this big of a production, but when Tate has a vision… ”
I gave her a smile. “I’m happy she invited me.”
Ellie smiled back, and after a few beats of noticeable silence, she suggested we start with mani-pedis.
Her friend Bridget was already getting her hair done in the bathroom, and apparently her hairstyle involved so many braids that it was going to take a while.
Tate had hired a couple of her friends as manicurists.
“Hope and Deepa, this is Audrey,” Ellie introduced me.
The seventh graders exchanged a look. “Tate bleached your hair, right?” Hope asked. “That was you?”
“Yes.” I smiled fondly. “There’s no one I trust with my hair more.”
“And you’re dating Henry now,” Deepa said.
“But Tate said he was over here playing games the other night,” Hope whispered to her.
I caught something flicker on Ellie’s face, but she simply laughed and gave the girls our color choices. Essie’s pale-pink Ballet Slippers for her and silver Cosmic Chrome for me.
Ellie and I sat on Tate’s fluffy white futon and dipped our feet in tubs of soapy warm water.
Tate’s friends put in AirPods and went to work.
I couldn’t help but wonder if Tate’s invitation was really a ruse to get her sister and me to talk.
Because suddenly, now that we were sitting together, that seemed like the natural next step.
“I’m sorry I didn’t ask about Chase,” I said once Deepa appeared to be engrossed in listening to “Midnight Rain” and Hope some audiobook that sounded a little too spicy for her.
Despite their opening questions, they weren’t eavesdroppers.
“I know you hinted in English on Monday, but I didn’t totally know if you wanted me to ask… ”
“It’s all right,” Ellie said. “I did want to tell you, but I guess I wanted to know if you really cared or not first.”
My eyebrows knitted together. “Why would I not care?”
“I don’t know.” She shrugged. “You didn’t really care about my breakup with Henry.”
“That’s not true,” I said before I realized it definitely was. I cared so much about their breakup… but from Henry’s perspective.
“I mean, I get it,” Ellie continued. “We’ve never really been friends-friends.
” She sighed. “You and Henry are best friends who ended up becoming something more—of course you were going to take his side.” She paused.
“I can’t imagine how awful he made me sound, because I was awful.
I told him I was emotionally cheating on him. What was I thinking?”
Unsure what to say without sounding harsh, I kept my mouth shut.
Ellie grimaced. “Honestly, I doubt I was thinking,” she admitted.
“Whenever Chase is involved, I never do much thinking. He has this way of sweeping you up, and suddenly the only thing you care about is how and when the two of you can be together. I didn’t even second-guess breaking Henry’s heart.
” She dropped her voice to a murmur. “At first.”
I felt a twinge in my ribs.
At first. She hadn’t meant to crush Henry at first.
Did she regret it now?
“It killed me to see him that hurt,” I said slowly, knowing I had to say something. Ellie was being honest with me, so I owed her some honesty, too. “And I was also pretty bummed. I kind of loved you two together.”
Ellie raised an eyebrow. “Really?”
Yes, I thought. Bummed enough to fake date him so he could get you back!
But I couldn’t tell her that, right? It would just make everything exponentially more complicated, especially because I had no intention of dropping Henry’s hand. I didn’t want anything to come between us. But if something already had, right from the start…
Was a part of Henry still holding out for Ellie? After all, he’d never said, Forget about our scheme, forget about Ellie.
“That means a lot, Audrey,” Ellie whispered when I didn’t answer. “I think the two of you are cute together, too. Henry really loves you.” She laughed. “‘If I loved her less, I might be able to talk about her more.’”
“That’s a nice line,” I said, feeling my pulse speed up. Had Henry said that about me? Maybe this was all in my head. “Is it a quote? Or a Henry Chen original?”
“A Henry Chen–tweaked quote,” she said. “Jane Austen’s genius. You didn’t read Emma last year?”
“No, I did.” I sighed. “But I found Emma extremely annoying, so I can’t say the book really moved me.”
Henry quoting it did, though.
Heart swelling, I hoped he would quote it to me sometime.
Even if he didn’t love me yet, it would be nice to know exactly how he was feeling.
I mean, I knew he liked me from the way he smiled, laughed, and kissed me.
Affection, whether in public or private, was his specialty.
Not to mention, absolutely no one supported me like he did.
But it had recently hit me that I wanted to hear it.
I hadn’t expected Henry to be so stoic. He hadn’t been this way with Ellie.
“It’s been nice talking to him again,” Ellie confessed.
“I can’t describe how much I missed him.
How much I still miss him.” She blinked and gave me a warm smile.
“Not in a romantic way, anymore… but as a true friend. Henry really understood me, and I knew I could tell him anything and lean on him for support. Chase…” She trailed off.
“Well, I didn’t realize how much Henry’s friendship meant to me until I got back together with Chase.
” She shook her head, disappointed in herself. “Never take Henry for granted, Audrey.”
I slowly nodded, my stomach churning. I couldn’t keep Henry’s and my origin story a secret from Ellie.
No way. She deserved to know how much she’d meant to Henry, and how far he was willing to go to get her back.
Maybe our stunt didn’t make her jealous, but the effort behind it might make all the difference.
I didn’t want Ellie to come between Henry and me, but if they were both holding out even a shred of hope for each other, chances were he and I weren’t meant to be together.