His mom said something to Kaley, who then walked to one of the tables, pulling out her phone as she sat down. Gavin fidgeted with his apron.
“Go,” his mom said.
Gavin met her gaze. “She doesn’t need me.”
“Sweetheart.” His mom moved around him to untie the fabric and took it from him. As she faced him once more, she said, “Kaley and I got the shop tonight. Go talk to Lila.”
“She hates me, Mom.” He’d said the quiet words so many times over the years, but he no longer hid the emotions that went with the statement.
His mom pulled him into a hug. Sometime in the last few years, he’d outgrown her. Yet, her embrace made him feel like a child again. “It really hurts, huh?”
He nodded against her shoulder. “I don’t know what I did.”
She leaned away to look at him. “Then, go find out. You have a couple weeks together. Use the time to work it out.”
Gavin didn’t tell her he’d already planned on trying to do just that. He gave her a quick kiss on the cheek, agreeing, and headed to the back of the Scoop.
Lila had already left. But that didn’t matter. Despite her argument otherwise, he knew her. He knew exactly where to find her.
5
Tuesday
Fireflies lit the barely visible path as Gavin walked into the woods. The path was once completely flat and clear from constant use. Weeds, leaves from past falls, and sticks now littered the ground. He found his way to the treehouse mostly by memory. It sat directly on the property line of their yards, ensuring it always belonged to both him and Lila.
A faint light above proved his theory right. He climbed the rickety ladder and pushed open the door in the floor of the small space where they’d spent most of their childhood. And man was it small. It had been years since he had gone inside.
“What are you doing here?” Lila asked.
She sat in the corner with her knees drawn up, right where Gavin knew she’d go. He might not have used their hideout in years, but he’d seen her from his window walking into the trees with a lantern more than a few times.
He pulled himself up and closed the door. They used to have enough room to leave it open, but he needed the leg room now. Her soft chuckle while he got as comfortable as possible told him she thought the same thing.
“I think I’ve grown a little since the last time I was up here.” He leaned against the wall beside her, putting the grocery sack he managed to carry up the ladder between them.
“You think?” She pursed her lips, as if fighting a smile. Looking at the bag, she asked, “What is this?”
He smacked her hand as she reached for it. “Not yet. Not until we talk.”
Lila shifted to the adjacent wall to face him more and crossed her legs beneath her. “About what?”
“Why did you run out of work so fast when we were talking to Kaley?”
Lila’s brow scrunched. “I was just tired. It was a rough shift.”
Gavin looked at her for a minute. She had teased him about being tired. Her excuse didn’t add up. “Are you nervous about Bennu?”
She was always so confident and perfect. It was hard imagining her scared of anything, but that was the only other reasoning he could think of. He watched as she picked at her shoestring. When she finally met his gaze and nodded, he wanted nothing more than to reach out and reassure her that everything would be all right.
Instead, he said, “Well, we have two weeks for you to make the most out of your summer. I know you’re iffy about a truce, but I really want to do this. And I think deep down you do too.”
“Gavin…” Her words trailed off.
“Can we please put the past behind us and just focus on having a fun couple of weeks?” The rest of his plan to fix their friendship depended on getting her to agree to the temporary ceasefire.
Lila looked at him, hesitating and biting her bottom lip. She took a deep breath and nodded before sticking out a hand. “Okay… We can be friends for two weeks.”
“You’re killing me, Weston.” He grabbed her hand though, ignoring the electricity flowing into him with the simple touch. “Fine, now you may open the bag.”
He picked it up and tossed it into her lap. She pulled at the plastic, freezing when she looked inside. With a laugh she pulled out the box of pink hair dye and three bags of sour gummy worms.
“We work in an ice cream shop,” she said, throwing him a bag. “Do you not get enough sugar there?”
He gasped and held a hand to his chest in mock betrayal. “How dare you? There is no such thing as enough sugar.”
“You’re ridiculous.”
“You missed me, and you know it.”
Lila rolled her eyes, lifting the box of hair dye. She flipped it over, looking at the directions in the dim light. He took a chance with the color. The list only said pink. He had searched up and down the aisle for ten minutes before picking that bright bubblegum shade.
“What do you think?” he asked, tearing open the bag in his hand and shoving a few sour worms into his mouth.
Lila looked from the box to Gavin, shaking her head as he ate more candy. Despite the hurt itching to come out with him there in her spot, she didn’t mind his company. Though, she would take that secret to her grave. That’s all she’d wanted for years—for him to show up. How could she push him away when he finally did?
The truth was, as soon as she said they could be friends for two weeks, she believed it herself. She didn’t want to hate him. It was exhausting, and she didn’t want to fight anymore. He sat quietly waiting for
