It never ends.
“Not now, Ky-Ky!” she hollers back. “I need you to get ready, please! You’ll have snacks after practice, honey!”
3,2,1…
“But, Mommmm!”
I am not sticking around for yet another whine-fest. I grab a granola bar and go straight back to my room. Then, even though I just checked, I look again to see if Brayden is home. This time I’m not disappointed.
There he is, getting out of his car while looking flippin’ gorgeous as usual, oblivious to the fact that he’s been on my mind all day. He’s so annoying. I wish he had tried to talk to me again. Even if it would just be to tell me that he’s having second thoughts. Hearing him say it would definitely sting, but I’d take that over nothing.
Maybe he’ll try again tomorrow. I’ll still give him space, but if he decides to talk to me again—I’m not going to walk away. I’ll expand my horizons of maturtity and listen to whatever he has to say. And if he happens to say that he wants us to date again, then I think I’ll be the happiest eleventh grader at Robinson High.
Chapter 24: A Pretty Good Plan
“Tomorrow” (aka, Thursday) came and went, without a single word from Brayden. I hardly even saw him, and whenever I did see him, he was always talking with someone. Mostly girls. No surprise there though. I’m convinced that just like before, he’s avoiding me. But I don’t know why.
Maybe he’s nervous about telling me that he’s having second thoughts. I mean, he was hesitant to tell me the truth about why he wanted (but actually DIDN’T want) to date other girls.
I honestly don’t know what to think anymore. There’s really no logical explanation for why he hasn’t said anything to me since he tried to on Wednesday. It doesn’t make sense. And today was just a repeat of yesterday; except, I saw him even less. Only in our shared classes, and he was absent during lunch.
I miss him.
I know it’s only been a couple of days, but I feel like I was kissed (amazingly well) and then just flat-out ghosted. He probably wasn’t even waiting to talk to me after Mrs. Flint’s class on Wednesday! Who knows, maybe he was waiting for Celise. This whole thing is just a mess. And I’m seriously dreading that I agreed to “third wheel” on Lora and Holt’s date tonight. It’s just a big, fat reminder that I’m single and have no apparent chance with Brayden.
Yep, tonight is going to suck.
Oh, I should also mention that I’ve looked out my window five times already since we got home, and his car is still MIA. What the heck could he possibly be doing that’s keeping him out for almost three hours?
I don’t think I want to know.
“We need to talk about what you’re wearing tomorrow night.”
I blink at Hailee, who’s standing in my doorway with her eyes glued to her phone. “Excuse me?”
“The housewarming party, Megan,” she huffs, tapping away on her phone, “don’t play crazy.”
Oh…that.
“I don’t have to worry about what I’m going to wear,” I drawl with a shrug, “because I’m not going, remember?”
Even if I miss Brayden, I am NOT going to spend the whole night being ignored by him.
“Yeah, right,” she scoffs, her attention now on me, “Mom won’t let that happen, and you know it.” She proceeds to cross her arms. “So, what are you wearing?”
“Clothes.”
“Megan!” she snaps, coming into the room. “Just because you’re giving him space doesn’t mean you can’t put effort into your outfit choices! Choose one of the other tops I picked out for you last week—since you actually took my advice about the blue top—and remember what I said about the jeggings.”
And then she leaves my room.
Ugh, she’s going to hold that blue top over my head for the rest of our lives…
If anything, I need to find clothes for tonight.
Obviously, I’m not the one with a date, but I’m still going out—and that requires a somewhat decent outfit.
I find myself going back to my window, and my heart skips a beat at the sight of his car. But he’s not in it, so he probably went inside already. Yeah…I’m blaming Hailee.
“Get a hold of yourself, Megan,” I mutter, stepping away from the window, “stalking him is just creepy. You’re better than that.”
Miss him or not, I can’t turn into one of those kinds of girls.
An hour later, I’m dressed to go out and I might have put on a black top just to feel more “spy-ish.” Plus, it’s totally cute. Nothing fancy, just a plain crop top that ties in the front. It honestly doesn’t even look like much of a crop top with my jeans on though. Whatever.
I’m going to a food truck event, not some runway show.
And I’d wear some comfy, causal shorts instead of the jeans…but I’ve been too lazy to shave.
#teamjeans.
I give my farewells to everyone—which results in me getting shushed by Kyle, who’s watching a bird documentary with Dad—and I roll my eyes before leaving the house.
If anything, at least I’ll get some food out of this. Lora told me she’ll treat if I don’t go over twenty dollars.
Challenge accepted.
I get into the family car, tell myself that I don’t care when I see Brayden’s car missing from the Knights’ driveway yet AGAIN, and then I make my way to the downtown area.
Once I manage to find a safe and legal place to park, I go ahead and send a quick text to Lora, so she knows I’m here.
She wasn’t kidding about all the people. Dang, who knew so many locals liked food trucks? I definitely didn’t. Also, almost everyone here is with someone. They’re not all necessarily
