Page 36 of Even Exchange

“Dad’s flying to New York, but he said he can’t take us, and Patricia is sick.”

Charlotte sinks in the passenger seat, her sadness stabbing at my chest. “I’m really sorry.”

“Can you visit us next weekend?” Nash asks quietly. Desperately.

“I don’t ha?—”

“Hey, Nash,” I say, interrupting Charlotte, and she sends me a sharp look.

“Hi?” he replies.

“I’m Noah,” I say. “Lottie’sfriend.”

“Oh,” he grumbles. “Hey.”

“Wanna go camping next weekend?” I ask, and Charlotte’s head snaps toward me as I glide my hands around the steering wheel. I probably should have run it by her first.

“Are you serious?!” Nash exclaims, shouting through the phone with a huge smile on his face.

Charlotte whisper-shouts at me. “What are you doing?”

I definitely should have run it by her first.

“You’ll have to make sure it’s okay with your parents,” I continue, a nervous buzz under my skin. “But if th?—”

“It’ll be fine! Are you serious?” Nash asks again.

“Yeah.” I smile, straightening my shoulders. “I’m sure.”

Charlotte whispers, “I thought you were going to Daytona with the guys.”

“Well, now we’re going camping,” I whisper back.

“Alright, Nashy,” Charlotte says, not taking her confused eyes off me. “I’ll call Mom later to talk about the details, okay?”

“Okay!” His energy flows through the screen. “Thanks, Lottie! Thanks, Noah!” His voice fades away. “I can’t even believe this. Denny! Guess what? We’re go?—”

The line goes dead, and I glance over at Charlotte. Her eyes are narrowed on me, brows furrowed, cute little wrinkles on her forehead.

“I don’t understand,” she says as I return my eyes to the road.

“What’s to understand?” I shrug, ignoring the jitters dancing through me at the idea of us spending a weekend together. “They wanted to go somewhere for spring break. I love camping. Win, win.”

Idon’tlove camping.

But I used to go a lot after Mom and Tony first got together when I wasn’t comfortable with him being alone with her. Especially in the middle of nowhere.

So, I know how to camp. And it was the first thing that came to mind given we went for spring break when I was younger.

“I don’t have a sleeping bag, a tent, nothing,” Charlotte argues. “I don’t even knowhowto camp. How the hell to put up a tent.”

“Char.” I chuckle, interrupting her freak-out. “Calm down. I used to go all the time. My family has everything. Even canoes.”

“But what about Daytona?” she asks timidly.Does she not want to go?

“Screw Daytona,” I reply, waving a hand. “Camping sounds a lot more enjoyable than seeing Theo’s bare ass.”

She whips her head to me. “What?”

---