Page 35 of My Hotshot

Or not.

Or maybe?

Chapter Twelve

Lainey

“This isn’t going to become an every weekend thing, Lottie.”

“Mom,please,” Lottie whined, dragging out the word like it had extra syllables. “We want to watch this old, classic show calledOne Tree Hill.”

My breath caught in my throat. “Classic?” I gasped. “That show isn’t eventhatold.”

“It’s from the early 2000s, Mom. It’s aclassic.”

She was just trying to hurt me with those words. “I watched that show when I was growing up, Lottie, and I’m in mythirties.M*A*S*His a classic. NotOne Tree Hill.”

Lottie rolled her eyes dramatically, like that was the most mom-thing I could possibly say. “Whatever you say. Can I go to Julie’s tonight?”

“It’s Friday night,” I said, my tone flat with meaning.

“And?” She bounced on the balls of her feet. “We want to stay up late and watch as many episodes as we can. Please?” She stepped forward, clasping her hands together in front of her chest in full-blown beg mode. “Please,can I go?”

“I haven’t met Julie’s parents.”

She grabbed her overnight bag off her bed and slung it over her shoulder like she was about to backpack across Europe, not go ten minutes away. That bag had seen more use since we moved to Mt. Pleasant than it had in the three years prior.

“You can meet them when you drop me off. Please, Mom,please?!”

I sighed and rolled my eyes, already halfway resigned. “Fine.”

“Yay!” she cheered, spinning toward the hallway. “What time do I have to be home? Can it be six?”

“In themorning?”

Now it was Lottie’s turn to rollhereyes. “At night, Mom. We need all the time we can get to watch as many episodes as we can.”

“You know, back inmyday, we had to wait an entire week between episodes. No binge-watching.”

Lottie nodded solemnly. “I know. And you also went to those machines to rent records.”

I blinked. I could feel a headache blooming behind my left eye. “They were DVDs, and it was calledRedBox. And for the record, there are still RedBox machines. There’s one by the drugstore back home.”

“Good story, Mom. Ilovewhen you tell it.” Her voice was pure sarcasm, her smile wide. “Now can wepleasego to Julie’s? They’re waiting for me to start the first episode.”

I was losing her—oneOne Tree Hillmarathon at a time.

Fridays used to be ours. We’d curl up on the couch, true crime reruns playing while we picked apart delivery pizza and argued over who the real killer was. But now? She had new people, new plans.

It looked like I was going to be solving cold cases with mozzarella sticks all by myself tonight.

I grabbed my keys and shoved my feet into my sandals. “Let’s go. I wouldn’t want you to be late for the first time Lucas sees Peyton.”

Lottie slapped her hands over her ears. “Don’t tell me anything! I want to besurprised.”

“Oh, you’ll be surprised,” I murmured.One Tree Hillwas an emotional roller coaster. They had no idea what they were in for.

We stepped into the garage, the fluorescent light humming above us. I hit the button to lift the door while Lottie zipped ahead to the driver’s side.

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