Page 44 of The Perfect Hit

“Oh, I probably should’ve had you put your shirt on first, but I didn’t want to give it away.” She walked over and pulled a shirt out from her bag. On the front of it, she’d stenciled the logo from Lou’s diner.

“Am I a shake?” I said, actually really excited about it. Although, that made me think more about Colt than I should’ve, and another wave of I-don’t-want-to-do-this hit me. Why did Marcy have to ask him? I would’ve much rather gone with him. But then again, would I have asked him? Probably not. I didn’t have time as it was with the play in a week, but maybe a night out would help me relax.

Brynn nodded. “I dropped off the one for Adam to his house yesterday but wanted to give you the full surprise today.”

I crinkled my nose and looked at her through the mirror. “Isn’t it weird that I’m the one who’s supposed to be going on the date and you dropped off the costume?”

Brynn shook her head. “No, it’ll be fine. Adam seems like a chill guy anyway.”

“Chill enough to know that there’s no future for this?”

“Haze, most guys understand that.”

Did Colt understand that? He’d seemed pretty cozy with Marcy backstage the other day, and it had been hard to talk to him like normal the past week. I wanted to blame it on lack of time, but it seemed like things were escalating in his and Marcy’s friendship—or whatever it was—and I was panicking that I’d be left in the dust.

“Okay, let’s get this show on the road.”

Brynn drove to pick up Nate, and then we had to navigate to find Adam’s address.

When we got there, I hesitated for several moments, not sure I was ready for this. The last date I’d gone on flashed before my eyes. I’d gone out with Seth to see a movie I’d been dying to see. Once it was over, he’d stormed out and basically told me we were done, that he couldn’t handle how into music and theater I was and why couldn’t I just hang out and be at his beck and call.

“You’re going to be fine,” Brynn said, turning to look at me from the front seat. “Just go up and knock. He should be ready.”

Once the front door opened, Adam stood there in comfy shorts and a hoodie. He was a cute guy, but there was no stomach-flipping or increased heart rate. “Hey.”

“Hey,” I said, panicking that he wasn’t actually ready to go. “Did you remember that tonight is the dance? I mean, um, we’re heading to dinner in a few minutes. Brynn said she dropped off your shirt and little, um, straw piece yesterday.”

“Oh, uh, yeah. Sorry, I forgot.”He frowned. “Um, I’ll go change really fast.”

Forgot? Really? I’d asked a few days ago, and then he’d answered me yesterday. How did he forget between then and now?

“Okay, I’ll be out in the car.”

I walked back to the car and closed my eyes, sliding into the backseat so I wouldn’t see the pity on Brynn’s face.

“What happened?” Nate asked. Of course, he would have to get right to the heart of things.

I tilted my head to the side, adding some sarcasm to my tone, and said, “Apparently heforgotthat the dance was tonight. At least the costumes don’t take too long to put on.”

“That’s strange. It seems like Adam is so put together and on top of things usually, at baseball anyway. Then again, I don’t have any classes with him at school.” Nate folded his arms over the pool noodles that had been cut to look like French fries.

The door opened behind Nate, and Adam slipped in. The two of them greeted each other through the usual manly fist bump, and I was just grateful it wasn’t me, myself, and I alone with him right now.

“Hi, Adam. I’m Brynn,” my cousin said.

He nodded, his eyebrows raised. “Yeah, we met yesterday.”

“Right, yes we did,” Brynn said, laughing. She put her car into drive, and we headed in the direction of dinner, which was another part of the plan I’d forgotten to ask about.

It took several moments for me to gain the courage to even look at Adam, and then I had to laugh at the look of him with the straw piece sticking out from his forehead. “So what brought you here from California?”

“My dad’s job.”

I waited for more, but that was all he was giving me.

I nodded. “That’s cool. I just moved from Buffalo last summer. Are you liking it here?”

“Yeah,” he said. “There’s not a ton to do, and I miss the ocean. But it has its perks. My dad isn’t gone quite as much.”

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