Page 57 of #Awestruck

I considered telling him, but now was not the time. “In case you didn’t know, your flavor is truly terrible,” I said, holding up one of the empty bottles before I dropped it.

“It’s an acquired taste. Like me.” His eyes met mine in the rearview mirror for a moment before he concentrated on the road again. “Hey, are you sure you want to get changed back there? I could pull over somewhere. Or you could wait and change at your mom’s house when we get there.”

“Just trust me, it is not worth the grief my mother will give me if I show up in workout clothes.” I took the sweater and skirt off their hangers. I suddenly realized that I’d forgotten to have Evan grab me a bra and underwear. Not that I wanted him pawing through my personal things, and it was too late now. I’d be in a sports bra and underwear that I could floss my teeth with. I desperately needed to do laundry. Other women wore their nicest/sexiest underwear first. I was the opposite. After I’d cleaned my clothes, I wore my most comfortable underwear first, and then I wore the stuff that would make my mother blush if I had nothing else left.

And I did not want to flash any of that at Evan.

“I can change back here,” I told him. “As long as you keep your eyes pointed that direction.” I had changed in the girls’ locker room in seventh grade and had been a master of staying mostly covered up while switching between outfits. This was no different.

I pulled my arms out of my tight mesh shirt, leaving it hanging over my chest while I slipped the sweater on. When I popped my head through the top, I caught a glimpse of Evan’s gaze in the mirror again.

“Eyes forward!” I told him. Not that there’d been anything to see, but the idea that he couldn’t help but look was ... interesting. And a little bit thrilling.

“Sorry.” He didn’t sound sorry.

“That doesn’t seem very virginal of you,” I said as I put my arms through the sweater sleeves and pulled the extra shirt out through the top.

“I’m celibate, not a saint.”

I slid my skirt up over my running pants, turning it around so I could do the back button. When that was finished, I yanked my pants off and left them in the back seat. Then I climbed into the front seat next to Evan.

I glanced at him, and he looked, as always, ridiculously handsome. He’d swept his hair up and away from his face, had shaved, and was wearing a light-blue button-down with a darker blue tie and a navy sweater. He cleaned up very, very nicely.

Meanwhile, I looked like I’d just been running. I pulled down the visor and checked my reflection in the mirror. I’d need to do something with my hair when I got to my mom’s house, but I didn’t currently have a brush. My eyes still looked bloodshot. You could tell I’d been crying. Hopefully Mom had some eye drops, too. I flipped the visor back up and then put on my seat belt.

Once I was settled, he asked, “Do you want to talk about it?”

Brenda’s face filled my mind, her sneering taunts and harsh judgments. In the few minutes I’d been with him, I’d forgotten. But instead of saying no, I said, “Not yet.”

“Okay. But I’m here if you want to.” He took my hand, and a nervous tingle ran up the length of my arm when he squeezed. He let go to turn on his satellite radio. It was set to KPRD, our local sports channel. I wondered if they were hiring.

Because I could be out of a job very soon. Brenda’s words echoed in my head like they’d been seared into my brain: “Are you really that girl? Choosing a relationship over a job?”

Maybe Aubrey was right. Maybe there were things more important than money and a job.

Evan took my hand again, comforting me without saying anything.

Of course I didn’t want to be that girl.

But I also didn’t want to be the girl who missed out on her chance at something that might be pretty wonderful.

I didn’t want to be the girl who misjudged Evan and punished him for something he hadn’t done.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

When we arrived at my parents’ house, I asked him to wait a minute before he came inside. Whether that was to give him a chance to prepare or to give my family a second to get ready, I wasn’t sure. I let myself in the front door, and everybody pounced on me at the same time. Like they’d all been standing in the foyer, waiting on us.

“Where’s Evan?”

“Did you not bring him?”

“I’m going to run upstairs for a second,” I told them. “Can you please act like humans today and not embarrass me?”

My mom turned to the others and said, “You heard her. Today we are pleasant and totally normal.”

“What’snormalmean, Grandma?” Charlotte asked.

Good question. My life hadn’t felt “normal” in a long time. I went into my parents’ master bathroom and brushed my hair. The brushing motion was soothing. Maybe I’d asked Evan to wait not for anybody else’s sake but for mine. To prepare for my two worlds to collide, hard. Like a dinosaur-killing asteroid smacking into Earth.

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