Chapter 30

“I asked questions.”

“Not ones that mattered.”

“You were too pretty for those questions.”

I smiled and tried not to be too flattered but a few butterflies took flight in my stomach. “Don’t you mean too lonely?”

He gave me a smirk. “Well, that too.”

We made it to the doorstep and I turned toward him. “So prom night makes me think you’re like your mom. But . . .”

“But?”

“But then you walk me up to my door out of the obligation instilled in you to be a gentleman and that makes me think you’re more like your dad.”

“My mom might take offense to that.”

“Why?”

“Because had she taken you home, she would’ve probably walked you to your door too.”

“So then I’d be standing on my front porch with your mom.”

He chuckled. “Yeah, not a great image.”

“So you’re saying you’re like your mom?”

“No. You got it right. I’m a little bit of my mom, a little of my dad, and a lot of me.”

“Well, that’s a very good mixture.” I pulled out my keys to unlock the door. “I had fun tonight.”

“What would you have done tonight if you hadn’t gone with me?” he asked.

Logan’s party. I hadn’t even thought about it since the beginning of the night. At first I’d even thought that the second Hayden dropped me off I would head straight there for the end of it, but I didn’t feel like doing that at all right now. “My friend from school is having a party tonight. He’s thrown some killer . . .”

I trailed off because I couldn’t remember the last time a party had really been all that killer. Hayden tilted his head like he was waiting for me to finish. He was giving me that look again, the one where he was searching for something beyond what I was offering. Hadn’t he learned by now that what he saw was what he got?

“Go on,” he said.

“Never mind. It was stupid.”

The front door opened then—how could I forget that my parents always waited up for me?—and my dad appeared.

“Tia?” he said.

“Yes, sorry. I’m coming in.”

My dad took one step out. “Hello, I’m Mr. Montgomery.”

“Good to meet you, sir. I’m Hayden.”

My dad looked at me to explain who this was and I didn’t know how. “He just brought me home. Thanks, Hayden.”

I walked inside and heard my dad offer a better good-bye than I had then close the door.

My mom sat on the couch reading. “How did studying go?”

“I don’t think she was studying,” my dad said.

“What?” My mom looked concerned.

“The girl you met earlier? It was her brother. The one I told you about. He gave me a ride home.”

“Well, why didn’t you say so?” my dad asked.

“I just did.” I looked between the two of them, waiting for them to ask more, to accuse me of not being where I said I was. My mom just folded the blanket she’d been using and placed it on the couch. I tried to imagine what would happen if I told them about revenge and fake dating. The images in my brain consisted of a lot of sputtering speeches and confused looks. “I’m going to bed.”

“Say good night to your brother too. He’s leaving first thing in the morning.”

“Okay.” I knocked lightly on my brother’s door but there was no answer. I cracked it open and saw that he was already in bed.

He rolled over and sat up a little. “Hi, T. You’re home.”

“Yes. Just saying good night. Have a safe drive tomorrow.”

He dropped back onto his pillow. “What was up with Goth Girl earlier? Why are you hanging out with her?”

“She’s just a friend. Sort of.”

He gave a sharp laugh that caused tension to spring into my chest and I shut his door before he said something rude. Hayden was wrong. My brother didn’t want a relationship with me. After spending some time with Hayden and Bec, I could see that what my brother and I had wasn’t great.

When I got to my room I started a group text with Claire and Laney to let them know I wouldn’t be joining them. We ended up texting about my date. They gave me the expected responses—lots of exclamation marks and all-caps—which tonight didn’t feel as satisfying as they normally did.

The morning sun shone through my window and I rolled over, rubbing my eyes. I stared at the ceiling, thinking about the night before, what Hayden and his mom had said about being better. I wondered what a better person consisted of. Where I was supposed to start.

My mom knocked on my door then poked her head into my room. “Good morning. Your friends are here.”

“My friends?” My phone said it wasn’t even ten a.m.

“Should I tell them to come up?”

“Sure.”

She closed my door and I rushed over to the mirror above my dresser to see how out of control my hair was. It was bad. I had just enough time to run a brush through it before my door opened and Claire, Laney, and mea burst through, a combination of laughter and perfume.

“Hi.” I put a smile on and plopped back on my bed where Claire had sat. “What’s going on?” I wondered why they were all together without me. Had I forgotten something we planned?

Claire, who seemed to read my mind, said, “Mea kidnapped Laney and me this morning and then we came over to say hi.”