Chapter 31

“Oh.” I looked at mea, wondering if that was part of the original plan or if she was hoping to leave me out and then casually mention at school on Monday that they had hung out together.

Mea didn’t give away her hand. She just put on a pleasant smile. “I heard you went on a blind date last night? That’s crazy. I would never go on a blind date.”

“Yeah. Remember, I told you I was going on one when I invited you to come over and help me get ready.”

“You never called me. Maybe you thought you did because you called Claire and Laney. You probably just forgot.” She smiled sweetly. “It’s okay, it’s not a big deal.”

“Mea. I called you.”

Claire looked between the two of us. “Maybe you did forget, Tia.”

“You think I’m lying?”

“No, I already assured mea that you would never lie to us. That’s why there must be a different explanation.”

I closed my eyes. Right. I’d never lie to them. How could I get upset and accuse mea of lying to them right now when I was doing the same thing? I swallowed my pride, willing to let this one go, at least until I came clean myself and moved on. “Well, I know I told you, so maybe you just forgot.”

She shrugged. “Maybe. So was your blind date fun?”

“Yes, it was.”

“What did you do?”

Her questions always made her sound like the lead investigator at a crime scene.

“We went to a graduation party for one of his friends.”

“So is he weird?”

“No, he’s not.”

“If his sister has to find dates for him, he must be at least a little weird. I just want to know what favor you owed her to make you agree to dating her brother.”

“Yeah, seriously,” Claire said. “I’m curious too.”

“I just haven’t been very nice to her or her friends.” Which was true.

“That’s good that you could help her out, then,” Laney said.

“Yes, it is.”

My laptop sat closed on my desk and mea pointed at it. “Can I use it for a sec?”

“Sure.” When she sat down and powered it on, I went to my closet and pulled out clothes.

“Is your brother still in town?” Claire asked.

I narrowed my eyes at her but it was hard to portray anger when I was smiling.

She laughed. “What? Drew and I have a connection.”

This time I laughed. “No, he left.”

She made an overly dramatic sad face.

“So is this where the kidnapping adventure was meant to end? Or are we going somewhere?”

Laney bit her lip. “Well . . . we’re going somewhere, but we knew you probably wouldn’t want to come so we just wanted to say hi before we went.”

“Where are you going?”

“Matt texted me about ten minutes ago and asked if we all wanted to surf today. I guess his uncle is in town and is this world champion surfer or something and wanted to know if any of his friends wanted some free lessons.”

Claire nodded. “We thought we’d make it a group date. So I called Tyler and Mea called Garrett.”

I looked at Mea, who was still on the computer. “That sounds fun.”

Her eyes swung to mine and she tilted her head.

“It does?” Claire asked. “So you’ll come?”

“Why not? I should at least try it before I decide I hate it, right?”

Claire smacked my arm. “That’s what I’ve been saying forever.”

“It’s about time I listened.”

“You should ask your blind date from last night to come with us!”

It would actually be really fun to call Hayden and ask him to go on a group date with my friends and me. I liked hanging out with him. And he’d probably think surfing with some professional was the coolest date ever. But there was a huge problem with this. There were actually probably a lot more problems than just one, but I didn’t want to think about how Hayden and I were only acting and he would probably say no to a real date anyway. The main problem was that my friends couldn’t see Hayden again, ever. He was Tom to them.

“It’s too soon to ask him out again. But I’d love to come if I wouldn’t be some sort of third . . . or seventh wheel.”

“Of course you wouldn’t be a seventh wheel.”

I did feel a little like the odd-numbered wheel, but I could see how Claire might find surfing peaceful—the gentle rocking of the waves as we waited for one to ride, the power of the ocean as it pushed us along. And Matt’s uncle was really cool. Without him, I was sure I wouldn’t have been able to catch a wave at all on my first time out.

And I’d caught quite a few. But now the others were riding while Claire and I lay on our boards, side by side, hands linked so we wouldn’t float away from each other.

“You seem quiet. You okay?”

“I’m good.”

“Are you having fun?” she asked.

“Yes, I am actually.”

“Don’t sound so surprised.”

I laughed. “Well, I’m not used to being the worst at something, so that’s my only complaint. Well, that and my completely valid original points: the cold water, salt in my hair, and—”

“Sand everywhere. I know.” She smiled over at me.

“I’m impressed, Claire. You’re really good. And you taught Mea, right?”