“In the parking lot, I ran after your car like a maniac.”
“You did?”
“You didn’t hear me?”
“No.” I’m not sure what to say. It feels like this isn’t really happening. Girls like me don’t get the guy.
“Will told me to leave you alone,” Max says. “Said you were pretty adamant.”
“Well, that’s true. Then again, I’m adamant about everything.”
“Yeah, so I’ve gathered.”
“Honestly, I didn’t think you cared,” I say. “Or I had convinced myself that you didn’t.”
“I care. A lot. I kind of thought you didn’t.”
We both smile at the classic misunderstanding. It’s all so cliché-ridden, it’s embarrassing. I wish our story could have some more original twists and turns. Maybe one of us will turn into a vampire or something.
“We were both wrong,” Max says. He lets out a deep breath, and his body seems to relax from the strain. He looks more like the cool, confident Max I’m used to.
“So, where does that leave us?” I ask. I’m not trying to be dense. I really don’t know what to do. I’m scared to take the next step. Max is going to have to lead.
“I want to be with you, Kylie. I’ve been trying to say that for a while now, but you kept shutting me down.” He takes my hand in his and pulls me to him. A swell of heat rises in me. I feel like I could burst into flames at any minute.
“But I’ve got an internship this summer,” I say. “And you’re supposed to be in Europe and then I’m off to New York and you’re at UCLA—”
“And the world could blow up. Or I could get hit by lightning. A lot of shit could happen, Kylie. Don’t spin things out and start making problems before we have to. I’m not going to Europe. I’m hanging here. So let’s just start by, I don’t know, going out for dinner? A movie? Figure the rest out later. I mean, we’re already married. We should at least go on a date.” Max smiles with his whole face.
I laugh nervously. “Wait, we aren’t really married, are we?”
“No. Not really. It wasn’t legal. I asked my dad.”
“I didn’t think so.” Still, I breathe a small sigh of relief.
“But I’ve still got my ring,” Max says, pulling the cheap piece of gold out of his pocket and slipping it onto his finger.
“Me too. As a souvenir, you know? I forgot to pick up a snow globe.”
“So, what do you think about dinner? A movie?”
Max is right. I’m jumping way too far ahead, as usual, finding things to worry about when there aren’t any. I throw my arms around him and pull him as close to me as I can.
Max kisses me.
Yes. Yes. Yes, I want to shout. Of course we can go on a date. And another. And another. And another. As long as you promise to kiss me like this every time.
I hear the door open. It’s Mom and Dad. I quickly disentangle myself from Max and take a giant step away. Awkward.
Mom’s never seen me with a boy. I’ve never seen me with a boy, so I can only imagine how she feels.
“Do you want to invite your friend inside?” she asks.
“Hi, Mr. and Mrs. Flores. I’m Max. A friend of Kylie’s from school.” Max extends his hand and shakes both Mom and Dad’s hand. “A pleasure to meet you.”
The boy has manners. Nice.
My parents, slightly in awe of the beautiful boy on our front porch, stare at him like he’s Prince Harry.
“Do you want to come in, Max?” Mom asks again.
“Sure, thank you.” Max begins to step inside, but I pull him back by the arm.
“Actually…I think Max and I are going to go out to a party, if that’s okay.”
Both Mom and Max look equally surprised by my announcement.
“Really?” Max says.
“You’re missing the biggest party of the year, and so am I.”
“You hate parties,” Max says.
“Yeah, I’m thinking of changing my position on that.”
“Don’t do it for me. I can live without it.”
“I’m not just doing it for you.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah.”
Max turns to my parents. “Would you mind if I took Kylie to the party?”
“It’s fine by us,” Mom says. “It’s really up to Kylie.”
“I just need to do one thing before we go, okay?” I head back into the house and find Jake in front of the TV watching Star Wars.
“Jakie, I want to go out to a party tonight. I know I said I’d stay here with you. But we could hang out all day tomorrow instead. What do you think?”
“You can go, Kylie. Just come back.”
“I will. Promise.”
I give my parents a peck on the cheek and head out of the house with Max before I can change my mind.
The lyrics to the My Morning Jacket song keep going around and around in my head as Juan and I sit in the car, driving to Kylie’s. It’s been an hour since we kissed in my bedroom, and I’m literally going insane. Juan is my drug and I need a fix. My phone buzzes with an incoming text. Despite the fact that I’m on the 405, I take the phone out of my pocket, but Juan snatches it out of my hand before I can read it. “Kylie says she and Max are going to Charlie’s party and she wants us to come,” Juan says.
“Girlfriend, say what? That is insane!”
“Why?”
“For starters, we don’t do Freiburg parties. I hate to break this to you, but I wasn’t exactly the prom king. And secondly, we just bought a boatload of In-N-Out burgers for the John Woo film festival. What are we supposed to do with them?”
“We’ll throw them out and probably live ten years longer,” Juan says.
Throw out In-N-Out burgers? I’m horrified by Juan’s suggestion. Nobody’s perfect, I suppose.
“Tell her we’ll be there. With bells on,” I say.
“Bells?” Juan asks.
“Kidding.”
“I never know with you.”
“No bells. Promise,” I say. “But you’re sure you’re good with going to a high school party? Isn’t it all a little juvenile?”
“If it is, we’ll make our own party.”
I take it back—my man is flawless. In fact, everything’s been kind of peachy since I met Juan. To be honest, it’s kind of freaking me out. I’m not used to life going so swimmingly. I’m kind of waiting for the other high heel to drop.
At lunch with my parents today, I almost had a heart attack as I watched my dad yakkity-yak architecture with Juan. I know my parents were thrilled to see me in pants, but that doesn’t really account for the way my dad just sat there chatting it up with my new boyfriend as if he’d known him for years. I think at one point he even invited him to play golf at the club. And now I’m off to the graduation party of the year with my boyfriend, and Kylie is going with Max. It’s opposite world. At least for the moment, I’m not the huge, wonking loser I’ve played my whole life. I’m a leading man. Hopefully, it all won’t end tragically. Like maybe with some kind of shoot-out at Charlie’s.