Someone knocks on the door, and we pull apart in panic. He motions for me to get behind the door, so I’ll be out of sight when he opens it. I hold my breath, praying it’s not Tori, but knowing it is. It has to be.
“What do you want?” Toby asks. Yeah, definitely Tori.
“Have you seen Becca?”
“No. She must have left.”
“Her car’s in the driveway, and no one saw her come downstairs.”
“No idea. Have you checked the bathroom?”
“The door’s open.”
“Sorry. Don’t know.” He shuts the door and I exhale.
“What am I going to do?” I whisper. “I can’t explain this—where I’ve been.” I’m in full panic mode.
“Calm down.” His fingertips brush against my cheek. “We’ll figure something out.”
“What? This is too risky. She’s going to find out and hate us both.”
His eyes meet mine. “Are you saying that kiss wasn’t worth the risk?”
Of course it was. “That kiss was amazing.”
“I agree.”
“Great. But that still leaves one question.”
“What?”
“How the hell do I get out of your room?”
Chapter Nine
“You may have to jump out the window.” My eyes widen and he stifles a laugh. “I’m kidding. I wouldn’t let you go out the window.”
“I can’t sneak out of here without her seeing me.” I can’t help thinking I’ve made a huge mistake. I’m jeopardizing my relationship with Tori. Sure Toby’s an amazing kisser, but I have no idea if he’s looking for a relationship—not that I can see how we’d have one behind closed doors.
“I’ll go find her and keep her in her room. You sneak downstairs and go toward the garage.”
“Why the garage? I’m parked in your driveway.”
“I know. You’re going to pretend your car wouldn’t start, and you went into the garage for tools.”
“Problem. I know nothing about cars. If my car didn’t start, I’d ask your dad to look at it.”
“Okay.” He thinks for a moment. “Then say good-bye to my parents and go pretend to start your car. Then come back in and tell my dad it won’t start. He’ll go out there with you and you’ll have an alibi.”
I sigh. “This is crazy, you know. I shouldn’t need an alibi to get out of your house.”
“You don’t. You need it to get out of my room.” He smiles again.
“This isn’t funny. I should just go talk to Tori. Tell her what’s really going on.”
“I hate to be this way, but we don’t even know what’s going on. What would we tell her?”
I stare at him, wondering why he’s so against us telling her. Is he really that worried about my friendship with Tori? “You said you liked me.”
“I do.”
“Then why do you want to hide this? Is it because we don’t hang out with the same people at school?”
“What?” He shakes his head. “God, no. I don’t care about that.”
“Then what?”
“I don’t want you to be the next Allison.”
“You really think Tori would just ditch me?”
“I don’t know. You’re her best friend, and she’s older now, hopefully more mature. But she’s still Tori. She’s possessive. You see how much she doesn’t like being a twin. Sharing you with me would be too much for her.”
“I’m going to have to choose between the two of you, aren’t I?”
“No way. I won’t let it come down to that.”
“Why not?”
“Because I’d lose.” He attempts a smile, but I can see he’s serious.
Why would he think I’d give him up that easily? “We’ve known each other all our lives.”
“But we’ve never really hung out. Not before recently.”
Do I tell him? Do I risk sounding like one of the psycho girls who follows him everywhere? “Maybe not, but I’ve…” I take a deep breath. “I’ve liked you for a while.”
He cocks his head. He really had no idea. Guess I’m better at bottling my feelings than I thought. Of course never really being around him without Tori helped. “Look, Becca, it’s your choice. If you want to tell Tori, go ahead. But I think we should wait.”
The thought of telling her terrifies me. It could mean the end of Toby and me before we even figure out what this is between us. “Maybe you’re right. We’ll wait. For a little while.”
He nods. “Now let’s get you out of here.”
“Without flat out lying,” I add.
“And how do you plan to do that?”
I go through the layout of the house in my mind. Other than the bathroom, Tori’s room, and Toby’s room, the only room upstairs is the master bedroom. What reason could I have for being in there?
“Does your mom make her bed right away?”
“Um, I don’t know. Why?”
“What if I make your parents’ bed and leave a thank-you note behind? I doubt Tori looked for me in there.”
“Make their bed? One, that’s just weird, and two, you’ve stayed over plenty of times and you’ve never made their bed.”
“I give up.” I sit down on his bed. “I’m going to have to tell her.”
“I’ll go keep her in her room. You just walk right out the door.”
“And how do I explain where I was later when I’m at the mall with her?”
“I don’t know, but it will give you time to figure it out. The longer you stay here with your car parked in the driveway, the worse this lie is going to be.”
He’s right. This is a big mess, and I’m not going to figure it out right now. I nod. “Let’s do it.”
“Give me two minutes, and then go.”
“Thanks.”
He smiles and walks out of the room. I watch the clock, and exactly two minutes later, I slip out the front door. Mrs. Michaels is nowhere around, and Mr. Michaels is so absorbed in the news that he doesn’t even see me leave. Now I just need to come up with an excuse by the time Tori calls.
***
The only thing I can think to do is fake being sick. I text Tori and tell her I wasn’t feeling well. I was throwing up in the downstairs bathroom. She insists she checked for me there, but I tell her we must have just missed each other. So, now my shopping trip is down the tubes, and I’m stuck with this shirt I’ll never wear. Oh well. That’s the least of my problems. Being fake sick means I can’t see Toby. Not that Tori would buy me studying on a Saturday anyway.
I stay in all weekend. Mom thinks I’m really sick and makes me her famous chicken noodle soup, so it’s not all bad. And Sunday night, I finally get a text from Toby.
Toby: You’re not really sick, are you?
Becca: No.
Toby: Good. Study date tomorrow night?
I’m going to have to purposely start messing up in trig or Tori is going to wonder why I keep working with Toby. He’s such an awesome tutor that I actually understand what I’m doing now.
Becca: Sure.
Toby: Everything ok?
Becca: Yeah.
Toby: Want to meet me for ice cream?