Melanie Harlow

No, my friend Noah is picking me up.”

“Noah McCormick?”

“Yes.”

He nodded. “I know him a little bit. Nice guy.”

Frannie rolled down her window. “Is she telling you about her friend, Noah? Don’t believe her. They have sex. He handcuffed her.”

“Frannie!” I gave her a murderous look over Mack’s shoulder. “That was a secret!”

“You can trust Mack,”

I suppose, but I still haven’t forgotten the mean things he did to me when we were younger.”

“Like when he convinced you that you had Dutch elm disease?” April teased.

“That wasn’t funny,” I snapped, although the rest of the table burst out laughing.

“I never knew that,” said Frannie. “How did he do it?”

“He told her that freckles on the nose were a sure sign, and if she started to grow hair on her legs, she should definitely cover them with peanut butter,” blurted April, that traitor. “He told her that was the only known cure.”

Now, Chloe. People change. Oliver may have been a bit unruly in his twenties but he’s really settled down over the last few years.”

“We don’t get along, Mom.”

“Oh, posh.” My mother dismissed that idea with a wave of her hand. “You two may have scrapped a bit when you were younger, but that was just because you were so alike—so headstrong and competitive. But you’ve known each other forever. For heaven’s sake, he even took you to his prom.”

I gave her a flat stare. “His mother made him ask me. And you made me say yes.”

Flushed and breathless, her dark eyes half-shut, her mouth open as you slid inside her, her hands clutching you desperately, your name a plea on her lips …

Fuck.

Stubborn and determined when you bet her she couldn’t run as fast as you (I had no idea why she took those bets—I was way taller with much longer legs and beat her every fucking time).

“So what do you want to do?” he asked, shoving his hands in his jeans pockets. “I’m kinda hungry. We could go—”

“I want to have sex,” I announced, looking him right in the eye.

His jaw dropped. “What?”

“I want to have sex.”

“With me?”

“Yes, with you. Why else would I be in here?”

“I have no fucking idea.”

Oh my God, I wonder where he’s taking you!” she squealed.

“I have no idea. He says it’s a secret.”

“A secret trip? That’s kind of fun.”

“Maybe. But if I don’t get in touch within two days, check the trunk of his car.”

She laughed. “Deal.”

My stomach did something weird and jumpy as I started across the room. I raked a hand through my hair, hoping my shirt hadn’t gotten too wrinkled in the car. I’d ironed it myself.

“If you ever name a boat the Chloe Lorraine, it’s over between us. Ew.”

She’d always been the only one for me.