"You can do all that later. Right now you need to take a breath and tell yourself it'll all work out. I know it sounds lame, but it really does work."
"Why do you believe that?"
"Because it's true. Even if you don't get the outcome you want, you'll find a way to get out of whatever crisis you're in and move on. My first year of college I thought I was going to flunk out. I had to take all this math, which I've never been good at, and I kept flunking the tests. I panicked, thinking I'd never be a doctor if I can't pass these stupid math classes."
"So what'd you do?"
"Got a tutor, studied nonstop, and passed the class. I didn't get an A, but I passed."
"Then things didn't just work out. You made them work out."
"So can you. And you will. You feel like you're drowning now, but you'll find a way back to the surface. And sometimes things actually do work out, without us even doing anything. You just have to ride out the storm and see what happens. Like this shit with my dad? The gambling? I never saw it coming, and there's nothing I can do about it. So I'm riding out the storm and waiting for it to be over. And by riding it out here, I met you. Something good came from something bad. The same thing could happen with the salon. You're assuming the sale is bad, but maybe it'll end up being good."
"Even if the new owners let me keep my job, they won't keep my mom around. She always shows up late and calls in sick. Renee let her get away with it, but nobody else will." I look ahead and see we're heading for the interstate.
"Where are we going?"
"For a drive."
"For how long?"
"How far's the state line?"
I look at him. "What?"
"You said you never left the state. We're gonna change that."
"What about your date tonight?"
"I'll be back in time. If not, Nate will get two girls instead of one."
I laugh. "Nate couldn't handle that. You should turn around. We can do this some other day."
He keeps driving, and two hours later we're in Texas. We have an early dinner, then drive back. Brad calls Nate and tells him he'll meet him at the restaurant.
"No kissing," I joke as Brad walks me to my door.
"Are we talking now or later?"
"No kissing, period. This isn't supposed to be a real date. Did you forget that?"
"I thought you were talking about me and you."
"Well, obviously you can kiss me," I say, my arms going around him.
He leans down and kisses me. "That's for now."
"Give me one for later since I won't see you."
"I'll be back." He walks off, looking back at me and smiling.
I watch him leave, then go inside, a huge smile on my face. I'm always smiling when I'm with him.
"Where you been?" my mom mutters from the couch. She's lying down, her eyes closed, a half empty bottle of vodka next to her.
"I'll be in my room, Mom." I walk past her, choosing to keep my thoughts on Brad instead of my drunk mom and our unpaid bills.
Later that night, I see headlights pulling up to the trailer as a text pops up on my phone. Told you I'd be back.
I open the door to find Brad there, holding a carton of ice cream.
"What happened? The date didn't go well?"
"It was fine, but I missed you and wanted to see you."
He gives me a kiss then comes inside. I grab two spoons and we sit on the couch, eating our ice cream.
"Did the date end early or did you tell her you had to leave?"
"It ended early. She had something to do in the morning and couldn't be out late."
"So tell me about it." I take a bite of the ice cream. "What'd you guys do?"
"I don't want to talk about the date. It wasn't real. But this is." He takes my spoon from my lips and replaces it with a kiss, then another.
I decide not to ask him any more about the date. I don't want to know. It doesn't matter. It was just something he did to help Nate.
Now I know how Nate feels. Sitting at home while Brad was out with another girl hurt me. It wasn't a real date, but it still hurt because of my feelings for Brad. Just like Nate would be hurt seeing me with some other guy.
I was considering telling Nate the truth about Brad and me, but I've decided against it. Knowing how it feels to have the person I care about on a date with someone else proved to me Nate doesn't need to know.
Friday morning when I get to the salon, April calls and tells me she's sick. I don't know anyone else who would go to the club with me tonight, so I decide to stay home while Brad goes on another date with his mystery girl. He hasn't told me her name, which is fine with me. Knowing her name makes her more real, and I'm trying to pretend she's not.
On Saturday, I get to the pool early and am sitting on a chair, getting some sun, when Nate and Brad show up.
"Hey, Riley," Nate says, sitting beside me. "What'd you do last night?"
This past week Nate hasn't been calling me. He texts me, but not nearly as often as he used to. Even when he was away at college, we talked on the phone and texted each other throughout the day. It's strange not having him in my life that way anymore.
"I watched TV," I tell him. "Then went to bed early."
I glance at Brad, who seems to get hotter every day. Or maybe I'm imagining it because he keeps turning up in my dreams—intensely hot dreams where I get to live out my fantasies with Brad. Every time we're making out I think it'll lead to sex, but it never does. We either get interrupted or we stop it before it happens.
"Too bad you couldn't make it," Brad says to me. "The music was good."
"How were your dates?" I ask Nate.
He shrugs. "Mine wasn't great, but Brad had a good time."
"You did?" I ask, because when he called me last night, he said the date was boring.
"It was okay," he says.
"Are you going out with them again?" I ask.
"I'm not," Nate answers. "Serena wasn't that interesting. At first I thought she was nervous and couldn't think of anything to say, but I think that's just her personality."
"So you're not going out with her again?" I ask.
"No. We agreed that last night would be it."
"Why don't all three of us go out tonight?" Brad says. "We haven't done that for a while."
"I'm good with that," I say.
"What about Kari?" Nate says to Brad.
"Who's Kari?" I ask.
"Brad's girl," Nate says. "You didn't know her name?"
"Guess not," I say, glancing at Brad, annoyed Nate called Kari 'Brad's girl'. I'M his girl. She's not. And I can't stand her name. I knew a Kari in junior high who bullied me and told everyone my mom was a slut. So now every time I hear that name, I feel sick.
"I'm not going out with Kari again," Brad says.
"Why the hell not?" Nate asks. "She's gorgeous."
"I just don't get along with her."