“Oh my God, no.” My cheeks burned.
Placing his hands on my shoulders, he said, “Bud, listen. I’m proud of you for getting into Harvard, of course I am, but you go to college wherever you think is best for you. Hell, if you hadn’t wanted to go to college…well, I wouldn’t have been happy, but there’s not much I can do, hmm? USC’s a great school. And video game design…I mean…it does sound right up your alley.”
“So…so you’re not mad? You’re not mad I turned down Harvard?”
“Absolutely not. Although this will be fun to explain in the office. I might have bragged. A lot.”
I laughed, but felt my body sag with relief. Ever since my conversation with June, she’d gotten me thinking—and after she’d planted the ridiculous idea in my head that I could make a career out of Mario Kart, I hadn’t been able to let go of the idea. It made me excited for college in a way I hadn’t been yet.
Lee would love it. Especially since it’d mean we’d both be in California and it’d be so much easier to hang out.
“This isn’t just because Noah and I broke up,” I told my dad. “I don’t think I was ever really a fan of leaving you guys to fend for yourselves. I know you’ve got Linda now, but…”
“Oh, bud. Come here.” He pulled me in for a bear hug and laughed again. “We’re perfectly capable of ‘fending for ourselves,’ but it’ll be nice to have you around from time to time. I’m really proud of you, you know that?”
“Even though I turned down Harvard?”
“Especially because you turned down Harvard.”
* * *
• • •
Levi still wasn’t answering my calls, so I pulled out the big guns and called his landline. His dad answered with a cheerful, “Elle! We haven’t heard from you in a while! How’s everything?”
He told me Levi was at work, so after dinner with my family and Linda, I got in the car and headed out to the 7-Eleven.
There he was, behind the counter, slouched over his phone, not even looking up at the sound of someone coming in.
I grabbed the nearest bag of candy and walked up to the cash register. I slid the candy across the counter and cleared my throat. Levi glanced up and did a double take, his eyes bugging wide.
“I come in peace,” I said.
“Elle. I…I didn’t…What’re you doing here?”
“Visiting one of my best friends, because he’s been ghosting me for the last, like, month?”
He flushed, ears turning red, and glanced away. “I’m sorry. I thought…”
“Oh, you messed up big-time,” I told him with a smile and a nod. “But you’re still my friend, and I still care about you. Even if you’re a big idiot.”
“I heard you and Noah broke up,” he mumbled.
“That is so not why I’m here.” I heard how harsh I sounded and winced. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to burst your bubble or whatever.”
“No! No, I just meant…I hope it wasn’t because of me. That’s kind of why I’ve been avoiding you. I thought you’d hate me, because…if I messed things up and caused any trouble between you guys…”
“You didn’t,” I reassured him. “I think it was always going to end like that, you know. Me and Noah. It’s okay.”
(It wasn’t, really, but it was getting there.)
Levi nodded slowly, uncertainly.
We hadn’t spoken in weeks, so I decided not to waste time being delicate or beating around the bush. “Do you still have a crush on me?”
Levi cracked a smile. It was small, and tired, and lopsided. “I think I’m always gonna have a little crush on you, Elle.”
“Well, if you can keep a lid on it and not kiss me again, I’d really, really like it if we could go back to being friends. I miss you. But I get it if it’s, like, too hard for you to—”
“To be around you?” Levi beamed, throwing his head back in laughter. “I said I have a crush on you. I didn’t say that your womanly wiles are so irresistible I’m putty in your hands and will kiss the ground you walk on. I’ve been your friend for the past year. I miss you, too.”
“My womanly wiles?” I echoed, trying hard not to laugh.
Levi pulled a face, head wobbling side to side as he pretended to consider it. “They’re not that great, sorry to break it to ya.”
I clutched a hand to my heart. “How will I ever recover from such an insult?”
“Oh, I’m sure you’ll find plenty of distractions in Boston to take your mind off it.”
“Actually, I’m not going there anymore.”
I explained the whole thing to Levi, stopping a few times when an actual customer came in and needed serving. His manager came over at one point to tell him to socialize on his own time. I left him not long after that, but only once we’d made plans to hang out in a couple of days when we were both free.
I really had missed Levi these last few weeks, and I was glad to have finally cleared the air. It would’ve sucked to lose him as a friend, especially when I would be staying in California for college.
I’d break the news to Lee soon. He’d need a little cheering up once the beach house sale went through, and this was sure to do the trick. As for Noah, he’d understand, and I didn’t think he’d blame himself. He was too smart for that.
Last year the distance between us had been awful; I had a feeling that this time, it was exactly what we both needed.
I knew that I should’ve felt worse. I should’ve been disappointed and sad and had that hollow feeling in my chest because everything was ending. But at some point today, it had stopped feeling like that. If anything, it finally felt like it was all falling into place.
Chapter Thirty-Six
“You’re here!” Lee cried.
He dropped the duffel bag, raced across the street, and threw himself at me, his arms engulfing me in a hug that lifted me clean off my feet. I laughed as he set me back down. I pushed some of the hair out of his face.
“You didn’t think I’d let you get away without saying goodbye, did you?”
He beamed at me, blue eyes sparkling. “I thought you were at work!”
“Yeah, well, May let me go early so I could see you off. And she asked me to give you this….”