“No worries. Mase is super sweet,” she reassures Erik.
“He’d better be,” Erik says darkly, straightening the collar of his navy-blue polo.
“You’re such a good big brother. I’m going to miss having you around. I’ll miss Bea too, I guess. But I’ve got more sisters. You’re my only brother. Well, almost.”
Erik smiles over her shoulder. “We’ll be back for fall break. Right, Bea?”
Kat turns to find Bea standing behind her in the doorway. She’s changed from her pencil skirt and cardigan into a T-shirt and jeans, but she still looks stressed. In fact, she looks sort of stricken. “Right. Yes,” she says quietly. When Erik takes her hand, Kat notices the tiniest hesitation before Bea links her fingers through his.
Are they fighting? They never fight. Kat can’t imagine it. They’re both so smart and ambitious and—well—boring, honestly. They used to be all gooey-sweet, holding hands and kissing, but now they seem so comfortable together. Like everything they do is a routine worn soft by time. Maybe that’s what happens when you’ve been dating forever like they have.
At least Bea doesn’t have to worry about Erik cheating on her. He would never. Bea is totally the person in charge in their relationship.
Kat hides a smile. Earlier this spring, she asked Bea what sex was like. She was pretty sure Bea and Erik had sex: they had been together for five years, and she’d seen birth control pills on Bea’s nightstand. She didn’t know who else to ask, since Pen was a virgin too. Bea told her sex was fun and awkward and great. She said a girl should know her own body, figure out what she liked and didn’t like, and not be afraid to speak up about it. Kat definitely didn’t want to imagine her sister having sex, but she was amused by the idea of Bea ordering Erik around in bed. It was very Bea to want to be in charge, always.
Bea also told Kat not to have sex with Adam unless she could trust him.
There’s a knock on the door, and Kat rushes to open it. Mase. He’s wearing skinny jeans and a T-shirt for a band she’s never heard of. His eyeliner is on point, and his fauxhawk is appropriately spiky. “Hey, gorgeous,” he greets her cheerfully. Then he sees Bea and Erik and his body language changes. “Uh, hi, Bea. Erik.”
“Hi, Mase,” Bea and Erik say in unison.
“Kat’s curfew is midnight,” Erik announces.
“No worries. Rehearsal is over at eleven,” Kat says. Then she wonders if she should have said something else. Pretended they were going to make out in the car or something. Are they going to make out in the car? How far does this fake-dating thing go? What if they don’t seem authentic?
“Drive carefully,” Bea says.
“Of course.” Mase is solemn. He knows what happened to their parents. Everybody knows what happened to their parents.
“Okay, bye. Have fun at the movie!” Kat takes Mase’s hand and pulls him out the door. “Sorry about that. After Adam, they obviously don’t trust my judgment in guys.”
“Adam’s an asshole,” Mase says as they climb into the VW Bug he shares with Em. “I mean…no offense, but why do you even want him back?”
“Don’t worry. I’m going to make him work for it. He’ll have to treat me like a queen,” Kat says, side-stepping the question. She feels weird telling Mase that she wants Adam to fall in love with her so she can dump him. “Why do you want Brandon back? He cheated on you too.”
“Truth. But…” Mase pulls on his seatbelt and waits for her to pull on hers before he starts the engine. “We were really happy before that. I mean, we fought a little at Christmas break because I wanted him to come home more often, and I think he felt kind of suffocated. Maybe I was too clingy or whatever. It was just…I could feel him pulling away.”
His honesty startles Kat into responding in kind. She isn’t very good at being emotionally vulnerable with people who aren’t Pen, but Mase is easy to talk to. “I felt that way with Adam all the time,” she admits. “It’s awful.”
“So why do you want to feel that way again?” Mase presses.
“When we get back together, it’ll be different,” Kat says. “Obviously, he’ll appreciate me more.”
Mase looks at her with a funny expression, and Kat can’t tell what he’s thinking. “I hope so,” he says finally. “You deserve that.”
They’re quiet for the rest of the drive, till Mase parallel parks on High Street, a block away from the Remington Theater. “You ready for this?” he asks after they climb out of the Bug.
“I guess so. Do I look okay?” Kat twirls in a circle. She’s wearing a red maxi skirt with a white tank top that is backless except for two wide horizontal straps.
“You look amazing,” Mase says.
“Yeah? Thank you. It’s not too much for rehearsal?”
“Nope. You look good. Really good.” Mase tugs at the collar of his T-shirt, and Kat grins. Is he blushing? Does he think she’s pretty? Like, not in an intellectual, we-take-good-selfies way, but like he’s actually attracted to her?
“Okay. Let’s do this.” She holds out her hand, Mase takes it, and they walk down the street, into the theater, and down the quiet, echoing hall.
Adam and Jillian aren’t in the rehearsal room yet. Pen has saved Kat a seat, but only one. Awkward. Pen raises her eyebrow when Kat and Mase saunter in hand-in-hand. The stage manager is handing out scripts and contact sheets. Coffee and tea and freshly baked chocolate chip cookies are on a long table near the door.
Kat sets her script and her contact sheet and her clutch down between Mase and Hannah Adler, mouths an apology at Pen, and then goes to make herself a cup of tea. The air-conditioning is on full blast, and it’s freezing. Maybe the backless shirt was not the smartest idea. Adam has strutted in, and he and Jillian sit on the other side of Hannah. Jillian’s wearing her field hockey jacket.
Kat grabs a mint tea packet and dunks the tea bag into a cup of hot water, trying to ignore them.
“Hey, Kat,” Adam says behind her.
She startles, spills the hot water on her hand, and swears. “Um, hi.” She sets the tea down and grabs a handful of napkins.
He pours himself coffee and then hands her a packet of Splenda. Her eyes rush up to meet his. He remembers what kind of sweetener she uses. What does that mean?
It means they dated for almost a year and he’s minimally polite. Get it together, Kat.
“I saw you at the party the other night,” he says. “With Mase.”
“Yeah,” Kat says, guarded. “I saw you too. With Jillian.”