In the living room, Hannah packs up the homework she ended up starting last night. I check my phone for the time. It’s eight, which means if my parents left the hospital on time, they’ll be home within the next twenty minutes or so.
Which is fine. Hannah will be gone. The living room is clean. They know about the skate show, and that’s where I’ll be… at the skate show… that I have to get to… with the car I don’t have.
“Thank you,” I say after taking a deep breath. “For helping.”
“Of course,” Hannah says, shouldering her bag. “I’ve been there, hiding the evidence. Though it’s usually cleaning up after a party, not racing to clean up a school-related crafting session. But I guess that’s as wild as you get,” she adds, chuckling.
I wish I had time for her tired smile, her droopy eyes, her somehow casually perfect unbrushed morning hair, and for all the feelings coming back to me now as my brain wakes up and remembers what we talked about last night. But right now, I have to save face so that wecanexplore the possibility…
“I hate to ask you this, but can you take me somewhere?”
“Is everything okay?” Hannah asks, stepping closer to me.
“Yes, there’s somewhere that I’m supposed to be and I’m super late,” I say, turning and heading toward the door.
“I can take you,” she says, right behind me.
We file out of the garage, and I set the security code before it closes behind us.
“So,” Hannah says as we pull onto the street, “where are we going?”
Right.Coming out and telling her that she’s dropping me off at a skate show/date with Maurice is probably not the best idea. But neither is lying…
“Veterans Way Park in Hudson,” I say coolly.
“Is there a farmers market today or something?” she asks, glancing down at her phone to queue up some music.
I mean, probably… thisisHudson we’re talking about. It’s basically the real-life Ohio version of Stars Hollow.
“No, it’s just this thing that I promised Kristen I would be at,” I say.
“Well, what is it?”
“It’s a thing…” I say, stalling to think of the best way to break the news. I silence my phone when it starts to chime again.
“Is it a secret? Are you joining the Illuminati or something?”
“You believe in the Illuminati?” I ask, pretending to be amused.
“Evading much?”
“It’s really nothing. Not a big deal. Just something I’m doing with Kristen, that I’m late for, that she’s going to kill me over,” I ramble.
“So… if it’s nothing, then I can come?”
Wrong.
“Um, well—”
“Ouch.”
“No, it’s not like that,” I rush to say, somewhat helpless when we pull onto Darrow Road; it’s pretty much a straight shot tothe park. A straight shot for me to either stop Hannah from seeing what she’s taking me to or undoubtedly make her mad. “It’s another Maurice thing.”
Silence.
“He and Vincent are in a skate show to raise money for the park. Kristen invited me to it a while ago.”
“And this is the first time you’re telling me about it?” she asks, though we both know the answer is yes.