“Oh really?”

“Yes. My team is staying late all week, so I won’t be able to slip away into your secret rooms. I probably won’t see you until next weekend—maybe even the week after that. I need to catch up with my other friends now that I think about it.”

“Do you see me crying?”

“You are mad at me about something! What is it?”

“I’m not mad at you.” I’m mad that I’m falling for you...

“Well...” She unbuckled her seatbelt and looked around.

She leaned forward to kiss me, but I held her still and whispered against her lips. “I didn’t kiss you today because I made a promise to myself yesterday.”

“What promise?”

“You don’t need to know.”

“Tell me...”

I didn’t say anything. I just watched as she crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes.

“Jonathan, you’re being childish again. If there’s nothing wrong, and if—”

I pressed my finger against her mouth. “I promised that the next time I kissed you, I’d be kissing both sets of your lips.”

She gasped and blushed bright red.

“Goodnight, Claire. I’ll see you next weekend.”

Chapter 18

Claire

“You looked sexy at this morning’s meeting. I love when you wear black.” Jonathan texted me.

“Thank you :-).”

“Can I see you tonight?”

I hesitated to respond. “Depends on if I finish all my reading or not.”

“Bring it with you. I have work to do as well.”

“You seducing me isn’t real work.”

His text came back within seconds: “You’re right. That doesn’t take much effort at all. It’ll be strictly professional tonight. I was serious about that promise.”

“I don’t believe you...”

“You should. Greg will pick you up at eight.”

I set my phone down and smiled. I was getting ready to finally mention Jonathan to Ashley and Caroline. I’d been holding it off for long enough, and since our “exclusive dating” arrangement was starting to resemble some sort of relationship, I wanted them to be okay with it.

I set snacks and drinks on the dining room table like I always did on family meeting nights, and waited for them to get home from cheerleading practice.

“Mom! Mom!” They both came running into the kitchen, talking at once. “Did I tell you about this?” “Did you know the training was this Saturday?” “Can I borrow twenty dollars?” “Can I have twenty dollars?” “If you give her twenty can I have forty?” “What about—”

I usually waited until they realized that I couldn’t understand them when they did this, but my blank stare didn’t seem to be working today.

They were blabbering at full speed, flipping their silky red hair over their shoulders at the exact same moments—never stopping to catch a breath.

“Okay, okay! One at a time, please. Who was talking first?”

“Me!” Ashley clapped. “I think the first order of business tonight needs to be discussing me and Caroline getting separate cars.”

“Okay.” I sat down. I have to hear this...

Caroline shrugged and sat down across from me.

“So...” Ashley said, smiling. “As you know, we’re sixteen years old and we’re both straight A students. We hardly get in trouble unlike most kids our age and we’re both members of the Junior Aviation Scholars Program—which is only open to ten kids per year for the entire country! And we both have spots!”

“Go on...”

“So, we need separate cars.”

“What? That’s it? That’s your entire argument, Ashley?”

“Um, yeah. That sums it up pretty well I think. What do you think, Caroline?”

Her co-conspirator nodded.

“Okay well, I’m aware that you’re both sixteen and that you’re great students. It’s your job to be. I’m also well aware that you don’t get into much trouble, but it’s because I don’t tolerate any. And I’m very glad that you’re part of the—” I took a deep breath and paused. “Junior Aviation Scholars Program and I recall buying you both new pilot outfits once you received those spots. However, seeing as though you don’t pay your own insurance for the car you drive now, are involved in the same exact activities, and aren’t trying to buy your own car with your own money, you can either enjoy the shared car or give it back to me. Your choice.”

Ashley rolled her eyes and sat down.

“What about letting one of us borrow your car on the weekends then?” Caroline scrolled through her phone. “Would that work? What if we came up with a car sharing schedule or something? I think there’s an app for—”

“No. Car conversation is over... Now, I need to speak with you both about something very important. I want you to know that I’m currently seeing someone—someone I think I really like. I’m not sure if I’ll ever let him meet you or not, but—”

“Is he hot?” “Where’d you meet him?” “Is that why you’ve been smiling so much lately?” “And going out so much?” “You don’t want him to meet us?” “Is it because he’s not hot?” “You’re dating someone ugly?” “Why would you do that?” “You’re so pretty!”

I sighed. “Please let me finish...I met him at work, and just so you’re aware, he’s a bit younger than me...”

They stopped stuffing their mouths with junk and exchanged puzzled looks. Then they both stared at me—like I was some type of art exhibit.

They did this routine quite often—so often that I didn’t think they realized how intense their joint stare-fest looked. Most of the time it meant that they were thinking about something, and since I was convinced that they shared a brain, it usually took them a while to formulate a verbal thought.

Caroline tilted her head to the side. “When you say younger, do you mean younger like, regular younger?”

“Or do you mean you could go to prison if we called the cops on you younger? “ Ashley raised her eyebrow. “Because if you want us to keep quiet we will, but you’re definitely going to have to re-consider getting us—”

“What! Why would you even—” I stopped. I didn’t need to stress myself out over their warped line of thinking. “He’s eleven years younger than me...”

They looked at each other and laughed hysterically. Then they started talking to one other as if I wasn’t sitting in the room: “So... He’s basically thirty!” “What’s so wrong with that?” “I don’t know...Isn’t thirty like middle aged? Or is that fifty?” “I think people should stop counting their birthdays after they turn twenty five. After that you’re pretty irrelevant and you just start looking bad and letting yourself go...” “Do you think the guy she’s dating is hot?” “Probably not. She didn’t say he was hot. If he was hot she would’ve said that first...” “Did she tell us his name?” “It’s probably Taylor. That’s a nice thirty year old name.” “Taylor? I like it. I wonder if—”

“Thank you both for listening...” I cut off their ridiculous conversation. “You two are okay with me dating someone?”

“Um yeah! It’s about time! You deserve someone amazing.” Ashley stood up and hugged me. “Whoever he is, I hope he can talk you into buying us separate cars for our senior year!”

Caroline walked over and hugged me too. “I agree. It’s good seeing you smile again—even if the guy isn’t hot...”

“So, the top four ideas for the sTablet slogan are—you know what? These are all terrible, aren’t they?” Mr. Barnes laughed.

“Yes. They really are.” I couldn’t help but laugh too. “Let’s just call it a night.”

“At nine o’ clock? Sure you don’t want to stay until midnight like yesterday? I’m starting to feel like corporate is my second home.”

“Positive.” I closed my folder and stood up. “I actually have plans for a change. I’ll see you on Monday.”