“Sure you would have,” Conor scoffed. “Every girl does.”
“Okay. Maybe I would have looked.” He had a point there. “But I definitely didn’t sense any interest coming from you.”
“Wh—what? Are you serious? How about when I made your coffee all those times? How about when I always made sure I bagged your groceries?”
I laughed. “But those are your jobs!” I pointed out.
He seemed a little stunned by that news. “Well, how about when I went along sledding that night, and to the mattress race to make sure you were safe with those guys?”
“You didn’t need to come along just to protect me. I can take care of myself!” I said.
“Fine. Then do it,” he said. “And have a really great time spending the weekend with Sean. I don’t know how you could, but—”
“Don’t be like that,” I said. “Okay?”
“Sorry. Apparently I am like that,” Conor said.
We stood there for a second, glaring at each other. “Look. Let’s go. I need to get Brett home, and you probably have to work somewhere—”
“I’ll get home by myself. Thanks but no thanks.” He started to walk away, across the parking lot.
“Conor!” I called after him. “Come on, you live practically next door. Don’t be ridiculous.”
“Sorry, that’s just me being me,” he said as he threw up his hands and did his best helpless look.
I sighed. “Come on, please. I don’t know the way.”
“No kidding,” he muttered. “Don’t you think you should learn your way around if you’re going to be here for a few months?”
“I don’t know how long I’m going to be here,” I said. “Maybe not that long.”
“Fine. Get a map then,” Conor said.
“Conor. I promise, it’s the last favor I’ll ever ask you. Could you please show me the way?” I asked.
“All right. Whatever.” He reluctantly trudged back to the minivan and climbed into the passenger seat.
The whole way home, all Conor said to me was, “Right here. Go left. Left. Right.”
Fortunately for Brett, he slept right through it.
I couldn’t tell Conor that in many ways, I actually liked him more than Sean. That I liked the way that lately (at least until just now in the parking lot) he always looked after me, made sure I was doing okay. That he’d come off a little rude and standoffish at first, but that he’d grown on me. That I’d rushed into asking Sean and made a huge error in judgment because of my dumb timeline, because I needed to prove to everyone—including myself—that I could get a great guy.
Which was so superficial, when you got right down to it, that it could almost make me sick. Or else make me Gretchen. Here I was, set up to attend the big dance with Mr. Popular. The Gretchen in me was thrilled; the Kirsten in me would maybe rather take a rain check.
When we got home, I pulled over in front of Conor’s house. He jumped out and slammed the door behind him. “Yeah, it was nice hanging out with you, too!” I called after him as he ran up the walk to his front door.
Fortunately, the windows were closed so he couldn’t hear me.
When I carried the still-sleeping Brett into the house and put him in his crib, Gretchen was nowhere to be found. That was strange.
No more strange than what had just happened with Conor, but still strange.
I was tempted to call my friends right away and ask them what to do, but I had a feeling this was something I’d have to sort out for myself.
That night, I awoke with a start. Something was hitting my bedroom window. At first I thought it was probably sleet, from the sound of it. But after being awake for a minute, I realized it wasn’t sleet—it was rocks. Or pebbles.
Conor! I thought instantly. Maybe it was Conor coming to apologize.
Wait. Coming in the middle of the night didn’t seem like Conor’s style, exactly. Besides, he did sort of hate me right now. I didn’t see him as the kind of person who would smooth things over that quickly; he seemed like the type to hold a grudge for eternity.
I pulled a sweater on over my PJs and slid my feet into my furry boots, then I went to the front door. I peered out the little window on the door to make sure I knew who was throwing pebbles at the window.
Yup. I knew him, all right.
“Hey,” I said, opening the door.
“We just got back!” Sean wrapped his arms around my waist and gave me a big hug.
“It’s nice to see you,” I said.
“You, too. I really missed you,” he said, giving my waist an extra squeeze. And then a little pinch, as he came into the house.
“Mmm,” I said. Had I missed him? I hadn’t really thought about him much. That wasn’t a good sign, was it? He was acting like he was really excited to see me. Coming over in the middle of the night?
“Love those PJs,” he said.
“Thanks,” I said.
“Here, I got you a little gift.” He handed me a small white box, which I was almost afraid to open. Not that I don’t like presents, but it seemed like an odd time to be giving me one. Maybe that was why he’d come over in the middle of the night?
I opened the box. Inside was a strange-looking food product. “What is…” I picked up a little slip of paper from the candy company that explained things. “Chocolate-covered potato chips. Huh.”
“Yeah, aren’t they cool?” Sean asked.
I put one in my mouth and crunched it. “Surprisingly yummy,” I said.
I held the open box out to him, but he shook his head. “No thanks, I ate a box on the bus ride home.”
I laughed. “Well, thanks for these. That’s so sweet of you. How was Fargo?”
“We had a great time. Played like two games a day, plus we met with coaching scouts from different colleges. I think I really impressed them.”
“That’s cool.”
“What have you been up to?” Sean asked.
Spending time with your brother. And completely alienating him, I thought.
“Not much,” I said. “The time went by kind of quickly, actually.”
“Oh yeah? That’s good.”
And then we awkwardly looked at each other for a few seconds. Sometimes I wondered what he was doing with me, when we had these lulls in conversation and not that much to talk about. Then again, what was I doing with him? Half the reason I was dating him was to win some stupid challenge with my friends, and myself, to not go the entire senior year without a date. To have a romantic weekend just because.
“So do you want to hang out by the fire for a while? Maybe have some hot chocolate?” Sean asked.
“With our chocolate chips?” I wrinkled my nose. “I don’t know. I don’t actually want any hot chocolate. I don’t think.”
“No?” He seemed disappointed.
I shook my head. “No.”
“What’s wrong?” Sean asked.
“I…I don’t know. Just sleepy, I guess.” I stretched my arms over my head and yawned, for effect.
“Okay, I’ll leave you alone.” He smiled and gave me a little kiss on the cheek. “Snow Ball in two days, are you ready?”
“Not yet.” I pictured the latte Conor had made, with the special foamed milk snowball on top. “But I will be,” I said with a faint smile. “Now would you let me go back to sleep?”
“Okay, okay. See you later!” Sean leaned down to kiss me goodnight, but I turned at the last second so that he kissed my cheek instead.