Most Likely (Most Likely #1) - Sarah Watson Page 0,88

paced while CJ proofread her essay. It was close to midnight.

“Almost done,” CJ said.

“No rush,” Ava said calmly. Even though they were in a huge rush. “You missed a comma,” she said and pointed.

CJ added the comma and hit the button that officially uploaded her application. She’d made the deadline with twenty minutes to spare. Now they had another deadline. Ava got her car keys out, CJ grabbed her coat, and they sprinted out the door into Ava’s car. She floored it through a yellow light, and they both winced at the screeching sound her tires made when she took the corner way too fast.

Martha was waiting at the curb when they pulled up.

“Sorry we’re late,” Ava said as Martha opened the back door.

“It’s my fault,” said CJ.

“Just drive!” Martha slammed the door shut and Ava peeled off.

They pulled into Jordan’s driveway with only a few minutes left. The front door was unlocked just as Jordan’s parents had promised, and Martha opened it as quietly as possible given the hurry they were in. Ava unzipped the duffel bag she’d brought with her and distributed the contents between the three of them. Then they gathered outside Jordan’s door and waited.

Jordan sat in her window seat looking up at the moon and wondering how everything had turned out so wrong. She was about to turn eighteen. A few hours ago, she’d felt so mature and so ready; now she felt like a foolish little girl. She looked like one too, with her legs tucked up to her chest and her sleeves pulled down around her wrists. She glanced at the clock on her phone. She had thirty seconds left. It was a strange feeling to watch time tick forward and know that absolutely nothing in her life would change. She would still be the same Jordan. There would be no great moment of clarity. No discernible shift. Nothing dramatic would happen. The seconds ticked forward. Three… two… one… she was eighteen now and everything was the same.

And that’s when her bedroom door flew open.

“Happy birthday!” her friends shouted at once. There was a loud pop pop pop as confetti sprayed across her room. She watched as Ava, CJ, and Martha jumped into her bed, expecting to find her asleep. She laughed when CJ said, “I don’t think she’s in here.”

“Over here,” Jordan said, waving from the window seat.

Someone flipped on the lights. Jordan had forgotten she’d been crying until she saw the looks on their faces.

“What’s wrong?” Martha asked.

Jordan shrugged. “Long story. Are those cupcakes?”

Ava held up the pastry box in her hand. “Yes, they are. From Confectionary Cupboard. I bought enough to make us sick.”

“Perfect,” said Jordan.

Ava put the box down on the floor, and all the girls, one of whom was now technically a woman, sat for a midnight picnic of cupcakes and Diet Coke.

“Okay,” Martha said, turning to Jordan. “This is fun. But there are tears. On your face. Explain, please.”

Jordan sighed. “You were right. Scott’s an asshole.” But that wasn’t exactly fair. She sighed again. “No. He’s not, actually. I’m the asshole.”

She told them about the date, and to Martha’s credit, she didn’t judge. She nodded along and even said she was sorry when Jordan told her how much it hurt.

“I don’t even think I liked him that much, to be honest,” Jordan said. “I just liked the idea of him, you know? It was like I got to be an adult for a minute.”

Ava spoke with a mouthful of frosting. “I have great news. You get to be an adult for a lot of minutes now.”

Jordan took another cupcake. This was her third one and she had no intention of stopping. “I just feel like such a jerk.”

“You’re not a jerk.” Martha said it with such conviction that Jordan actually believed her.

“But speaking of jerks,” said CJ, “I have some news too.”

Three jaws hit the floor when she told them that just two hours earlier, she’d kissed Logan Diffenderfer. “Wow,” Jordan said. “Um… wow.” She expected to feel jealous, but as she took mental inventory, she realized that she didn’t. She wondered if she was just in shock.

Jordan noticed that Ava was staring at her cupcake pretty intently. “Do you like him?” she asked CJ. “Because if you like him…” The sentence dangled out there, begging CJ to finish it.

“I don’t. Not like that. It was a moment of temporary insanity brought on by stress. And even if I did, I could never date someone who…” She