would kill me if she found out I took a girl home and didn’t open the door for her. Plus, girls like that stuff, right?
She hands me the umbrella and plops into the front seat. So not graceful or flowery. But like she’s a kid about to be taken to Disneyland. I can’t help but goofy grin at her.
“Uh, you can shut the door. I’m in, and I’ll watch my fingers.”
Oh right. Idiot moment. Two seconds later I try to close the stupid umbrella before soakin’ myself, and toss it in the backseat splashing both me and Hayley with the excess water.
“Whoops. Sorry.”
She giggles. “You didn’t get my book, so you’re off the hook… this time.” She pauses. “Hey, that kind of rhymed! Oh, that did too! ‘Rhyme’ and ‘time’. Ha! I’m on a roll.”
I wish I could come up with a witty response. You know, something to rhyme with roll. But my mind is still trying to play catch up with this girl’s sense of humor. She’s definitely weird, but it’s not a bad weird.
And now it’s been about seven seconds since she’s said something, and that’s way past the point of making a quip. So now I have to sit here and chuckle like a tongue-tied idiot.
“So, uh… where do you live?”
“Just a few blocks South of Parkrose.”
I nod, pull out, and head toward our high school. Her hand goes straight for the radio.
“You don’t care do you?” she asks as she smacks the preset stations.
“Depends on what you pick.”
“Oh, I know you’re a fan of Kesha.”
Ugh. “If you make me listen to that pop shit, you’re walkin’ the rest of the way.” I smile, but it disappears when I see her do that slight cringe again. But she laughs it away. I think I may be going a little nuts.
“Neon Trees?” she asks as she lands on the station playing the band.
“That one’s okay.”
“Good.” She turns up the volume and starts singing along with them. Wow, she’s good. And ballsy. I’ve been on dates before and not once did the girl ever start belting out with the music. Not that this is a date or anythin’.
The song ends, and she starts flicking through the stations again.
“We’re okay, right?”
That came out of nowhere. “Yeah. Why wouldn’t we be?”
“I still feel bad about my big mouth.”
“You actually made me feel kind of better with it, ya know?”
“Really?”
“Yup. But not like it’s going to change anything.” I turn on the blinker. “She’s way out of my league. And she doesn’t think of me like that.”
“Hmm…”
My neck pops as I look at her. Her feet are on the dashboard—she’s slipped off her shoes and I didn’t even notice—and she’s tapping to the beat on her knees.
“What?”
“What, what?” She smiles.
“What was that ‘hmm’ for?”
“Just thinking.”
“About…?” I hate when people don’t just spit it out. At least I’m straight forward.
“Well…” She goes for the radio again. “I told you I’m a perceptive person, and I don’t think you’re as hopeless as you think you are.”
I roll my hand in circles so she elaborates. She laughs.
“Look, I’m good at this kind of stuff—setting people up. Ask any of my guy friends.”
“You wanna set me up with my brother’s ex?”
She shrugs. “Kind of. Like, if you want some pointers and stuff like that, I think I can help.”
Is she for real? Part of me wants to laugh the offer off, stick it in a box and chuck it into the Willamette. But the other part—probably the stupid, hopeful part—wonders if she could really make it happen.
Quynn has always been a fantasy. An unattainable source of sexy-ass girl who used to sleep with my brother—which I try not to think about—and a complicated friendship scrunched together in a ball of ‘I so wish I could kiss you and not get slapped in the face for it’. But what if she actually became more than that?
“What did you mean when you said I’m not hopeless?”
She finishes singing the chorus to the song. “I think she really likes you too. She just doesn’t know it yet.” She sings some more. “Or she’s holding back ‘cause she’s not sure how you feel. But I betcha if you play your cards right, when you let loose, she’ll be thinking very differently about you, Brody.”
Did my stomach just do a little twist? I can’t tell if it’s because of what she said, or how she said it.
“Turn here. I’m the second house on the right. You can pull into the driveway.