Road Trip with a Nerd - Stephanie Street Page 0,1

at all while I had been friends with everyone. Everyone except Grant.

“Grant, what are you still doing here?” I asked, trying to keep my voice steady, in control. A plan was forming, but first, I had to find out what was up with Grant, and then decide just how badly I wanted to get home so I could confront my BF and my BFF.

“I drove,” he answered simply.

My mouth dropped open. What were the chances? “You did? But why?”

The furrow between his brows deepened. “I just did. What about you? Why didn’t you leave with the others?” He glanced at the watch on his wrist. “You’ll miss the plane.”

He drove. He had a car. He could take me home.

It would be tricky, pulling off the idea swirling through my mind, but it just might work. If I could talk Grant into going along with it.

Then, there was Jenny. I’d have to tell her the truth. I’d send her a text with that photo of the lying cheaters and explain that I needed to get home. Our parents still had a week left of their cruise. I’d be home, safe and sound, before they even knew what was going on. I’d just tell them I flew back with Mr. Richards and the others and hope they didn’t ask too many questions. Jenny would cover for me, I knew she would.

First? Grant.

I couldn’t believe what I was about to do. But what other choice did I have? Grant was my only hope.

“I need a favor.”

Grant’s lips twisted. “What?”

Scrambling to my feet, I did something that shocked us both, I took one of his hands in both of mine and begged.

“I need a favor. I need a ride home.”

Grant

Say what now?

I must be befuddled. That was it. The sight of my unrequited crush sitting primly all by herself in the hotel lobby had scrambled my brains. There was no other explanation because Mallory Knight asking me—I didn’t even know she knew my name—to drive her to Indianapolis, did not just happen. My dreams never came true. Ever.

Therefore, I needed some other explanation. Why was Mallory holding my hand, her wide blue eyes staring into mine with an emotion that looked an awful lot like desperation?

“I’m sorry. What did you say?” I just barely held myself back from working my ear over with my index finger. Dense wouldn’t be the first word someone used to describe me, but right then, I’d regressed to caveman status.

“I don’t have time to explain.” She wrung her hands which in turn wrung mine. “I just—please? I need to get home as soon as possible.”

I tried to process what she’d said. “Why didn’t you go with everyone else?” Nothing made sense.

Mallory’s eyes, which come to think of it, had been suspiciously red since I’d spotted her just a few moments earlier, welled with tears.

Oh, no.

“What are you doing?” I asked, panicking. “Why are you crying?” I didn’t know what to do. She still held my hand, but she looked like she might need a hug. Should I hug her? Before I could do anything foolish, she wiped her nose with the back of her hand, the one not still holding onto mine, and let out a watery kind of laugh. If it were anyone else, I might have been disgusted, but Mallory could make anything look adorable.

“Grant, if you do this for me, I’ll explain everything. But my sister is on her way here to pick me up. I need to call and tell her what’s going on, but I can’t do that until you agree to let me ride with you back to Indianapolis.”

When she phrased it that way, the reality of what she asked hit me like an atomic bomb. Ride in my car for twenty-four hours with Mallory Knight? Two days and a night if we didn’t drive straight through? Potentially thirty-six hours with the object of my every fantasy sitting less than two feet away?

Yes, please.

Then again, what about my own plans? Ten minutes ago, I had every intention of taking a week to drive home. Dealing with my parents right now being at the bottom of the list of things I wanted to do.

I took another look at Mallory and knew I was going to cave. What difference would it make? Two days? Three? Or four? I still had to face them at some point. At least this way, I’d have two days in a car with Mallory freaking Knight to show for it—a