Chapter 24: 23. rain

“Alright, well I said two and two, but I mean one and one,” she giggled. “Put one and one together, Jess,” she said, wiggling her eyebrows at me. It made more of the silver of her eyeshadow appear with the movement of her face, and I was stunned by how she could be so classically fiercely hot and so completely annoying and dorky at the same time.

Still, while she looked like a runway in Paris was waiting for her, I was a complete mess. Like, I was pretty sure my face had turned entirely strawberry red. Well, apart from the freckles.

I tried to do the math Nora was suggesting, anyway. I thought about how David totally rubbed me the wrong way, despite there being nothing wrong with the guy, and I thought about how Summer setting me up with Nora had gotten me so worked up.

I realised I'd been so upset because it went against what I really wanted. I'd talked it through with Dad, after all – what did I even know about Nora? She seemed cool, and I liked her, but just because she was the cute new girl didn't mean I was destined to be her soulmate. Neither did the way her modelling work had managed to weave into my subconscious.

It was like I'd just told her: I think we're good as friends.

Plus, I totally needed a perceptive friend like Nora on my side. If I was this transparent, I clearly needed all the help I could get when it came to picking up on other people's junk, just to make it an even playing field.

Nora had twigged that the root of all my problems was Summer and potentially vice-versa, so honestly? Whether this worked out or not, I wanted to keep her around for future insight. Summer believed in ghosts, horoscopes, and psychics, but I believed in Nora Holland.

“Listen,” Nora began again, all serious. Her eyes dropped from mine to the table. “Are you going to eat the rest of your pancakes?”

I laughed, and pushed my plate over to her so she could finish off my leftovers.

The rest of the evening ticked by easily, with conversation eventually (thankfully) becoming less intense. Nora told me all about how her modelling agency were trying to rebrand her, but it wasn't really working yet, and she told me how her mother wouldn't stop asking about when she could get both of our families together to head out on the lake one day. I told her that would probably be Dad's ideal day out, and that we should totally set something up – even at the risk of letting our parents embarrass the hell out of themselves and everyone else involved. That was exactly what families were for anyway, right?

Rain had begun to fall while we talked, splattering the diner windows. It made it nearly impossible to see outside, it was so heavy. I made a show of peeking under the table at Nora's shoes. High chunky wedges were just visible under her wide-legged pants.

“So, you good to walk?” I teased, already fishing in my bag for my phone.

Nora chuckled. “Yeah, dude,” she smirked. “Hell, let's take the scenic route.”

I laughed, opening up an app to order a car. It was way too late to bother Dad, and we weren't a million miles away from home. A taxi service wouldn't cost too much.

“You know,” Nora began, drawing out the words dramatically, “we could probably ask Summer for a lift...”

I groaned, shooting her a look that said that now probably wasn't a good time for the three of us to all hang out.

Nora nodded. “You're right,” she said. “Maybe we should ask David, instead?”

She cackled when I shot her a deathly glare. I was mostly kidding, though, and cracked a smile myself as she laughed.

“You're the worst,” I said. “You're lucky I'm even gonna let you in the car with me,” I tutted, before hitting dial.

The ride home was quick, even with the traffic picking up as the weather worsened. We parted ways outside our house with the world's quickest hug, the rain pouring down on us. It hadn't let up at all. Nora darted inside with a brief wave back at me, and I fumbled with my keys trying to unlock the door only to find it was already unlocked. Typical Dad.

I practically crashed inside once I realised, in a hurry to get out of the rain before I got soaked through. My hair was already dripping down onto my shoulders. I kicked off my shoes quickly and looked at the state I was in in the mirror in the hall. I'd looked worse, for sure, but this wasn't the hottest I'd ever been. My make-up was barely there, but that was better than having eyeliner and mascara running down my cheeks, and my hair was soaked on top.

I ruffled it all up and started shaking it out, and that's when I heard the voices coming from the living room. I'd figured it was just whatever TV show Dad had on, like maybe he'd fallen asleep down here and was snoozing to some old flick, but these voices were definitely here for real.

Dread began to unfurl inside of me. I was pretty sure I recognized both voices. One was Dad, of course, but the other was unmistakably Summer.

Panic shot me in the chest: this wasn't the right time. Not now, why now? Summer had always seemed to run on her own schedule, but holy shit was this horrible timing for me. I looked at the staircase, the darkened floor above calling to me. There was no way they hadn't heard me come in, and there wasn't anyone else it could've been. There was no way out of this, but I knew I wasn't prepared for whatever the rest of the night would hold.