"What was that outside?"

Shit. I was hoping she wouldn't ask me about it, but that was silly. Of course she's going to ask about it. "Umm, nothing."

Courtney gave me a weird look as she put down our In N Out bags on the counter. I really just wanted to enjoy my food. Ugh. "I've seen you two interact
and say hi to each other. Something was off today."

Nothing was off. Troy and I said hi to each other and that was that and now I'm here and all I wanna do is eat my food. "I don't know what to tell you. He said hi, I said hi. What do you want me to say?"

She shrugged and took out my burger and handed it to me as I walked back from washing my hands and grabbing the ketchup from the fridge.

"It was just kind of awkward. I don't know. Wait. Did you guys hook up?!"

I took a seat at the island and grabbed my drink and brought it over to me, along with my fries. "Court, no. Why would you say that?"

She went over and washed her hands and ignored me for the time being. But when she got her burger out, her fries and her drink and set it up so she could eat, she turned to me. "Because you two are acting like two people who hooked up, regret it, and now it's awkward to even see each other."

Okay, she's not wrong. But we didn't hook up. Nope.

"We didn't hook up," I tell her before taking a bite of my cheeseburger.

She dug right in, too. "Well, then what's up?"

I told Courtney everything, I did, but I don't even know if I should talk about Troy. It's almost like if I don't talk about him, nothing's happening. Or will happen. I mean, during the second half of the movie, Megan called him three times. And I don't know. That's some girlfriend shit. So I don't know what to
really think about it all.

"Okay, last Friday when you guys went to the party, I didn't stay home," of course I was going to tell her. She always gets everything out of me sooner than
I would like, "I went to Troy's and we hung out."

"You did?" she asked a bit surprised as she grabbed her drink to take a sip. "What'd you guys do?"

"Made banana bread, drank some hot chocolate and watched Superbad," I told her, "and we maybe cuddled and fell asleep together."

Courtney looked like she was almost choking, but I knew she was just being dramatic. "You cuddled and fell asleep with a guy who has a girlfriend? What
the heck, Gabriella."

I shook my head. "No, no, it's not how it sounds really. And I don't know if he has a girlfriend. It seems like maybe they're dating or maybe they are, I don't know. But it just seemed like he was sort of flirting with me the whole night. Maybe I'm just imagining it."

"And that makes it okay?"

No. Definitely not. "Look, we didn't really cuddle. It was more like I rested my head on his shoulder when I was getting sleeping and he pulled the blanket up and I knew what I was doing, but I don't think he noticed I was still conscious and then before I knew it, I woke up at 2:30 AM and we were both laying down on his couch, fully embracing."

"And then what happened? Was it awkward and you just got up and left?"

That should have been what I did. But I didn't. "I don't even know if he realized I woke up, but um, no. I sort of just stayed there and the next morning was when it was like, oh... hi, what just happened? Ya know?"

She nodded as she shoved some fries in her mouth full of ketchup. "And you just left and five days later, it's still awkward?"

"It's not THAT awkward," I tell her, "it's just sort of like, shit, what did we do? And we're trying to ignore it and just pretend it didn't happen but we can't and yeah. I really don't know what I'm saying. I don't think I have an answer to it."

She laughed. I knew she wasn't upset, but I don't know. It's not like me to just do that. "You like him, huh?"

Define like. "Maybe I'm attracted to him."

"That's not what I said," she tells me taking another bite of her cheeseburger, "I said you like him. And he may like you. And you do realize if Megan's not in the picture, this could become something? Do you want it to?"

Oh fuck. I didn't even think about that. "I mean, it wouldn't be the worst thing. He's nice and funny. And obviously extremely good looking."

Like extremely good looking.

"And are you ready for another relationship? How long has it been?"

Hmm. How long has it been? "Over a month?" Yeah, that sounds about right. "I don't know, Court. I'm over Taylor. Like, how could I not be after what he did to me? But you know, I do have trust issues now so I don't want to just jump into a relationship."

"Yeah and what if he is dating Megan? Not girlfriend, but just you know, dating. Either way, it's shady and I wouldn't want to get into that whole mess."

She's right. Even if he was dating her, it wouldn't be SO terrible, but I still wouldn't want to be with a guy who dated two girls at once. Or was dating a girl and was flirting with another one. Dating should be monogamous as well.

"Well, you can figure out if they're dating at that Christmas party since you don't want to ask your sister about it anymore. Or you ask him."

Yeah, I really didn't. I know I could trust her to do it discretely, but she already told me that Camille mentioned to her that she had a dream where I told her that I had the biggest crush on Troy and that she should hook me up so nope. Scratching that off the list, for sure. And I am definitely not asking him. No way. That would obviously give away the fact that I'm attracted to him, you know? Don't want him thinking that.

But that was a week away. It's Thursday now and it's still sort of weird between Troy and I. And it's been almost a week since that happened.

Ugh. It's going to be such a fun party. Yeaaah right.

"How was your trip?"

I cut into my enchiladas and put a big bite into my mouth before answering my dad. "It was fun. Monterey is actually really pretty. We should go. Mason would love the aquarium there"

My dad took a sip of his beer and pushed it off to the side. "Yeah? Well, Char's parents should have invited us then."

I laughed. He was only kidding. "We can go. I already miss it."

Charlotte and I along with her family went to Monterrey Bay this weekend just for a fun little trip. They've been wanting to go there and they invited me and it was a nice little getaway. For me especially because it made me avoid Troy for three whole days. I didn't have to walk outside and see him get into his car or into his house or whatever. It's like we were always on the same schedule or something because I'd see him outside SO much.

"I'll look into it," he tells me, "but we're still going to the snow in January. The cabin probably misses us."

He's so lame. Ha. "Oh, I'm sure it does, dad."

He nodded his head and looked over at the TV. There was some sort of sporting event going on, I don't know and I didn't bother to look. "I got my test back from last week. I got an A."

"Yeah?" he focused his attention back on me as he grabbed some chips, "good job. I told you there was nothing to worry about. Econ is easy."

I guess so.

"Oh," my dad tells me, "Jack's probably going to meet us in a bit. He's helping me out with my mom's house and we have to go do some paperwork and so before that, I told him to stop by here and have a beer with me."

Eh, that's okay I guess. I'm almost done with my food, anyway. And Jack was nice. "Wait. How am I going to get home? You're going to drop me off?"

It didn't seem like he thought his plan through. "Oh shit, you're right. Where we're supposed to go is the opposite way of the house," he tells me as he pushes his plate away because he was done with his burrito, "maybe he can just give me a ride and you can take my car home."

"Okay, yeah, that works."

I finished the last couple bites of my enchiladas and grabbed a couple more chips and dipped them in salsa. Ugh. Mexican food was my favorite.

And then I looked up and saw Jack Bolton walking towards us. But he wasn't alone.

Troy was with him.

They both walked over to us and Troy just gave me a small smile and gave my dad a handshake since my dad didn't want to get out of the booth. Jack slid into the booth next to my dad and this was just one big awkward-fest.

"Troy, didn't know you were coming," my dad tells him and then motions to the spot next to me, "take a seat."

He shook his head, "Nah, I just came by to drop off my dad and pick some food up to go."

What? I knew my dad was thinking the same thing. He looked confused. "Drop your dad off?"

Jack reached over and grabbed a couple of chips and threw them in his mouth, "Yeah, we just dropped off my car at the shop. It needed an oil change so Troy brought me on the way back. Figured you could give me a ride home."

My dad laughed. Here was was thinking Jack could give him in a ride home, and Jack was thinking the opposite. "Actually, Gabriella's taking my car back so I'm car-less."

"Oh, really? When you said you were meeting her for lunch, I just figured she was coming from somewhere"

"Yeah, that was the plan, but she didn't have to stay after school after all so she came home and we came together," my dad explained to him, "this is so funny. Can't believe we were thinking the same thing."

I was literally just sitting there not knowing what to do. Great. If my dad makes me chauffeur them around, I'm going to be annoyed.

And then Jack came up with an idea. An idea I would have been pumped about if Friday night didn't happen. "Well, why doesn't Troy give her a ride home so you can still have your car?"

My dad nodded and picked up his beer. "Yeah, yeah, that works."

I looked over at Troy and he didn't seem upset about the plan, but like it caught him off guard. He was probably thinking that he was just going to drop his dad off, get some food and that would be that. But nope. Now he has to give me a ride home.

"Yeah," he spoke up, "um, that's fine. Just let me go get my food and we can go."

My dad and Jack smiled a me like they just came up with a great solution, but little do they know. Actually, do they know?! How did this shit happen to me? It's seriously like out of a movie and ugh. How is this my life where I get stuck with Troy? Not that it's a bad thing, but it's always happening.

He came back after a few minutes with a bag and a drink in his hand. "Ready?"

I nodded and grabbed my purse and my phone and threw my napkin on the table. My dad was going to pick up the check so I was fine. He wanted to finish whatever game that was on the TV, anyway.

"Thanks dad."

He smiled at me. "Love you."

We all said bye to each other and then we walked out and went to his car in silence. It's never been awkward with us and I don't want it to be. Dammit, Gabriella. Why did you have to fall asleep in his arms?

I wanted to say something and I was going to, but he beat me to it. "Are you okay?"

That's what he's asking me? I mean, I might seem a little off but it's only with him. I'm good at school, with my friends, with my family. So, um. "Yeah, I'm good."

He nodded as he put on his blinker to turn right at the upcoming street, "I haven't seen you in a couple of days so, yeah, just wondering."

Oh. I guess it's fine now. "Yeah, um, I went up North with Charlotte and her family and I just got back last night."

"Oh, where to exactly?"

This conversation seems a little forced and I don't really like it, but at least we're able to form complete sentences around each other. Because that Saturday morning, I woke up, grabbed my shit, said I had somewhere to be and got the hell out of there. "Monterrey Bay."

"Yeah?" he asks, his ears perking up a little. "I went last year. It's really nice up there."

It is. "Yeah, I love it."

And then silence again Great.

But now for long because this time I spoke up. "Listen, about that Friday, um, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to, I just, I woke up at 5 that morning and I was really tired and it was probably the hot chocolate, and..."

He glanced over at me and cracked a smile before interrupting. What does that mean? "It's okay."

"Yeah, but it's like weird between us now and I don't know..."

At least we're talking about it. It's better than just sweeping it under the rug. Well, I'm a talker so it was bound for it to all come out if I was given the opportunity, so I guess thank you Jack and dad. Really appreciate it.

He switched lanes and then came to a stop at a red light and looked over at me. "Maybe because of the way we woke up, but um, friends cuddle, right?"

Right. Um. Friends. Ha. What did I expect him to say or do? Confess his love for me? Yeah, right. Get it together, Gabriella. "Yeah, definitely. I mean, Chase and I are always having sleepovers like that."

I tried to lighten the situation and I think it worked because he laughed. Not like a small laugh, but a loud laugh so that was good. "Oh, I bet."

And then just like that, everything was back to normal.