Zoey POV Continued

You have a girlfriend."

"Well, we've been hanging out — I'm not sure I'd say girlfriend yet. But she's cool. Alexa Hills — she's our year and on the cheerleading squad."

"Oh." I knew who he was talking about, but I was trying to figure out how this had happened and why Chase had conveniently neglected to mention anything to me about it. I found myself stepping away from him a bit, needing some distance to try to make sense of it all.

"But enough about me. Tonight is all about you." Chase stepped forward. "I should warn you that Mom's obsessed with making shepherd's pie for you tonight to ease you back into the Midwest. And you know how paranoid she gets cooking for you, so throw in some brilliants and all will be good."

I gave him a weak smile.

"Come here. I missed you so much." He put his arms around me again. "I don't think I'm going to be able to let go. Having your best friend leave you for the summer blows." He kissed me on the forehead. "But I promise to stop being jealous and want to hear every detail of your trip. I want to be inundated with photos and stories that will make me green with envy. I mean it. You have to tell me everything."

But I really couldn't tell him everything, since there was one thing I had to keep to myself.

Awk-ward!

Chase: Dude, do you realize if you'd said something right then, everything would've been different?

Zoey: Like you would no longer call me dude?

Chase: Whatever, dude. But don't pretend that I'm the one into drama when you yourself led us into more drama.

Zoey: You got me there.

Chase: So you're admitting that I'm totally right?

Zoey: No. Because you have to admit life is more interesting with a little drama.

Chase: Are you serious? Life is more of a pain in the rear with drama.

Zoey: Oh, wait, you're totally right on that one. My bad.

Chase POV

I was so stoked to have Zoey back. Summer wasn't the same without her around. It wasn't until she was truly gone, thousands of miles away, that I realized how much time we spent together each summer. And yeah, even though I had my guys, it was different. It didn't feel the same. Nothing was the same without her.

At first I was mad at her for going away, but then I got it. We probably needed a break to reassess things.

I truly loved Zoey, I did. But I realized that she didn't feel the same, so if the only way I could have her in my life was as a friend, that's what we'd be.

I admit, she looked so cute when she got out of customs at the airport. She had that sleepy look she got when she was either super tired or under a lot of pressure. She was pretty quiet on the drive home and at dinner that evening. But I felt a lot better just having her near me.

I probably should've told her about Alexa while she was in Ireland, but it never had felt like the right time. Alexa was great and really cool, but truthfully I thought I should have a girlfriend by the time Zoey got back solely to avoid any more awkwardness. I didn't want her to feel uncomfortable or to think I was still pining over her. I had to put that aside if I wanted things to go back to normal.

I wish I could say that things went quickly back to how they'd been before all our problems. But Zoey started acting almost uncomfortable around me. At first I brushed it off as jet lag, I mean, she nearly cut off her finger one day in the kitchen when I asked her advice about Alexa, and Zoey was always very careful when she was cooking. So that I got. But after a week of her dropping things around me whenever I got too close to her, of her avoiding my eyes, I realized that my confession to her might've done some significant damage that would take a lot longer to repair. I was willing to give her the space, whatever she needed to feel comfortable around me again.

It was two weeks before school was starting and Zoey was busy in the kitchen with my mom. She had come over to hang out with me, but the second my mom showed up with a bag of groceries, Zoey jumped up to help her, and I hadn't seen her since.

It seemed like every time we were supposed to hang, she'd find something else to do. Someone else to be around.

I guess this was how she felt the second half of sophomore year: discarded.

If I could have taken back that confession to her, I would have. Keeping it bottled up inside probably would've destroyed me, but better my sanity than my relationship with her.

After nearly a half hour of being ignored, I decided to go into the kitchen.

Zoey was sitting at the kitchen table, not helping, not doing anything, just chatting with Mom.

"Oh, sweetie," Mom said to me, like she'd forgotten I was home. "Zoey gave me a new barbecue recipe that I'm going to try out tonight. You have to join us, Zoey. I feel like I haven't seen you that much since you got home. Plus, I need you as my expert taste tester."

Zoey beamed at Mom. "That sounds great."

"Fantastic." Mom looked over at me. "Alexa likes brats, right?"

"Yep," I replied.

Zoey hit her head. "Oh my goodness, today's Wednesday, right? I thought it was Tuesday. I have something tonight."

"Aww, that's too bad." Mom looked genuinely sad. "Chase, how did your driving class go today?"

"Good, I've almost mastered parallel parking. I was thinking that I really want to take my driver's license test on my actual birthday." My sixteenth birthday was in a few weeks and I had my fingers crossed for a car.

"Sure." Mom paused. "Although you're going to have your first football game of the season the next night, so I don't want you to overbook yourself. School comes first — you know that."

"But I figured that if I got my license, then I could drive us all into Milwaukee for a birthday dinner or something."

"Hmm, again, I don't want you overdoing it. We should think about doing something low-key for your birthday. Sixteen is a big one, but I don't think we should get crazy. You can go out with your friends after the game." Her phone rang and she picked it up and went into the other room.

That was so not like my mom. She'd completely brushed my birthday aside. Mom always freaked out over my birthday. Extravagant, overplanned parties. The benefits of being an only child, I guess.

I turned toward Zoey "Wasn't she being weird?"

She looked confused. "What?"

"My mom. Just now. She was so weird about my birthday, don't you think?"

"Huh?" Zoey looked at me like I was speaking a foreign language.

"Don't you remember how she usually is with my birthday? She always makes a big deal out of it."

Zoey's eyes got wide. "You're right — she's a monster!"

Maybe I was reading too much into it. "So is she planning something?"

"Not that I know of. Honestly."

I studied her for a second and could see she was being truthful.

"Maybe she thinks we're growing up and don't need to have a big party with clowns and balloon animals," she offered.

"But I really wanted a balloon animal in the shape of a horsey." I pretended to pout. "You're probably right, although I usually have to calm her down over my birthday, and now it's almost like she doesn't care."

Zoey dismissed me. "Wow. You're being so dramatic. Your mom is the most loving mother ever. So just chill. I think all that practice in the sun has gotten to you."

I was used to being in the sun, but being outside in the sun wearing a football uniform wasn't exactly easy on my body.

"Yeah, I guess you've got a point. Well, anyway, what do you have going on tonight?"

"Huh?"

"Tonight?" I said. She looked at me blankly. "You have some plans, so you can't stay for dinner." I decided to poke her playfully at her side, but she jumped. I wasn't used to her being this nervous around me. Something had to be going on.

Her eyes lit up. "Yes. Of course. It's a … a family thing I have with Dustin"

"Is everything okay?"

"Uh, yeah, it's really not a big deal. I promised I'd go see a movie with him tonight." She wouldn't even look me in the eye.

"Oh, yeah, what movie?"

"Movie? Um, I forgot which one he wanted to see."

Okay, it didn't take a genius to figure out that something was going on with Zoey. She clearly had plans tonight that she didn't want me to know about. I wondered if she was already dating someone. She hadn't even been back that long. But what else could it have been? She was disappearing and making excuses to not hang out as much. She hadn't even met Alexa. I knew that she knew who she was from school, but this was different.

Whatever it was, she didn't want me to know, and I had to respect her privacy. The last thing I wanted to do was make it worse.

I used to complain about the cold weather in Wisconsin when I first moved here. But little did I realize that the August heat waves would become the bane of my existence.

Logan walked out of practice with me. "This has never happened before, California."

"You've never had a practice canceled?"

He shook his head. "Nah, this heat wave is brutal."

We walked up to his truck and he unlocked the door. "Thanks for the ride, man."

"No problem." He smirked at me. "I'm sorry I didn't bring a car seat for you."

Ugh. I couldn't wait to get my driver's license. I hated having to rely on my parents or friends to get me around, especially to practice.

"Listen, if practice doesn't work out tomorrow, you should come over and run a few plays with me. My backyard gets pretty shady in the afternoon."

"Sounds good." I paused for a second. I know guys are supposed to be chill, but I really appreciated everything Logan had done to help me with the team. "And thanks, man, for everything. I don't think I would've made varsity without you."

"Yeah, well, you're fast. We need a fast guy. But don't start writing me love letters yet." He laughed. "You've still got to get in the game and catch the ball."

"Got it. Get in the game, catch the ball, then write you love letters."

He pulled up outside my house. "Yeah, but I wouldn't want Zoey to get jealous. She's a tough one. If only chicks could play football."

I hopped out of the car and noticed Mr. Brooks's car parked out front. I rushed inside, calling out, "Is everything okay with Zoey?"

I stopped suddenly when I saw Mom and Mr. Brooks leaning closely together at the kitchen table. They were looking at a piece of paper.

"Oh." Mom jumped up. "What are you doing home so early?"

I looked between them. Something was off.