Page 112 of No Such Thing as Serendipity

I smiled and closed my eyes, listening. With my eyes closed, the sounds seemed louder. “Nice, isn’t it?”

“What?” Emma put a mocking tone in her voice. “Did you say it was nice here?”

“Smartass.” I opened my eyes and gazed into Emma’s. “But yeah, it’s kinda nice.”

“Who’s the big sister?” Emma stuck out her chin and wiggled her shoulders.

I snorted. “Don’t push it.”

“Back to my question,” Emma said. “Why are you swearing and pounding on the table?”

“Oh, no, my question first. Why aren’t you in class?”

“I skipped it.”

I let my mouth drop open. “Emma Fulton ditched class?”

She drew her eyebrows together, which made her look more like a cartoon character than someone angry. “I have some bad girl in me.”

“Right!”

“Just ask Andrew.” She wriggled her eyebrows.

“Eww, would you stop it?”

Emma burst out laughing. “See, I told you. Bad girl.”

“Okay, you win. Just don’t say shit like that to me. But you still didn’t tell me why you skipped class.”

“I thought you might need my help dressing for your date.”

“I’ve been dressing myself for forty years. I think I’ve got this.”

“You know what I mean.” Emma frowned. “Have you picked out your outfit yet?”

My shoulders slumped. She knew me too well. While Robyn dominated my thoughts today, selecting an outfit proved agonizing.

Emma pointed at my face. “I knew it. You’re stumped.”

“Fine. I am.” I covered my face with my hand. “I don’t know what to wear.”

“Where are you going?”

“I don’t know.”

“What do you mean, you don’t know?”

I pretended to pound my head against the table. “Ugh. I suck at this. I asked her out on a date, and I have no idea where I’m taking her. How about a classy restaurant or something?”

“Shouldn’t you tell her, so she’ll know how to dress?”

I scrunched my eyes shut. “She texted earlier, asking.”

“What did you tell her?”

“That I’d get back to her.”

“Blake Saunders, when did you become so clueless?”