Chapter 23

I headed back inside, trying to gather myself before anyone noticed how completely flustered I was.

The second I stepped through the door, I made a beeline for the kitchen and grabbed a glass of water.

I drank almost half of it in one gulp.

“You okay, my Breesy girl?” Mom asked.

I nearly choked.

“Yeah.”

She gave me a suspicious look.

“Who was here?”

I set the glass down.

“It was Jagger.”

Mom’s face immediately brightened.

“Jagger?”

“She’s visiting for Thanksgiving.”

I grabbed the pie she’d brought and held it up.

“She brought us this.”

“Aww,” Mom said. “She should have come in so we could say hello as well.”

“I know. She was kind of in a hurry.”

That wasn’t exactly a lie.

Mom smiled and returned to whatever she had been doing.

I could feel myself grinning again.

“We’re actually going out tomorrow,” I announced.

Everyone looked over.

“Our first real date.”

I couldn’t stop the excitement from spilling out of my voice.

“That is awesome, Brees,” Quinn said, reaching over to rub my arm briefly.

“Five o’clock,” I added.

“Look at you,” Mom teased. “Finally getting a proper date.”

I rolled my eyes.

“Mom.”

Everyone laughed.

Then Isadora spoke from across the room.

“Maybe we could all triple date.”

Silence.

Everyone turned to look at her.

I blinked.

Keegan’s expression immediately changed.

“Izzy, that’s not a good idea,” he said, shaking his head.

“Why not?” Isadora asked.

“Because…”

He looked at me.

I looked at him.

There was something in his expression that I couldn’t quite read.

Jealousy?

Annoyance?

Maybe both.

Isadora didn’t seem to notice.

“It would be fun,” she insisted. “We have a bowling alley at my exchange family’s house. We could all hang out, bowl, get food…”

She looked at me.

“Please?”

I glanced at Keegan again.

Every instinct in my body told me this was a terrible idea.

Going on a date with Jagger was one thing.

Going on a date with Jagger while Keegan was there with Isadora?

That was something else entirely.

Still, I didn’t want Keegan thinking I was afraid to be around him.

So I smiled.

“I’m good with that, Keegan, if you are?”

His jaw tightened for just a second.

Then he shrugged.

“Fine.”

He looked at Quinn.

“Quinn can start a group chat, and we can finalize the details for tomorrow at Izzy’s.”

“Perfect!” Isadora said.

She looked genuinely excited.

I forced myself to smile.

“Sounds good.”

Keegan pulled out his phone, already typing.

I watched him for a moment before looking down at my own hands.

This was ridiculous.

I was going on a date with Jagger.

I should have been excited.

And I was.

But somehow, in the back of my mind, I already knew tomorrow wasn’t going to be simple. I was trying so hard to escape difficult, but I kept landing there.

Because now I wasn’t just going on my first real date with Jagger.

I was going bowling with Jagger, Keegan Patts, and his new girlfriend. This sounded like a nightmare. This would drive Keegan and I further apart for sure.

And though everything in my heart was screaming that this was a terrible idea, I had a feeling it was already too late to back out.