Dopplebanger (Meet-Cute #5)

Chapter 16

SIXTEEN

Road trips are always a bit of a gamble. For one, there’s a lot out of your control, from the traffic to if there will be construction or obnoxious drivers. It’s also a lot of time to spend confined in a small space with someone.

So far, this road trip was so different, so much more fun, and so… a word I couldn’t quite find. Not frustration and not exactly intrigue, but a mix of two. Was that a thing?

Actually, it was, because I was experiencing it. Regardless, I was happy that I’d taken a risk on asking Evan to come along, even if I’d nearly rescinded the invitation—making this trip alone would’ve sucked. Not only would it have been quieter, with less laughter and eye-candy to enjoy, but I would’ve been obsessing about seeing my friends and the awkwardness that’d be present at the wedding tomorrow. Somehow, this was the first time I’d really even thought about the wedding during our drive, and even then, the sense of dread was a mere blip in the background.

I shifted in my seat. My legs had locked up in the past few minutes, and I couldn’t quite find a comfortable position anymore.

Evan glanced at me.

“Don’t mind me. I’m just having trouble getting comfy. I can only imagine how you feel. You know my offer to drive stands, right?”

“I’m fine, I promise. Here. Stretch your legs this way.” He motioned to the area below the steering wheel.

I took the hoodie I’d hijacked from him, wadded it into a ball, and placed it over the armrest on the door. Then I shifted so my back was against it and stretched my legs out, over the console so that my feet settled in his lap. Ahh. Much better.

The pads of his slightly callused fingertips dragged across the sensitive skin on the top of my foot and my pulse skittered out of control. He traced up my shin and a zip of electricity shot up my core.

He seemed perfectly casual while I was over here practically panting, my nipples standing at attention, and not from the air conditioning this time.

His fingers skimmed back down, and as he fingered the charm on my anklet, I had the stray thought about wishing he’d finger something else.

Whoa. Not that sex hadn’t been a big part of my life for a while, back when I had a boyfriend, but usually my thoughts weren’t so fixated on it. I didn’t know whether that meant something was wrong with me or if something was finally right.

“A squirrel?” he asked as he glanced at the charm. “That’s… unexpected. I figured it’d be a unicorn.”

My smile stretched across my face, and my cheeks were seriously sore from how much I’d grinned and laughed today. “While I love unicorns, I’m more of a squirrel. Erratic. Chatters a lot. Easily distracted. Yet I’m also a planner, and squirrels are always saving nuts for winter, so apparently that also fit.”

“Apparently?”

“It was this thing between my friends. Madison, the one who’s wedding we’re going to, gave it to me. I was the squirrel, she was the fox, and…” There it was. The hurt that rose up whenever I thought about Paige. So I wouldn’t dwell on that, I focused on Madison. The reason I was making this drive. “She was the sly one who always got us into trouble. You know those charismatic, talk-you-into-anything kind of people?”

“You have no idea,” Evan said.

“We got into trouble together a lot—she’d get these crazy ideas and I’d find myself going along, even as my common sense told me how bad an idea it was. We’ve been friends since grade school, and so many of my memories involve adventures with Madison. And while she got me into plenty of trouble, she was also the first one there when I needed anything. She always had my back. One day we were at the mall and we saw these charm bracelets, and we each got the animal who represented us. Like I said, she got the fox, I got the squirrel, and then Paige, the friend who… you know. Before that mess, we were this threesome who did everything together…”

My heart squeezed into a painful knot as I thought about how it’d never be that way again. Sure, graduating and moving away had changed the dynamic some, and while I was working on forgiveness, forgetting was a whole other thing, one I’d never be able to do.

Then I noticed the silence and worried I’d finally bored Evan, and I’d rather charge on with something else than go back to feeling like he was only half-listening to the important stuff. “Don’t worry, I’m going to change the subject to something cheerier now.”

“Sorry,” Evan said. “My mind froze up for a second when you said ‘threesome.’”

I playfully kicked his leg. “Such a guy thing to say.”

“Guilty as charged,” he said, then he wrapped his hand around my foot, the warmth of his palm soaking into my skin and sending a flush of heat up my leg to settle low in my gut. “In case you haven’t noticed, I am a guy.”

“Oh, I’ve definitely noticed.” In fact, I was acutely aware of his muscular thigh underneath my foot, the way the firm line in his forearm stood out, and how every inch of him dripped masculinity. Once again I marveled that he’d somehow chosen me of all the more put-together women who undoubtedly hit on him.

A grin curved his lips as he renewed the drag of his fingers. “Don’t take that as me not being interested, though. It’s more I wish I could say something that would make you feel better, but nothing I come up with seems good enough. I can tell your friends hurt you, yet clearly you miss them.”

For some reason, his saying it out loud made tears prick my eyes. It wasn’t a newsflash or anything. “I do. I miss them. Like I don’t want to miss Paige, and I’m so mad and hurt, and the betrayal…” To my dismay, my voice cracked. “But I miss her anyway. And I don’t want to punish Madison for still being friends with her, but it feels like she picked her. I know that’s not fair, because they live in the same town, and they have history, too. I guess I never thought I was cool enough for them anyway. Hanging out with Madison and Paige made me more interesting. More fun.”

“That’s not true. You’re plenty interesting and fun—who else could make a stop at a gas station so much fun? Seriously, I’ve laughed more on this trip with you than I have in months.”

“You always seem to have plenty of fun no matter what you do or where you go.”

He turned those ridiculously blue eyes on me, so much intensity in them that my breath caught in my throat. “Not like I’ve had with you the past few days. Trust me, it’s different.”

“Well, I feel the same way.”

“No matter what happens after this, just…”

Apprehension rose. Why did it seem like he was getting ready to say goodbye forever? Not only were we only halfway through our road trip, all of a minute or so ago, I thought we’d reached a deeper level in our relationship. “Kind of a bad place to stop, dude. I know I’m the queen of rambling and probably don’t know when to stop talking—for example right now, I just keep blathering on and on because I’m afraid of what you’re going to say next, but…” I pulled my feet off his lap and hugged my knees against my chest in case I needed them for a shield. “Yeah.”

“Sorry,” Evan said. “I clearly suck at this.”

“This being…?”

He swallowed, his gaze flicking to the road before coming back to me. “I just want you to know how awesome you are. It’s like you don’t realize it, and I don’t understand how that’s possible. When we go to the wedding, I promise that I’ll be right by your side and that I’m here for whatever you need, but also know that you will be just fine no matter what happens.”

“Because you’ll be with me?”

Was that sadness or resignation that flickered across his face? “Because you’re you, and I have faith you could take on the world if you set your mind to it.”

Such a nice thing to say, and yet that frustrated yet flattered yet confused sensation set in again.