Part 15 (1/2)

”You're sorry? About what?” I try to read his face to guess what he is about to say, but I can't think over the sound of my pulse in my ears.

”About Rosie. I should have seen this coming. She's tried this stuff before and it never ends well, but she keeps going determined to be some kind of matchmaker or something.”

I stop chewing. I stop eating. So he does know what this is. ”You got nothing to apologize for. You didn't do it.”

”I guess.” Kent takes a long breath and then locks his eyes on mine. ”But I'm pretty sure she did it, thinking she was doing me some kind of favor.”

I can feel a smile tugging at the corner of my mouth, but I refuse to let it loose. What does that mean, Kent? Be specific! ”Oh. Well, don't worry about it. I wanted to see this movie anyway.” I do my best to brush the whole thing off, to hopefully make him feel less uncomfortable. But I'm realizing that it's now or never. Either I can laugh this whole thing off like it's no big deal, or I can make even a tiny confession of my own. ”I don't mind that it's just us.”

Okay, so that was pathetic. But it was something. Now Kent is the one studying me, and I wish I could give him more to go on. I could have been less pathetic if I'd had some kind of warning I was about to go on my first date ever. I have absolutely no experience in any of this, and the one dating expert in my life has probably forgotten her phone in the bathroom and won't find it again for three hours.

So I guess I'm on my own. Except, I'm with Kent. I'm on my own with Kent. Yes, my brain is not processing this information right now. I consider slipping away, saying I have to go to the bathroom and either calling Reece, or texting Nadine. But I'll save that plan for an actual emergency. So far, things are just a little awkward, but not bad. When Reece went on her first date last year, though my parents refused to call it that, she said she and Andrew whatever his last name was, barely spoke the whole time, and it was super awkward but she had so much fun anyway. So I'm willing to ride out a bit of awkwardness to see where this goes. Because if nothing else, it's possible Kent just confessed that he likes me. Or at least that Rosie thinks he likes me.

I take a big bite out of my burger and chew to give myself time. What are we supposed to be talking about? As I'm eating, I feel a gentle nudge against the side of my foot. Every muscle in my body freezes in place as I try to piece together what just happened. I'm pretty sure that Kent's foot is now leaning against mine, ever so slightly.

I look over at him but he's pointedly looking away, giving me a great chance to admire from up close, seeing just how cute he is. He's wearing a blue plaid, b.u.t.ton down s.h.i.+rt I don't think I've ever seen him wear at school. Did he dress up? His hair on the other hand looks about the same as it always does, curly but controlled.

Kent looks over and catches me staring. At first, he looks away. But a moment later his eyes are back on mine and we are both grinning like idiots. Very happy idiots.

I'm on a date with a guy I actually like. How is this my life? All at once, the whole idea of moving to Fairview feels like the best thing that ever happened to me.

”So where does your dad live?” I ask, because it's the only thing I can think of. My mind has gotten stuck on his quick visit to our house after Thanksgiving. In this moment it's looking a lot more like there was a reason beyond just being polite for him to stop by that day.

”The absolute middle of nowhere. He and my step-mom have this kind of farm, a couple of hours from here. But they don't actually farm anything. It's just all about growing their own food, keeping free range chickens, and basically living in their own little bubble.”

”Please tell me they have a stable Internet connection,” I joke. ”Because I don't care how much s.p.a.ce they have, without being able to get online I don't think I'd be able to manage.”

”It's stable. Not good, but it's stable. It took forever for them to get any Internet at all, so I'm not willing to complain. Yet.”

”How long your parents been divorced?” I'm not sure if that's too heavy a question to ask, but it seems like a natural lead-in from our conversation.

”For years. Five now I guess. I was ten when it happened.” He doesn't elaborate, and I don't ask any more questions. It's possible that failed relations.h.i.+ps weren't the right conversation route to take, but I want to know everything about him. My instinct is to just ask every question that pops into my head even though they aren't remotely related. With is his favorite cla.s.s at school? What's his favorite movie? Does he have any brothers or sisters? I want to know it all.

Before I can ask anything at all, my phone rings letting loose with the theme song to Doctor Who. ”Oh, that's me. Sorry.” I grab it from my pocket and stand up, taking a few steps away before I answer since I'm fully expecting to hear Reece's voice shrieking at me from the other end of the line as soon as I answer. Instead it's my dad.

”Reagan, honey. Are you there?”

”Yeah Dad. I'm fine. You can go home. I promise.” Has it been forty minutes already? Hard to believe how quickly all of this is flying by. Kent and I should probably make our way over to the movie theatre soon since the showing we were aiming for starts at seven-thirty. Which means, soon, it could be just Kent and I alone in a movie theatre.

I wonder if he'll try to hold my hand.

”Any chance Rhiannon told you where she was going to be today? We can't find her.”

Chapter 23.

The question hangs in the air between us as it registers in my brain.

”No idea. She barely said anything to me after school,” I say, hoping that will be the end of the conversation. And hoping this isn't anything serious.

”I'm going to need you to meet me outside the mall where I dropped you off, in about five minutes.” Only then can I acknowledge the tension in his voice, the anxiety. He has to be overreacting. I don't answer, and he prods me for a response. ”Reagan. Just tell me you understand and I'll see you in five minutes.”

”Do I need to come now?” I spit out the question without thinking. This is just starting to go so well. ”I can find my own way home.” Rhiannon will call any second now but my night will already be ruined.

”Reagan, we both have to get back to the house. Rhiannon could be missing. We're not sure, but no one can get a hold of her and she's not at home. She didn't tell she was going out, and she's not answering her phone. Five minutes.”

My dad has already hung up the phone so I there's nothing left to do but to pull mine away from my ear and stare at it as though that will make what he just said make sense. But it really doesn't help. At all.

Rhiannon is missing? I take a breath. That has to be some kind of mistake. There's a difference between not knowing where someone is, and them being missing.

I open my phone again and search for my last text from Rhiannon. It was at lunchtime yesterday.

Rhiannon: No idea.

She'd been answering my question about what we were having for dinner. Before that, we'd been texting about plans to marathon Planet Earth a few days earlier. It was all business as usual.

”Everything okay?” Kent is standing behind me, his hand reaching out as though to touch my shoulder but hovering in midair between us.

Right, Kent. I look at it for a few seconds more, and then shake my head to try and clear my thoughts. ”I have to go.”

Kent's expression falls at once from worried to disappointment. He thinks I'm leaving because of him. He has to. So while family drama isn't usually something I'd want or need to broadcast to anyone, I tell him what my dad just told me. I wait for him to respond as though somehow he'll be able to make sense of this where I can't.

He nods once. ”Okay, let's go. I'll walk you out front and wait till your dad gets there. Everything is going to work out.”

I gather my stuff and we start moving through the mall. I feel like I should be sprinting or something, but I'm in a daze. More than once, Kent gently nudges me when I go in the wrong direction. It's been less than an hour since I first walked through this mall, and already everything looks foreign and new.

”How are you going to get home?” I ask when the thought occurs to me. He probably just had someone drop him off too, someone who could be back home in Fairview by now.

”Don't worry about me. I'll figure it out. I'm sure my mom will come back and get me.”

Sure. I nod like that makes perfect sense. A moment later, we're outside and the bite of the air is stinging my face. My dad's car is already waiting at the curb. I see him before he sees me, leaning against the steering wheel and tapping his hand impatiently.

I walk toward the car but then remember Kent behind me. ”Thanks,” I say. ”I'll see you at school on Monday?” My voice has no tone at all. I sound like a robot, even to me. But I'm already walking toward the car before I can make it better.

”That's Kent, right?”

”Yeah,” I answer, buckling myself in. There's so much I want to ask, but I'll wait until we've at least pulled away, until we are heading back toward home.

”He's not on his own, is he?”

”What? Yeah. The rest of our friends bailed, so he's going to wait for a ride home.”

”Don't be silly. Tell him to get in, and I'll drive him back to Fairview. If his mom can come get him from our house, at least he's not stranded here by himself.”