I shook my head at her. “He has tryouts. Things are busy.”

  “Yeah, so busy he only has time for one of the girls he calls girlfriend. The one everyone knows about no less.”

  This is how things had gone between me and Rachel since I started hanging out with Chris at the Rec Center. I worried and rambled. She told me how bad he was. I worried more.

  I shrugged. After last night I was so confused I didn’t know what to say. Everything had been typical Chris right up to that apology… that desperate sad-sounding apology. I could see he was struggling to do the right thing. And now with Cheryl out of the picture, that should be a lot easier for him.

  And I’d liked him for so long. So. Long.

  It felt like quitting to give up on something I’d wanted now that it just might be within reach.

  Especially since what I was afraid to want just kept getting further and further away. A girlfriend showing up out of the blue could do that.

  “All I’m saying is Chris doesn’t know what he’s got, but he doesn’t mind holding on to it. It sounds like this Luke guy already knows you better.”

  I rolled my eyes at the mention of Luke Parker and his all-seeing superpower abilities.

  “Okay, if he’s so bad, maybe it’s time you start at the beginning and give me the details. Not just the things you wanted to get out.”

  Darn it all. She knew me way too well. One of the disadvantages of having a BFF from birth. Okay, we’d only known each other since fifth grade, but it felt like birth. Rebirth maybe?

  I unclipped my seat belt and shoved the door open, wincing as it bounced back and caught my leg halfway out.

  “I definitely need caffeine for this.” Stall. Stall. Stall.

  Rachel smirked. “Then caffeine you shall have.”

  We dodged cars crossing Main Street to the little hole in the wall pizza place we called home. The scent of buffalo chicken wafted over me as I pushed through the door behind Rachel. Before we were in the seating area, the most beautiful laughter heard outside a Disney movie tickled my ears. It was light and airy and girly to the extreme. And completely unfamiliar. My stomach did that drop-jump thing because I knew only one girl could be attached such a perfect little laugh.

  Across the dining room, the entire Parker family sat eating pizza and sharing a couple pitchers of soda. And in their midst, looking right at home, was perfect little Katie, her chair scooched close to Luke’s.

  Before I could stop her, Rachel raised a hand toward the counter and shouted, “Hi Jovi. I’m back and I’m sure you missed us.”

  If I hadn’t been watching him, I wouldn’t have noticed how Luke leaned away from Katie. I felt a little sick seeing him and knowing how he really was. He may point fingers at Chris all the time, but he was the one leading on the fairy princess over there.

  I slid into the booth across from Rachel, thankful my typical seat faced away from the Parker clan.

  It was pretty obvious Luke was with-with Katie. I guess I’d needed to see that. I mean, it put things in perspective.

  Rachel waited until we’d almost finished our pizza and I’d spilled my guts—quietly—to glance at the family dinner across the pizzeria.

  “So.” She drew the word out. “That’s Mr. Manners, huh?”

  “Who?” I tried not to glance behind me as I said it, but I couldn’t meet her eye either.

  “Oh, I don’t know, the absolutely gorgeous dark haired guy with his family. The one who keeps staring at you like you read his diary, know all his secrets, and he wants to steal them back.” She smirked before continuing, “But keep you.”

  As if.

  “The only secret I know is that he’s leading that poor girl on. Either that or he lied about it. Neither of those things rate very high in my book.”

  Rachel glanced past my shoulder again.

  “I don’t know. He looks uber-uncomfortable.” Rachel smirked. “She doesn’t. If she could crawl into his lap without his parents noticing, she’d already be there.”

  Lily, the girl from school who worked there, brought more Diet Coke, a perk of being regulars. Rachel’s energy level had already surged way past the limit with the drama-adrenaline kick. I seriously considered cutting off her caffeine intake.

  “No! Oh my gosh. She totally just kissed him.”

  I whipped around before I caught myself. Luke was scowling at her, but anything could have happened while my back was turned.

  Not that it mattered.

  “She did not.” I should have kept my mouth shut.

  “I swear she did. She leaned over and pretended to whisper in his ear, but she totally kissed him right there instead.” She angled herself to look around me again. “His dad is wicked annoyed and pretending not to be. His mom seems pretty oblivious. Oops.”

  Oops?

  Rachel sat straight up again and dug into her last slice of pizza. With focus.

  “Ladies.” Boys. Two of them. Identical.

  Great. All I needed today was the Parker twins.

  Each slid onto a bench with us. I glanced back and forth. Even sitting down, Jared had more swagger and Justin had more chill.

  “Rachel, you’ve got Jared.” I motioned to the twin next to me. “This is Justin.”

  “Oh, twins.” Rachel clapped her hands and giggled. “And you said you had a boring summer.”

  Both guys laughed, deeper than I expected for juniors. There didn’t seem to be any of that awkward phase thing for the Parker guys. Justin slid his arm across my shoulder and gave it a tight squeeze. I felt the comfort along with the teasing he sent my way.

  “So, Amy. I don’t suppose you’d consider a younger guy?”

  “Justin, I told you I’m seeing someone.” I laughed as he cocked an eyebrow at me.

  He let out an overindulgent sigh a B-grade film star would have envied. “Oh Amy, you were put here to break my heart. Maybe I should have snagged the seat with your friend.”

  “No can do, bro.” Jared stretched his hands in the air and let one fall on the bench behind Rachel, mocking one of the worst moves in history. “I’m very comfortable right where I am.”

  Rachel, little flirt that she was, glanced his way and then over at Justin. “I don’t know. I think I’d be better off with the cute twin.”

  Typical Rachel. Always going for the hot, flirty guy.

  Justin laughed good-naturedly. “All the girls say that, but I try to share. Keep his spirits up and all. Plus, it’s fun to tweak my brother.”

  Jared did not look happy at the idea of switching places, the arm across the bench slid to land on Rachel’s shoulder, cupping her in toward him.

  Justin laughed at him. “Not you. Luke.”

  “So,” Rachel began and I knew it couldn’t be good. “Did that girl just totally kiss your brother at the table, or was it my imagination?”

  Justin’s arm tensed across my shoulder.

  “Oh, hear that? The silence?” Rachel glanced from one guy to the other. “That must mean the answer is yes.”

  Jared eased back to gaze down at her and then his brother. They did that wordless-looking thing Luke did, but I think within the Parker clan it included some actual form of communication. Beside me, Justin shrugged.

  “Yeah. That’s a yes. Luke’s totally trying to be nice to her, but I think he’s about to push her out the door and lock it behind her.”

  “Sounds like your brother really knows how to treat his girlfriend.”

  I wanted to cheer for Rachel. She was finally getting the whole Luke thing. Then I caught the mischief in her eye and realized she’d never learn.

  “Katie isn’t his girlfriend. When she was, she was a horrible girlfriend. As an ex, she’s a nightmare. Our mom and dad have no idea what to do with her until her parents get here and—like I said—Luke's trying to be nice.” Jared shrugged. “You know Luke.”

  “Actually, no. I don’t.” Rachel seemed to cuddle into him. “Why don’t you tell me about him?”

  “Luke?” Jared glanced across the table. At me this time. “Luke’s great. Annoyingly so. Perfect even.”

  Yeah. I’ll admit it. I snorted. “Soooo… Anyway, we were going to get Rachel a new cell phone. Hers is swimming with the fishes.”

  The guys took the hint and slid out of the booth. I realized we weren’t getting rid of them when Jared offered Rachel his hand as she slipped out behind him.

  The twins headed toward their family. Rachel blindly followed along, dragging me into enemy territory without protection or ammunition. Knowing how big Mrs. Parker was on manners—and that she was just plain nice—I felt I needed to go along to say hello anyway.

  As we approached, Tom jumped from his chair and rushed to me. Crooking his finger, he motioned me down toward him. I leaned over till he could whisper in my ear.

  “Just because I’m having dinner with Katie, doesn’t mean I don’t still like you best.”

  I cupped my hand over his ear and whispered back, “I like you best, too.”

  “Really?”

  I nodded my head and Tom shot Luke a triumphant grin. Great. If it didn’t work out with… anyone, I had my own nine year-old boyfriend in the wings.

  “Amy!” Mrs. Parker waved me around the table to where she sat with her husband. “I’m so glad you stopped by to say hello. This is Mr. Parker.” He looked a little more stern than Mrs. Parker. Of course, Care Bears were more stern than she was. “And this is Luke’s friend Katie.”

  Before I’d even pivoted to face her, Katie was bubbling over. “Hi! The guys have told me all about you! I’m so glad they all have a new friend here before they even start school!”

  Luke looked physically pained by all her energy. The new inner me couldn’t help but laugh a little at that. Inside of course.

  Jared broke in before things could get any more awkward. Yeah, because that was possible.

  “We’re going with Rachel and Amy.”

  Please note—I had already been relegated to Rachel’s sidekick. That would be a record eight minutes.

  Jared draped an arm around her shoulder before clarifying our evening for all of us. “Rachel will drive us home.”

  “I will?” She rolled her eyes, but the smile she gave him let us all know there wasn’t an issue. “You’re not one of those controlling guys are you?”

  “Nah. I just knew you wouldn’t be able to get enough of me in the time it takes to buy a phone. You’re going to need at least the car ride home to feel content.”

  Even Justin looked a little ill at this exchange.

  Once outside, Justin threw his arm about me, mirroring Jared and Rachel in front of us, before we passed the restaurant window. I knew he was teasing, but I gave him the look again.

  “Don’t mind me,” he said. “Like I said. I’m just tweaking my brother. Serves him right getting stuck with the wrong girl. I told him she was trouble and to steer clear.”

  “You sound like you know her pretty well.”

  Justin cleared his throat. “Uh, yeah.”

  "So, she's staying until her parents show up?"

  He tugged me around to look up at him. “Amy, he didn’t know she was coming. I saw him the day he broke up with her. Even from a distance anyone could tell that was what was going on. She's nuts."

  "Well, he should have been up front with her from the beginning. She may have painted him into a corner, but he didn't have to hand her the brush."

  "I'm just saying, he isn't a bad guy."

  I stopped, slid out from under his arm and faced him.

  "Justin, you've been at this from the first day I met you. You aren't listening. It doesn't matter if he's dating someone."

  "Yeah, Luke's told me about him. That guy sounds like he’s about as good a friend as he is a boyfriend.” He threw his arm around my shoulder again and started us down the street. “You should be with someone who respects you. Not leaves you on your own. Who doesn't let his friends know you’re his girlfriend."

  "Oh?" I laughed at him, knowing he was teasing again. "Like you?"

  "Like Luke."

  Okay, maybe not in teasing mode.

  "We're just friends."

  "I don't think that's true. You don’t either. I've never seen two people hit it off like you guys. When he showed up with you for lunch… It just worked, you know?"

  I jerked my head toward his brother and Rachel.

  "I amend that. Two sane people." He gave me that lopsided Parker grin. "Think about it."

  "I don't need to think about it. I could never date a guy who treated someone the way he treated Katie."

  “Trust me. The Katie thing, not what it appears. And anyway, a guy who pretends he doesn't even know you isn't so bad? "

  "Hey, guys. Wait up,” Luke shouted as he hurried down the sidewalk behind us, Katie clinging to his arm.

  "Yeah, Justin. I can see he's really fighting her off."

  Justin's eyes narrowed as they neared. "I think he just needs a little incentive to step up."

  The arm about my shoulder tightened and he pulled me into his side. "Even if you aren't interested, you can't blame me for wanting to irk him. A little temper fit wouldn't be such a bad thing, would it?"

  The idea of Luke losing his temper in public flitted through my head and was so ridiculous I couldn't even really contemplate it.

  “We thought we'd walk with you guys." Katie studied me, her gaze stopping on where Justin's arm rested on my shoulder, his hand toying with my hair. Her smile brightened, a perfect little sunbeam smile. “Luke says there's a shopping plaza down the corner and I forgot my cell charger."

  “Well if Luke says—”

  I elbowed Justin in the gut. It was becoming abundantly clear he did not like Katie—whether she was Luke’s girlfriend or not.

  “Justin, there’s no need to be rude.” She was actually stroking Luke’s arm as she spoke. “It isn’t like you need to entertain me. You aren’t the one I came to see.”

  “Thank God.”

  Luke shut his eyes and tilted his head back. A maneuver I’d never seen him do.

  Justin tugged me away from the nauseating pair. “Come on, Amy. Let’s catch up with the phone-buying duo.”

  As we hurried away, I glanced at Justin. “What was that? Don’t like her much, huh?”

  “You could say that.”

  “Because she’s Luke’s girlfriend?”

  “Because she used to be my girlfriend.”

  I stopped short, forcing him to grind to a halt. “Whoa. Luke stole your girlfriend?”

  I glanced to where we’d left Luke and Katie. Some type of argument beyond the norm had obviously erupted as soon as we’d escaped.

  “Luke didn’t steal anything. Katie used me to get to him.” Justin’s scowl aimed at Katie told me he wasn’t just a little put out by her being here. “He wasn’t much of a dater. He had a girl he’d kind of dated since junior high but it was more of a best friend thing. Katie used every excuse to come over to the house and only wanted to do stuff if we’d see him.”

  “I figured out what she was doing pretty quickly and broke things off,” he continued. “But she stuck around, pretending we were all buddy-buddy. When she started throwing herself at him in public, Luke didn’t want to embarrass her. The more she did it, the more she acted like the perfect girlfriend, the more he had no clue what to do about it. He’d try to break it off, but she was like psycho-girl. Then my parents told us we were moving and the whole family was relieved.”

  I shook my head, trying to clear it, trying to put it back the way it was that morning. It wasn’t fair of Justin to come along and make everything shift again. I thought about Luke working to do the right thing with Katie. I thought about Chris and me. And Chris and Cheryl. A tremor skidded around my heart. I wasn’t some type of weird Katie, was I? Chasing after a guy who didn’t want me but let himself get caught… for whatever reason.

  Justin looked toward them as if his story might summon her to a perky-attack.

  “When he showed up at the house with you in tow, I think we all did this internal groan thing. Afraid he’d gotten himself sucked into another bad situation because he didn’t know how to be rude. Especially to a girl. But then you hung out and we all liked you. You know. Like, it was all cool.”

  Wow. That was a lot of words.

  “Amy, you may not want to believe it, but I’d place everything I have on the fact that he’s into you. Not her. Definitely not her.”

  Justin glanced toward the pair again. This time my gaze followed his. Luke was shaking his head while Katie bubbled words up at him. While we watched, her expression shifted to Tinker Bell-like fury, her pint-sized hands balling into perfect little fists.

  It was funny, watching the kitten pretend she was a tigress. That was, until she slammed that tiny fist into Luke’s chest not once, but twice. Justin’s arm dropped from my shoulder, but before he could move toward them, Luke wrapped his hand around her wrist and pulled her back into the restaurant. A moment later, he stormed out and glanced around. At the sight of us watching he stilled, his face going slack before he strode down the street in the opposite direction.

  We watched Luke go until he rounded the corner.

  Taking my arm again, Justin dragged me into the phone store. It was weird to just watch Luke storm out then go shopping. But, I figured the Parkers had to have this family-dynamic thing down to a science by now. Plus, Rachel was an impulsive dater. It looked like Jared was too. Whatever we found in that shop, it was at least going to be interesting.

  Jared looked up when the bell over the door clanged and waved us over, taking charge, not even knowing drama had just happened.

  “Check this out.” He picked up a phone that cost more than I made in a week at the Rec Center. “Press that button.”

  On the back, a protective strip flipped out of the way. I pushed it aside and pressed the nearly hidden button.

  “911. What is your emergency?”

  “Oh crap.” Justin punched his brother in the shoulder as I tried to figure out how to answer the phone.

  “I’m sorry. There’s no emergency. We’re just fine here. Promise. Sorry.”

  By the time my rambling apology had run out of steam, Jared was holding his sides laughing. “It’s a panic button. Isn’t that cool? Scares the underworld crime types.”