“You feel like going out for dinner?” Shaw asked as she retook her seat and picked up her pen. “Mom and Dad are out tonight, and I don’t feel like cooking for myself.”
Cannon glanced over at us. “I’m down for whatever you two want to do.”
“Vi?”
I lifted my head. “Hmm? Yeah, sure. I’m good with whatever. Just let me tell my parents.”
“Great. Can, see if Jagger wants to go with us.”
I wrote the last sentence in the rough draft and closed my book before reaching for my phone again so I could text Dad. By the time he gave his okay, Shaw was ready to go.
“We have to pick up Jags,” Cannon told his sister as we walked out to his vehicle. “You decide where we’re eating yet?”
“There’s that Mexican place Jagger likes about five miles from his house,” she suggested.
“Yeah, I love that place,” he agreed. “Best queso I’ve ever had.”
I got in the back seat of his car like always and pulled out my phone. There were so many comments on Lyric’s picture that, of course, it was the first thing in my social media feed. I put an eye-roll emoji in the comments and kept scrolling, refusing to look at Megan or even Luca in the picture this time.
It wasn’t until Cannon drove past the Thorntons’ house that I even tuned in to what was going on around me. Luca’s SUV had obviously just pulled into their driveway, and he stepped out of his vehicle. Seeing Cannon’s car, his head snapped toward us, but he couldn’t see me through the tint on the back window.
I turned my head to look out the opposite window until Cannon pulled into Jagger’s driveway and honked the horn. My phone rang just as Jagger jogged toward us.
Sighing, I grabbed my phone, already knowing it was Luca. Sending him to voice mail, I put a smile on my face as Jagger got in beside me.
“Hey, beautiful,” he greeted with a grin. “Hope you’re hungry because I’m starving.”
“I could go for a taco,” I said as Cannon reversed. When he drove past Luca’s house this time, I didn’t even look in that direction, keeping my eyes on Jagger.
“There’s Luca,” Shaw said. “Vi, do you want to invite him to dinner with us?”
“Nope.” My phone rang again, and I silenced it without even looking at the screen. “I’m hungry. I don’t feel like waiting on him or anyone else.”
Jagger gave me a strange look but didn’t comment.
“Okay, then,” my best friend muttered. “I thought you two were working things out.”
“I haven’t made up my mind yet.”
“Take your time, Vi,” Cannon said as he drove out of the neighborhood. “You don’t have to decide to take his ass back yet. But we all know you will eventually.”
“Shut up, Cannon,” I snapped. “You don’t know anything.”
“Please,” he said with a laugh, and I seriously wanted to slap him on the back of the head. “You are so predictable where Luca is concerned. All right, so I’ll admit that you surprised the hell out of me by not forgiving him before now. But if I were going to put money on this, I’d say you two will be back together before Christmas.”
“That’s still a few weeks away,” Shaw commented, turning in her seat so she could wink at me. “I give it until New Year’s. What do you think, Jags?”
He was still looking at me peculiarly. “Less than a week,” he said with a smirk. “Actually, less than forty-eight hours.”
My phone went off for the third t
ime, and I glared at them. “I hate you guys sometimes.”
They were still laughing when Cannon pulled into the Mexican restaurant’s parking lot. My phone had logged calls from Luca two more times, and as we walked inside, a text popped up on my screen.
Luca: I know you were with C. Tell me you’re okay, or I’m going to worry all night.
I’d barely read it before there was another text.