Page 31 of Summer After Summer

“Maybe?” Sophie says uncertainly.

“Gross,” I say. “And no. It’s a common last name.”

“Maybe he’s a third cousin once removed?”

“I haven’t checked the family tree, but I don’t think so.” I turn to Sophie. “What do you know?”

“I listened to her on the phone the other day. I think she met him in New York over spring break.”

“I’m not sure I could date someone who has the same last name as me,” Fred says. “Too weird.”

“Agreed.” I tip my glass to him, and he raises the water glass in front of him. I take a sip of the bubbles. They tickle my mouth and make me feel bold. “If I were your cousin, would you still be into me?”

“You think I’m into you?”

“Um …”

He grins. “I’m into you.”

“Phew.”

“The answer on the cousin front is … can I plead the fifth or something?”

“You can. But what are you doing Labor Day weekend?”

“Why?”

I tell him about the tickets.

“That sounds amazing.”

“It will be. Roddick is kind of killing it this year, but I’m hoping Andre gets one more title. I’m worried Serena and Venus will be out because of injuries, so maybe it’s Clijsters’s year—I don’t know.”

Fred is amused. “You’re cute.”

“I did warn you I was a tennis geek.”

“It’s fine. Those just are a lot of names I don’t know.”

“Which do you know?”

“Sampras?”

“Ooh,” Sophie says. “She hates Sampras.”

“Why?”

“Because of Agassi. Come on.”

Fred’s forehead creases. “I don’t follow.”

I pat him on the arm. “You have two months to become knowledgeable in the ways of tennis.”

“So you’re inviting me to the game?”

“Well, yeah.”

“I accept.”

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