Page 78 of The Fast Lane

We ordered dinner but all of us were more tired than awake and decided we’d make it an early evening to get an early start. After Hallie got ready for bed, I read her a few books until her eyes started to droop. After that, it was lights out for the room and I crawled into bed for a little investigative research.

I scoured the internet for mentions of Mom and her candles, and boy, did I find them. Turns out, she and Dad were correct; Mom was internet-famous. Or her candles were. And not exactly for their intoxicating scent or long-lasting burn time. Oh, no. Mom and Dad might not see it, but the internet was all over it. Gifs and memes were aplenty, most of them featuring my mom gushing about the beautiful “shape” of the candles.

In each one, she seemed oblivious to what those candles really looked like. To make matters worse, Melanie’s wedding colors were cream and pale pink; the centerpieces matched. Two rounded pale pink “hills” with white snowcaps, the wicks sticking straight out of the top like flags.

Or tassels.

I couldn’t help laughing—partly from secondhand embarrassment and partly from the absurdity of the situation. Melanie’s head was going to explode when she saw these. I was sure of it.

After setting my phone on the nightstand, I curled up in bed and allowed myself to replay the scene earlier today with Theo, the one where I was dangerously close to blurting out that I was at least eighty-seven percent in love with him at this point. But being wrapped in his arms, laughing about those stupid candles, had felt so…so good.

I flipped over on my back and hugged a pillow to my chest. Was he flirting because he wanted to? I wasn’t sure I could trust myself to read the signs. After all, Teenage Ali had been sure Theo felt the same way she had. I’d read any article in any teen or woman magazine titled something like, “Ten Signs He’s Into You.” I could convince myself that Theo displayed every single one.

First love, puppy love, a crush—that’s what everyone had called it. I wasn’t really in love with him. “You’re only fifteen,” Mom had told me. “You don’t even know what love is.”

Looking back, she was right, I guess. Yet as hard as I tried to ignore the feelings, push them aside, hide them away, they were always there, brimming under the surface. They’d never gone away.

It was a terrifying, exhilarating, wholly disconcerting feeling and every day I was with Theo, it only grew stronger. If only I knew for certain how he was feeling.

Life would be a lot easier if we all wore signs that announced how we were feeling. Sure clear up a whole lot of confusion.

My phone buzzed with a notification.

Unknown number: Hey, Ali. It’s me.

Frowning, I wondered who “me” could be. Normally, I brushed off random messages from random numbers sent at random times of the night but this person knew my name.

Me: Who is this?

Unknown number: It’s Alec. I wanted to talk.

I scowled at the phone in disbelief. It had been over a year since he’d contacted me. In fact, he’d blocked me after sending his break-up text rant.

Unfortunately for him, he hadn’t given too much thought to his social media pages, so when he posted a picture two days after we split all cuddled up with a new woman, I’d seen it immediately.

It had taken a little time and patience, but I’d managed to get a ride to Dallas, and if a catfish was shoved under one of the seats in his car, it might have happened then. The only sad thing was that I had no way of knowing his reaction. I hoped it took him weeks to find it. I hoped his car still smelled like rotten fish carcass. I hoped the smell clung to his person enough to make women cringe.

Mostly, I hoped I could get through the next few days avoiding him as much as possible. I’d made a promise to myself and to Cal and Melanie that we could be adults. So, I would adult the hell out of this wedding. There would be so much adulting, other adults would come to me for adulting advice, and I’d give it because that was the kind of adult I was.

But first, I had to get through this text conversation.

Me: Talk about what?

Alec: I guess I thought we could hang out, for old times’ sake.

Was he joking? He had to be. After all, he was the one who sent me text after text listing everything wrong with our relationship and with me. He broke up with me. My finger hovered over the phone. Be an adult, Ramos.

Me: I’m good. I don’t need to catch up. Let’s just get through the wedding.

Alec: Come on, Ali. At least think about it.

Me: No.

Alec: I’ll get you to change your mind. I always could.

With a grunt of disgust, I tossed the phone next to me on the bed. He’d never made me change my mind; he wore me down until I got tired of hearing him. What had I ever seen in this man?

I closed my eyes and turned my mind to better things—like Theo when his eyes crinkle in the corners when he’s smiling. And Theo with his arms around me. And Theo when he says something flirty and makes my heart turn over. And just all of Theo.

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