Page 38 of The Seemingly Impossible Love Life of Amanda Dean

“No. You’re right. It’s worse,” Mandy said. “Take me out of my misery, please.”

“Would finalized dates for graduation cheer you up?”

Mandy perked up. “Yes.” Isa’s actual graduation date had been set for a little while, but the plans around celebrations were still up in the air. “What’s going on?”

“So Mom and Abuela are flying in on Thursday the week before, but the party is going to be on Wednesday after the ceremony, not far from the graduation location.” She paused. “But really, if you can’t make it because of finals or whatever, it’s fine.”

“You can’t get rid of me that easily. I’ll be there.” Mandy crossed her legs and sank to the floor crisscross-applesauce style. “Are you sure Tally is okay with me staying there? I don’t want to—”

“She’s totally cool with it. And even if she wasn’t, it wouldn’t matter. You’re staying with us.”

It had taken a while for things to get back to “normal” with Isa ever since what happened between the two of them, so hearing that Isa was ready to go to bat for Mandy made her heart swell. For so long she had missed her best friend, and this made Mandy feel like they had finally gotten back to that place they had been before—before Mandy had messed everything up. Shecould’ve asked her parents to help pay for a hotel, which they would’ve done without question, but Mandy was trying harder and harder to be independent. She didn’t like going to them unless it was absolutely necessary.

“Well, I’ll make dinner one night for us or something—as a way to say thank you.”

“Um…that’s not really—”

“I’m not my mom, promise. I won’t poison you. And spaghetti isn’t exactly hard, you know?”

Isa laughed—Mandy still loved that sound, and she relaxed back on her hands, cradling the cell with her shoulder. “Fine. I trust you. But after the ceremony, just in case.”

“That’s fair,” Mandy said, then leaned down a little farther. “I gotta go. I think I figured out what I need to do.”

“I knew you would. Chat later.”

And they hung up.

If things were completely back to normal, they would tell each otherI love you for real, before disconnecting, but Mandy couldn’t dwell on that. They had come a long way even if things weren’t exactly the same, and it was okay that things were different now, and it was fine to rush off the phone, since she really did see what she needed to do to make her project absolutely perfect.

The place wasn’t exactly Mandy’sscene, and it wasn’t exactly Theo’s either, but they had kind of met in the middle. Dinner and dancing were what Theo said to expect. The restaurant was nice, and the first course had been delicious, butMandy and Theo were the youngest people in the room by at least two decades.

Theo’s hand rested casually on Mandy’s hip as he glided her around the floor, doing a simple foxtrot. Thank goodness for those dance classes in PE all those years ago, or Mandy would be in big trouble. Everyone in the room could dance circles around them, but no one seemed to mind that they were there—or that they weren’t very good. One woman in the bathroom who had been touching up her much-too-pink lipstick had mentioned how it was nice to see young people interested in partner dancing.

Mandy stepped on Theo’s foot again. “Sorry.”

“You don’t need to keep saying that.”

“I’ll need to buy you new shoes.” She’d lost count of the number of times she had stomped on his feet that night. He walked in with shiny black oxfords, and who knew what they would look like when they finished for the evening.

Theo merely laughed. “You could just put your feet on mine and get it over with. I can do the work for the both of us.”

Mandy pinched his neck—not too hard. “Very funny.”

“Eyes this way, Richard,” an adorable woman with gray-blue hair and a sparkling red dress said as she danced past with her partner.

“He’s right, you know,” Theo said. “You do look stunning tonight.”

Heat flooded Mandy’s cheeks. She hadn’t been sure what to expect, so she played it careful in a simple black dress that showed off some of her better assets. She’d be lying if she said she didn’t feel sexy in it, and the way that Theo looked at her made her feel even more so.

Theo had really been growing on Mandy. What they had wasfar from perfect, but none of her relationships had been, so what else was new? He had bought her a special pillow to hide behind when they watched scary movies, and he would very carefully describe the scene she was missing. He even started watching more rom-coms with her—admitting openly that they “weren’t actually that bad.” And then there were things like tonight. He had been trying more and more to find ways they could meet halfway—dinner and dancing was just that, regardless of the crowd that was there.

“There’s something I’d been meaning to talk to you about,” Theo said as he pressed his cheek against Mandy’s, his stubble tickling her jaw. Her skin would turn red in protest, but other parts of her body responded positively to the sensation.

Mandy closed her eyes and leaned into him. “What is it?” It wasn’t unusual for Theo to want to talk to Mandy about something. A guy on the water polo team. A big test coming up. A party he really wanted her to go to.

“My mom’s coming into town, and I’d really like you to meet her.”

She stomped on Theo’s foot again. “Sorry.”

---