Page 95 of Debugging Love

“Ew! Drew!” Morgan swats Drew’s arm.

He throws off his seatbelt and dives over her lap, lunging for the door. Which is locked.

“Unlock it!” he hollers while bodysurfing on Morgan.

“It’s hilly. You can’t wander around on the side of the road,” Chance says.

“I can, and I will,” Drew snaps back with deadly determination.

“Fine.” Chance unlocks the doors. “Don’t fall into a ravine!” he yells as Drew scrambles to the shoulder.

Morgan looks pained.

“Did he hurt you?” I ask.

“He made me have to go. Drew made me have to go! How long are we going to be stuck here?”

Chance grabs his phone and pulls up Google Maps, but not fast enough for Morgan.

“That’s it,” she says. She jumps out of the van and follows Drew’s path to a break in the underbrush, disappearing among the towering weeds.

I gaze out at the rolling, forested hills that offer no human settlements for miles. The road ahead is eclipsed by the hill’s apex and behind, cars wait in an idling line. “Are they going to die?”

“I hope not.”

“What’s out there? Bears? Mountain lions?”

“I’d worry about Sasquatches before I’d worry about bears.” He crosses his arms and settles in for the wait.

“Or time-traveling werewolf space cowboys.”

Chance smirks. “I’m pretty sure those don’t exist.”

“But Sasquatches do?”

He turns to me and props his elbow on the armrest behind him. “You never watch the History Channel, do you?”

“I spend my evenings and weekends reading books.”

“That’s admirable.” He’s doing the thing where he softens his face and pretends not to be arrogant. His well-drawn features look kind instead. Thoughtful even. Bollywood really missed out. “Danni…”

There he goes again saying my name. My kryptonite. I throw up my shield. “Can you not say my name like that?”

“Like what?”

“Like we’re well acquainted.”

He slumps against the door, his fake-softness and fake-thoughtfulness oozing out of him like Sweet Orbit Mint flavoredtoothpaste from a tube. “I thought we were getting to know each other.”

“Like work buddies.”

“Work buddies don’t kiss.”

My muscles clench. “High levels of chlorine cause confusion and disorientation. I’m sure that’s what was going on.”

Chance leans toward me and rests his forearm on the center console, almost like he wants another kiss, right here, right now. The back of my head finds the window. “That’s not what happened.”

The door is unlocked. I could fling it open and follow Morgan and Drew into the forest. Because I don’t like this. My body does, but I reserve the right to call it stupid. “It was just one kiss.” One amazing, knee-buckling kiss. “It was nothing.”

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