Page 87 of The Accidental Text

“What’s going on in here?”

We both look over to see Hannah standing just inside the door of my room, taking in the sight of Chase and me on my bed. His arm around me, my body semi-snuggled up to his. We probablydolook a little cozy.

“Hey, Han,” I say, using a very casual tone as if to say,Do not read into this.

She’s apparently too tired to care, because she suddenly drops her purse on the floor, in dramatic Hannah fashion, and then comes over to the bed. “Scoot,” she instructs.

Chase and I comply, and now I’m in between the two of them. It’s odd how right this feels. Like we’ve been doing this for years.

“How’s work?” Chase asks.

Hannah lets out a grunt. “Let’s not talk about it.”

“Mags told her family about me tonight,” Chase says.

“Chase,” I say, my voice a reprimand. I reach over and pinch his arm, and he wiggles it away from me.

“Wait, what?” Hannah asks. “You told them what about Chase?”

“The whole thing,” Chase says.

“I can speak for myself, you noob,” I say.

“No way. What happened? Why did you tell them?”

“Well, my dad and June are dating,” I say.

“So you thought to up the ante by telling them the truth about your texting lover?”

I pinch her arm this time. “Not lovers,” I say.

“Yeah,” Chase says. “Bummer.”

I look over at him and see a smile on his face, his eyes on the ceiling. He’s teasing, obviously. So why do I feel a warm sensation starting to swirl in my belly?

“Shut up,” I say, to himandmy stomach.

I turn my head toward Hannah and give her most of the details but not everything, my need to vent gone now that I already did that with Chase.

“Wow,” she says. “That wasn’t well thought out, was it?”

Chase laughs. “No, it wasn’t.”

“Stop ganging up on me.”

“It’s really easy to fix this,” says Hannah.

“Really?” I turn my head toward her.

“Just do something even crazier … like rob a bank or something.”

“Helpful,” I say.

“If there’s one thing I know,” she says, after yawning loudly, “it’s that the Coopers get over stuff. It’s one of your talents. I wish that was a thing with my family. Halmoni still lectures meabout the one time I came home past curfew when I was seventeen.”

I snort laugh and Chase chuckles next to me.

We’re silent for a bit and I stare up at the heart on my ceiling, feeling so grateful for it right now.

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