Page 85 of My Cosplay Escape
Gwen: What about him?
Me: Is everything okay? Did something else happen after the escape room?
Gwen: Dunno. It’s been so long, and I was promised a debriefing over breakfast that never materialized.
Shirley Temples. I totally forgot. I’ve been so busy. None of these excuses matter.
Me: I’m really sorry.
Gwen: I know.
Me: I’ll make it up to you.
Gwen: Tomorrow?
Me: Can’t. Brunch with Adam.
Gwen sends me a very smug-looking emoji. I wish I felt smug. Is there an emoji for frantic?
Gwen: Don’t worry about Mike. Meant nothing. And he was switching jobs anyway. That was his last night. He left to star in some play.
I explain the temporary nature of Mike’s play. And Gwen sends back a plethora of egg-faced emojis.
Gwen: I’ll take care of it.
Chapter Twenty-Four
“I didn’t know there were tide pools in La Jolla,” I say.
“Sure, you did,” Adam replies. “Tide pools and stinky sea lions. It’s La Jolla’s thing.”
Brunch was awkward as fudge. And because it was so awkward, we are now at the tide pools, extending the awkward misery.
Adam is surprisingly chill, having come off of an epic make-out session with Catstrike last night. I, on the other hand, keep staring at his neck, wondering if the polo he wears is strategic.
“So I’ve been thinking about you,” Adam says.
“Want to hold a sea slug?” I pick a purple blob up and offer it to him.
“Um…” It has the exact effect I was going for. Total mood killer.
“I think there are anemones over here.”
He plops the slug back in a pool and follows. “I missed you last night. You were all I could think about.”
“Sounds like you need to start cross-training.” I poke a sea anemone studded with hundreds of bits of shell into a tight circle. I jump when Adam crouches next to me.
“Easy,” he says. “You don’t want to fall into a tide pool.”
“I think there is a crab in this one.”
“You’ve got some sand on your face. Hold still.”
“I do not.”
He leans in. Oh, no. He’s going to kiss me. And if he kisses me, he’ll know. And if he doesn’t know… If he can’t tell my kisses from hers. I mean, mine…
This is too fudged up.
