Page 76 of The Young & the Sinner

“What about him? Is he cute? Smart? He should be smart, because I don’t care how ‘pretty’ someone is, not if they have the intelligence of a sea urchin.”

“Sea urchins everywhere are offended by that comment. I happen to know sea urchins are very intelligence creatures.”

“Really?” I asked. Animal facts always fascinated me.

Lizzie smiled and shook her head a little. “No, you dork. How would I know how smart sea urchins are? I don’t watch the Animal Planet for fun.”

I gasped. “Hey, Animal Planet is a fascinating channel. Very informative. Just ask Henry.”

Henry, hearing his name for the first time, perked up. He eyes sought my own and he shot me Lizzie’s smile. “Oh, yeah. Remember, Olivia, when we watched that episode on monkey wars.”

“Monkey what?” Lizzie asked.

“Monkey wars,” I repeated. “Humans aren’t the only ones to wage warfare with one another.”

Sally interrupted us with our orders before Lizzie could respond. Henry eyes lit up and he almost dropped Lizzie’s phone. She grabbed it from him before he could. Three plates of chocolate cake laid down, one black coffee for Lizzie, one coffee with hazelnut creamer for me, and a cold chocolate milk for Henry.

“Alright, guys. Is there anything you need?”

“No, we’re good right now. Thank you, Sally,” I said.

“Of course. Let me know if you need anything else.”

We waited until Sally walked away before Lizzie spoke again. “We’re getting off topic. How did we go from talking about some guy in my class to monkey wars?”

I shot her cheeky grin. “Tell me about this guy.”

“He asked me out on a date.”

I tried not to show too much interest. Lizzie didn’t date… mainly because of Max. Her first and only relationship lasted three months at the beginning of our junior year, and it resulted in her losing her virginity. Lizzie was never excited about Dereck. I think that was her way of trying to get over Max. Obviously it didn’t work.

“What did you say?”

“I told him I would think about it.”

“Do you like him?”

“We exchanged numbers and have texted back and forth, but I don’t know, maybe?”

I looked down at my coffee. That would be a no. There was no “maybe” in liking someone. I always thought it was one of those things you would just know. As bad of an end result my relationship with Lorenzo had been, I knew instantly, freshman year, that I liked him. And with Mason…

Well, I had never felt anything so intense in my life before. There was no maybe about it. I really, really liked Mason.

“Whatever you decide to do, I’ll be here. Just… promise me you’ll only do things that’ll make you happy.”

Her eyes were soft when she took my hand and squeeze. “I know. Trust me, I learned from the whole Dereck situation.”

I nodded. After she and Dereck broke up, Lizzie could barely get out of bed. But it wasn’t because she was heartbroken. She was the one who ended things. It was obvious that Dereck liked Lizzie more than she liked him. I thought it was because she was regretful over ever agreeing to go out with him, but she never said, and her feelings probably had more to do with Max than she let on.

“What’s his name?” I asked.

“Sam Costner. He’s pretty good looking, I suppose.”

“You suppose?”

She laughed. “Okay, yeah. I think so. Above average height—he’s taller than me by at least a head—and he plays football, so yeah, you can say he’s got an athletic built. Dark blond hair, brown eyes. He’s super nice to everyone. Hates bullying. Oh, and he helped me with my math homework, so smart, too.”

“He’s sounds great, Lizzie.”

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