Page 28 of It’s All in How You Fall
Only with youis on the tip of my tongue but for some reason I don’t say it, even though it’s a joke. Alex parks in our driveway and I hop out. “Whatever and whenever, I’m up for it as long as you are, Zavala.”
He squints at me through the rolled-down window as I slam the door. “That sounds more like a threat than an affirmative answer.”
I shrug and lift a brow. “I guess we’ll see. Night, Alex.”
12
Itwasa threat.
I’ve seen every version ofEmma, includingClueless, and so therefore I know that when matchmaking goes bad, it can go terribly, but now that I know how to make Alex Zavala blush on command, I cannot help myself. I need the jolt that comes with his cheeks going flush, gaze averted, body language flustered. The banter and embarrassment. The flutter in my stomach at his tentative tone in asking point-blank if he’d come up in conversation.
Yes, I need it.
So I have to get Alex and Sunny to cross paths again.
Plus, we did another sport. Which, in my mind, means another run-in with Sunny needs to happen. It was all I could think about during our second girls’ Eomma dinner right after my tennis trial. And though I am loath to share Alex’s heart with the world, I know there’s no way I can get away with my promised interaction quota smoothly without a coconspirator.
Friday afternoon I text Peregrine.I need your help. Time to talk?
She types back almost immediately.Okay.
I’m about to suggest a place when the little typing bubbles reappear.Sunny just dropped me at home.
Perfect. I text her back:I’m walking over ASAP.
Nat’s playing hoops with Alex, of course. I text him, and Dad, who’s at work. And then as soon as I steal one of Nat’s hats (I learned my lesson from Alex) I’m out of the house and booking it toward Peregrine’s.
I’d told her I was walking, but I end up running. Past the sweaty pack of boys at the park courts, my hat pulled low so that hopefully Alex won’t see me. Under the highway. Over the railroad tracks. Alongside rush-hour traffic.
I make it in eight minutes flat, even with several stoplights, and tag Peregrine’s doorbell with a sweaty palm. The doorway seal gives way as a lock is turned, and there’s Peregrine on the other side of the storm door barefoot and in a romper I recognize as one of her favorite gym-to-real-world tricks.
I’m wearing a tank with Laurie Hernandez’s smiling face and famous phrase,I got this. Peregrine opens the storm door and blinks at my clothes, now drenched. “Did you… run?”
Suddenly I realize my mouth is super parched, so I just nod.
She nods back. “Pool,” she says by way of direction. “I’ll get you some water.”
I don’t argue.
In the kitchen, Mrs. Liu is straining curds in cheesecloth, and Mr. Liu is fussing over dough. Pizza night. The Lius take cooking very seriously. Homemade mozzarella and handmade dough to go with sauce made from tomatoes put up last summer.
“Caroline!” Mr. Liu spins his dough into a ball before returning it to an oiled bowl. “Are you here for dinner?”
Peregrine swings toward the cupboard with the pool-appropriate glassware. From stage left, Peregrine’s older sister, Artemis, slides in to save me. “She might not want to waittwo hours, Dad.”
“I should’ve made the cheese last night. I know. Sue me,” Mrs. Liu says, bent over the prepubescent mozzarella. “Good things are worth the wait!”
Artemis arches an eyebrow and rescues a bag of baby carrots from the fridge. “Or a trip to the store.”
“Once you’ve made your own cheese you’ll never go back.”
At the tap, Peregrine tops off my water glass and rolls her eyes. “You say that like you aren’t lactose intolerant, Mom.”
“My stomach does much better with homemade,” her mom sniffs. “Caroline, if you’d like to stay, we have plenty.”
“Thanks, Mrs. Liu.”
Peregrine tugs my arm and we slide through the French doors and into the Lius’ amazing backyard. I follow her to the pool, which is off the deck and down a shale-stone path. The Lius’ backyard is basically a palatial summer oasis. Her house is much newer than mine, but the work is all Mr. Liu, a zoologist who also happens to bereallyhandy. He did most of this himself over the course of our childhood. Landscaping, the deck, an in-ground pool (he had help with that part), a fire pit.
