Page 111 of Good For Me

“And we do that by…”

My best friend grins. “You remember that time when we were trying to decide if it would be worth it to sneak out and go to a rave in the Valley?”

I blink at her. “That sounds like literally half the weekends of our teenage years.”

She laughs. “Fair point. But this was right after I got my first car—”

“The Junkyard Jetta,” I say with a sigh. “I loved that car.”

“That car literally had a hole in the floorboard of the back seat. It was falling apart. We were risking our lives every time we rode in it.”

“Yeah, but Chris installed that kick ass sound system,” I point out.

She shakes my shoulders. “Focus, Jasmine! The point is, you were trying to convince me to go out and I was freaked out we’d get caught and my parents would take the car. Remember?” I do remember, and I know exactly where she’s going with this. “So you made me sit down and write out a pro-con list.”

I grin at the memory. “I think the only thing on the pro side was ‘the party sounds dope.’ And we still decided to go.”

“Because a dope party carried a lot of weight in those days.”

We both laugh before her face gets more serious. “That wasn’t the only time you made me sit through one of those.”

She’s not lying. I’m freaking obsessed with pro-con lists, and have been even since my wild teenage days. I made her do pro-con lists for everything—where we’d grab dinner, what movie to see, whether or not she wanted to give Chris her V-card after Homecoming—though that one scarred me for life and kind of soured me on the whole pro-con list practice for a good long while.

“So that’s what we should do tonight,” she says. “You’ll come over to my place and spend the night and we’ll make a list to figure out where you’re going to stay until the apartment is ready.”

I try to picture making a pro-con list about River and I feel…guilty. Like he deserves better than a cold accounting of faults and attributes. How can I ascribe some bullshit qualitative value to the things I know about him now? How much weight do I give to the way he looks at me—like I’m the most interesting and beautiful thing he’s ever seen? How many points does a guy get for making coffee for his mom or giving up beer because I can’t have it or taking his grandfather to freakingwater aerobicsevery week?

Or knowing to hold my hand when I watched Eva walk down the aisle without a father?

“Maybe I can’t logic my way out of this one,” I murmur to myself, looking down at the phone where River’s message is still waiting for a response. “Maybe I need to go with my gut for once.”

So I take a deep breath and quickly type out a reply, asking him to come and get me.

Brie studies me for a moment before she sighs. “You’re going to his house tonight, aren’t you?”

“Yes.”

“What about the pro-con list? They’ve never led us astray before.”

“I think my pro-con list days are over, Brie.”

She mock-gasps. “Teenage you would throw a fit at that statement.”

I roll my eyes. “I might not have my life in order, but even I know better than to make decisions based on the advice of a stupid drunk sixteen-year-old wearing body glitter.”

She laughs. “You really did love the body glitter back in the day.” She grows more serious. “Okay. I won’t give you anymore shit.”

I laugh. “Sure you won’t. Pretty sure you’re physically incapable of not giving me shit.”

She grins, shrugging. “True. But I won’t give you shit about this one specific thing.” She eyes the phone in my hand. “He on his way?”

I nod. “You don’t care if I get out of here early, do you?”

She waves me off dramatically. “Go. Go have hot sex with your hot surfer boy baby daddy.”

“Please don’teverlet him hear you calling him that.”

My hot surfer boy baby daddy arrives less than ten minutes later. Even though I know we need to have a fairly serious talk about things, I can’t help the little thrill that goes through me when I see him stride into the diner. Brie definitely notices my reaction because she snorts loudly. I elbow her as I untie my apron. “No shit, remember?” Then I kiss her cheek. “Make sure Jerry walks you to your car when you leave, okay?”