Foolish Summer | ✔

22 • S T E P H E N • 🥺

The last person I expected to see on my porch was LaToya Moore. I didn't remember seeing her at the party, but it was so packed in there. Plus, I was kind of focused on one specific person. As I cut the engine, I glanced between the house next door and the girl waiting for me on my porch.

The easy choice would've been to listen to Theo and leave Waverly alone. Did I want easy, though?

Toya made that choice for me when she came up to the driver's side door. My windows were already rolled down since it was too hot to keep them up.

"I didn't expect you to be at the party," she said as she ducked down to my eye level. "You haven't been out all summer."

Staying in might've been a better idea that night. That kiss with Waverly aside, going to the party was probably one of my worst ideas.

"Who's the girl?"

I snapped my attention back to her. "What?"

She smirked, standing and crossing her arms over her chest. "Come on, Steph, it's me you're talking to. I can recognize a love sick boy a mile away. It's my super power. Come on, you can tell me all about it while you're making me a sandwich."

She started towards the house before I could object. There was no way to stop her once she made up her mind. When we got inside she went directly to the kitchen, only asking about my mom after pulling meat and pickles out of the fridge.

"She's with Brad."

She snorted, setting the stuff on the counter. "Don't you mean dad?"

"Let me remind you where the door is."

"I surrender," she said, holding her hands up.

We fell into a comfortable silence as we made sandwiches with turkey, cheese, pickles and a delicious sauce that Toya mixed together and refused to share the recipe of. We took the food up to my room and she pulled up some movie on the tv.

Being with LaToya was easy because there was no guess work. She said exactly what was on her mind which made it easier for me to forward with her. That and the fact that she'd call me on my shit if I even attempted to lie to her.

She knew me better than anyone, even Dev, because we were practically the same person-so fucked up we didn't want to stay with one person long enough for them to find out.

I wanted to stay with Waverly, though. I wanted to believe that she'd accept me-flaws and all.

Something thumped against my head, pulling me out of my thoughts. LaToya looked at me, brows raised.

"Oh my god," she gasped dramatically. "You got it bad."

"Shut up," I said leaning against the wall, my untouched sandwich still resting on my outstretched legs.

She laughed, retrieving the bread crust she threw at me from my bed and tossing it back on to her otherwise empty plate. "Stephen Davis in love. I did not see that coming."

"Who said anything about love?"

She rolled her eyes. "You cannot lie to me. You're in love," she said hopping up from my bed and throwing her hand over her heart theatrically. "That can't eat, can't sleep love. Oh, my little Stephen is growing up and growing a heart."

I laughed despite myself, shaking my head at her. "You're weird."

She stopped dancing around my room suddenly, her eyes zooming in on me like lasers. "What'd you do to mess it up?"

"Have we met? I can ruin everything I touch."

She returned to her spot next to me on my bed, pulling her legs under her. The self-made rip in her jeans ripped even more. "In other words: You started feeling real things for this girl and chickened out."

"No!" I retorted. "This is Toliver, Marc and Alfie's fault."

"You let those three idiots ruin your first chance at love?"

I ran and hand over my face, softly banging my head against the wall. "They assumed I was having sex with her and her friend over heard."

"Really?" She said, incredulous. "All you have to do is tell them you're still a virgin. Problem solved."

My face burned with embarrassment even though it was just Toya and me in the room. "You might as well go shout it from the balcony."

There was a spark in her eyes and a grin on her face as she stood from the bed and headed to my balcony. I was up and following her in a second. "Toya!"

"Stephen Davis is still a-"

I grabbed her by the waist, pulling her back into my room before she could finish. She was laughing so hard that she started to snort like a pig.

"God, Stephen, who the fuck cares if you only want to do hand stuff?" She didn't give me a chance to argue against that before she continued. "If you like this girl then tell her. Stop being a pussy."

I rubbed the back of my neck. She made it sound so easy and not terrifying at all. "She deserves someone better."

"Then be better!" She sounded exhausted. "It's really not that complicated."

"And exactly how many times have you told someone you were love them?"

She pulled her hand through her braids. "Once. Tonight, actually." I barely caught that last part, but once it hit me, I didn't know how to respond.

Toya dropped down on my bed. "That's why I'm here. I was hoping for a distraction."

"Shit." Was all I could manage.

Her shoulders dropped even lower; her eyes fixated on the floor. "It's my own fault. I was the one dumb enough to think Q-"

"Q? The guy that cheated on you?"

She looked up, narrowing her eyes at me. "I can do without your judgement, thank you!"

"He's an idiot."

"Oh, I know. Trust me, I own a mirror," she said with a cocky half smile. "Besides this just confirms that high school boys are trash. Well, most of them anyways." She smiled again, letting me know I was the exception.

• • •

After LaToya left all I wanted was to go to sleep and start fresh the next day, but what she said kept bugging me.

Be better.

She made it sound like an on/off switch I could hit at any moment. Or maybe it was that easy and I was just making in more difficult.

I didn't know how long I'd been in bed on my phone, but once it was clear my mind wasn't ready to shut down, I got up.

While looking through the bookshelves of my mom's office for something to read I started thinking back to when I first met Waverly.

Ripping off my mom's books might've blown up in my face that day, but maybe I could get it to work.

LaToya was right, instead of letting Waverly go to find someone better I could be that better person.

And who better to learn from then some of her favorite book boyfriends?