Don't Say You Love Me

Chapter TWENTY

Cohen

That was awkward.

I found out only yesterday that Teegan's mom is my boss and now I am here to witness her mom finding out that we are friends. Or whatever we are. I expected Reese to be some young businesswoman. But she's my ex's step mom. I wonder why this was never conveyed to me. Luke must have known this when he got me this job.

She's sort of tall and has the same straight, dark hair as Teegan. I dated Lola for, like, eight months and I never met her step mom, but that's not surprising. We spent a lot of our time in Santa Maria, where our school is. Was. I knew where Lola's dad lived because I brought her home there once or twice after a beach party, but I never went inside. I met him a couple of times, but mostly I knew Lola's mom. All of this feels so complicated. I don't know if Teegan's mom knows who I am. Does she think I'm some asshole who dated Lola? Will she tell Teegan who I am?

"You're quiet," Teegan says to me as we walk away from the pier.

I glance over and see her eyes on me. They are dark, like chocolate, and she's wearing the cutest sundress with tiny watermelons all over it. Her hair is half up and half down. Is she wearing make up? I didn't notice in the hut, but it's dark in there.

"Oh. No, I'm good." I am being quiet, because my mind is racing.

"Is it weird that my mom's your boss?" she asks, as if she's in my head.

That's not the only thing that's weird.

I know I can't keep this secret for long if I want Teegan to actually be my friend. And I'm pretty sure sure wants that, too. I will have to tell her that my ex that I've talked about is Lola. I keep imagining telling her in my head, though, and it doesn't go well.

"I guess I was surprised," I tell her, then add, "It's not weird, though."

"I should have told you." She looks like she's ashamed, for a second.

I shrug. "It's okay. You look really cute."

"Cute?" She laughs, looking down.

"Yeah. Is cute not a compliment anymore? Sorry I've been out of the game for awhile," I say, feeling awkward, even though I was just kidding.

Now she gives me a real smile. "Me too."

I clear my throat. Is she flirting? God, I hope she is. I'm not that good at this stuff. Lola was into me during the first month of our senior year. She asked me out. She liked that I wasn't the typical jock and that I had a tattoo. I didn't have to work very hard to get her. It feels like this - whatever it is - between Teegan and I will be much more complicated.

"So, if we walk fast we can get there in like twenty minutes," I tell Teegan.

"Okay." She's walking pretty fast already, and now she's carrying her flip flop instead of wearing them.

"What time do you have to be back?" I glance over again so I can see her as she answers.

"Four?" She looks at her watch. "Do we have enough time?"

"Yeah. If you like it, we can go again another day," I suggest casually.

She smiles and we keep walking. We pass her mom's house and keep going and then before I know it we are at the "end" of the beach.     She stops and looks at me. "I've never gone past here."

"You're missing out," I say with a smile.

It's rocky and not as easy to walk on, so she puts her flip flops back on. I hope this doesn't backfire, as I reach out to take her hand. It feels so different from Saturday night when I reached for her, as she was stumbling. Drunk. Now she's with me because she wants to be. I feel like the luckiest guy ever.