The Date (Magnolia Grove #2)

Chapter 3 - {Cammie}

ROLLING ON MY side, I glance at the microwave clock in the kitchenette. Holden left around midnight, and it's not even been two hours. I should be exhausted, totally spent, but I'm wide awake. I know it should be Oliver that's on my mind, but it's not.

It's Holden.

The day before stupid Brody threw that fake snake at me and made me bust my head open in front of everyone at the pool, I was listening to music and reading in my room when the phone rang. "Hello."

"It's me," a deep, husky voice said. I knew who it belonged to, but me equaled Amie. There was only one me when someone called. If someone other than Amie identified themselves as that pronoun, I intentionally acted like I didn't know who they were. Even now, I do it. Except there are two people who can get away with it. But back then, there was only Amie, and this was definitely not her.

"Who's me?" The way I said it sounded more like, "Excuse me."

"Really?"

My stomach flipped, and my smile widened at the amusement in his voice.

"It's Holden. Who else would be me?"

And that was when one me became two. Because no one else could or would be him. Not in my eyes. I loved Amie, but I didn't love Holden. Did I? "Hey."

"You didn't answer my question."

"What question?" Just like I knew who he was before I asked, I knew just what he was talking about. I'd purposely deflected it.

"Is there another me? Should I be jealous?"

What was he suggesting? We were friends. We always had been. Why would he need to be jealous of Amie? But looking back now, I know precisely what he was asking. "Unless you're jealous of Amie, no."

He chuckled. "I am sort of jealous of Amie."

I swallowed, heat spreading over my body. "Why?"

"Just am."

"Did you just call to chat?" Holden rarely ever called me. Although, the time we spent on the phone had been increasing lately.

"I wanted to know if you wanna go play laser tag with us."

"Depends." I grabbed a receipt and used it to mark my place in the book I'd been reading. I could hear his sharp intake of breath. I'm not sure why I liked it, but I did. It made me want to mess with him the way he messed with me so much. Had I finally found a way to get under Holden Masters' skin? "Who's we?"

"Brody...Amie...me."

Interesting. "Like a double date?"

He sighed. "I knew you'd think that." Butterflies started to take flight in my stomach. My mouth grew dry. He was wrong. I didn't think that. My hopes hinged on it. They were on free fall. They'd been dangled high the moment he asked the question. I knew there was only one way for my hopes to go. There was no way for them to be any higher, so down was it. And hearing him say it like that had been the trigger propelling them to being splattered on the ground beneath me. "Brody and Amie aren't a thing, so it can't be a double date."

He didn't say, "We aren't a thing." But he didn't have to. We weren't. I understood perfectly. "Good. That would have been awkward since we're just friends." As soon as I said it, the words scorched my tongue. All the butterflies that had taken up occupancy in my stomach suddenly crashed, like someone had cut off their wings, their ability to fly high. I didn't like the way that felt. I held my breath waiting for him to do surgery on the butterflies, to give them hope again, but Holden didn't say anything. He just sat there. I couldn't even hear his breathing through the line. "You there?"