Paper Flowers (Pretty Plastic People) ★

050. Collision

050. Collision

My enthusiasm about my dinner plans doesn't get any greater. In fact, it shrinks. Smaller smaller smaller until it's 5:30 PM and I'm standing in the bathroom, curling my hair and wondering why I bother.

Nobody bothers to convince me that I should be more excited. Cassidy stands at the counter, too, painting her nails ocean blue. The sharp sting of the acid from the nail polish remover burns my nose, but I don't mind. It smells sterile, like a doctor's office. Like taking a giant Clorox wipe and scrubbing the slate clean.

"Just think about it," says Cassidy, finishing off her pinky nail, "In less than three hours it'll be over with."

"Except for all the aftermath."

"Yeah, well." She screws the bottle shut. "That's going to be awkward for all of us."

I feel kind of bad thinking about Spencer's reaction if he heard us saying all this. Liam, and now Cassidy, urging me to break up with him. Are they siding with me because they're just trying to be agreeable, or do they actually dislike him, too? Is he going to be the next one cut out of the group?

My curling iron burns my index finger. Sucking in a breath, I run cold water from the sink to ease the pain.

Less than ten minutes later, I've put as much effort as I care into my appearance. Cassidy follows me downstairs for my walk of doom. In the kitchen, Nathan and Spencer are working out sharing the only car left—Celia left hours ago in the other one. Unsurprisingly, she didn't ask if that inconvenienced any of us.

"Nathan's riding with us to the restaurant," Spencer tells me. He's put on a polo for the occasion, but it's not too much of a change in wardrobe. Just a switch from the t-shirts of vacation to his normal Aquino High dress code. "He's dropping us off."

"How are we getting back?"

"Don't worry." Nathan plants a kiss on the top of Cassidy's head. "I'll leave it at the restaurant. I'll walk back or something."

"Sure?" It's only a fifteen minute walk from the restaurant back to the house, along winding, beachy boulevards, but it'll be dark out.

"Oh yeah, I'll be fine."

"All right." I sling my purse over one shoulder. The forest green doesn't match my top, but I don't care. "Are we ready to go?"

Spencer and Nathan shrug and nod, already headed for the door. Cassidy pulls me back for a quick shoulder squeeze and "good luck" before I follow them. I'm grateful that Nathan will be in the car with us—it's a little less time spent fumbling for conversation. I don't know when things got so uncomfortable between me and Spencer, but here we are. Maybe he'll be just as grateful for the breakup as me.

I climb into the passenger seat and yank my seatbelt tight while Nathan climbs into the driver's seat. He glances at me out of the corner of his eye—Cassidy must have told him what's happening—and then calls back to Spencer, "Over to the boardwalk area, right? Port Mae Café?"

"Yeah," he says. Then we're out of the driveway and on the street, and the silent drive begins.

I spend a lot of time staring out the window. If I were younger I'd squish my nose against the glass and watch the foggy patterns my breathing made. Instead I count the aquatic birds we pass on our way over and around numerous swamps and marshes. Spencer and Nathan exchange light conversation about future plans and everyone else in the house. I feel like a bad sport for not participating, but I can't think of anything to say.