Page 30 of Dating and Dragons
“This is exactly why she shouldn’t be living on her own anymore,” Mom says.
“Good luck with that,” I reply. “She’s already told me that she’s not moving under any circumstance. Except death.”
Andrew looks up at that. “Morbid much?”
“She’s told us the same,” Dad agrees. “I don’t want to fight with her, especially when we’ve just gotten here, but I’m worried. I keep my phone by the bed just in case a horrible call comes in.”
My chest tightens. I’ve never heard Dad say something so dire about Grandma. It’s easy to forget her age when she’s chatting and buying me ice cream and setting me up on weird attic hangouts. I don’t want to be reminded that she’s getting older.
Mom must feel the same, because she shakes her head andsits up straighter. “Enough of that. So, Barbara mentioned that this boy who helped is cute?”
“What?” Dad eyes me. “I hadn’t heard about that at all. Your helper friend was a boy?”
I roll my eyes. “Yes, he’s a boy and he’s not cute.”
That’s a huge lie and I’m sticking to it as long as I can draw breath.
“What’s going on with him?” Mom’s eyes sparkle with amusement. “Is he just a friend or…”
“Hold on, I don’t know if we need you to bethissocial. Andrew, do you know this kid?” Dad asks. “What do you make of him?”
It takes him a second to look up, probably because he’s trying to pause his game. “Huh?”
Classic Andrew.
Dad rolls his eyes and repeats his question.
Andrew frowns at me. “What’s his name?”
“Logan Weber,” I mumble. How did this conversation get so off topic?
He shakes his head. “I don’t know him. But you’re already dating someone? How do you know he’s not a prick like the last one?”
I can’t decide if I need to swallow down a scream or thank Andrew for caring about what happens to me. I didn’t realize he paid any attention to my dating life. I drop onto the arm of the couch.
“First of all, you’re dating, too, so don’t go lecturing me,” I tell Andrew. “And second, I’mnotdating Logan. He’s part of my new D&D group.” I look to Mom. “No dating, remember.”
I told her all about the group and the rules when I firstagreed to be part of it. I needed to make sure she and Dad would be on board with me being gone every Saturday afternoon, so I explained how serious the group was.
“I do remember. What group of teenagers makes a ruleagainstdating?”
“A group of dorks,” Andrew replies immediately. He’s already back to playing his game.
“The most intelligent group of kids I’ve ever heard of,” Dad argues.
I rub my hands over my eyes so hard I’m seeing stars. Thank god Kashvi invited me over because I can’t take a whole night with these three.
“We care about things other than dating. Like defeating beholders and red dragons.”
“See?” Andrew says. “Dorks.”
“Can wepleasego?” I throw an angry glare in Andrew’s direction, not that he notices. Mom stands, clearly trying to hide her grin, and I head to the car with my bag. I’ll take a freezing cold garage over my brother any day.
Kashvi’s at the door when Mom pulls into the driveway. She waves me in, and we head directly to her bedroom.
“I hope you don’t mind,” she says, “but I thought we’d both sleep in here tonight. I know its small, but if we sleep in the living room, then Sanjiv will want to hang out with us all night. I love him, but I wanted this to be a girl’s night.”
I drop my bag just inside her door. “This is great.” It is a small room, but she’s painted it purple and covered mostof the walls with bulletin boards and art prints. She’s already set up a twin-sized air mattress on the floor with cute, flowered sheets. My favorite part is her chandelier that looks like a cloud. She has a remote that can change the lightbulbs to different colors. She flips until the cloud turns pink.