Page 51 of Rule Number One
Be more spontaneous. Do things that scare you.
With those words encouraging me on, I took a deep breath. “Okay. But only if you don’t think they’ll mind. I don’t want to crash their night.”
Tim laughed. “Are you kidding? The more, the merrier, and Tami and the girls are going to be all in for hanging out with the girl who managed to be a date for ‘I don’t date’ Ethan.”
“I’ll text Jo.” Matt picked up his phone and sent a message.
I fought against the nerves bubbling up inside of me and reminded myself that this new Ivy wasn’t going to pass up an opportunity for an adventure. Not this time.
“Jo said, ‘hell yeah.’ They’re coming into Sister Bay in about thirty minutes, so they’ll swing by and pick you up.”
“You sure about this?” Ethan stepped toward me. “I don’t want you to do something you aren’t comfortable with.”
“That’s exactly what I want to do now, though. Things I’m not comfortable with. I’m not really one to just jump in with a random group of girls and hit the town, but what the hell? You only live once.”
Ethan grinned. “Wow. I’m not gonna lie. I like seeing this side of you.”
“Yeah. Me too.”
We shared a stolen moment, a look of understanding between us, as we acknowledged just how far I’d come in a matter of days.
“So, we doing this?” Evan called as he started toward the door. “I’m ready for some Fireballs.”
“Oh, Jesus.” Ethan cringed. “Anything but Fireball, man. After that time in Vail doing shots while we were skiing, I can still barely keep that shit down.”
“Don’t be a pussy,” Hayden said. “If I can survive twelve days pinned down in the desert, you can survive a fucking shot of Fireball.”
Ethan pinched his lips. “Okay. Valid. Let’s do this.”
Ian tossed an arm around Ethan’s shoulder and dragged him toward the door. “Bye, Ivy! We’ll probably see you out later!” he called back to me.
“Text me if you need anything!” Ethan shouted before they pushed him out the door.
“Bye!” I waved at their backs, then took a deep breath when the door shut and closed me into the room alone.
Okay, Ivy. You can do this. You’re just going out with a bunch of girls who sound very nice.
I’d be lying if I didn’t say all I wanted to do was text Ethan and tell him I didn’t feel good and to call them and tell them not to come. But instead of doing that, I decided to grab life by the horns and go make some crazy stories to tell someday when I was a boring old lady.
I pulled out my makeup bag and went to work.
“Call Iris,” I said to my phone as I put on my red lipstick.
When she picked up, I started laughing and said, “You’re not going to believe what I’m up to now.”
And neither could I.