Page 94 of The Summer Show

“Keep it,” he said. “Surprise me.”

“First, whose car did you take last night?”

“I don’t know, it was just there with the keys in the ignition. People do that here.”

“You stole a random car?”

“Borrowed. I returned it with a full tank of gas.”

“Thank you for stealing a car for me.”

I lowered our legs halfway and raised the back so that we formed a V.

He laughed.

“What is it?”

“I guess I’m easily entertained, too.”

“I never doubted it,” I said.

* * *

True to his word, Doctor Roussos prescribed me a corticosteroid inhaler. He had done his homework and made sure my insurance back home would cover the cost in the future.

Nera’s hospital wasn’t in a hurry to kick me out. They fed me lunch, and then wheeled me downstairs to where Ana and Lina were waiting with a cab. My best friend and her mom fussed over me, which was nice. Lina yelled at the driver several times to turn up the air conditioning.

Hand gestures were thrown back and forth.

Words were exchanged.

All of that in the span of the five minutes it took to get from the hospital to Ana’s house.

Nick was nowhere to be found that afternoon. I hadn’t seen him since last night after our completely g-rated fun with the bed. After sundown he’d left for the penultimate episode and I hadn’t heard a peep from him since.

My insecurity tried to surface.

I slapped it back down.

Nick liked me. He cared about me. He had snarled at the dragon for me and refused to let her pass.

The dragon, of course, being Susan Hart—the woman formerly known as Mom.

I sent him a text.

I’m home! Well, Ana’s home, not my home.

Bubbles.

Bubbles.

More bubbles.

Then:

Cool.

That’s all. Cool. No, How are you? Nothing. Last night we had laughed ourselves silly playing with the hospital bed, and now it was like I’d been demoted to stranger on a plane.