You win

Chapter 5

“I have arrived!” Maggie called as she let herself into our house.

Carter and I were in the kitchen, wrapping up all the cookies I’d made in the past two days so we could give them to our neighbors. The tension between us was lingering but present.

“Hi, Carter,” Maggie said flirtatiously when she appeared in front of us, wearing a bright purple shirt and black jeans. Hey—was that my shirt?

Carter’s eyebrows furrowed together and he shot me a questioning look.

“Ignore her,” I told him. I turned to Maggie. “You. My room. Now.”

She winked and purred in Carter’s general direction, so I slapped her butt and she skipped out of the room and up the stairs like a hot potato.

I pointed at Carter as I exited the kitchen. “Don’t even think about it.”

When I got into my room, Maggie was sitting on my bed, harassing Fred.

“Why do you do that?” I asked. “You know Carter doesn’t understand sarcastic non-verbal cues.”

“That’s why it’s fun.” She grinned.

I rolled my eyes. “Leave the cat alone, Maggie,” I said, in attempt to save Fred from her attacks. “He has to put up with enough already.”

“Right,” she said, sliding off the bed and sitting Indian-style on the floor. “Because eating, sleeping, and occasionally pooping is so difficult. What a hard life you have, Fred.”

“It’s not like your days consist of much more than that,” I said, sitting on my bed and playing with her long hair.

“Uh, hello,” she said. “I help you deal with all your drama. That consists of like, ninety percent of my life.”

“Because I’m such a drama queen.”

“Lately, you are,” she said, dead serious. No frills, no nonsense. “ ‘It was just a kiss’?” Come on, Caroline! Do you want to make things worse? Because that’s exactly what you did.”

I dropped the honey-blonde strands of hair I was braiding, worried I would accidentally pull them out of her head in chunks if she continued. I had willingly told her everything about my most recent encounter with Luke, and I was starting to wonder why.

“I wanted to tell him everything, but it’s so frustrating!” I exclaimed. “He’s so mad at me, and I can hardly even stand to look at him when he’s looking at me like I’m the devil.”

“Okay.” She sighed. “At least we know you were wrong,” Maggie said. She hopped onto the bed so we could talk face-to-face. She was trying to look sad for my benefit, but I could tell she was all giddy on the inside. Sadist. “Obviously words won’t work.”

“Only because—”

“So,” she said, successfully cutting me off. “Clearly you need to start listening to me a little more.” She coughed, cleverly trying to disguise her next sentence. “Box of chocolates,” she mumbled.

I laughed despite myself. “For the twentieth time, I’m not giving him a box of chocolates.”

“Just do it. It’s simple and sweet and shows that you want to make things better, not worse.” I didn’t say anything, but a lightbulb suddenly went off above Maggie’s head. “Actually, you should give him some of those chocolate chip cookies you’ve been making. You have enough to feed the entire population of Africa. And giving Luke cookies that you’ve made probably has some kind of symbolism in it, right? And he’s a sucker for all that writing, literary crap.”

I shook my head.

“Please?” she asked, stretching out the word and batting her lashes. “If it doesn’t work, at least it won’t make things worse.”

“If it doesn’t work, I’ll be so embarrassed the ground beneath me will open up and swallow me whole.”

“Does that mean you’ll do it?” She looked at me hopefully.

I thought about it for a second. What did I have to lose? Luke already thought I was the biggest bitch on the planet. Correction: he thought I was a clueless bitch. That’s even worse, if not a little contradictory. Maybe some chocolate chip cookies would sweeten him up a bit and make it easier for me to explain to him that I may be clueless, but I’m not a total bitch. I mean, I backed out of my plan before I fully executed it. That showed that I have a conscience. Bitches don’t have consciences.

“Fine,” I mumbled.

“What’s that?” Maggie asked, purposely teasing me.

“I’ll do it,” I said, watching as her face lit up and she bounded across the room. Fred darted out the door to avoid her.

“Now we’re getting somewhere!” she exclaimed, looking like she was praising the sweet Lord Jesus up in heaven.